Maura Higgins made a striking entrance into the “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom during Night Two of the Season 35 premiere. The “Love Island” and “The Traitors” star teamed up with professional dancer Mark Ballas for a foxtrot to Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet,” earning some of the strongest reactions of the night.
The performance was especially significant because Higgins had repeatedly described herself as a complete dance beginner before the premiere. She said she had never danced before, making the polished quality of her first competitive ballroom routine a surprise even to Higgins herself.
Ballas designed the number around something both partners knew well: “The Traitors.” Higgins and Ballas appeared together as Faithfuls during Season 4 of the reality competition, giving them plenty of shared history to bring into their “DWTS” debut.
The theatrical routine included hooded figures representing the Traitors and opened with Ballas emerging from a coffin. The moment referenced his memorable elimination on “The Traitors,” where he had also been placed inside a coffin before ultimately being banished from the game.
Another familiar piece of “Traitors” history appeared in the routine: Higgins’ burgundy Hermès Birkin bag. Ballas handled the bag at the beginning of the dance before tossing it toward the audience, where Higgins’ former “Traitors” costar Rob Rausch was waiting.
The Birkin itself has quite a backstory. Rausch gave Higgins the luxury handbag after revealing himself as a Traitor during the Season 4 finale, a move that prevented Higgins from sharing in the prize money. Rausch attended the “DWTS” premiere alongside Lisa Rinna and held the bag with Higgins’ voting information displayed on it.
There was another personal connection hidden inside the performance. Ballas’ wife, singer-songwriter BC Jean, performed “Black Velvet” live with the “DWTS” band after Ballas needed a replacement vocalist at the last minute. Her involvement added another special element to an already elaborate premiere routine.
The judges responded enthusiastically. Carrie Ann Inaba described the performance as “mesmerizing,” while Bruno Tonioli was particularly impressed by Higgins’ movement quality for someone performing during the first week of the competition. Derek Hough also praised the routine while warning that such a strong debut had now raised expectations.
Those compliments translated into impressive scores. Inaba, Hough and Tonioli each awarded Higgins and Ballas a 7, producing a total of 21 out of 30 and putting them at the top of the women’s Night Two leaderboard.
The result was particularly meaningful given how difficult Higgins said rehearsals had been. Ballas jokingly described her earliest attempts as having “praying mantis vibes,” while Higgins credited him with patiently transforming someone who had virtually no dance experience into a contestant capable of delivering a polished opening-night routine.
Higgins admitted afterward that nerves had nearly overwhelmed her and that she essentially “blacked out” while performing. She called Ballas a “miracle worker” and expressed disbelief that she had gone from never dancing to beginning her “DWTS” journey at the top of the leaderboard.
With its coffin entrance, hooded Traitors, famous Birkin, live vocals and surprisingly polished foxtrot, Higgins and Ballas managed to turn their shared reality-TV history into one of Season 35’s most memorable opening performances. The 21-point score secured Higgins a place in Week Two, but Hough’s warning now hangs over the partnership: after starting this strongly, the judges will be expecting even more when she returns to the ballroom
