‘Dancing With The Stars’ Premiere Sees One Celebrity Strike Out

Dancing With the Stars is back!

After one host waltzed away, a beloved judge passed away and a strike threatened to delay the dances, the ballroom competition returned to ABC and Disney+ Tuesday night with a new assortment of celebrity hopefuls vying for judges’ scores and public votes.

But by the time the Season 32 premiere episode was over, one of those stars lost hope and had to hang up their dancing shoes.

The top performers

Before taking a look at who had to say goodbye to the ballroom, let’s first focus on the performers who proved they have a fighting chance when it comes to the battle for the mirrorball trophy (now named in honor of late head judge Len Goodman).

Topping the leaderboard is recently engaged Bachelorette Charity Lawson, 27, who tangoed alongside pro Artem Chigvintsev (as fiance Dotun Olebeko looked on from the audience). The pair put on a fluid and sensual routine that left all the judges raving—and Carrie Ann Inaba almost dropping an F-bomb. The dance earned Lawson 22 out of a possible 30 point.

Two stars trailed Lawson by just one point with formidable performances of their own. Grammy winner Jason Mraz was one of them, having secured a trio of sevens for cha-cha-ing to his own song, “I feel like Dancing,” with pro Daniella Karagach. The secret to his dancing success? The 46-year-old credited his unusual physical feature—an extra vertebra in his back.

Vanderpump Rules’ woman scorned Ariana Maddix, 38, raked in 21 points of her own for a “hair-ography”-infused tango with pro Pasha Pashkov. Judge Bruno Tonioli dubbed it a “red-hot” routine.

Rounding out the best of the bunch were: Singer and social media star Lele Pons, 27, who delivered a tango alongside Brandon Armstrong that earned her 19 points total. Marvel movie star Xochitl Gomez, 17, who hit the dance floor with two-time champ Val Chmerkovskiy and nabbed 18 points for a cha-cha that left Inaba celebrating the teen’s “it factor.” And NFL All-Star Adrian Peterson, 38, matched their scores as he salsaed with pro partner with Britt Stewart.

Worth watching

Just missing those top contenders was Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino, but that’s just according to the numbers. While the judges only gave the 55-year-old and her partner, Gleb Savchenko, 17 out of 30 points, the in-house audience booed the judges for not giving her even more. After all, her cha-cha showed promise, so much so that Inaba raved, “All I could think of was, ‘Len would have loved that!’” Talk about high praise.

Behind Sorvino by one point, but ahead of her by 13 years, was Barry Williams of “The Brady Bunch” fame. With the help of pro champ Peta Murgatroyd, Williams wowed with his first foxtrot.

And Britney Spears’ little sister, 32-year-old actress Jamie Lynn Spears, eked out 15 points for her tango with pro hoofer Alan Bersten, while Buying Beverly Hills star Mauricio Umansky, 53, got the same for his jive with Emma Slater. (Especially impressive since he wasn’t quite sure if the jive was a song or a dance.)

Back of the pack

There were just four other stars who danced Tuesday night, but their moves weren’t so memorable.

How I Met Your Mother and Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Alyson Hannigan, 49, led the back of the pack with a 13-point salsa she performed with Sasha Farber.

As for last place, there was a three-way tie of failed cha-chas, with reality TV and social media star Harry Jowsey, 26, claiming 12 points alongside pro Rylee Arnold, supermodel Tyson Beckford getting the same for his with Jenna Johnson and Veep star Matt Walsh rounding out the cha-cha-blahs with Koko Iwasaki.

Of course, if anyone had a good reason to fall behind, it was Walsh.

As a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Emmy winner was forced to pull out of dance rehearsals before Season 32 got underway in solidarity with his union’s strike. But since a resolution was later reached between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, Walsh was able to hit the dance floor after all—albeit with far less practice time than the others.

Alas, it wasn’t enough. When the fan votes were tallied with the judges scores, Walsh got the first ballroom boot of the season.