Sources are spilling, Ezra Sosa is speaking out in the press, and now the Dancing With the Stars powers that be are finally revealing how celebrities get paired with pro partners on the longtime reality competition. In other words...
Who decides which celebs end up with which pro, and why?
An all-important question considering that the pros who end up with front-runners inevitably get more screen time, more followers, and end up having a greater chance at winning.
During the a panel at DWTS Con earlier this month, executive producer Deena Katz explained, “First of all, for the fans, you guys love our pros. You see the pros, and so you want to get the pros somebody different. You don’t want the same pro to always have a top player or whatever because you want to see them doing something different. And, it makes it exciting and better for them.”
Katz added, “I always tell the celebrities that every single couple, we can see a way that they can make the finals.”
Fellow EP Conrad Green then explained that pairings are actually decided at the first rehearsal, so producers can check out everyone's chemistry. If you've been watching Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, you've seen this method in action—the cast was asked to take turns dancing with each other to see where the best chemistry lay.
It's definitely noteworthy that producers addressed how partnering works, since last year The Sun reported that DWTS had a “tense set” and said there was a “rivalry” between the show's pro-dancer veterans and the newcomers.
One source said, “Some of the older pros are really getting fed up with the producers’ strategic partner preferences. Specifically, Jenna [Johnson] feels she was done dirty this season. Britt [Stewart] and Brandon [Armstrong] feel the same way.”
The insider added that “those three, being so experienced and quite frankly, all very beloved, do not understand why newer talent like Rylee and Ezra get the younger, fan-favorite contestants. They feel disrespected by producers and it’s essentially set up a rivalry between new vs old pros. They don’t have anything personal against Rylee or any of the newer pros, it’s the system they are angry with.”
Guess we’ll see what happens this season! DWTS’s special two-night premiere kicks off September 15, 2026.
