‘Dancing With the Stars’ Announces Elimination Twist Ahead of 2-Night Season 35 Premiere

The time has come to put on your dancing shoes (read: sit on your couch and do nothing while watching other people exercise), because Dancing With the Stars is back! Season 35 premieres in just a few days on September 15 and September 16, and the show just announced a surprise elimination twist.Turns out two couples will be eliminated—one female celeb pairing and one male celeb pairing. And since the men and women are competing on separate nights during the two-night premiere, it sounds like we’ll get one elimination per night.Mark Ballas confirmed the new twist, saying on the Get Real podcast, “I don't think I was even on the show when that happened. It's not an even playing field, right? It's like the cast is split in half and someone's going. It's kind of like boys over there, girls over there, one of you is going from each group, right? So that’s—that’s a little different.”Mark also weighed in on recent drama surrounding the show casting celebs who are former professional dancers—namely Jenna Dewan and Harry Shum Jr. But he reminded everyone that past winners of DWTS have included stars who have little-to-no dance experience whatsoever—including Robert Irwin, who won last season.“Just because someone danced in high school or they danced for an artist or something,” he explained, “that doesn't mean they can't take this on and improve every single week.”Reminder to tune in to Dancing With the Stars when it premieres this coming Tuesday on ABC, Disney+, and the next day on Hulu!