DWTS Season 35 Splits Into Two Nights — and Hands Out an Early Goodbye
A New Shape for Premiere Week
Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars opened with a format twist: rather than one long premiere, ABC split the night into two separate broadcasts, with the men's cast taking the floor first and the women following the next night, as multiple outlets tracking the rollout confirmed.
The change built in an elimination after each broadcast, meaning premiere week delivered two exits instead of the usual one — a faster, higher-stakes start than fans are used to. It also gave each half of the cast its own dedicated spotlight night rather than splitting screen time across a single crowded premiere, a structural choice that let judges and viewers focus more closely on fewer dancers at a time.
For a franchise entering its 35th season, the tweak reads as an attempt to freshen up a format that has run largely unchanged for years, giving the show a built-in talking point heading into a milestone season.
Night One Belonged to the Men
As The Hollywood Reporter detailed in its scoring breakdown, the men's half of the cast danced first, with judges handing out the season's opening scores and setting an early pecking order for the competition.
By the end of the night, Conner Leavitt was the celebrity voted off, becoming Season 35's first elimination, according to E! News's coverage of the results. The result caught some viewers off guard, given how the show's early scoring often favors dancers with built-in name recognition heading into the vote.
The Women Took Their Turn
Night two flipped the format, with the women's cast getting their first shot at the judges before viewers voted on the second half of the twist. Outlets tracking the results confirmed a second couple followed Leavitt out the door, closing the two-night premiere on a suitably brutal note.
The back-to-back eliminations mean the ballroom lost two celebrities in a single week — a pace the show hasn't leaned on this hard in recent premieres.
Quick Facts
DWTS Season 35 aired its premiere across two separate nights
The men's cast competed first, followed by the women the next night
Conner Leavitt was the first celebrity eliminated
A second couple was eliminated to close out the two-night premiere
The format doubled the usual number of premiere-week eliminations
Why Producers Brought the Twist Back
Splitting the cast and doubling up on eliminations isn't new to the franchise; producers have used variations of it in past seasons to build urgency early and keep the cast from feeling bloated heading into the back half. Season 34 experimented with a similar double-elimination beat, and its return this year suggests producers see it as a keeper rather than a one-off.
With a full cast of celebrities and a two-night format, the show also gets extra ad inventory and a built-in cliffhanger between broadcasts — a move that plays as well for the network's bottom line as it does for suspense. It also gives ABC two full nights of promotable content out of a single premiere week, a scheduling advantage that matters as the network competes for live-viewing eyeballs against an increasingly fragmented Wednesday and Tuesday night lineup.
What It Means for the Rest of the Season
Losing two couples in week one thins the field faster than usual, putting pressure on the remaining cast to distinguish themselves before Halloween-themed episodes and other franchise tentpoles arrive later in the fall run.
Expect the show to settle back into its standard weekly rhythm from here, with judges' leaderboards and fan-vote dynamics likely to shift quickly now that the pack has already been culled twice.
FAQs
Who went home first on DWTS Season 35?
Conner Leavitt was the first celebrity eliminated, voted off after the men's night-one performances.
Why did DWTS split the premiere into two nights?
Producers used a two-night format with the men competing first and the women the next night, building in an elimination after each broadcast.
Was there a double elimination in the premiere?
Yes — across the two nights, two couples were sent home instead of the usual single premiere-week elimination.
When does DWTS air new episodes?
The show returns to its regular weekly schedule following the two-night premiere event.
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