Note: This article is written in original wording and based on verified public information about Dancing With the Stars Season 33, including the cast, judges, hosts, finale results, major storylines, and 2024 season news.
The Ballroom Returned in 2024, and Season 33 Came Ready to Cha-Cha
Dancing With the Stars 2024 did not tiptoe onto television. It entered the ballroom with sequins, Olympic medal energy, Bachelor Nation drama, a controversial fake heiress, NFL muscle, Disney sparkle, and enough social media chatter to power a mirrorball-shaped satellite. Season 33 premiered on September 17, 2024, airing live on ABC and Disney+, with episodes available for streaming on Hulu. By the time the finale arrived on November 26, 2024, the season had become one of the franchise’s buzziest recent chapters.
The appeal was easy to understand. Season 33 combined the old-school comfort of ballroom competition with a modern cast built for TikTok clips, group chats, and weekly hot takes. There were athletes who could leap, actors who could emote, reality stars who knew exactly where the camera lived, and celebrities who arrived with reputations already doing half the choreography. The result was a season that felt both familiar and freshly chaoticin the best possible way.
At the center of it all were returning co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, who kept the live show moving with warmth, timing, and the occasional “please vote before your aunt texts you again” energy. The judging table also remained steady with Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough, giving Season 33 a reliable panel of ballroom expertise, emotional reactions, and Bruno’s beloved habit of reviewing dances as if he had personally been attacked by a paso doble.
‘Dancing With the Stars’ 2024 Cast: Full Season 33 Celebrity Lineup
The Dancing With the Stars Season 33 cast was officially revealed in September 2024, and the lineup immediately sparked conversation. The show leaned into a wide mix of fame: sports, reality TV, film, television, fashion, and internet curiosity. Some contestants arrived with dance-friendly athleticism, while others arrived with personality, nostalgia, or pure headline value.
Season 33 Celebrities and Professional Partners
- Joey Graziadei, star of The Bachelor, partnered with Jenna Johnson.
- Ilona Maher, Olympic rugby player, partnered with Alan Bersten.
- Chandler Kinney, actress and singer, partnered with Brandon Armstrong.
- Stephen Nedoroscik, Olympic gymnast known as the “pommel horse guy,” partnered with Rylee Arnold.
- Danny Amendola, former NFL wide receiver, partnered with Witney Carson.
- Dwight Howard, NBA champion and former center, partnered with Daniella Karagach.
- Jenn Tran, star of The Bachelorette, partnered with Sasha Farber.
- Phaedra Parks, reality television personality from The Real Housewives of Atlanta, partnered with Val Chmerkovskiy.
- Brooks Nader, model, partnered with Gleb Savchenko.
- Reginald VelJohnson, actor known for Family Matters and Die Hard, partnered with Emma Slater.
- Eric Roberts, veteran film and television actor, partnered with Britt Stewart.
- Tori Spelling, actress and Beverly Hills, 90210 alum, partnered with Pasha Pashkov.
- Anna Delvey, also known as Anna Sorokin, partnered with first-time pro Ezra Sosa.
On paper, that cast looked like someone spun a celebrity slot machine and won three different jackpots. In practice, it gave Season 33 exactly what a modern DWTS season needs: skill, surprise, controversy, redemption arcs, and at least one contestant whose casting made viewers say, “Wait, are we sure?”
Who Hosted ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 33?
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough returned as co-hosts for the 2024 season. Their pairing worked because both understand the show from the inside. Ribeiro won Season 19 with Witney Carson, so he knows what it feels like to sweat through rehearsals, face judges, and hope America remembers to vote. Hough, meanwhile, is one of the franchise’s most recognizable alumni, having won as a professional dancer before later serving as a judge and host.
That combination gave the live show balance. Ribeiro brought relaxed charm and competitor empathy. Hough brought technical knowledge, dancer credibility, and the polished ease of someone who could probably explain a Viennese waltz while doing one in heels. Together, they helped Season 33 feel energetic without becoming messy, which is no small task when live television, emotional packages, and glitter cannons are all in the same room.
‘Dancing With the Stars’ 2024 Judges: Who Was at the Table?
The Season 33 judging panel featured Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough. Each judge brought a different flavor to the ballroom.
Carrie Ann Inaba
Carrie Ann remained the judge most associated with emotional honesty, lift policing, and calling out details that viewers at home may have missed while trying to identify the celebrity in the audience. She often focused on connection, intention, and whether a routine truly landed beyond the steps.
Bruno Tonioli
Bruno continued to be Bruno, which is to say: expressive, theatrical, passionate, and sometimes one enthusiastic gesture away from needing his own seatbelt. His critiques mixed technical notes with performance-driven excitement, making him a fan-favorite presence at the table.
Derek Hough
Derek brought the perspective of a six-time DWTS champion as a pro dancer. His judging often highlighted musicality, choreography, posture, and transitions. Because he has built winning routines himself, his comments carried a teacher’s eye and a performer’s understanding of pressure.
Season 33 Premiere: A Cast Built for Conversation
The September 17 premiere introduced the full cast to the ballroom, and several contestants quickly stood out. Chandler Kinney looked like an early technical threat. Joey Graziadei showed natural musicality and relaxed stage presence. Stephen Nedoroscik brought Olympic discipline and a charmingly nerdy enthusiasm that viewers embraced. Ilona Maher became an instant fan favorite thanks to her strength, humor, and refreshing confidence.
But the biggest headline magnet was Anna Delvey. Her appearance on the show drew intense attention because of her criminal history, immigration situation, and visible ankle monitor, which she famously wore during performances. The casting raised a debate about celebrity culture, second chances, accountability, and whether the ballroom had become the world’s sparkliest court of public opinion.
Anna and Ezra Sosa were eliminated early, alongside Tori Spelling and Pasha Pashkov during the first elimination week. Still, Anna’s deadpan response that she would take “nothing” from the experience became one of the viral moments of the season. It was awkward, funny, polarizing, and extremely 2024. In other words, the internet ate it with a spoon.
Big Theme Nights and Memorable Season 33 Moments
Like every good DWTS season, Season 33 used theme nights to keep the competition fresh. The show featured Oscars Night, Soul Train Night, Hair Metal Night, Dedication Night, Disney Night, Halloween Nightmares Night, a 500th Episode celebration, semifinals, and a three-hour finale.
Dedication Night Delivered the Emotions
Dedication Night gave celebrities a chance to honor important people and moments in their lives. These episodes often turn the ballroom into a feelings factory, and Season 33 was no exception. Contestants used dance to tell stories about family, careers, teams, relationships, and personal growth. The routines mattered because they gave viewers a reason to invest beyond score paddles.
Disney Night Brought the Magic
Disney Night remains one of the franchise’s most reliable crowd-pleasers. The costumes get bigger, the music gets more nostalgic, and everyone acts like dancing to a Disney song is completely normal adult behavior. Season 33 used the theme to showcase character, theatricality, and team dances, offering contestants a chance to loosen up and perform with more playful energy.
The 500th Episode Was a Milestone
One of the season’s biggest events was the 500th episode celebration. Contestants reimagined memorable dances from past seasons and faced the pressure of honoring the show’s long history. Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong earned major praise during the milestone episode, helping cement Chandler as one of the strongest technical performers of the season.
The Finalists: Who Made It to the Season 33 Finale?
The Season 33 finale featured five couples, which made the last episode feel like a ballroom buffet. The finalists were Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson, Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten, Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong, Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold, and Danny Amendola and Witney Carson.
Each finalist had a clear lane. Joey was the smooth, likable Bachelor Nation contender who improved consistently. Ilona was the powerful underdog-turned-fan-favorite whose confidence became central to her appeal. Chandler was the polished performer with some of the season’s strongest technique. Stephen was the Olympic sweetheart with precision, discipline, and an earnest personality. Danny brought athletic commitment and a willingness to throw himself into performance, sometimes literally.
Who Won ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Season 33?
Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson won Dancing With the Stars Season 33, taking home the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy on November 26, 2024. Their victory was significant because Joey became the first male lead from The Bachelor franchise to win the competition.
The final ranking placed Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten in second, Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong in third, Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold in fourth, and Danny Amendola and Witney Carson in fifth. Chandler and Brandon earned perfect scores for their finale dances, but the final result combined judges’ scores with viewer votes, and Joey’s broad popularity helped push him to the top.
Joey and Jenna’s win worked because their partnership felt authentic. They did not always rely on being the flashiest pair in the room. Instead, they built momentum through consistency, chemistry, and a steady performance arc. Jenna’s choreography helped Joey look confident without pretending he had suddenly become a professional ballroom dancer overnight. That is the sweet spot of DWTS: growth that feels believable, polished, and emotionally satisfying.
Why Season 33 Became Such a Big Deal
Season 33 succeeded because it understood the modern entertainment landscape. A dance competition is no longer just a two-hour weekly TV event. It is a live show, a streaming product, a social media engine, a meme factory, and a fan-voting machine. The 2024 season gave viewers plenty to debate between episodes, from Anna Delvey’s casting to Ilona Maher’s body-positive impact to whether Chandler Kinney was underscored earlier in the competition.
The finale also performed strongly with viewers, drawing one of the show’s best recent audiences across platforms. That mattered because Dancing With the Stars is a long-running series in a television world where long-running series have to work harder than ever to feel current. Season 33 did that by mixing legacy appeal with younger, internet-friendly personalities.
Cast Analysis: Who Benefited Most From the Ballroom?
Joey Graziadei left as the champion, but he was not the only winner in a career sense. Ilona Maher used the ballroom to expand her already-growing public profile after the Paris Olympics. Her presence challenged narrow ideas about what female dancers “should” look like, and viewers responded to her humor, vulnerability, and strength. She became one of the season’s emotional anchors.
Chandler Kinney reminded audiences that technical excellence still matters. Her routines were clean, expressive, and increasingly confident. Brandon Armstrong also benefited from the season, earning his first finale appearance and proving he could build a serious contender when given the right partner.
Stephen Nedoroscik turned Olympic fame into mainstream TV charm. His journey showed how athletic precision can help in ballroom, but also how dance requires a different kind of performance. Meanwhile, Danny Amendola’s run gave the season a classic sports-contestant arc: tough, disciplined, occasionally surprising, and fun to watch when the choreography matched his strengths.
What Season 33 Says About the Future of DWTS
Dancing With the Stars Season 33 proved that the format still has legsand yes, probably better legs than most of us after one salsa lesson. The show continues to work because it is built on a simple but irresistible promise: take someone famous, put them in an uncomfortable but glamorous situation, and let America watch them improve, panic, sparkle, and possibly cry near a fog machine.
The 2024 season also showed that casting is everything. A strong DWTS cast is not only about dance potential. It needs contrast. Season 33 had polished performers, lovable strivers, headline-makers, nostalgic names, reality TV personalities, and athletes with built-in fan bases. That variety gave the season weekly texture and kept viewers guessing.
Fan Experience: What Watching ‘Dancing With the Stars’ 2024 Felt Like
Watching Dancing With the Stars Season 33 felt like joining a weekly national watch party where everyone arrived with snacks, opinions, and at least one conspiracy theory about scoring. The fun of the season was not only in the dances themselves; it was in the ritual. Tuesday night became a familiar appointment: check who was dancing what style, watch the rehearsal package, predict whether Carrie Ann would mention a lift, wait for Bruno to nearly launch himself from his chair, and then wonder if the fan vote would turn the leaderboard upside down.
For longtime viewers, Season 33 offered the comfort of a show that still knows its formula. The celebrity is nervous. The pro is patient. The first rehearsal looks mildly disastrous. By week four, the celebrity has discovered posture, musicality, and the emotional power of saying, “This dance is for my family.” By the finale, everyone is crying, glitter is everywhere, and the word “journey” has been used enough times to qualify for its own Mirrorball Trophy.
For newer viewers, especially those following clips on TikTok and Instagram, the season was easy to enter. Ilona Maher’s confidence made her routines feel bigger than scores. Stephen Nedoroscik brought the quirky charm of an Olympic specialist learning to perform outside the gymnastics arena. Joey Graziadei offered a smooth, approachable winner’s arc. Chandler Kinney gave viewers the satisfaction of watching someone truly nail the assignment. Even eliminated contestants contributed to the season’s personality, because DWTS is often as much about memorable moments as final placement.
The best viewing experience came from watching with people who cared too much. That is the secret sauce of the show. Someone in the room always believes the judges were too harsh. Someone else thinks the scores were generous. Another person is voting based entirely on vibes, which is both legally allowed and spiritually correct. Season 33 encouraged that kind of joyful disagreement. It was not just about who danced best; it was about who grew, who surprised, who connected, and who made viewers reach for their phones before the voting window closed.
There was also something refreshing about seeing different kinds of strength on the ballroom floor. Ilona’s run was especially meaningful because she brought power, humor, and self-assurance into a space often associated with narrow beauty standards. Her performances reminded viewers that elegance is not one-size-fits-all. Stephen’s journey showed that elite athleticism does not automatically equal ballroom ease, but discipline and sincerity can win people over. Joey’s win showed the value of consistency and partnership. Chandler’s finale showed that excellent technique can create some of the most satisfying dances of a season, even when the final vote goes another way.
As a fan experience, Season 33 was lively, emotional, occasionally ridiculous, and highly rewatchable. It had the classic ingredients: a controversial casting choice, breakout favorites, strong finalists, debate-worthy scoring, and a winner who made sense within the story of the season. The ballroom felt alive again, not because every routine was perfect, but because the season gave viewers reasons to care. That is why Dancing With the Stars keeps working after so many years. It turns celebrities into beginners, beginners into performers, and viewers into amateur judges yelling, “Point your toes!” from the couch while wearing slippers.
Conclusion: Season 33 Kept the Mirrorball Spinning
Dancing With the Stars 2024 delivered a memorable Season 33 with a smart mix of cast chemistry, headline-grabbing news, emotional theme nights, and a finale that rewarded both growth and popularity. Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson walked away with the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, but the season’s real success was broader than one winning couple. Ilona Maher became a fan-favorite force, Chandler Kinney delivered standout technique, Stephen Nedoroscik charmed viewers, and the show proved once again that ballroom drama still has a place in modern pop culture.
Season 33 was not perfect, but perfection has never been the real point of DWTS. The point is transformation, entertainment, and watching famous people discover that a cha-cha is much harder than it looks. On that front, the 2024 season did exactly what it needed to do: it made viewers watch, vote, argue, laugh, and come back for one more dance.
