Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars kicked off with a bang on Tuesday, September 16, with a new cast of stars giving it their all on the dance floor. From social media influencers, reality stars and Olympic athletes to comedians and more, each lit up the ballroom with their routines.
Even the judges were impressed, with judge Derek Hough telling Robert Irwin and Witney Carson, “That was probably the best first dance I have ever seen on this show. That was incredible.”
Irwin and Carson went on to tie for first place at 15 points with Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt and her partner Mark Ballas. The tie was technically due to a scoring error from judge Bruno Tonioli, who meant to give Leavitt a 7, but accidentally locked in an 8, meaning Irwin and Carson were intended to be the evening’s true winners.
And for good reason. The wildlife conservationist and his partner started out the routine with him jumping off the hood of a safari car and tearing away his khaki shirt to reveal a colorful tropical one underneath.
Throughout the rest of the jive set to “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf, the pair pulled off some fancy footwork alongside an impressive back-bending move, and, most impressively of all, Irwin taking a massive leap straight over Carson’s head.
Fellow first-place scorers Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas pulled off an equally impressive and energetic tango to “Golden” from the film KPop Demon Hunters with Leavitt’s long golden skirt flowing gracefully around them.
Hilaria Baldwin and Gleb Savchenko came in second place with 14 points for their cha cha to “Let’s Get Loud” by Jennifer Lopez. The pair donned neon green outfits and brought the energy, finishing with an explosion of confetti.
Similar to Irwin, Alix Earle and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy added some creative storytelling to their routine set to “Circus” by Britney Spears. The routine began with Earle standing in front of a ring of fire holding a whip, which she playfully cracked before stepping down to the main floor to join Chmerkovskiy. They tied for third place with Lauren Jauregui and Brandon Armstrong, earning 13 points.
Jauregui and Armstrong chose to tango to “Yes, And?” by Ariana Grande, pulling off a smooth and graceful routine, that began with a dramatic back bend from Jauregui and ended in her being dipped back onto Armstrong’s bended knee.
As is typical for Dancing with the Stars, no one was eliminated in week one, meaning a double elimination will take place in episode two, which airs on ABC on September 23.
