Dancing with the Stars is an American dance competition television series that premiered on June 1, 2005, on ABC. It is the US version of the UK series Strictly Come Dancing. The show is hosted by Tom Bergeron, alongside Erin Andrews, who became co-host in season eighteen.^[2][3] Lisa Canning was co-host in the first season, Samantha Harris co-hosted seasons two through nine^[4] and Brooke Burke-Charvet in seasons ten through seventeen.^[5] The twenty-seventh season premiered on September 24, 2018, and its spin-off Dancing with the Stars: Juniors premiered on October 7, 2018.^[6] The twenty eighth season premiered on September 16, 2019.

The format of the show consists of a celebrity paired with a professional dancer. Each couple performs predetermined dances and competes against the others for judges' points and audience votes. The couple receiving the lowest combined total of judges' points and audience votes is eliminated each week until only the champion dance pair remains.

Tom Bergeron has been the host since the program's premiere in 2005. In season 1, his co-host was Lisa Canning. She was replaced by Samantha Harris for seasons 2 through 9 (2006–09), who was then replaced by Brooke Burke-Charvet from seasons 10 through 17 (2010–13). Erin Andrews took over as co-host starting in season 18 (2014). Drew Lachey served as a temporary replacement for Harris during season 5 (2007) during her absence for 3 weeks due to maternity leave. Leah Remini filled in for Andrews in week 6 of season 19, due to commitments with the 2014 World Series and filled in for her again in weeks 6 and 7 of season 21 for the 2015 World Series.^[7][8] Season 19 champion Alfonso Ribeiro filled in for Bergeron on week 4 of season 21, due to Bergeron's ailing father.^[9]

The regular judges are Len Goodman, who serves as head judge, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli. Goodman was absent for much of season 19, all of season 21, and much of season 23. Julianne Hough, who was a professional dancing partner for seasons 4–8, was added as a full-time judge on the panel for three seasons, 19–21,^[10] after having been a guest judge in the previous two seasons.^[11] She did not return for season 22.^[10] Hough did return as a full-time judge for seasons 23 and 24 but did not return for seasons 25 and 26. Several former contestants appeared as judges in episode 200 (in season 11), including Hélio Castroneves, Mel B, Drew Lachey, Gilles Marini, Kelly Osbourne, and Emmitt Smith. Other celebrities, most often those who are associated with the world of dancing, former professional dancers, and past contestants have appeared as the fourth judge or in absence of one of the main judges, including Paula Abdul, Donnie Burns, Nick Carter, Cher, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Michael Flatley, Kevin Hart, Jessie J, Rashad Jennings, Baz Luhrmann, Ricky Martin, Idina Menzel, Abby Lee Miller, Mandy Moore, Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Ortega, Donny Osmond, Pitbull, Redfoo, Alfonso Ribeiro, Robin Roberts, David Ross, Shania Twain, and Zendaya.

For 17 seasons, the Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers provided the live music for the show. On February 7, 2014, it was announced that the new bandleader is Ray Chew. Along with him is a new band of instrumentalists and singers.^[12]

Color key:

A total of 321 celebrities have appeared in the 28 seasons of the series. For each season, the celebrities are paired with a professional partner who instructs them in the various dances each week and competes alongside them in the televised competition. A total of 46 professional partners have appeared alongside celebrities, some for only one season (mostly in the earliest seasons).

Key:

In season 12, the show introduced the troupe consisting of professional dancers who perform on the show but are not paired with celebrity partners.^[13] The first troupe in season 12 included Oksana Dmytrenko, Tristan MacManus, Peta Murgatroyd, Kiki Nyemchek, Nicole Volynets, and Ted Volynets.^[14] Other past troupe members include Artur Adamski, Brandon Armstrong, Lindsay Arnold, Alan Bersten, Sharna Burgess, Henry Byalikov, Witney Carson, Brittany Cherry, Dasha Chesnokova, Artem Chigvintsev, Hayley Erbert, Sasha Farber, Shannon Holtzapffel, Dennis Jauch, Jenna Johnson, Kiril Kulish, Vladislav Kvartin, Morgan Larson, Keo Motsepe, Sonny Fredie Pedersen, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater Britt Stewart and Julz Tocker. The troupe was discontinued after season 27.

Key:

Youngest male winner at age 23; youngest female winner at age 16‡ Oldest male winner at age 51; oldest female winner at age 50

In seasons 1 and 2, only the overall ranking between competitors by the judges and the public was relevant. In season 3 and all subsequent seasons, the scoring system has made the exact scores relevant as well.

The scoring begins with the judges' marks. Each judge gives a numeric score from 1 to 10, for a total score of 3 to 30. The scoring was altered for the "all-star" season 15, during which judges could give scores at 1/2-point intervals from 0.5 to 10, for a total score of 1.5 to 30. When multiple performances are scored, only the cumulative total counts. The contestants' judges' shares are calculated as the percentage of the total number of points awarded to all contestants that evening. (For example, if a team earned 20 pts on a night when the judges awarded 200 pts, their judges' share would be 20/200 = 10%.) This percentage is then added to the percentage of North American votes received by each contestant. The lowest-scoring two couples are identified at the end of the show, and the couple with the lowest combined total gets eliminated.^[15] Season 8 added an occasional 'dance-off', in which contestants could re-perform one of their dances, in an effort to improve their judges' score. This was later discontinued.

Public voting is conducted via a toll-free number, the ABC website, and, most recently, text messages and Facebook; contestants can vote during and immediately after each performance show. The maximum number of votes per voter per medium is equal to the number of couples performing that night, or five votes, whichever is larger. In April 2010, it was revealed that former contestant Kate Gosselin had e-mailed friends and family asking them to vote as many as 10 times each.^[16] In November 2010, The Washington Post reported that online voting appeared not to require a valid email address, and accordingly that numerous votes apparently could be cast by one person.^[17]

In several cases where ESPN coverage of Monday Night Football airs instead on an ABC affiliate in an NFL team's home market, the program is delayed to air immediately after that station's local news, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Nightline, and a voting window confined only to the area codes of the pre-empted market is opened up to allow affected viewers to still put their votes in for the competition, though this is on a market-by-market basis (in some markets, an alternate sister station or digital subchannel carries the program live as scheduled).

Seasons 1 and 3 featured only two couples in the final week instead of three. Starting with season 16, four couples made it into the final week, although the top three finalists proceeded to dance one more time for the judges after the fourth place couple was announced. In season 20, there were three couples in the final week, but in seasons 21, 23, 25 and 27, there were four. In seasons 22, 24 and 26, there were only three couples in the final week.

On the April 18, 2006, episode of the Howard Stern Radio Show, Stern's wife Beth said that she was guaranteed to earn $125,000 for just appearing on DWTS (in season 3) and could earn up to more than double the original sum, depending on how long she lasted on the program.^[18][19]

In season 21, Bindi Irwin had her payments withheld by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge because she was a minor, which therefore required her parents to sign-off on the contract.^[20] But although her mother signed, the contract lacked her father's signature, so the judge refused to validate the contract, despite Irwin's father being the world-famous naturalist Steve Irwin, whose death in 2006 had been widely covered in the news/media. The judge later validated the contract once Steve Irwin's death certificate was presented to the court, resulting in Bindi receiving a $350,000 paycheck from the show.^[21]

The first person to withdraw from competition was Romeo in season 2.^[22] His father, Master P, took his place in the competition before the beginning of broadcasts, being partnered with Ashly DelGrosso. However, Romeo later competed in season 12^[23] and finished in 5th place. He was partnered with Chelsie Hightower.

On week six in season three, Sara Evans cited her divorce as the reason for leaving the competition. No one was eliminated that week.

Another withdrawal occurred during the run-up to season four on February 28, when Vincent Pastore withdrew from the competition after only one week of training. Pastore said he did not realize how much work was needed during a ten-week period, and that he was not up to the physical demands of the show. He was replaced on March 2 by Pixar voice actor John Ratzenberger who was partnered with Edyta Sliwinska.^[24]

In season seven, Misty May-Treanor withdrew from the competition in week three, after rupturing her Achilles tendon when rehearsing her jive with her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She did not perform the routine at all nor was she scored for it; no one else was eliminated that week.

In season eight, Jewel and Nancy O'Dell were injured before the season even began and could not compete. Jewel was diagnosed with fractured tibias in both legs; she came back later in the season to perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on a results show. O'Dell suffered from a torn knee cartilage.^[25] They were replaced by Holly Madison and Melissa Rycroft who would be dancing with their partners for the rest of the season (Dmitry Chaplin and Tony Dovolani).

Tom DeLay, in season nine, withdrew in week three of competition due to a full stress fracture that had developed in both feet from an earlier pre-stress fracture in one foot. DeLay was declared safe before he announced his withdrawal during the October 6, 2009 results show. Debi Mazar was still eliminated that night despite DeLay's departure.

In season sixteen, Olympic figure skating champion Dorothy Hamill had to withdraw from the competition due to doctor's orders for a spinal injury. A cyst had developed near her lower spine, and was pinching off the nerve in that area. Either boxing champion Victor Ortiz or reality TV star Lisa Vanderpump would've been eliminated, but Hamill withdrew before the results could be announced, meaning that no one was eliminated that week.

In season eighteen, week three, actor Billy Dee Williams withdrew, by advice from a doctor, due to a chronic back problem (which resulted in no elimination that week).^[26]

In season twenty-one, week three, reality TV star Kim Zolciak-Biermann was forced to withdraw from the competition after suffering a blood clot which resulted in a mini stroke (which resulted in no elimination that week). Tamar Braxton also withdrew from the season due to blood clots in her lungs making it the first season to have two withdrawals in it.

In season twenty eight, Christie Brinkley withdrew the competition a week before the season premiere, due to injuring her arm during rehearsal and needing sudden surgery. She was replaced by her daughter, Sailor with only a few days to practice prior to the season premiere.

Beginning in season 7, viewers had the opportunity to vote for their favorite professional dancers (or in some cases former contestants) to perform a particular style of dance to a song, also of their choice. An online contest is also usually held so that viewers can submit drawings of outfits for the performance.

The show celebrated its 100th episode on Tuesday, May 6, 2008, during week 8 of season 6.^[27] More than 30 former cast members and pros returned, with interviews with Stacy Keibler, Lisa Rinna, Jerry Springer, Vivica A. Fox, Joey Fatone, Kenny Mayne, Sabrina Bryan, and former winners Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey, and Apolo Anton Ohno. Other appearances, besides the season 6 cast, included Paula Abdul (in a video introduction), Jane Seymour, Ian Ziering, Mark Cuban, Wayne Newton, Leeza Gibbons, Harry Hamlin, Shandi Finnessey, and Hélio Castroneves. New routines were performed by Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough, Mel B and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and by Mario Lopez with the cast of A Chorus Line, in which he was starring on Broadway. The musical guest was country group Rascal Flatts.^[28]

The judges also presented a countdown of their choices for the top 10 perfect-scoring dances of the 1st 5 seasons. Their choices were:

In season 11, viewers were allowed two votes per day on the DWTS website to vote for their favorite out of 30 given choices. On Oct 25, 2010, a countdown of the Top 10 voted for dances on the show was reported to celebrate the following week when the 200th show would be.

On the actual 200th show, several dances were performed again on the show and six of the past fan favorites came back to judge; Helio Castroneves, Emmitt Smith, Drew Lachey, Kelly Osbourne, Gilles Marini, Mel B, and more. The couples re-created their most memorable routines on the 200th episode; Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Ohno served as team captains for the team dances. Yamaguchi's team consisted of Rick & Cheryl, Kyle & Lacey and Bristol & Mark, while Brandy & Maksim, Jennifer & Derek and Kurt & Anna were on Ohno's team. On the results show of November 2, some awards were given out to past celebrity contestants and professionals.

The 300th episode took place on the week 9 results show of season 16.^[29] Twenty-two professional dancers who had appeared on the show, both past and present, performed an opening number choreographed by Jason Gilkinson. Past pros who performed were Chelsie Hightower, Dmitry Chaplin, Louis Van Amstel, and Anna Trebunskaya.^[30] Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough danced their "Argentine tango" as the week's encore. However, the top 10 dances were not revealed, nor were the achievements.

The 400th episode took place on the season premiere of the twenty-fourth season. Tom Bergeron did mention the milestone, however, no special dances took place.^[31]

On April 28, 2015, during season 20, a special pre-recorded episode aired as a 10th anniversary special with many former stars and professional dancers returning to the ballroom. Many past stars performed and reflected on their time on the show. Patti LaBelle, Amber Riley, and Lil' Kim performed LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade". The show closed with the largest number of people dancing in the show's history as stars, pros, hosts, and judges were all out on the dance floor.

In seasons 9 and 10, three tribute performances were done to honor the memory of artists and others. The first was a tribute to recently deceased actor Patrick Swayze, on Sep 23, 2009. "She's Like the Wind" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (originally written by Swayze for Dirty Dancing), "Unchained Melody" from his film Ghost, and "(I've Had) The Time of my Life" from Dirty Dancing were performed by select professional dancers of the show.

On October 20, 2009, a tribute was done for singer and dancer, Michael Jackson. "I Want You Back", "Man in the Mirror", and "Thriller" were performed—the first two songs by select professional dancers of the show, with all coming together for "Thriller".

In season 10, professional Haitian dancers performed as a tribute to victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on March 30, 2010. One of the male dancers, Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine, had lost his son in the rubble. They were dancing to "Dance Like This" by Wyclef Jean.

In season 24, to honor the passing of season 11 contestant Florence Henderson on November 24, 2016, a special tribute to Henderson was displayed on the dance floor. The season 24 premiere aired on March 20, 2017.

In season 28, at the end of the premiere episode, a tribute was placed on the dance floor to honor the passing of actress and season 17 contestant Valerie Harper who died on August 30, 2019.

A DVD titled Dancing With The Stars: Cardio Dance was released on April 3, 2007, featuring Kym Johnson, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Ashly DelGrosso. The program contains cardiovascular workouts adapted from cha-cha, Paso doble, samba, and jive dance routines.

A second DVD Dancing with the Stars: Latin Cardio Dance was released on September 13, 2008, featuring Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Cheryl Burke. The program contains cardiovascular workouts adapted from cha-cha, Merengue, samba and mambo dance routines.^[32]

A companion book written by Guy Phillips was released in the early fall of 2007. Titled Dancing with the Stars: Jive, Samba and Tango Your Way Into The Best Shape Of Your Life, the book includes fitness routines modeled by Alec Mazo and Edyta Sliwinska, as well as original costume designs, lists of performed songs during a dance, and a complete list of song-and-dance routine performed since the first season of the show.

The first Dancing spin-off, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, premiered on January 7, 2008, on ABC. The show's format was similar to the BBC Television series, DanceX. The show was canceled after one season.

A figure skating spin-off similar to ITV's Dancing on Ice called Skating with the Stars aired on ABC on November 22, 2010. The series was canceled after one season.^[33]

On May 16, 2017, a Dancing with the Stars: Juniors spin-off was announced. The dance competition spin-off was originally set to premiere in the spring of 2018 on ABC, and the format of the show will feature celebrity children and the children of celebrities paired with professional junior ballroom dancers.^[34] In January 2018, ABC stated that Dancing with the Stars: Juniors is still in the works, but didn't develop as quickly they hoped it would. Athletes aired in its place, with Juniors originally slated to air that summer. However, In May 2018, it was announced that the series would begin airing on October 7, 2018, with filming taking place during August 2018. Professional skateboarder Sky Brown, junior pro JT Church and pro mentor Alan Bersten were announced as the winners on December 9, 2018. The show was canceled after one season.^[35]

Back in 2016 ABC, together with BBC Worldwide, commissioned a game to come out alongside the beloved show. Published by Donut Publishing, developed by Exient Entertainment, the match-3 mobile game has gathered a considerable fanbase. The game uses a mix of hand animation and motion-captured data for all the dances in the game, using pro dancers from the UK version of the show - the Strictly Come Dancing. The game features over 150 dresses in the game and 9 dances: Quickstep, Jive, Tango, Salsa, Charleston, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha, and Paso Doble.

During development, Dave Hawkins, CEO, said, “We’re extremely excited and honoured to become a part of the massive success story that is Dancing With The Stars and our partnership with the BBC has resulted in a game that will break new boundaries in Match 3. By taking DWTS into the mobile space, we aim to showcase the talent, spectacle, fashion, drama and pure joy that is a night of glam and glitz in the palm of your hands.”^[36]

Harriet Frost, Brand Manager for Dancing with the Stars, added “We’re thrilled to have an exciting and entertaining Dancing with the Stars mobile game to introduce to all our passionate fans around the world. As one of the world's biggest entertainment brands, Dancing with the Stars is inventive, creative, glamorous and exciting and these values are all represented in our new mobile game. We’re delighted by how the game is developing and hope it will provide our fans with a new fun way to interact with the Dancing with the Stars brand and engage, excite and entertain our fantastic community across the globe.”^[37]

An unofficial live tour show called Dancing Pros: Live! toured with several Dancing pros^[38] since 2010.^[39] A Dancing with the Stars: Live! official tour was announced on November 3, 2014, for the 2014–2015 season starting on December 27, 2014, in Niagara Falls, New York, and ending February 15, 2015, hitting 33 cities.^[40] A second tour, “Dancing with the Stars Live! : Dance All Night” was announced. A third tour, Dancing with the Stars: Live! – We Came to Dance, was announced on October 3, 2016, for 43 cities from December 16, 2016, to February 14, 2017.^[41] A fourth tour, Dancing with the Stars: Light Up the Night, was announced in October 2017 and began on December 30, 2017, in Charlotte, North Carolina, performing 71 shows and ending in Los Angeles.^[42] A fifth tour, Dancing with the Stars: A Night to Remember, was announced on October 1, 2018. The tour began on December 15, 2018, in Columbia, South Carolina, and ended on March 9, 2019, in Thousand Oaks, California.

In 2016, a The New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "unlike So You Think You Can Dance, which is generally more of a city show, Dancing with the Stars is most popular in the countryside. It also has a higher share of 'likes' from viewers aged 65 and up than any other show.^[43]

The program has also been nominated for various other production-related awards since premiering in 2005, including for hairstyling, makeup, lighting design, and technical direction.