Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars premiered September 15 and 16 on ABC with a 16-celebrity cast, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and former pro Julianne Hough, and judged by Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough.

This season’s lineup

The cast includes actor Julia Stiles, figure skating Olympian Amber Glenn, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” regular Guillermo Rodriguez, actor and singer Tatyana Ali (paired with Jan Ravik), former “Bachelorette” contestant Tyler Cameron (paired with Sharna Burgess), celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis (paired with Alan Bersten), and actor Jenna Dewan (paired with Val Chmerkovskiy). Reality personality Sarah Jane Nader and pro Hailey Bills make up the show’s third-ever same-sex pairing.

How elimination actually works

Each week, the three judges score every couple’s routine, and viewers vote for their favorites live during the broadcast — through the DWTS app, ABC.com, or by text, depending on the season’s current voting setup. Judges’ points and fan votes are combined into a single leaderboard; the couple with the lowest combined total each week lands in the bottom and faces elimination. In some seasons, the judges have the final say between the two lowest-scoring couples rather than a pure audience vote — the show announces which format applies at the start of each season.

Fan voting typically opens the moment a couple finishes performing and closes shortly after the live episode ends, so votes only count on the night a routine actually airs — there’s no voting for eliminated contestants or catching up later.

With 16 couples in the mix this season, the first few weeks tend to see the widest score spreads before the competition tightens heading into the later rounds.