Dancing With the Stars Season 35 concluded its unusual two-night premiere on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, with eight female celebrities performing before Jane Nader and her professional partner, Hailey Bills, were eliminated from the competition.
The second night followed the Tuesday, September 15 opening, which featured the male celebrities, with the two-night format producing one elimination on each night and leaving 14 couples in the competition.
Nader and Bills received 14 points out of 30 for their jive to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” before becoming the second couple sent home during the Season 35 premiere.
The elimination followed the departure of Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman on the first night, marking the first time since Season 32 that contestants were eliminated during the opening week.
The female contestants performed songs that reached No. 1 in the year they were born, continuing the nostalgic theme established during the first night of the premiere.
Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas recorded the highest score among the female contestants, earning 21 out of 30 for their foxtrot to Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet.”
Higgins’ performance also featured a Birkin bag connected to her appearance on The Traitors, adding a theatrical moment to the routine before the couple received three sevens from the judges.
Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy followed with 19 points for their tango to Blondie’s “Call Me,” while Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov and Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa each scored 18 points.
Glenn performed a cha-cha to Santana’s “Smooth,” while Stiles danced a quickstep to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.”
Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Bersten earned 16 points for their tango to “Venus,” while Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong scored 15 for their foxtrot to Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”
Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik received 12 points for their jive to “Knock on Wood,” giving Ali the lowest judges’ score of the night despite remaining in the competition after the viewer vote.
Nader and Bills’ 14-point performance placed them among the lowest-scoring couples alongside Ali and Ravnik and De Laurentiis and Bersten before the final elimination was announced.
Nader had entered the competition as part of the show’s second all-female celebrity-professional partnership, with Bills making her professional debut on the programme.
Before her elimination, Nader described being part of the pairing as an important opportunity for representation and said she wanted viewers to see her as an individual beyond her family connections and reality television background.
The elimination means the Season 35 competition now moves forward with 14 celebrity-professional couples after the unusual premiere format sent two contestants home within two nights.
The remaining contestants will return to the ballroom on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, when the competition moves into its regular weekly format and the male and female contestants compete together.
The Wednesday, September 16 episode therefore closed the opening chapter of Season 35 with Higgins and Ballas leading the female leaderboard on 21 points, while Nader and Bills became the second couple eliminated from the competition.
