“Dancing With the Stars” Season 35 opened with unusually high stakes on September 15, as the first night of the two-part premiere ended with an immediate elimination. After eight male celebrities performed their first routines, Conner Leavitt and professional partner Adele Zaikman became the first couple sent home.
Leavitt, known through “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” was making his ballroom debut alongside Zaikman, a brand-new “DWTS” professional who earned her spot after winning the inaugural season of “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro.”
For their only competitive performance, Leavitt and Zaikman danced a salsa to Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is).” The song fit the premiere theme, which had the celebrities performing to No. 1 hits connected to their birth years.
The judges enjoyed the playful personality of the routine but found problems with its execution. Carrie Ann Inaba described the dance as fun but chaotic, Derek Hough said it needed refinement, and Bruno Tonioli pointed to noticeable timing issues.
Those criticisms resulted in three 4s from the judging panel, giving Leavitt and Zaikman a total of 12 out of 30. It was one of the lowest totals of the evening, but importantly, it was not the lowest score.
That distinction belonged to Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson. Their cha-cha to Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” earned only 10 out of 30, with Inaba awarding a 4 while Hough and Tonioli each gave the couple a 3.
But “Dancing With the Stars” eliminations are not decided solely by the judges’ leaderboard. Viewer votes are combined with judges’ scores to determine which couples advance, meaning a contestant who receives fewer judges’ points can still survive with enough audience support.
Premiere night also encountered an unexpected complication when the show experienced problems with its online voting system. Because of the technical issue, only text-message votes were counted that night, adding another dramatic element to an already unusual opening episode.
When the results were revealed, Leavitt and Zaikman were left in danger alongside Rodriguez and Carson and Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold. Ultimately, Rodriguez and Wood survived, while Leavitt’s “DWTS” experience ended after only a single competitive dance.
Leavitt handled the disappointment graciously. After his elimination, he praised Zaikman and said he wanted viewers to have the opportunity to see her talent, while Zaikman described finally becoming a professional on the show as a dream come true despite their unexpectedly short run.
Leavitt also received public support from his wife, Whitney Leavitt, who competed on the previous season of “Dancing With the Stars.” She praised her husband for stepping far outside his comfort zone and encouraged him not to allow the disappointing result to overshadow what he had accomplished by accepting the challenge.
The result was a harsh reminder of just how unforgiving Season 35’s premiere format could be. Guillermo may have finished below Conner on the judges’ leaderboard, but viewer support helped keep him in the competition. For Leavitt and Zaikman, however, there was no second dance and no opportunity to improve—their entire Season 35 journey began and ended on premiere night.
