Dancing With The Stars Is Cool Again In Season 35 — Why Gen Z Is Locked In
After over two decades on the air, the show has finally found a rhythm with young fans.
For three seasons now, I’ve rarely skipped a new episode of Dancing With the Stars. I spend the two-hour Tuesday night slot alternating between spamming my friends reviews of each performance and texting my votes to 21523 (yes, I have the number memorized). Many people, in my own circles and online, are doing the same. Bars host watch parties the same way they would for historically buzzier shows, like Love Island, The Traitors, and Scamanda-era Summer House. Clips of the dances flood my FYP the next day. It feels like everywhere you look, someone has an opinion on heel leads.
I’m not the only one noticing a pattern. Across social media, people have wondered whether Dancing With the Stars, a 21-year-old show beloved by Boomer book clubs, has suddenly become a hit with the youth, or whether they’ve just gotten old enough to enjoy it. But since the show has begun to stream live on Disney+ in 2022, it’s gained a boatload of new, young fans. With the Season 35 premiere drawing the show’s highest opener viewership in six years, and its highest ratings among women aged 18-34 since 2013, something has clearly shifted. Dancing With the Stars might actually be cool again.
Rebranding From Career Rehab To A Real Springboard
One of the telltale signs that something is popular amongst Gen Z: its presence on the TikTok FYP. And over the past few years, Dancing With the Stars has become a viral phenomenon. It was even named the No. 1 most social program of 2025, with 6.9 million social interactions. But that viral success alone isn’t what turned DWTS into what it is now — the TikTok effect allowed the series to pull off a strategic rebrand.
Throughout the 2010s, the series’ casting had kind of become a joke for constantly bringing in washed-up actors or nostalgia-play performers. The series was clearly courting an older demographic, but to its credit, the producers shifted focus after realizing how well the format works with TikTok. Getting cast on the show, even for nostalgia’s sake, can boost your star status — just look at Elaine Hendrix, the Parent Trap actress who placed fifth in 2025, and her nearly 940k TikTok followers, compared to 2019 runner-up, Keenan and Kel’s Kel Mitchell’s 605k followers. Even Alfonso Ribeiro, who won DWTS in 2014 and has been hosting since 2022, barely beats out fellow Fresh Prince star and current DWTS competitor Tatyana Ali, with 1.3M followers to her 934k.
Since Charli D’Amelio joined the lineup in 2022, DWTS has also been on top of casting the hottest, buzziest talent, bringing stars Alix Earle and Ciara Miller — and their devoted, chronically online, Gen Z fanbases — into the fold. They’ve also been adept at identifying young, emergent stars like Ilona Maher, last season’s champion Robert Irwin, and on this season, Connor Wood. A show that used to signify when a celeb’s career was struggling now serves as a launchpad for the next generation of faces — flinging young stars into hosting gigs and even Broadway roles.
This contrasts with the show’s pre-TikTok attempts at bringing young Internet stars into the mainstream — YouTubers Bethany Mota and Alexis Ren both shifted away from social media in the years following their 2014 and 2018 runs on the show, without many other career moves to show for it.
The Cast Locked In
While DWTS has generally made smart casting choices, it wouldn’t truly be the same if the stars hadn’t embraced the opportunity for what it was — a chance to find a new audience online. Julia Stiles made her first-ever TikTok the day before she was announced on the show, and has used the platform to reintroduce Gen Z to some of her most iconic films. Meanwhile, Ilona Maher pivoted her star-making turn on the show into a successful podcast, House of Maher, and recently launched her new video series, Power Hour with Ilona Maher. Even 59-year-old Andy Richter took advantage of his virality, with his devoted TikTok fanbase propelling him into a spot hosting the Dancing With the Stars Official Podcast.
The pros have have also jumped at the chance to show off their personalities on social media. Ezra Sosa became a star in his own right thanks to his frequent, hilarious TikTok posting, following his Week 1 elimination alongside Anna Delvey during his freshman season. The cast’s personal accounts also serve as bonus content for the most dedicated fans. Tune in for the sweet relationship between Ezra Frech and pros Daniella Karagach and Pasha Pashkov’s daughter Nikita, Whitney Carson’s on-set gender reveal, or the eliminated pros’ hilariously dramatic weekly farewell dances.
Ballroom dance is notorious for its strict rules and hesitancy to change. But Dancing With the Stars has been willing to learn a few new tricks, allowing Gen Z to waltz through the doors, and claim the show as their own.
