Dancing with the Stars: Reality TV Done Right

By: Izzy Daniel

Image Credit: DWTS Official Facebook Page

Last year, I fell in love. Robert Irwin is the perfect guy. Smart. Funny. A Mirrorball Champion. When the last season of Dancing with the Stars was over, filled with a star-studded cast including Alix Earle, Andy Richter, Jordan Chiles, and of course, Robert Irwin, all I wanted to do was see the next season. I eagerly awaited the two-day premiere, making sure all of my homework was done before 8 pm on September 15th and 16th, so I could give my undivided attention to the ballroom. The opening number was stunning, and I was even excited about some of the couples.

For those unaware of the format of the show, Dancing with the Stars works like this: celebrities who have little to no dance experience are paired with professional dancers who attempt to teach them how to dance in various different styles to ultimately be judged by 3 or more celebrity judges and, of course, the public. Each week, the couples must come up with a new dance, and there is also a new theme each week. Examples of themed nights in the past have included NFL Week and Wicked Week. 

Even though I was born in 2009 and many of the celebrities this year were from shows produced in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, I still managed to pinpoint where I knew some of their faces from. The first actress of note is none other than Julia Stiles, who played Kat Stratford in the hit rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You. If you haven’t seen the movie, I give you permission to stop reading this article, grab a good snack, and start watching this movie immediately. Kat, and by proxy Julia, became the antithesis of the popular manic pixie dream girl trope (thank you, Mrs. Ashbrook, for educating me on this), so many women were falling into popular 2000s rom-coms. A manic pixie dream girl is essentially a woman who is bubbly, eccentric, and a therapist of sorts for the male love interest in their story. Examples you may know include Sam from The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Nikki Freeman in Obsession. Kat was abrasive, intellectual, and a bit anti-social, all things women were too afraid to admit aligned with their personalities until Kat/Julia made it cool to do so in the movie. I even had a picture of Kat Stratford reading The Bell Jar on my manifestation board for a while. All of this to say, when I found out Julia was dancing with my favorite permanent cast member Ezra Sosa, my excitement for the new season rose even more. Since the announcement of her participation in the cast, Julia Stiles’ follower count has risen to well over 1.8 million followers. It is safe to say I was not the only one excited for her return to the spotlight. 

In addition to Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa, other notable couples entering the ballroom this season are Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov, Jackson Olsen and Emma Slater, as well as Ezra French and Daniella Karagach. Amber Glenn competed in the 2026 Winter Olympics alongside Alyssa Liu and Isabell Levito. She is a 3x national figure skating champion, 2026 Olympic Gold Medalist, and the first openly LGBTQIA+ women’s figure skating champion. 

Ezra French is an American Paralympic gold medalist high jumper who also co-founded Angel City Sports to help normalize and provide sports access for people with physical disabilities. 

Jackson Olson is a baseball infielder for the Savannah Bananas, a baseball team that focuses on the joy that can be found in the sport, rather than simply playing for runs and a spot in the playoffs. At a Savannah Bananas game, you can expect lots of dancing, popular music, and even celebrity guest appearances. Jackson was just eliminated in the Horror Film Night in a crazy double elimination. 

Along with Jackson Olson, Tyler Cameron was eliminated on the most recent episode. This season, Conner Leavitt, Sarah Jane Nader, Giada De Laurentiis, Taylor Hanson, Ciara Miller, and Guillermo Rodriguez have been eliminated. Conner Leavitt’s wife, Whitney Leavitt, is famous for her role on the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a Hulu TV series chronicling the famous group of TikTokers known as MomTok. She competed on the last season of Dancing with the Stars and placed 5th. Ciara Miller is also on a popular reality TV series called Summer House, where she is both a nurse during the week and a member of the drama-filled household during the weekends that fill the summer months. These eliminations were hard to watch as many popular celebrities were eliminated in early rounds of the show this year—something that is not in line with trends from past years. Often, the most famous celebrities would make it the farthest in the show because of popular vote.

Still left on the show this season are Amber Glenn, Connor Wood, Ezra French, Harry Shum Jr., Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles, Maura Higgins, and Tatyana Ali. 

I myself am not a dancer in the slightest, but watching the show brings a sense of peace in an otherwise busy week. I am able to talk about Dancing with the Stars with friends and family in a way that makes me forget that there are more important things than if someone missed a step in their Argentine Tango or forgot a turn in their Contemporary. Watching the show has shown me the power of a widespread group of people forgetting about the stresses of the world for a few hours. My Instagram feed is flooded with content about favorite dances and cast interviews post-show, and I get to experience it every week during the fall. While reality TV has always been marketed as a trashy and un-intellectual form of consumption, I think that Dancing with the Stars is changing that. It is a wholesome show that is safe for family viewing, and finding something that both teens, parents, and younger kids will like is a rather hard balance to strike these days. So, my piece of advice? Turn on ABC on Monday, November 2nd at 8 pm. It’s Disney Night in the ballroom!