The iconic dance competition Dancing With the Stars, which has been going strong since 2005 pairing celebrities with professional dancers, is back for Season 32 on ABC Tuesdays beginning Sept. 26 with plenty of familiar faces as well as some new ones. [Editor’s note: ABC was considering postponing the premiere due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but it will air as scheduled and Matt Walsh will compete.]
Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough run the judges table, following the retirement and subsequent passing of beloved judge Len Goodman, who died just three days short of his 79th birthday.
Previous host Tyra Banks is moving on to different projects, and Alfonso Ribeiro will replace her as host, with professional dancer Julianne Hough cohosting in the skybox. “Both Julianne and I have a love of the show,” Ribeiro said. “I have been a huge fan of the show from the very beginning. I’ve done it from many different positions: as a celebrity, as a guest performer, as a judge and now emcee on the floor. I’ve kind of done it all.”
Though the show has remained relatively the same in its format since the outset, Ribeiro shared that Season 31 (which only streamed on Disney+) was a bit more challenging behind the scenes and he is looking forward to DWTS returning to ABC. “Last season was probably the most tense working environment for me in that there were also no commercial breaks. Because of that, there’s no time to do anything other than be onstage.”
So how is Ribeiro preparing for his new role? “It’s all about being prepared for anything to happen. So lots of little things that as a host you have to be aware of. That’s well outside of just delivering the dialogue. It’s week to week,” he explained. “You don’t know what’s going to happen in live television, who’s going to be there, who’s going to be gone, what kind of spots are opening up. There’s not a lot of lead time on any of it. That’s the beautiful aspect of live TV, that energy of it just keeps going and you’re on the train and you don’t stop until it reaches its destination.”
Celebs competing this season include actors Alyson Hannigan, Matt Walsh, Mira Sorvino and Barry Williams, reality TV stars Ariana Madix and Charity Lawson, model/actor Tyson Beckford, singer Jason Mraz and former NFL star Adrian Peterson.