A glittering mirrorball graces the screen as a blare of trumpets sing the familiar theme song. Every Tuesday at 8 p.m., more than six million devoted viewers watch the same charming opening for the newest season of Dancing with the Stars.
This reality TV show pits celebrities against each other in a ballroom dance competition. Across the span of 11 weeks, stars are paired with professional ballroom dancers and learn a wide range of dance styles, including the quickstep, the samba and contemporary, all to win the coveted mirrorball trophy. Dancing with the Stars has been running for the past 20 years, however, more recently, the competition has surged in popularity, specifically with its Gen Z audience.
This trend seemed to begin in 2022 during season 31, in which TikTok star Charli D’Amelio competed and won the mirrorball with her partner Mark Ballas. Her appearance brought her own following of young fans to the ballroom floor, and after her season, TikTok also began playing a more prominent role in the Dancing with the Stars marketing.
Specifically, in her debut season, pro dancer Rylie Arnold began sharing her experiences on the show on her TikTok account. The behind-the-scenes look on the competition increased viewer votes and engagement with Dancing with the Stars. Following Arnold’s example, more pros began sharing competition-related content on their social media accounts. This further attracted younger Dancing with the Stars fans as well as turned the pros into influencers in their own right.
Not only do the pros use TikTok, so do the showrunners themselves. Running simultaneously with the live competition, a Dancing with the Stars TikTok livestream gives fans even more backstage access every Tuesday evening.
“Social media definitely made me want to watch the show even more as [Dancing with the Stars] TikToks would constantly come up on my TikTok [for you page],” Emma Kang (’26) said. “I loved watching the pros’ TikToks and clips from their TikTok lives because they are really funny and made watching the show even more enjoyable.”
This increased engagement has been clear with no indication of slowing down. Before the elimination round of the semi-finals, co-host Alfonso Ribeiro reported that the audience had broken the record number of votes for the competition—a consistent trend almost every week since the start of this year’s season.
Another appeal of the show is that it airs live. The audience gets to feel like they are in the room with the celebrities, pros, and judges alike, participating in the drama as they can vote on who they want to see continue in the competition.
“What makes this show different from other reality TV shows is that it is all live, and viewers can help choose who gets eliminated,” Claire Kirkhorn (’27) said. “[This] is something … that has made me so invested in watching the show every week.”
At the time of publication, season 34 of Dancing with the Stars has come to a close after the finale on Tuesday, Nov. 25. This year’s mirrorball champion is wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin and his partner, Whitney Carson. The viewer engagement for this anticipated episode was through the roof, Ribeiro announcing that the finale had racked in 72 million votes from the audience.
While the season has ended, the pros will continue to grace the stage in their annual Dancing with the Stars Live tour across the US, and will face once again in next year’s season 35 competition.
