Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Scranton | Culture > Entertainment

DWTS New Season + My final 5

Bianca Gracia Student Contributor, University of Scranton
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Scranton chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

As the fall starts, so does a new Dancing with the stars season. Over the past couple years, DWTS has gained popularity with a lot of Gen Z members, thanks to the new pros like Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa. With that being said, each year the celebrities become more well-known, especially with the younger DWTS fans. I have watched this show for a long time, specifically when the theme was Disney night, but I started voting during Season 31, when Charli D’Amelio competed and won with her partner, Mark Ballas.  

In case you don’t know what Dancing With the Stars is, it’s as the name says, a dancing show. There are 3 judges, Carrie Ann, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough, as well as two hosts, Julianne Hough, and Alfonso Ribeiro. In the cast, there is a group of trained ballroom pro-dancers. Each pro gets paired with a celebrity (like Robert Irwin, Alix Earle, Jason Mraz.) Each week (if the celeb gets enough votes), they will advance and learn a new ballroom dance style to perform on Tuesday nights. The finale is usually one of the last weeks of November, where 3-5 celebrities who have advanced to the final round will perform 2 last dances: one dance that they messed up the first time and a final dance, which is any choice of style. Once the dances are done and the votes are in, the winner of the Len Goodman (named after a judge that passed) mirrorball would be announced.   

With that being said, the new season is stacked with new celebrities! The celebrities are as followed: Amber Glenn, Ciara Miller, Giada De Laurentis, Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles, Maura Higgens, Sarah Jane Nader, Tatyana Ali, Connor Leavitt, Connor Wood, Ezra Frech, Guillermo Rodriquez, Harry Shum Jr., Jackson Olson, Taylor Hanson, and Tyler Cameron. Below are my final 5 predictions (in no particular order). 

  1. Ezra Frech 

Ezra is track paralympian winner and is paired with Daniella Karagach (who has 1 mirrorball). After watching their first dance, I truly do believe he will make it far. 

  1. Amber Glenn 

Amber is an olympic figure skater and is paired with Pasha Pashkov (who has made it to the finale once). Amber is a great skater, and after their first dance, it showed me that she truly is a good dancer and has the potential to make it far. 

  1. Connor Wood 

Connor is a comedian and is paired with Rylee Arnold (who has made it to the finale once). I am going to be honest, before watching week 1, I didn’t think Connor would be a strong dancer. However, after seeing him dance, he truly does have the potential, especially with Rylee as his partner. I see them going far. 

  1. Maura Higgins 

Maura was last seen on Traitors, and her partner is Mark Ballas (has 3 mirrorballs). I also thought Maura wouldn’t be able to dance, but Mark can truly make anyone dance. Their dance was an amazing week 1 dance, and I do see them making it far.  

  1. Taylor Hanson 

Taylor was a popular singer in a band called HANSON. A popular song from his band was MMMBop. His partner is Britt Sterwart (who has not made it to the finale in the past). I am going to be honest: I don’t know much about Taylor Hanson, but I have seen people on TikTok compare him to if a member of One Direction did DWTS in 15 years. Britt is long overdue for at least making it to the finale, so best believe, I will be trying my best to get them into the finale.  

Additional Possibilities: 

With that being said, there are some other people that may have a chance in the finale: 

Harry Shum Jr and his partner Jenna Johnson; Jenna Dewan and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy. I didn’t put these couples in my final 5 because they were amazing dancers. They have a lot of dance background, which people haven’t been a fan of the past couple years. Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa, Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong, and Jackson Olson and Emma Slatter. 

Overall, this entire cast is stacked with amazing dancers and I can’t wait to tune in each week.  

Bianca Gracia

Scranton '27

My name is Bianca Gracia and I am currently a senior at the University of Scranton and I'm currently majoring in Bio with a minor in psychology with hopes of either going into ultra sonagraphy or nursing! In my free time I like to hang out with my friends, listen to music/go to concerts, read, and so much more!