Recap / Published 2026-11-03

Dancing With the Stars: Stiles and Sosa Go Home on Disney Night

Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa were eliminated at the end of week eight, Disney Night, after scoring 33 out of 40 for a paso doble to a Hamilton number. Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Dewan both reached 40 in the individual round; Harry took next week's immunity on a one-point countback across all eight weeks.

(See the reader poll and source context below).

Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa left in week eight after a 33-point paso doble, while Harry Shum Jr. took immunity by a single point and the team dances returned for the first time this season.

Flat vector illustration of a violet stage: a pink five-point star above a dark bar and four purple columns beneath it, with the caption “A ballroom on Disney night” in the lower-left corner.
Conceptual editorial illustration; not a photograph of the people or event described.

What do the sources establish?

Recorded source context. No verified social reaction quotes or aggregate vote results are supplied.
Platform / SourceCore Stance / QuoteEngagement MetricTimestamp
‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 35 Recap: Team Dances Shake Up The Competition On Disney Night — DeadlineReported context: [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object]Not recorded
Dancing With The Stars Recap: Which Couple's Happily-Ever-After Was Cut Short On Disney Night? — TVLineReported context: [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] [object Object]Not recorded

THE SHORT VERSION

  • Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa were eliminated at the end of week eight, Disney Night, after scoring 33 out of 40 for a paso doble to a Hamilton number.
  • Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Dewan both reached 40 in the individual round; Harry took next week's immunity on a one-point countback across all eight weeks.
  • Team Wildcats beat Team Slaytopia 40 to 36 in the season's first team dances, and the show moves to Grammy Night next week in its usual Tuesday slot.

The result, in two versions

Julia Stiles and her partner Ezra Sosa were eliminated at the end of Disney Night, the eighth week of Dancing With the Stars Season 35, according to Deadline and TVLine. Both reports score the couple's paso doble at 33 out of 40, and both place the elimination after the season's first team dances. Deadline states the result in two sentences at the end of its recap. TVLine gives it a fuller post-mortem. Neither report quotes either of them afterwards.

TVLine is the harder of the two on the couple. Its recap calls Stiles one of the most beloved contestants on arrival, then argues her run was wildly inconsistent, punctuated by reminders that she was taking the competition very seriously and was maybe not having much fun. The same recap says her paso doble was a clear improvement on the previous week but not enough to show the technique needed to win. It does not say whether the pair expected to stay, and it gives no audience-vote figures for the night.

Why the ballroom moved to Monday

ABC aired the episode on Monday, Nov. 2, rather than in its usual Tuesday slot. Deadline reports the show was moved so as not to conflict with Election Day. TVLine, published the same evening, says Election Night coverage would have run all evening the next day, and that the switch was for this week only. Neither report suggests the change is permanent. Both recaps were filed the same night, and both treat the Monday date as settled fact rather than as news in itself.

The move cost the cast a day of rehearsal. Deadline notes that all eight remaining couples performed twice, each with one less day to prepare than a normal week allows. The individual round came first and produced the scores and the immunity contest; the team round closed the night. TVLine treats the compression as part of the season's texture rather than a controversy, and neither outlet reports a withdrawal or a change to the remaining schedule.

Two perfect scores and a wide spread

Two couples reached 40 out of 40 in the individual round: Harry Shum Jr. with Jenna Johnson, and Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy. Deadline calls the second their first perfect score of the season. Ezra Frech, dancing a samba with Daniella Karagach, took 37, including a 10 from Derek Hough. Amber Glenn scored 34, Tatyana Ali 33, Stiles 33, Maura Higgins 32 and Connor Wood 32. Every score Deadline lists comes from the judges' table, and neither report publishes the audience totals that fed the final result.

TVLine reads the same numbers less kindly. It calls Glenn's quickstep good but forgettable, and notes a costume that flopped over her face, which none of the judges mentioned. It says Wood's waltz showed large improvement since week five while his ballroom frame still needs work. Deadline records Carrie Ann Inaba telling Stiles she loved the routine and thought it was great. TVLine is also the only one of the two that mentions the costume problem, which Deadline leaves out.

Erivo in the ballroom, Headley on the mic

Cynthia Erivo spent the night in the ballroom as a guest commentator, a Broadway performer offering remarks rather than a score. Deadline records her reaction to Harry Shum Jr.'s jazz routine: “I saw all of these legendary movement-based people, and the comedy in it, the intricacy in it just blew my mind. I’m flabbergasted.” Her other comments in the same recap praise the storytelling in Wood's waltz and the fun of Team Slaytopia. She did not score the dances, and neither report says whether her remarks counted toward anything.

TVLine adds a second Broadway guest that Deadline does not mention: Heather Headley, who sang the Aida number live for Tatyana Ali's contemporary. The recap files the cameo as a reward for theatre fans and moves on. Neither outlet reports what Erivo was paid, how her commentary was produced, or whether she will return for Grammy Night. TVLine ties the cameo to Headley's Broadway run in the musical; Deadline does not mention the singer at all.

Team Wildcats take the round

The team round split the cast into Team Slaytopia and Team Wildcats, captained by Tatyana Ali and Connor Wood, who chose their own sides. Deadline lists the line-ups and the songs: Slaytopia danced to a number from Zootopia 2 with Alfonso Ribeiro in the group, and Wildcats danced to a High School Musical song with Julianne Hough. TVLine notes the two co-hosts appeared in the numbers, as they did last season. Each team danced a single number, and the captains danced in their own teams.

Wildcats won the round with a perfect 40 to Slaytopia's 36. Deadline says the teams looked closely matched on paper, which the captains' own drafting made surprising. Derek Hough said the Wildcats number left him weirdly emotional, and Bruno Tonioli said of Ezra Frech that he looked like a prince and danced like a devil. Neither report gives the formula behind the team-round scores. TVLine's only comment on the round is the score and the co-host cameos; it does not review either routine.

Immunity, Grammy Night and what is left unsaid

Harry Shum Jr. carries immunity into next week. Deadline explains the rule: the top couple from the individual round is exempt from the next elimination, and because he and Jenna Dewan both scored 40, the show added their totals across all eight weeks. Harry won that countback by one point, so he is clear and Dewan is not. Deadline does not say whether the countback was announced in the ballroom or calculated afterwards.

Next week is Grammy Night, and the show returns to its Tuesday slot. TVLine counts eight pairs still dancing when the night began and three weeks left in the season. Neither report describes a judges' save, a bottom-two format, or which styles the seven remaining couples will take on. Deadline puts the next theme and the slot change in a single closing line. Related coverage on this site includes the Ghosts Halloween special, the American Horror Story season 13 finale and The Diplomat season 5 renewal.

Sources & reporting limits

  1. ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 35 Recap: Team Dances Shake Up The Competition On Disney Night — Deadline
  2. Dancing With The Stars Recap: Which Couple's Happily-Ever-After Was Cut Short On Disney Night? — TVLine
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