Who was cha-cha-chopped from the running for the Mirrorball Trophy this time?
No one! Dancing With the Stars cohosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough revealed the elimination twist on the Oct. 20 episode in honor of Dedication Night, a notoriously emotional episode in which the teams dedicate a dance to a loved one.
“We’ve combined the judges’ scores with your live votes. Now, in no particular order, let’s find out which couples are safe and the couple who will be going home tonight,” Hough began, before Ribeiro shared, “The first couple who is safe is… all of you! No one is going home tonight.”
Hough added, “On such a special night, we didn’t want anyone to be sent home.”
She noted that all of the scores and votes from the episode will carry over the next week, affecting the elimination on Oct. 27. Dubbed Horror Movie Night—with guest judge Shirley Ballas—it’s set to be a scary episode, with Ribeiro confirming that “two couples will be axed” after avoiding elimination this week.
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Indeed it was an emotional episode, with Tyler Cameron honoring his late mom Andrea Hermann Cameron and moms everywhere—which now includes his fiancée Tate Madden, who revealed her pregnancy during their routine with pro Sharna Burgess.
“Sharna is just an incredible storyteller,” Cameron told Hough after the performance. “I’ve shared the story with her, and she made this story about my mother always having my back and still being there for me, bringing Tate into my life, and setting us off for the rest of our life. And this is a huge night that we’ll celebrate forever.”
And while the elimination next week will be a disappointing end for one couple, the partners can rest assured they’re in good company when it comes to fan favorites who ultimately didn’t make it to the final.
In week five,Guillermo Rodriguez and partner Witney Carsonwere ousted following a salsa during Super Bowl night. The previous week, Bravo’s Ciara Miller and pro Brandon Armstrong had an emotional departure after their jazz number to Mariah Carey‘s “Emotions.”
After initially sharing she was “just bummed” at the outcome on DWTS‘ companion podcast Oct. 8, the Summer House personality later detailed exactly why the week four decision was so impactful to her in a tearful video shared to Instagram.
“Obviously, I wanted to get a Mirrorball, not just for myself, but I really wanted Brandon to have a chance at the Mirrorball,” Miller explained. “With the way that things have gone this year, I feel like I wanted to like trust in God and trust in the universe that I would be perfectly placed where I was supposed to be.”
Still, she found her time on Dancing With the Stars meaningful.
“If anybody could even see themselves in Brandon and I,” the 30-year-old continued, “It makes all the heartache and all the emotions and all of the crazy work in this industry so f–king worth it,” though she conceded, “I am also so f–king competitive.”
Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at life in the ballroom as the remaining frontrunners dance for the big win.
ABC/Paula Lobo
However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
“That show pays OK,” the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick’s podcast Trading Secrets. “Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it’s like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last.”
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, “I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show.”
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they’re not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
“You’re guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks,” Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester’s podcast The Morning After. “I think there’s different contracts though. I can’t speak for everybody.”
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor’s Joey Graziadei—says the pros don’t get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there’s still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
“If you make it all the way to the end, you’re getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale,” she explained on The Morning After. “If you win, it’s not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You’re just getting a cute trophy together.”
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut “more than in half” when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
“You get no say,” Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers’ Hot Smart Rich podcast. “It’s very much just, ‘Here’s your partner. Make it work.'”
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
“They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live,” Jenna said on The Morning After. “They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we’re keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don’t even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner.”
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
“It’s based on height, build and personality and compatibility,” former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. “We don’t pair people who aren’t going to get on. It’s too intense. It’s not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn’t do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don’t want to see two people who don’t like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn’t get on so well.”
