Dancing With the Stars is breaking a long-standing tradition after 33 seasons by releasing viewer vote totals.
ABC told Deadline on Monday, October 7, that fan engagement on the show is stronger than ever before. According to the outlet, the September 24 episode — when viewers watched as Anna Delvey and partner Ezra Sosa as well as Tori Spelling and her partner, Pasha Pashkov, get eliminated — there were more than 14 million fan votes received.
The total was the most in a single episode of the series history. “The record number of votes that week suggests to me that a lot of our audience are very passionate about a lot of our stars this year, and the increased ratings year or year would suggest that it is the case,” DWTS executive producer Conrad Green told Deadline.
The DWTS season 33 premiere averaged 7.32 million total viewers, after seven days of viewing on ABC, Disney+, Hulu and other platforms. After two episodes, DWTS averaged a .81 rating in adults 18-49 in L+3 viewing.
“At core, as always, the cast is what defines the season,” Green said. “This group of stars are really likable, talented and love being on the show — and that passion for what they’re doing really comes through on live TV. There’s real dance talent across the cast and lot of unique stories as well as so much potential in the couples to grow as performers.”
Alongside Delvey and Spelling, the cast of the dancing competition series includes former Bachelor Joey Graziadei, The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks and Team USA gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik. Viewers can vote up to 10 times for each couple.
“Also, Dancing with the Stars is a really positive show at a time when the world is feeling pretty bleak, so there’s a certain escapism and sense of community that comes with watching which helps remind us of what we have in common as Americans,” Green said. “We’ve also been on air long enough now that a new generation of viewers are watching with their kids and the popularity of the show on social apps like TikTok has exploded and introduced new viewers.”
After being voted off the show last month, Delvey slammed DWTS, claiming the show used her for ratings. “I feel that the show so obviously used me to drive up the ratings, that they never had any plans to give me any chance to grow and only cared about exploiting me for attention,” she alleged in an interview with NBC News. “It was predatory of them to try [to] make me feel inadequate and stupid, all while I did get progressively better, yet they chose to disregard that.”
Delvey added that she felt as if she was “never really given a fair chance by the viewers or some of the judges, given their nonsensical scoring.” Delvey also noted that DWTS was “supposed to be a dance competition and not a popularity contest.”
After a week hiatus, Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Monday, October 7, and Tuesday, October 8, at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ the next day.
