Dancing With The Stars Season 33 Premiere: 3 Celebrities Who Already Look Like Frontrunners For The Mirrorball Trophy

Warning! The following contains spoilers from the Season 33 premiere of Dancing With The Stars. Watch the premiere with a Disney+ subscription and read at your own risk!

As we enter the fall portion of the 2024 TV schedule, it’s that time once again for an exciting season of Dancing With The Stars. The preseason received a lot of attention thanks to the contestants participating, and now we finally had a chance to see if Anna Delvey was as good at the Cha-Cha as she was at angering the hosts of The View. I’ll go ahead and spoil that much and say she wasn’t, but other promising contestants look like they’ll be clear frontrunners for the Mirrorball Trophy.

Before we dive in, I should note that there were no eliminations this evening, but two couples will be exiting after Week 2. I feel pretty safe saying that I don’t think these three couples will be on the chopping block and may just run away with this competition after some impressive first dances on premiere night.

Chandler Kinney And Brandon Armstrong

Actress Chandler Kinney came to play on Dancing With The Stars and put everyone on notice with partner Brandon Armstrong. Dancing to Chappell Roan‘s hit “Hot To Go” was already a great needle drop to get them started, but to pair it with a tango was absolutely bonkers. Their score of 23 was the top score of the night, and truthfully, I could see it being one of the lower numbers they’ll get this entire season if they keep up that energy.

Stephen Nedoroscik And Rylee Arnold

Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik finally got to use his legs and feet on Dancing With The Stars, and he did not disappoint! While he and partner Rylee Arnold‘s jive to Queen‘s “Don’t Stop Me Now” only landed them tied for the third-highest score of the evening, I see the potential. Most of the notes Stephen was given were just minor adjustments that a “Pommel Horse Hero” like him could adjust to easily, and based on the cheers in the audience, he’s among the most popular contestants this season. Being popular can take one far in this show, especially if you already have decent scores.

Dwight Howard And Daniella Karagach

If you had told me at the beginning of Dancing With The Stars that retired NBA star Dwight Howard would end Week 1 with the second-highest score of the evening, I wouldn’t have believed it. And yet his salsa to Montell Jordan‘s “This Is How We Do It” was phenomenal. I didn’t think a 6’11” guy could move as fluidly as he did, but I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that he stunned the crowd.

Daniella Karagach previously pulled an upset win in Season 30 with NBA star Iman Shumpert, so perhaps she had a head start on figuring out the right way to make the tremendous height difference between her and Howard work for their performance. Based on that first dance, I think it’s very possible we could see another NBA player go home with that Mirrorball Trophy.

These are my picks for who will ultimately win Season 33, but there’s still a whole season for someone to step up and win it all. Watch Dancing With The Stars on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and check out our list of other new things headed to Disney+ that are worth streaming after each episode.