Dancing With the Stars: Who Stands the Best Chance of Winning Season 33?
Reigning Dancing With the Stars champion Xochitl Gomez won’t need to relinquish the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy for another two months. But this year’s Season 33 contestants have got their eye on it — and we think we know who will take it home.
With two weeks of competition having passed — resulting in the Sept. 24 eliminations of Anna Delvey and Tori Spelling — we’re taking stock of the remaining 11 contestants, ordering them in the list below by how likely we think they are to win the entire season.
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It will come as no surprise that showbiz vets Eric Roberts and Reginald VelJohnson fall at the bottom of our ranking, after their first two showings in the ballroom left something to be desired. (When judge Derek Hough pulls out his “4” paddle, you may not be long for this Dancing world.) But with so many other contestants making a strong case for their longevity in the competition, we had a tougher time predicting the Season 33 champion… and our eventual choice might surprise you.
Dancing With the Stars currently airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC and Disney+. After taking Oct. 1 off to accommodate the vice presidential debate, the show returns with a two-night event on Monday, Oct. 7, and Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Keep scrolling to see all of our Season 33 predictions, then drop a comment with your own!
11. Eric Roberts
Dancing With the Stars is already a tough gig for any older contestant — we don’t expect to see Eric jumping over Britt’s head anytime soon, like many of the male competitors have done with their partners — and the struggle is compounded for him by lingering physical effects of a car accident and coma he suffered years ago. That said, after two weeks of competition (both of which resulted in a 15-out-of-30 score), Eric unfortunately hasn’t shown the skill or enthusiasm on the dance floor that he’d need to go all the way. With Anna Delvey and Tori Spelling now out of the competition, my bet is Eric will be next to go.
10. Reginald VelJohnson
After watching Reginald’s spirited-but-weak initial performances — his score actually went down by a point, week over week — I fully expected him to get the boot alongside Anna Delvey at the first elimination. Instead, not only did the Family Matters vet stay on the show, but he’s developed quite the fanbase, with partner Emma Slater even showing him some sweet videos of elated viewers’ reactions when he was announced safe. So… who knows what could happen! My gut tells me that fans’ nostalgia will only take Reginald so far, and he’ll ultimately be sent home early in the season. But anyone who watched Bobby Bones win the Mirrorball knows Dancing can take us by surprise.
9. Brooks Nader
Technically speaking, Brooks has had a decent start in the ballroom, improving her score by two points between Weeks 1 and 2 and showcasing a solid grasp on choreography. I fear she’ll be sabotaged, though, by the will-they-won’t-they romance storyline emerging between her and partner Gleb Savchenko, which has already pulled focus away from her dance talent in the first two weeks. In fact, for the pair’s Week 2 quickstep, Gleb strangely taught Brooks the choreography using tango hold instead — a questionable approach that at least left judge Derek Hough puzzled. Brooks and Gleb show promise, but they’ll have to lock in and set the “Whew, isn’t my partner hot?!” jokes aside if they want a true shot at the trophy.
8. Phaedra Parks
Typically the scene-stealing alpha of any TV show she’s on, Phaedra is actually an underdog in this case, facing a formidable group of competitors and thus far turning in good-but-not-exceptional performances. Still, there’s a lot working in Phaedra’s favor here: She’s a memorable and beloved reality TV star, especially after her stint on Peacock’s Traitors; she’s got the similarly beloved Val Chmerkovskiy as her partner, coming off a win with Xochitl Gomez last year; and she’s already faring better in the ballroom than most Real Housewives alumni, with noticeable improvement week over week. It’ll take something special from Phaedra and Val to jump the hurdles that are Chandler, Joey, et al., but let’s not count these two out just yet.
7. Ilona Maher
After a surprisingly reserved debut performance, Ilona really came out of her shell with Week 2’s Dirty Dancing-inspired salsa, matching the endearing personality she’s known for offstage. I don’t think Ilona will struggle at all to enchant the viewing audience; she’s got a sly sense of humor, a willingness to put in the work, and an empowering perspective on her relationship to ballroom dance. The only roadblock? Stiff competition from the likes of Jenn, Stephen, Joey, Chandler and other contestants who’ve started off this season similarly strong.
6. Danny Amendola
Here’s someone we need to keep our eyes on! After getting off to a perfectly respectable, if slightly stiff, start, the former NFLer really piqued my curiosity with his Week 2 jive — a technically sound and rather sexy performance that showed glimpses of a serious competitor underneath those nerves. Danny will have to shake off that lingering timidity quickly if he wants to go the distance, but there’s lots of promise here (and Witney Carson is excellent at drawing out her partners’ full potential).
5. Dwight Howard
Dwight and Daniella are a bit of a puzzler, if I’m honest. On one hand, we already know Daniella can handle dancing with an enormously tall basketball player, having won the Mirrorball with Iman Shumpert in Season 30. Then again, Dwight (at 6-foot-10) is taller than Iman (6-foot-5), leading to a height discrepancy with Daniella that’s 1) almost comical, and 2) has already required the pair to break usual foxtrot hold to accommodate their sizes. Then again, Iman’s personality was so infectious, and Daniella’s choreography so inventive, that voters hardly seemed to care about proper technique, and Dwight clearly possesses that same likability. My official guess: These two won’t win the season, but they’ll go far.
4. Jenn Tran
History is on Jenn’s side here, for starters, with previous Bachelorettes like Hannah Brown, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Gabby Windey doing quite well in this competition. Thus far, Jenn hasn’t quite broken out as immediately as I thought she would; given that devastating Bachelorette finale, I assumed Jenn might come out with the same fire and thirst for redemption as Ariana Madix did last season. Still, after shaking off her Week 1 jitters, Jenn returned with a sassy and entertaining Week 2 tango that showcased her grasp on technique when the music in the ballroom malfunctioned. Provided Jenn has a couple of capital-M moments throughout the season to set her apart, she could be a real contender.
3. Stephen Nedoroscik
Using only our recent recaps as a metric, Stephen appears to be TVLine readers’ most-loved Season 33 contestant, with his Week 1 jive earning a whopping 53% of the vote in our poll of readers’ favorite premiere performance. Plus, after becoming a social media darling during his run at the Paris Olympics, Stephen has only gotten more affable as he competes on Dancing — and, no surprise here, he’s got the chops to go all the way. But his Week 2 paso doble revealed some weaknesses in his form and technique — “shaping issues,” Carrie Ann Inaba called them — that will need some attention if he’s planning to add the Mirrorball to his hardware collection.
2. Chandler Kinney
Chandler has all the makings of a Mirrorball champion: Former Disney star? Check. Considerable dance experience? Check. An episode-high 23 out of 30 for her very first routine? Check! And on many occasions (Bindi Irwin, Jordan Fisher), early frontrunners have gone on to win the whole shebang. Still, that momentum can be hard to maintain in the second half of the season, when dark horses start to emerge and early-season favorites struggle to break out of a plateau. Chandler has been excellent right out of the gate, and she’d be a worthy winner; it’s now simply a matter of keeping voters’ attention for the next two months.
1. Joey Graziadei
Whereas former Bachelorettes have typically thrived on Dancing With the Stars, male Bachelor-verse contestants have, well… not. Until Joey, it seems! The Season 28 Bachelor lead opened this season with a surprisingly deft cha-cha, followed by a Week 2 rumba that featured the kind of hip action and clean lines we long for from these male contestants. Sure, Joey will have to leapfrog other early favorites like Stephen Nedoroscik if he wants that Mirrorball, and he’ll need to be unafraid of his performance chemistry with Jenna Johnson. But Bachelor Nation has been a loyal voting bloc for even the weakest franchise alumni, and Joey — who seemed widely regarded on social media as one of the best Bachelors in years during his tenure — has a devoted following of his own. Plus, he’s got a force of a partner in Jenna, and we’re just starting to see what he can do in the ballroom. When that confetti shower comes down on the Season 33 finale, I suspect Joey will be standing in the center of it.
OK, your turn! Who do you think will win Dancing With the Stars Season 33? Hit the comments with your early predictions!
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