Tyler Cameron Update (Sept. 2026): A 17/30 Tango on DWTS Night One, and He Is Through to Week Two

Short version — Tyler Cameron opened Dancing with the Stars season 35 on Tuesday, Sept. 15 with a tango to "Are You Gonna Go My Way," scored 17 out of 30 with Sharna Burgess, and was safe. He dances again Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Seven years after The Bachelorette, Cameron is back on network television weekly — and after two premiere nights he sits mid-table in a field that has already lost two couples.

Tyler Cameron: the short timeline

What is the new part?

The casting. ABC announced the full Season 35 lineup on Good Morning America on Sept. 2, and Tyler is one of 16 celebrities in what ties the largest field the show has run.

His partner is the headline inside the headline. Sharna Burgess is back in the ballroom as a competing pro for the first time since Season 30 in 2021, when she danced with Brian Austin Green. She won the Mirrorball in Season 27 with Bobby Bones.

The engagement news came first. Tyler announced in mid-August that he and Tate Madden are engaged, roughly two weeks before the DWTS booking became official.

Why does the partner assignment matter?

Burgess has a record with first-time male dancers. Bones was a radio host with no dance background when they won, and the season she spent with Green went deep into the run.

That is the case for Tyler being underestimated. The case against is simpler: 16 couples means less floor time per pair on premiere week, and the first vote arrives before most viewers have picked a favorite.

Our read, for what it is worth: athletic contestants with a strong pro tend to survive the early weeks on goodwill and get exposed around week four, when Latin technique starts getting scored properly. Week four is the checkpoint to watch, not week one.

How did night one actually go?

Cameron and Burgess took the tango to Lenny Kravitz’s "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and came out with a 17 — behind Harry Shum Jr. (21) and Ezra Frech (20), ahead of the other five men who danced. The full card is in our night one results.

Correction, Sept. 20: an earlier version of this page said nobody usually goes home on premiere night. Season 35 did not follow that pattern. ABC eliminated a couple on each premiere night — Conner Leavitt on Sept. 15 and Sarah Jane Nader on Sept. 16 — so the field was down to 14 before the season reached its regular Tuesday slot.

The other thing both nights showed: the judges’ number is only half the result. Guillermo Rodriguez scored a 10 on night one and stayed. Tatyana Ali scored a 12 on night two and stayed. A 17 is comfortable, not safe forever.

Zone-by-zone start times and streaming options are in our what time is DWTS on guide, and the complete celebrity-and-pro list sits in the cast reveal.

If you are planning the whole week around it, the Sept. 21–27 schedule has every competing show, including the night AGT runs its finale against DWTS. The season-long picture is in the fall 2026 guide, and the DWTS section collects everything we have written on Season 35.

Who else is in the Season 35 field?

Sixteen couples started; 14 are left. The mix is unusually front-loaded with people who already move for a living, which matters for anyone reading Tyler’s odds.

Two trained dancers and two Olympic-level athletes in one cast is a hard room. Tyler's lane is the one Bones took in Season 27: start low, improve visibly, and let the audience vote carry the middle weeks.

We track exits, returns and post-show news for this kind of cast in our cast updates section; the most recent one before this was a Tammy Slaton update on Sept. 9.

FAQ

Who is Tyler Cameron's Dancing with the Stars partner? Sharna Burgess, announced Sept. 2 alongside the rest of the Season 35 pairings.

What season of The Bachelorette was Tyler Cameron on? Season 15, in 2019, where he finished as runner-up.

Is Tyler Cameron engaged? Yes. He announced his engagement to Tate Madden in mid-August 2026.

How did Tyler Cameron score on the DWTS premiere? 17 out of 30 for a tango on Tuesday, Sept. 15 — third-best of the eight men who danced that night.

Was Tyler Cameron eliminated? No. Conner Leavitt went out on night one and Sarah Jane Nader on night two.

When does Tyler Cameron dance next? Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, streaming live on Disney+.

Sources

• ABC News / Good Morning America, "Dancing with the Stars season 35: What to know about the cast, premiere date and more"
• ABC News / Good Morning America, "Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess returning to ballroom for season 35"
• Bachelor Nation, "Tyler Cameron Officially Joins Dancing with the Stars Season 35 Alongside Pro Dancer Sharna Burgess" (Sept. 2, 2026)
• The Hollywood Reporter and TVLine, on Burgess returning as a competing pro
• TVmaze episode listings for Dancing with the Stars Season 35, Episodes 1 and 2 — data provided by TVmaze

By the Reality On Air desk · Updated Sept. 19, 11:11 p.m. ET

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