Dancing with the Stars is adding a companion show for the first time. The DWTS After Party airs live Wednesday, September 16, at 10 p.m. on ABC and Disney+, immediately following the second night of the Season 35 premiere, and streams the next day on Hulu, with Season 34 champion Robert Irwin hosting.
We covered Irwin’s Season 34 win in our full guide to that season’s cast, and again when Disney+ confirmed him as host of the spinoff series Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro back in June.
The After Party will check in with contestants eliminated that same night and break down the biggest moments of the episode alongside DWTS alumni, giving the show a real-time companion format it’s never had before. It’s a familiar playbook for live competition shows, but a new one for this franchise specifically.
Irwin is a fitting choice to host it. He won Season 34 alongside pro partner Witney Carson exactly 10 years after his sister Bindi Irwin won Season 21 in 2015, and he did it after competing through a rib injury heading into the finale. From there, he stepped straight into hosting Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro over the summer, the spinoff competition that found Adele Zaikman, who joins the Season 35 pro lineup this year paired with Conner Leavitt. Now he’s moving into the After Party chair, all inside of about a year since he was still competing for the Mirrorball himself. Witney Carson, his winning partner, is also back this season, now paired with Guillermo Rodriguez.
Going from contestant to spinoff host to after-show host in under a year is a fast track most Mirrorball winners don’t get, and it says something about how much Disney and ABC clearly want Irwin’s presence attached to this franchise going forward. It also fits a broader pattern of live shows leaning on companion programming to keep audiences engaged past the closing credits, something ABC and Disney+ haven’t really tried with Dancing with the Stars until now.
