‘Dancing With the Stars’ Timeline: Looking Back on 20 Years of Major Moments
Dancing With the Stars has quite a history on TV, from its debut 20 years ago to moments that have kept viewers tuning in season after season. There are plenty of events and milestones from the hit competition series to look back on, no matter what kind of fan or viewer you’ve been.
Whether it’s the rotation of hosts or celebrity performers, engagements, triumphs, or close calls, below, we reflect on the biggest moments in Dancing With the Stars‘ timeline so far. Dance down memory lane in the gallery roundup below, and shout out your favorites in the comments section.
Dancing With the Stars, Season 34 Premiere, Tuesday, September 16, 8/7c, ABC
For a more extended celebration of two decades of Dancing With the Stars, from exclusive interviews to retrospectives and must-see photos, pick up a copy of TV Guide Magazine’s Dancing With the Stars 20th Anniversary special issue, available for purchase online at DWTS.TVGM2025.com and on newsstands now.
June 1, 2005 - Dancing With the Stars premieres
“Welcome to the very first episode of Dancing With the Stars,” boomed host Tom Bergeron, standing next to cohost Lisa Canning, in the opening shot. “This is a competition like you’ve never seen before.” He wasn’t kidding. Alongside judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli, the ballroom showdown was filmed live from Hollywood. Just six stars competed in the opening season: first-ever Bachelorette lead Trista Sutter, boxer Evander Holyfield, model Rachel Hunter, New Kids on the Block’s Joey McIntyre, actor John O’Hurley and the eventual winner, soap opera actress Kelly Monaco.
December 14, 2005 - Master P steps in for son Romeo
The show must go on! Injuries are commonplace on DWTS now, but before the highly anticipated sophomore season even began, hip-hop artist Romeo suffered a basketball injury and couldn’t continue rehearsals. His father, rapper Master P, volunteered to take the spot of his son and was paired with professional dancer Ashly DelGrosso (right, with Master P) for the season, which started airing on January 5, 2006. Unfortunately, Master P was not a master dancer. Romeo later returned in Season 12 to avenge his father’s low scores.
December 29, 2005 - Samantha Harris joins the show, taking over for Lisa Canning
E! News correspondent Harris cut in for Canning after the first season aired, joining Tom Bergeron on the ballroom floor. According to a Variety story at the time, Canning’s onscreen hosting was “sometimes shaky,” so her departure was not considered a surprise. Harris stuck around for eight seasons before leaving to focus on her correspondent duties.
October 22, 2007 - Marie Osmond passes out during a live broadcast
In what is now one of the most infamous DWTS moments, competitor Osmond fainted after she and pro dance partner Jonathan Roberts finished their samba routine. They were being interviewed by Bergeron at the time, and the host kept his composure, throwing to a commercial. Afterward, Bergeron joked: “I want to just quote her exactly.… The first words out of her mouth when she saw us all leaning over her were ‘Oh, crap.’”
January 7, 2008 - Spinoff Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann premieres
Between Seasons 5 and 6 of the flagship, the first spinoff competition premiered. The show pitted judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba against each other in a fun twist on the BBC’s DanceX. Season 2 DWTS champ Drew Lachey emceed. Tonioli and Inaba were tasked with choosing and training two rival teams of singing and dancing amateur performers. Team Bruno won after seven weeks, and Dance War concluded with a two-hour series finale on February 18, 2008.
May 6, 2008 - The 100th episode airs
During Season 6, the show celebrated its first major milestone with an all-out two-hour installment where the judges picked their 10 favorite dances from the first five seasons. Season 3 runner-up Mario Lopez and pro Karina Smirnoff‘s tango was awarded No. 1 — and Lopez later performed a number with the cast of A Chorus Line. More former stars stopped by too, like Stacy Keibler, Mark Cuban, Jerry Springer, Lisa Rinna, and Harry Hamlin.
March 8, 2010 - Brooke Burke joins Bergeron as a cohost
Burke, who won the seventh season of DWTS, was announced as cohost with Tom Bergeron in the ballroom on Good Morning America ahead of the Season 10 opener. The actress had previously emceed CBS’s Rock Star and E!’s Wild On.
September 23, 2012 - The show receives its first Emmy Award
The night before the All-Stars season, Tom Bergeron took home a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. He had been nominated six times previously, but what made the win particularly surprising was that Jeff Probst of CBS’s Survivor had won the award every year since its inception in 2008. In 2012, however, he hadn’t even been nominated. Bergeron, of course, jokingly thanked Probst for not being up for the award that year.
September 24, 2012 - The All-Stars season premieres
The special 15th season saw fan favorites from prior installments return to the ballroom, including six former Mirrorball winners: Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey, Emmitt Smith, Apolo Ohno, Hélio Castroneves and Shawn Johnson (above, with pro Derek Hough). It was also the only season to feature fractional (.5) scores. Season 8 finalist and former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Melissa Rycroft defeated Season 8 champ Johnson and Season 1’s Monaco, claiming the victory alongside pro Tony Dovolani. Though the concept was fun, it was not deemed a success. At the time, showrunner Conrad Green attributed the drop in viewership to fans being overly familiar with the contestants and the show losing that getting-to-know-the-stars aspect.
February 14, 2014 - Erin Andrews replaces Burke
The Fox Sports reporter, who competed on Season 10 alongside pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy, was announced ahead of Season 18 as Tom Bergeron’s latest cohost just before the March 17 premiere. Burke, upon departing, said, “I have enjoyed seven seasons cohosting DWTS but understand the need for change…. I’ve seen my fair share of shocking eliminations in the ballroom, but this one takes the cake.”
April 28, 2015 - 10-year anniversary special airs
Another major milestone occurred in this Season 20 episode, which opened with a jam-packed performance featuring the largest number of people dancing in the show’s history to date, with over 45 stars, the judges, and hosts getting in on the action. The special also included first-season champ Kelly Monaco and pro Val Chmerkovskiy showing a lot of skin during a sexy routine. Dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy and judge Len Goodman rode a bicycle built for two on the ballroom floor. Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson proved they deserved to win the previous season’s trophy. Nearly every former NFL player on the show returned for a fun group dance. And Amber Riley, Lil’ Kim, and Patti LaBelle performed “Lady Marmalade.” It was a perfect 10.
September 12, 2016 - Protestors rush the dance floor
Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte faced a lot of backlash when he was cast in Season 23, amid reports that he had lied about being robbed at gunpoint during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics the previous month. It all came to a head when, after Lochte and his pro partner Cheryl Burke finished a performance and they were listening to the judges, two protestors rushed the stage. The two men, wearing anti-Lochte shirts and yelling “Liar,” were taken out swiftly by security and later arrested. More were sitting in the audience. Bergeron gracefully cut to commercial, and when the show resumed, he said: “We had a little incident. I would personally like to thank our security team for staying in shape.”
October 4, 2016 - Sasha Farber proposes to Emma Slater live on the air
The two pro dancers performed a sweet contemporary number to Bruno Mars‘ “Just the Way You Are” to kick off a Season 23 episode. The intro dance was standard. What wasn’t was Tom Bergeron pulling them both center stage afterward and handing the mic over to Farber, who quickly got down on one knee. Streamers rained down on the happy couple as a “She Said YES!” screen showed in the background. Bergeron later quipped: “Sasha just proposed to Emma, and thankfully she said yes because we didn’t have graphics for the other option.”
October 7, 2018 - Dancing With the Stars: Juniors spinoff premieres
This pint-size version of the show featured young celebrities (either in their own right or related to famous folks) paired with junior ballroom dancers and mentored by an adult professional dancer over nine episodes. Some of the cast included Dance Moms‘ Mackenzie Ziegler, black-ish actor Miles Brown, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and Disney actor Jason Maybaum (left, with Elliana Walmsley). DWTS Season 25 winner Jordan Fisher and finalist Frankie Muniz hosted. Pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Emmy-winning choreographer Mandy Moore and Season 26 celeb winner Adam Rippon served as the judges. On December 9, 2018, skateboarder Sky Brown won. In September 2019, the series was canceled after one season.
July 13-14, 2020 - Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews exit and Tyra Banks becomes host
In a shocking shake-up, longtime host Bergeron announced that he was dismissed from his role on July 13. He cited disagreements over political casting — primarily Sean Spicer in Season 28. “Make us the wonderful escape from all that divisiveness for two hours a week,” Bergeron recalled urging them. Andrews exited at the same time. The following day, supermodel Tyra Banks was announced as Bergeron’s replacement (and an exec producer) for the forthcoming 29th season. Said ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke in a statement: “[Banks’] fresh take on America’s favorite dancing competition will surely bring more than a ‘Smize’ to fans everywhere.”
September 8, 2020 - Former professional dancer Derek Hough officially enters the judging panel
Fan favorite and pro dancer Hough, who had claimed a remarkable six Mirrorball wins while dancing on the series from 2007 through 2016, joined the panel for Season 29, replacing longtime judge Len Goodman. At the time, Goodman had to remain in the U.K. due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, Hough is a permanent fixture on the panel, alongside Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba, who have been there since the series opener. “This show has been and will always be incredibly special to me,” Hough said on Good Morning America when his new role was announced. “Coming back [to judge] feels like coming home, and I couldn’t be more excited to be back in the ballroom.”
April 8, 2022 - ABC announces Season 31 will air exclusively on Disney+
After 30 seasons of broadcasting on ABC, the network temporarily moved the competition series to its streamer, Disney+, where it became the first live series to debut on the service. The reason? So that they could air more Monday Night Football on ABC, which overlapped with Dancing. After a poor reception to Season 31 and its new streaming home, however, it was decided that the show would air on both ABC and Disney+ as a simulcast for Season 32, seriously relieving fans everywhere.
September 19, 2022 - Former winner Alfonso Ribeiro joins Banks as cohost
For Banks’ third and final season, she was joined by Season 19 Mirrorball winner Ribeiro. “I’ve known Alfonso since I was 19 years old, and he always puts a smile on my face whenever I see him,” said Banks in a statement. “Having such a fun-loving, longtime friend as cohost warms my heart. Plus, he’s won the competition before, so he knows exactly what the stars are going through. Bantering back and forth with him live is going to be so much fun!”
November 14, 2022 - Judge Len Goodman announces his retirement
It was the end of an era. “This will be my last season judging on Dancing With the Stars,” said Goodman to the camera in the Season 31 finale, as the audience immediately jumped in with boos. The beloved ballroom great (center, with Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli) died on April 22, 2023, from cancer, but at the time, Goodman cited his reason for leaving as wanting to spend more time with his family in Britain.
September 26, 2023 - Former professional dancer Julianne Hough joins Alfonso Ribeiro as cohost
Hough, who started as a pro dancer in Season 4 and later served as a guest judge and permanent judge, moved into the cohost spot alongside Alfonso Ribeiro for Season 32. In her inaugural hosting episode, Hough helped debut the redesigned Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, named for the late judge and her own beloved mentor.
November 12, 2024 - The series' 500th episode airs
Happy 500! Season 33’s eighth episode paid homage to past dances over the course of the series with its remaining dancers re-creating the now-iconic routines. Bachelor alum Joey Graziadei and his pro dance partner Jenna Johnson paid tribute to the emotional contemporary routine that Riker Lynch and Allison Holker first danced in Season 20 to Hozier‘s “Work Song.” (The skilled couple would later go on to take home the Mirrorball trophy for this season.) Afterward, and for the first time in Dancing history, the stars competed in an instant dance round that was nothing short of a challenge for the final hoofers.
September 16, 2025 - Season 34 premieres
The upcoming season begins on ABC with returning cast members Carrie Ann Inaba, Alfonso Ribeiro, Julianne Hough, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough.
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