It takes two to tango—and to be eliminated.
When Dancing With the Starspremieres across two nights on Sept. 15 and 16, the stakes will have never been higher. It was revealed on Hulu’s Get Realpodcast that one female celebrity pairing and one male celebrity pairing will be eliminated during the episodes, which will see all the men compete one night and all the women on the other.
For pro Mark Ballas—partnered with Traitors’ Maura Higgins—he’s definitely feeling the pressure.
“I don’t think I was even on the show when that happened,” he said during the Sept. 10 podcast episode. “It’s not an even playing field, right? It’s like the cast is split in half and someone’s going. It’s kind of like boys over there, girls over there, one of you is going from each group, right?”
He added with a grimace, “So that’s—that’s a little different.”
And while this season’s celebrity cast features some seasoned dancers—such as Jenna Dewanand Harry Shum Jr.—Maura would not place herself in that category, despite her appearance on Dancing on Icein 2020. (She was eliminated in week 7 of the British competition series.)
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“For me, it wasn’t dancing because, I never skated,” she explained. “So, that was the hard part for me. It was just staying up on the ice.”
Plus, she wasn’t able to dedicate herself in the same way she plans to for DWTS.
“It was like at a weird time in my life,” she added, “because I had just come off my first ever reality show, Love Island, and I had like a million other things I was doing along with that show, right? So, I couldn’t really put my focus in it.”
As for those who arecoming into this season with a, shall we say, leg up on the competition, Mark doesn’t think anyone should be too critical of their casting.
“This is not a legitimate dance competition—it’s an entertainment show on television for families, right?” he said. “I also think that even though there is dancing on the show and you want to root, you want to see great dancing, it’s also like about experience.”
“So, I feel like there’s something for every fan,” he added. “Some fans want to see banger dances. Some fans want to see someone from ground zero make it. Some people want to see like someone with no experience improve every week. Some people with no experience won’t improve every week, but you fall in love with the personality, right?”
He also cited recent winners Joey Graziadeiand Robert Irwinwho came in with zero experience, and still landed the famed Mirrorball Trophy.
“Just because someone danced in high school or they danced for an artist or something,” he continued, “that doesn’t mean they can’t take this on and improve every single week.”
As for a closer look at the celebrity-pro pairings looking to put their best foot forward in the ballroom this season, read on.
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
“Looks are not indicative of being in shape,” Ciara exclusively told E! News in June. “I do huff and puff going up the stairs, so I gotta get back into the gym and work on my stamina.”
“I have a vision board and I redo it every year,” she told E! News in May. “This year is the first year that I stayed at home by myself on New Year’s Eve. I did not go out at all. I made myself a bowl of pasta and a glass of red wine and I redid my vision board for the year. Dancing With the Stars was already on it from the year before. However, I added five more Dancing With the Stars on the board.”
