After 32 Seasons, ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Makes History!

For eighteen years, viewers have been tuning in every week to watch celebrities show their ballroom best on the hit ABC show, Dancing with the Stars. Some of the show’s most notable contestants include Spider-Man star Zendaya (season 16), Kim Kardashian (season 7), Charlie D’Amelio (season 31 winner), Bindi Irwin (season 21), and Emmitt Smith (season 3). The show takes celebrities — some with no dancing experience whatsoever — and tries to turn them into professional dancers.

Related: Beloved ABC Host Admits Wanting to “Screw” Show After Shocking Firing

Even though it is a show about ballroom dancing, Dancing with the Stars has not been without its controversies.

Over the years, the show has faced backlash for some of the contestants that have performed. This includes the Press Secretary for former President Donald Trump, Sean Spicer. The show also cast former Olympian Ryan Lochte right after Lochte was caught lying about being held at gunpoint during the Rio Olympics. Influencer Olivia Jade was also cast after it was revealed that her mother — Full House actress Lori Laughlin — had broken the law and had Jade commit fraud to get into a prestigious college.

This season, viewers were enraged when it was announced that former pro-footballer Adrian Peterson would be dancing. Peterson has been arrested multiple times for domestic abuse and child abuse. Peterson has admitted to a court in the past that he hit his children.

But now, Dancing with the Stars season 32 is making headlines for an entirely new reason. On November 29, the show made history during the elimination portion of the show. Hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro were about to announce who would be going home — Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Xochitl Gomez. Both women were on the verge of tears as they waited to hear a name announced.

Then, they were told that NO ONE was going home. For the first time in Dancing with the Stars history, the show’s finale would feature five couples instead of four.

After the news was announced, the tears started flowing as the woman and their partners cried with relief. They were then embraced by the three other couples who will also be performing in the finale.

Madix spoke to Page Six and said that the moment before she heard she was safe was “terrifying”.

“That pretend elimination was the most terrifying thing. It was sick and twisted! I was like, ‘I love you guys, but also, I hate you guys for that!’ 

In the pretend bottom two, it was between us and Xochitl and Val, and she has the power of teenagers on the internet,” she said of the 17-year-old Marvel star. “And I’m an elder millennial! I was like, ‘There’s no way!’ So that was where my head was at when my life was flashing before my eyes.”

In addition to Madix and her partner Pasha Pashkov and Gomez and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy, the finale will also feature How I Met Your Mother star Alyson Hannigan and Sasha Farber, singer Jason Mraz and Daniella Karagach, and The Bachelorette star Charity Lawson and Artem Chigvintsev.

The following celebs were eliminated earlier in the season – Barry Williams, Matt Walsh, Jamie Lynn Spears, Mauricio Umansky, Adrian Peterson, Harry Jowsey, Tyson Beckford, Lele Pons, and Mira Sorvino.

The finale of Dancing with the Stars will air on ABC on Tuesday, December 5, at 8 p.m. ET. It will be available to stream on Hulu the next day.

What did you think of the shocking semi-finals? Let us know in the comments!