Spoilers forward for the Season 34 premiere of Dancing with the Stars on ABC, obtainable streaming now with a Disney+ subscription and subsequent day with a Hulu subscription.
Dancing with the Stars has made its long-awaited return to ABC within the 2025 TV schedule, with Season 34 releasing within the present’s twentieth 12 months on the air. I’ve seen and heard longtime followers counting down the times till the premiere, however I for one hadn’t watched a single full episode since Season 32 in 2023, and I do not even keep in mind the final time I used to be glued to my sofa for a full season. There are solely so many hours of primetime in a day for an leisure journalist!
However I wished to see what the brand new season has in retailer with the most recent batch of fourteen celebrities. I discovered myself most impressed by the duo I have been wanting ahead to, however my coronary heart belongs to the underdog up to now.
Andy Richter: Underdog
I used to be fairly assured going into Season 34 that I wasn’t going to go all-in on one of many movie star contestants who had prior dance expertise, which meant that my coronary heart in all probability wasn’t going to belong to Elaine Hendrix, Hilaria Baldwin, or Whitney Leavitt. To my shock, I discovered that my very favourite efficiency of the evening got here from legendary discuss present sidekick Andy Richter, who has been paired with Emma Slater.
Richter’s private anthem for the premiere was Sam & Dave’s “Maintain On, I am Coming,” and I can not say that I used to be shocked to see that he and Slater tied for final with a complete of 9 factors. (Corey Feldman and Jenna Johnson had been the opposite two with 9.) That variety of factors is not as unhealthy because it sounds, as decide Carrie Ann Inaba was absent from the premiere, so solely twenty had been doable with Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli doling out the factors.
Their cha-cha-cha wasn’t the strongest of the evening, however Richter seemed like he was having a lot enjoyable as he went via the steps that I can not assist however cross my fingers for the underdog. He simply seemed glad, and that made me glad. And that is sufficient for me, so go Crew Andy!
That mentioned, there is a totally different duo who seemingly has higher odds of profitable the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, and their efficiency made for an awesome grand finale of the premiere.
Robert Irwin Went Wild
I had a good suggestion that Robert Irwin was going to be enjoyable from the beginning of the premiere as soon as I noticed that he was sporting an outfit that would not be misplaced within the wild, in comparison with the glitz, glamor, and glitter of the opposite contestants. He and associate Witney Carson hit the stage for a jive to Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.” They ripped off their khaki safari gear for a jungle print with some rhinestones, and so they introduced an awesome power to shut out two hours of dance.
Robert Irwin’s older sister Bindi should have handed on some nice recommendation after profitable in Season 21, as a result of he and Witney Carson did such an awesome jive that they tied for first with Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas. Each pairs earned fifteen factors from Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
So, after tuning in to my first full episode of Dancing with the Stars in years, I am rooting for Andy Richter because the underdog, adopted by Robert Irwin because the movie star with in all probability the higher likelihood of profitable. (Sorry, Andy.) All in all, it was sufficient that I am able to pencil the subsequent episode, which is able to characteristic one-hit wonders, into my calendar. Preserve tuning in to ABC or Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for the most recent from Dancing with the Stars.