Dancing with the Stars” fans are speculating on who could return for the show’s 20th anniversary season this fall.
The celebrity ballroom competition made its debut on ABC on June 1, 2005, with host Tom Bergeron. At the time, State.com described the 5-week dancing competition as “a frothy, low-impact summer show.” No one could have imagined that it would last 34 seasons and 20 years, despite the fact that its 2005 premiere garnered 13.2 million viewers, per Reality TV World.
Over the years, DWTS pro dancers have come and gone. But months before “Dancing With the Stars” marks its 20th anniversary, some fans are hoping to see some of the original pros return to the ballroom.
DWTS Fans Spoke Out On Social Media
Twenty years ago, the first season of “Dancing With the Stars” featured just six pro dancers and six celebrities. The original pros were Louis van Amstel, Edyta Śliwińska, Jonathan Roberts, Ashly DelGrosso, Charlotte Jorgensen, and Alec Mazo. By the time season 2 rolled around the following year, the cast was upped to 10, with newcomer pro dancers Cheryl Burke, Tony Dovolani, Anna Trebunskaya, and more added to the roster.
Other beloved old-time pros include Kym Johnson Herjavec, Tristan McManus, Chelsie Hightower, Karina Smirnoff, Mark Ballas, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Ahead of the 20th-anniversary milestone, fans took to Reddit to say they’d love to see some OG pro dancers back as pros for the special season.
“I get having new pros is important but as it’s the 20th anniversary this year I REALLY want some OG pros back too! 😍,” one fan captioned a photo of Trebunskaya, Dovolani, and Smirnoff.
“These 3 hands down would be the 3 I’d want to see back (honorable mention would go to Kym). But I do hope we get some OGs or former pros in the mix,” another agreed.
Another fan added, “I agree. Especially with it being the 20th anniversary, my hope is we see a few familiar faces in the lineup who we maybe haven’t seen in a while (Karina and Anna T for me).”
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if, for season 34 they bring back the OG pros to compete again and the recent pros be relegated to troupe,” another fan suggested.
“I’d be really surprised if we didn’t see an OG or two next season,” wrote another.
Others wondered if bringing back old pro dancers would get “messy” given the current generation of viewers watching the show for newer dancers such as Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa.
DWTS Celebrated Another Milestone in 2024
“Dancing With the Stars” 20th anniversary will be a big milestone. But in 2023, the long-running ABC dance-off celebrated a different milestone with its 500Th Episode special.
According to an ABC/Disney press release, the 500th episode special in November 2024 kicked off with “an electrifying opening number, choreographed by Pasha Pashkov and Daniella Karagach.” The press release also teased the “dazzling return of some fan-favorite faces to the ballroom.” On show night, DWTS fan favorite Sharna Burgess returned to dance in the opening number. But some fans were disappointed that more veteran pros didn’t take the stage.
In October 2023, many veteran pro dancers returned to the DWTS ballroom for a special tribute to late DWTS judge Len Goodman. The emotional “Moon River” tribute to the beloved judge featured all of the season 32 dancers as well as returning pros Chmerkovskiy, Dovolani, Johnson-Herjavec, Śliwińska, Smirnoff, Trebunskaya, van Amstel, and Ballas.
