'Dancing with the Stars' Breaks Longtime Rule With Surprising Reveal for Season 33

A lot of reality competition shows which involve America’s voting will announce, “We had 12 million votes last night,” or whatever the number, but up until now Dancing with the Stars has not been among them—even when the results have been challenged on social media.

There have been plenty of contestants who should have gone home much sooner than they did—Sean Spicer and Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino come to mind—and the first elimination of Season 33 saw the departure of Anna Delvey and Tori Spelling, which was a surprising result considering that Eric Roberts and Reginald VelJohnson had the lowest scores.

But it isn’t just the judges' scores that matter. Those scores are only half the equation. The other half is the fan vote. So, possibly that’s why DWTS finally decided to release the number of votes for the Sept. 24 episode—more than 14 million fan votes—to prove that the show is still as relevant in 2024 as it was when it premiered in 2005 and became an instant hit for ABC and that it is the fan vote that carried the weight when it came to this season's first elimination.

“Viewers can vote multiple times, so if they’re particularly passionate about certain couples they can vote up to 10 times for each couple,” Executive Producer Conrad Green told Deadline in releasing the numbers. “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 to year would suggest that it is the case.”

To put truth to Conrad's words, the two episodes that have aired so far this season have resulted in a 17 percent increase in the key demo over last season: Adults 18-49 (.81 rating vs. .70 rating).

The casting of popular athletes like NBA Champion Dwight Howard; Olympians like rugby player Ilona Maher and pommel horse medalist Stephen Nedoroscik; and members of Bachelor nation, like Jenn Tran and Joey Graziadei are a given on any season of the ballroom competition, but each season also seems to find a controversial celebrity to round out the cast, like this season’s Delvey. And it is getting that combination just right that makes for a successful season.

“At core, as always, the cast is what defines the season,” Green told Deadline about this year’s lineup. “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.

“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 continued. “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.”