LOS ANGELES — Actress Julia Stiles and professional partner Ezra Sosa were eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars” on Monday’s Disney Night, an emotional exit that came after Stiles spent the week dancing through a painful rib injury, while Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Dewan both posted perfect scores at the top of the leaderboard.
The elimination trimmed the field to seven couples in season 35 of the ABC competition series. Stiles and Sosa landed in the bottom two alongside Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas before being sent home.
The episode aired a day earlier than usual. The show, which normally broadcasts on Tuesdays, shifted to Monday this week ahead of the midterm elections. Season 35 airs live on ABC and Disney+ and streams the next day on Hulu.
A Broadway spin on Disney Night
This year’s edition of the long-running theme added a stage twist. The remaining eight couples performed routines inspired by beloved Disney stories and their Broadway adaptations.
Cynthia Erivo, who has won Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards, joined the panel as a guest judge alongside Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough. Erivo’s Disney connection comes from her role as the Blue Fairy in the 2022 live-action “Pinocchio.” Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough hosted.
The night also featured live vocal performances. Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik danced a contemporary routine to “Easy As Life” from “Aida,” with Heather Headley performing live.
Two perfect scores at the top
Shum and Jenna Johnson continued their late-season surge. The pair earned a perfect 40 out of 40 for a jazz routine set to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from “Mary Poppins.” The couple had collected the season’s first perfect score a week earlier, making Disney Night their second straight 40.
Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy matched them. Their quickstep to “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast” earned 40 points, the couple’s first perfect score of the season.
The tie at the top carried a reward. Because two couples shared first place, immunity for next week’s dance-off went to the pair with the highest cumulative score of the season, and Shum and Johnson came out ahead with 236 total points.
Paralympic sprinter Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach stayed close behind. Their samba to “Under the Sea” scored 37.
Figure skater Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov drew a strong reaction from the judges for their quickstep to “A Star Is Born” from “Hercules.” Hough told her, “A star is born, and her name is Amber.” The routine scored 34. Glenn worked through a couple of footwork missteps and a costume that flipped over her face at an awkward moment.
At the other end of the board, Higgins and Ballas tied with Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold for the night’s lowest individual score, 32 out of 40. Higgins and Ballas performed a jive to “You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!” from “Peter Pan.”
Team dances return
The episode brought back the season’s team-dance round, with the hosts joining the routines. Wood captained the second team, choosing Frech, Shum and Dewan as teammates for a routine to “We’re All in This Together” from “High School Musical,” with Julianne Hough also taking part.
That group, dubbed Team Wildcats, swept the round. Team Wildcats earned a perfect 40, while Team Slaytopia scored 36 for its routine to “Zoo” from “Zootopia 2.”
The team scores reshaped the combined standings. Shum and Dewan finished tied at the top with 80 points each, followed by Frech at 77 and Wood at 72. Higgins and Ballas ended the night last on the leaderboard with 68 combined points. Stiles and Sosa finished with 69 out of 80.
A tearful exit after weeks of pain
Stiles and Sosa performed a paso doble to “Satisfied” from “Hamilton.” The routine earned 33 out of 40 from the judges. The pair did not have the night’s lowest scores, but viewer votes were not enough to keep them in the competition.
The “10 Things I Hate About You” star had been competing through a rib injury. Describing what she had been going through, Stiles said, “A lot of pain. But I was able to manage the pain,” crediting Sosa with helping her understand how the physical and mental sides of performing are connected.
After the result was announced, Stiles reflected on what the competition had meant to her. “I pulled things out of myself that I didn’t realize were there,” she said through tears, adding that she would be sad not to see Sosa every day.
Stiles kept her composure on air, but both she and Sosa broke down during several post-show interviews once the live broadcast ended.
Even the couple who survived the bottom two questioned the outcome. Higgins said Stiles deserved to stay, noting that “[Julia] put her all into it.”
Who remains
Stiles and Sosa are the latest in a string of departures this fall. Earlier eliminations included Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong in week four, Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson in week five, and both Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess and Jackson Olson and Emma Slater during horror movie night in week seven.
The seven remaining couples are Shum and Johnson, Dewan and Chmerkovskiy, Frech and Karagach, Glenn and Pashkov, Ali and Ravnik, Higgins and Ballas, and Wood and Arnold.
With Shum and Johnson already holding immunity, the other six couples head into next week facing the added pressure of a dance-off as the competition moves closer to the finale and the Mirrorball Trophy.
