Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Eliminates First Celebrity

For contestant Guillermo Rodriguez, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! star shared how he is planning to give it his all this season, despite being an underdog, as he danced the Cha Cha to "Mr. Big Stuff" with pro partner Witney Carson.

"People told me, 'Guillermo, you're not gonna pass the first week,'" he shared in his pre-taped video package. "But I'm gonna work real hard and I'm gonna try my best."

Meanwhile, the evening also served a heavy dose of nostalgia, with younger duos like Olympian Ezra French, 21, and pro Daniella Karagach dancing to Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone" and Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson, 28, and Emma Slater doing the Cha Cha to “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls.

Although the special circumstance certainly raised the stakes for the competitors, it of course came with added pressure. Even DWTS cast members expressed shock upon confirmation that not one, but two of the initial 16 couples would be eliminated during the two-night premiere. 

“It's not an even playing field, right?” Mark Ballas posited during a Sept. 10 appearance on the Get Real podcast alongside partner DWTS Maura Higgins. “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?”

But trust, stars are bringing their A game to the ballroom. In fact, before 10 Things I Hate About You actress Julia Stiles, 45, and her partner Ezra Sosa honor the late Dolly Parton—performing a quickstep to “9 to 5" on Sept. 16—Sosa emphasized that Stiles wasn’t saving her skills for the premiere to be their last dance. 

“She's doing absolutely incredible,” Sosa told E! News Sept. 6 as the pair prepared for the DWTS premiere. “I will confidently say I've never worked with someone who's working so hard and who's so passionate about doing this, and it just makes me so excited to see their journey on the show.”