It’s officially Dancing With The Stars season!

The show has been running since June of 2005 and is a staple for many Americans, with 6.5 million views on the premiere episode of season 32. The premise of the show is that an assortment of celebrities get partnered up with professional dancers for the season and perform a dance every week. One couple is eliminated per episode, based on votes from the audience and on their scores from the judges, Derek Hough, Carrie-Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli.

This season is without previous head judge, Len Goodman, who passed away from cancer. To commemorate his life and impact on the show, the Mirrorball trophy was renamed to the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.

While the celebrities rotate every season, many of the pros come back year after year, and have followings themselves. The only new pro this season is Rylee Arnold, who is the younger sister of previous pro Lindsey Arnold. 

Last season was a very strong one, with amazing dancers such as winner Charli D’amelio who was partnered up with Mark Ballas. Mark has retired from Dancing With The Stars meaning this season, no one is coming in fresh off a win.

The stars this year are a mixed bag.

Some, such as Jamie Lynn Spears and Adrian Peterson, made a splash before the show even started, with past controversies resurfacing after they were announced from the show. This isn’t the first time the show has included celebrities who didn’t curry public favor. Past stars include Bristol Palin, Sean Spicer, Ryan Lochte, and Carole Baskin. Dancing With The Stars can serve as a reputation rehab of sorts for stars, but it doesn’t always work in their favor, sometimes bringing controversies back into the public eye rather than concealing them.

There aren’t any really big celebrity hits this year. Last year, Charli D’amelio was very popular, Gabby Windey was loved as The Bachelorette, and Shangela had a huge following as a drag queen. By no means are the stars this year irrelevant, but most of the people featured aren’t ones that anyone is dying to watch. The show also isn’t really breaking any boundaries this season as it has in the past. JoJo Siwa was the first star to dance with another female partner, Daniel Durant danced while deaf, and Shangela performed in drag. That aspect of the show’s appeal is absent this year.

This season also boasts new hosts, with Alfonso Ribeiro, a previous winner, sticking around from season 31 and Julianne Hough, a previous pro and judge, hosting for the first time.

The first-week dances are never amazing, with the stars learning to both ballroom dance for the first time and performing live for the first time. This is partially why many fans believe no one should be eliminated during that premiere episode.

The celebrity that was on the chopping block this week was Matt Walsh, and his elimination caused a lot of backlash from fans. His dance was solid for the first week, he had a great personality and was underscored for the quality of his dance and performance style.

Matt walked away from rehearsals during the WGA strike, only returning once the tentative deal had been struck. This, combined with how low his scores were compared to the quality of his dance, has many fans questioning if there was another motivation behind his early elimination.

Tyson Beckford: Didn’t have much movement or rhythm, great stage presence.

Xochitl Gomez: Lit up the stage; had good rhythm, nailed the moves and was fun to watch. Opened the show and deserved higher than a 6.

Alyson Hannigan: Leaned into the personality aspect of performance with facial expressions, overall solid but lacked some finesse.

Harry Jowsey: Definitely a beginner, which is refreshing to see. Needs to open up more, but very committed to improving and taking the show seriously.

Charity Lawson: Great showing for first week; good rhythm and technique, lacking some personality and chemistry, overall a frontrunner.

Ariana Madix: Closed the show with an amazing performance; great dancing, interesting story to the dance, and made you just want to keep watching

Jason Mraz: A huge surprise; a great performance with great choreography from Daniella.

Adrian Peterson: Didn’t dance much; had good lifts, but lacked actually dance skills and rhythm

Lele Pons: Another great performance; very intense performance and a terrific first week

Mira Sorvino: Had a small slip up, otherwise solid

Jamie Lynn Spears: Great smile and stage presence; actual dancing needs work

Mauricio Umansky: Very good first-week performance, definitely underscored

Matt Walsh: Dancing could’ve used some work and was very cheesy, but had a great performance and energy on stage. Underscored.

Barry Williams: Great personality, well received by audience; pretty low-energy dance, however.