‘DWTS’ Disabled Contestants: Ezra Frech & More Who Competed With Disabilities
Dancing With the Stars is a difficult journey for any contestant, but over the years, a handful of stars have come to the show with disabilities, adding a whole other layer to the process. Season 35 includes a fan-favorite disabled contestant, Ezra Frech, whose leg was amputated above the knee when he was a child. He also only has two fingers on his left hand.
Frech is not the first amputee in DWTS history, but there have been various other disabilities highlighted on the show over the course of 35 seasons as well. Two disabled contestants, J.R. Martinez and Nyle DiMarco, even went on to win the show during their seasons in 2011 and 2016, respectively.
With Frech impressing the judges and viewers week after week in Season 35, we’re looking back at other disabled celebrities who also took on the daunting challenge of DWTS. Scroll down to check out the full list.
Dancing With the Stars, Season 35, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+
Heather Mills (Season 4)
Heather Mills was the first amputee to compete on Dancing With the Stars. The model and activist had her left leg amputated below the knee after she was run over by a police motorcycle in 1993.
Mills and her partner, Jonathan Roberts, finished in seventh place.
Marlee Matlin (Season 6)
Marlee Matlin, who has been deaf since she was 18 months old, came in seventh place with partner Fabian Sanchez.
J.R. Martinez (Season 13)
Martinez tends to reject being labeled as disabled, but nearly 40% of his body was burned when he was serving the United States Army in Iraq in 2003. Less than a decade later, he and Karina Smirnoff won Dancing With the Stars.
Jack Osbourne (Season 17)
Jack Osbourne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2012. The following year, he came in third place on DWTS with Cheryl Burke.
Amy Purdy (Season 18)
When Paralympian Amy Purdy was 19 years old, she contracted a form of bacterial meningitis and had to have both of her legs amputated below the knee. She also lost hearing in her left ear.
Fifteen years after beating the odds, Purdy finished in second place with Derek Hough on Dancing With the Stars.
Noah Galloway (Season 20)
Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess finished DWTS in third place in 2015. A decade earlier, he lost his left arm above the elbow and left leg above the knee while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq.
Nyle DiMarco (Season 22)
DiMarco was born deaf, but that didn’t stop him from winning the show with partner Peta Murgatroyd.
Terra Jolé (Season 23)
Terra Jolé, who was born with Achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism, finished her season in fifth place with Sasha Farber.
Victoria Arlen (Season 25)
When Victoria Arlen was 11, she developed two rare conditions that caused her to slip into a vegetative state for four years. She was unable to speak, eat, walk, and move. However, in 2015, a new medication allowed Alren to start recovery. Although she was paralyzed from the waist down, she miraculously began learning how to walk again, but she still lacks feeling in the lower part of her body.
Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy came in fifth place on DWTS.
Danelle Umstead (Season 27)
Danelle Umstead was the first blind contestant to compete on Dancing With the Stars. She and Artem Chmerkovskiy were the second couple eliminated from their season.
Selma Blair (Season 31)
Selma Blair competed on Dancing With the Stars in 2022, four years after she received her MS diagnosis. The competition wound up taking a toll on her body, leading her to withdraw in the fifth week of competition.
Daniel Durant (Season 31)
Daniel Durant, who was born deaf, finished in fifth place with partner Britt Stewart, who is now his wife!
Ezra Frech (Season 35)
Frech was born with a congenital limb difference, which led to his leg amputation. Doctors also removed his big toe from the foot that was amputated and put it on his hand, where he previously only had one finger.
He and Daniella Karagach are currently competing on the show.
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