“Dancing with the Stars” Season 35 is finally here. And yep, fans are getting something a little different right from the start. Instead of one big premiere night, the ballroom competition is kicking off with a special two-night premiere event tonight Tuesday, September 15, and tomorrow night, Wednesday, September 16.
There are 16 competing couples this season, with each couple consisting of one celebrity contestant and one pro dance partner. However, fans will not be voting for all 16 couples during the same episode. The couples are split between the two premiere nights, so there are a few things viewers will want to know before they start casting their votes.
According to the official “Dancing with the Stars” voting FAQ, there are also specific requirements and rules fans will need to follow this season. Let’s be real, nobody wants to spend the entire night cheering for their favorite couple only to realize they missed the voting window.
Here’s everything “DWTS” fans need to know about how voting will work during the Season 35 two-night premiere.
How to Vote for Your Favorite DWTS Couple
There are two ways eligible viewers can vote for their favorite “Dancing with the Stars” couples: online and by SMS text message.
For online voting, fans can visit the official dwtsvote.abc.com during the live voting window. Viewers can allocate their votes however they want among the couples competing that night. Every time a viewer makes a change to their selections, they need to select Save Votes to submit those changes.
Fans can also vote by SMS text message. During each episode, a voting keyword will be revealed for each couple. The keyword is typically the celebrity contestant’s name in some variation. Once the keyword is revealed, viewers can send it to 21523 to cast their votes.
After the first vote for a couple during each voting window, voters should receive a one-time message. Another one-time message will be sent if a viewer exceeds the 10-vote limit for that couple. SMS text votes cannot be changed once they have been submitted.
Yep, it is pretty simple once you know which voting method you want to use.
There are a few requirements fans should know, too.
- Viewers must be 18 years old or older to vote.
- Online voting is available to people physically located in the United States, including its territories, or Canada.
- SMS voting is a little more limited. It is only available to viewers located in the U.S. and its territories with a participating wireless carrier. SMS voting is not available to viewers in Canada.
How Many Votes Can You Cast During the DWTS Premiere?
Fans can submit up to 10 votes per couple, per voting method. Since there are two voting methods, viewers can cast up to 20 total votes per couple (i.e. 10 online votes and 10 SMS votes or vice versa).
The timing of those votes is especially important during the Season 35 premiere.
The live voting window will only be open during each episode in the Eastern and Central time zones. Voting opens at 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT) and closes shortly after the final competitive dance of the episode.
That means fans watching a later broadcast or streaming the episode after the live voting window closes will not be able to submit votes. Honestly, it seems like the safest bet is to have your voting plan ready before the episode starts so you aren’t scrambling at the end of the night.
How Voting Works During the Two-Night Premiere
The biggest thing fans need to remember is that they can only vote for the couples competing that night.
The 16 celebrity-pro couples are split between the two premiere episodes, with the male celebrity contestants competing on Tuesday, September 15, and the female celebrity contestants competing on Wednesday, September 16.
What does this mean for voting?
- If your favorite couple is dancing on Tuesday, you will need to vote for them during Tuesday night’s live voting window.
- If your favorite is competing Wednesday, you’ll have to wait until Wednesday night’s episode to cast those votes.
Fans will not be able to use Tuesday’s voting window to vote for a couple that does not compete until Wednesday.
Let’s be real, the two-night setup gives fans a little more to keep track of, but it also gives viewers a chance to focus on the couples taking the ballroom each night. With 16 couples competing for the Mirrorball Trophy, there is already plenty for “DWTS” fans to get excited about.
And if you already know which celebrity-pro pairing has your support, make sure you are ready when the voting window opens. Your votes could make a difference from the very beginning of Season 35.
