Dance Mogul Magazine · DWTS Season 35 · Breaking News
Conner Leavitt & Adele Zaikman Eliminated After DWTS Online Voting Fails on Night 1
The first Season 35 elimination ended the new pro’s first celebrity partnership after one dance — on a night when online voting did not function. Both Leavitt and Zaikman have since spoken about the exit.
Published · Updated · Dance Mogul Magazine
Update · September 18, 2026
Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman have both spoken since their Night 1 elimination. Leavitt said going home first was not the ending he wanted, and that what embarrassed him was not the scores but some of the public reaction — though he says he is leaving with lessons learned and less fear of trying new things. Zaikman called the experience a dream come true and said she loved working with Leavitt; the Deseret News reports she will now join the show’s troupe. The two-night premiere is complete: Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills were eliminated on Night 2, leaving 14 couples.
Conner Leavitt and professional dancer Adele Zaikman became the first couple eliminated from Dancing with the Stars Season 35 on September 15, after their salsa to Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is)” received 12 out of 30 from Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
The elimination would already have carried unusual weight because Zaikman entered Season 35 as the winner of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro. Her prize put her directly into the professional lineup. One routine later, her first celebrity partnership was over.
A Voting Failure Complicated the First Result
During the live premiere, the show announced that its online voting system was not functioning properly. Viewers were directed to vote by text, and online votes were not used for the Night 1 result. ABC-owned coverage reported that hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough said the show still received more than double the votes of last season’s premiere, even though only eight couples performed on the first night.
Accuracy Note
The outage is verified. The elimination is verified. There is no public evidence establishing that a functioning online vote would have produced a different result. DMM will not present that unknowable counterfactual as fact.
The Dance: Fun Was Not Enough to Offset the Technical Gap
Leavitt and Zaikman’s salsa earned three 4s. The judges acknowledged the routine’s playful energy while identifying timing and refinement as problems. That placed them near the bottom of the judges’ leaderboard, though Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson scored lower with 10/30. Among the specific notes, Derek Hough said the dance was fun but missing core salsa elements, pointing to the hip action.
At the top of the men’s field, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson earned 21/30 for a cha-cha to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Let’s Groove.” Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach followed with 20/30 for their tango.
DMM Dance Analysis: One Routine Changes What the Premiere Measures
Traditional DWTS storytelling depends on development. A professional identifies what a celebrity cannot yet do, redesigns the training around those limitations, and viewers watch the partnership evolve. An opening-night elimination compresses that process into a readiness test.
Leavitt received corrections he will never have the opportunity to apply in competition. That does not make the result illegitimate; it changes what the format rewards. Opening-night execution, immediate audience connection and the ability to survive one combined score/vote calculation matter more when there is no second dance.
Conner Leavitt Reflects After Going Home First
Leavitt, who appears on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives with his wife, Season 34 competitor Whitney Leavitt, praised Zaikman on the ballroom floor after the result, calling her the greatest dance partner in the world and saying he could not wait for viewers to see her talent.
The next day, on DWTS Afterparty with Season 34 champion Robert Irwin, Leavitt said he was still processing everything. He described committing to be vulnerable on the floor and then receiving feedback that was hard to hear, but said he had come to terms with the elimination — and that, after a season of cheering for his wife, it was new and moving to have Whitney and their children cheering for him.
In a TikTok posted Thursday, September 17, as he packed to fly home, Leavitt said going home first was not how he wanted his time on the show to end. What embarrassed him, he said, was not the judges’ scores, the criticism or people disliking the dance; it was feeling that some people used the elimination to poke fun at his past mistakes.
He also gave that embarrassment a different meaning. Leavitt said he was grateful to have been able to feel disappointed and emotional with his wife beside him, and he pointed to a line he loves — “Embarrassment is an under-explored emotion” — as proof that he had put himself out there and tried something new. He said he is going home with an incredible experience, lessons learned and less fear of trying new things.
DMM Perspective: The Result and the Experience Are Two Different Measures
A competition needs a result. A dancer’s experience does not have to be reduced to that result. Leavitt’s measurable outcome is one scored routine and a 12/30. Learning an unfamiliar Latin style in front of a national audience, trusting a professional partner and accepting the risk of visible failure are different measures — and none of them appears on a leaderboard.
The judges’ notes on timing and hip action are fair material for dance analysis, and DMM treats them that way. Ridicule aimed at a person’s life outside the ballroom is not dance criticism. Leavitt’s own conclusion — lessons learned and less fear of trying new things — is the part of this story that travels beyond the show.
What This Means for Adele Zaikman and The Next Pro
Zaikman’s elimination does not undo what The Next Pro accomplished: the competition produced a winner who received a documented professional position on the flagship show. But it makes the next stage of DMM’s pipeline question more important.
What happens to a newly minted professional after an early celebrity elimination? DMM will track whether Zaikman receives troupe appearances, choreography opportunities, tour work, teaching visibility, recurring broadcast appearances or another future celebrity partnership. A dance career is larger than the number of weeks one celebrity survives.
Zaikman’s own response kept the focus on the work. Moments after the result, she called the experience “a dream come true no matter what” and said she was lucky to have had Leavitt as her partner. On DWTS Afterparty, she said she was grateful and honored to be the Next Pro, that the opportunity already felt like a win and that she belonged in the ballroom — while admitting she was sad the journey was so short and saying she loved working with Leavitt.
Early signals on that career question are already arriving. After Night 2, judge Carrie Ann Inaba noted that both first-time pros — Zaikman and Hailey Bills — had been eliminated, calling it part of their process and saying both have a great deal of potential. The Deseret News has since reported that Zaikman and Bills will now join the show’s troupe, which would keep both dancers in the ballroom for group numbers even without celebrity partners. DMM will follow how that role develops.
Night 1 Scoreboard
| Celebrity / Pro | Dance | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Shum Jr. / Jenna Johnson | Cha-cha | 21/30 |
| Ezra Frech / Daniella Karagach | Tango | 20/30 |
| Tyler Cameron / Sharna Burgess | Tango | 17/30 |
| Connor Wood / Rylee Arnold | Cha-cha | 16/30 |
| Taylor Hanson / Britt Stewart | Quickstep | 16/30 |
| Jackson Olson / Emma Slater | Cha-cha | 15/30 |
| Conner Leavitt / Adele Zaikman | Salsa | 12/30 |
| Guillermo Rodriguez / Witney Carson | Cha-cha | 10/30 |
What Comes Next
The two-night premiere is complete. Conner Leavitt and Adele Zaikman were eliminated on Night 1. On Night 2, September 16, the eight female celebrities performed, and Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills were eliminated after their jive to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” scored 14/30, leaving 14 couples in the competition. The season continues Tuesday, September 22, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.
DMM’s Season 35 Newsroom will continue tracking the results, professional-dancer developments and the difference between prior performance experience and ballroom-specific technique.
Continue the Adele Zaikman Story
Adele Zaikman Won The Next Pro. One DWTS Routine Later, the Career Test Began →
DMM’s career watch follows what The Next Pro win produces now that her first celebrity partnership has ended.
Sources
- ABC/Disney Television Press — official Season 35 information and photography
- ABC/Disney Press — official Season 35 two-night premiere release
- ABC7 Los Angeles — Night 1 performances, scores, voting failure and elimination
- Entertainment Weekly — Leavitt and Zaikman on DWTS Afterparty, judges’ Night 1 notes and the 14 remaining couples
- Entertainment Weekly — Conner Leavitt’s September 17 reflection on his elimination
- Entertainment Weekly — Premiere Night 2 recap
- E! News — Night 2 elimination and on-air reactions from the premiere
- E! News — Carrie Ann Inaba on the two new pros’ eliminations
- Deseret News — report that Zaikman and Hailey Bills will join the show’s troupe
Related DMM: The Next Pro · Does prior dance experience win Season 35? · DWTS master guide