Why "Dancing With the Stars" Is So Popular

It's Thursday morning, and my client is in a better mood than usual.

"Was there something you did differently this week that's contributed to feeling like your 'emotions felt more consistent,' as you mentioned?"

"It might sound strange," she begins, "but I'm watching Dancing With the Stars for the first time. It's so touching—I cried twice during last night's episode!"

I nod knowingly, because I did, too.

Coincidentally, this was also my first time watching the show. I had watched So You Think You Can Dance back in the day and am no stranger to reality TV, but Dancing With the Stars was never of interest to me until this year. And apparently I'm not alone: Its current 35th season, which began last month, has garnered 6.67 million viewers across ABC and Disney+, a 24% jump from the previous year. It's also the show's biggest audience since 2020.

So, what is it about rookies trying ballroom dancing that's so entertaining and appealing?

1. The courage to be a beginner

There is something deeply moving about watching accomplished, well-known people have the bravery to try something new in front of millions of viewers. After all, most of us like to avoid situations where we might look foolish. It can be tempting to stick with hobbies we're good at, skip karaoke night because we aren't a singer, and stay within our comfort zones. On Dancing With the Stars, we watch celebrities do the exact opposite: They stumble through rehearsals, struggle to pick up choreography, cry in frustration, and then walk onto a live stage anyway.

Psychologists have a name for the warm, uplifted feeling we get from witnessing this kind of courage. Research by Sara Algoe and Jonathan Haidt, published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, found that witnessing others' goodness and talent evokes emotions like elevation and admiration, which are associated with feeling inspired and motivated to become better people ourselves.

This is the main reason I've fallen in love with the show myself. This season, I've been especially impressed by Ezra Frech, a man who was born without most of his left leg and missing fingers on his left hand. With a prosthetic leg since he was 11 months old, Frech received two gold medals during the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris—one for the men's 100-meter race and one for the men's high jump. Seeing his resilience and positive attitude firsthand on the show is a source of inspiration, not just entertainment. And hey, if he and other celebrities can learn a quickstep in a week, maybe the idea of taking on a new challenge myself seems a little less daunting.

2. A feel-good refuge in turbulent times

Between political division, global conflict, economic uncertainty, and an endless scroll of headlines, many of my clients describe feeling chronically on edge, as though they're bracing for the next bad thing.

Against that backdrop, Dancing With the Stars is two hours of pure, uncomplicated joy. Nobody is being humiliated. Nobody is plotting a backstabbing alliance. Even when they provide constructive criticism, the judges share feedback from a place of care. The contestants cheer each other on, and the worst thing that happens in a given week is that someone goes home with a hug and a tearful thank-you speech. When the world feels heavy, it makes perfect sense that we'd reach for something wholesome, warm, and hopeful.

Just as our bodies need rest after physical exertion, our nervous systems need moments of lightness to recover from sustained stress. For me, the show has become an unexpected, accessible way to practice self-care.

3. Representation and resilience

Over the years, Dancing With the Stars has made room for a wide range of identities and abilities. It has featured drag queens and same-sex partnerships alongside deaf contestants and people living with chronic illnesses like multiple sclerosis. They're there to compete, and sometimes they're the most compelling dancers of the season. Watching someone who can't hear feel the beat through vibrations in the floor challenges our assumptions about what bodies can do and who gets to take up space on a stage. For viewers who share their experiences, it can be a powerful moment of feeling seen. For everyone else, it's a reminder of how much strength exists in the people around us.

There's psychological research to suggest this kind of visibility matters. The parasocial contact hypothesis, developed by Edward Schiappa and colleagues, proposes that positive exposure to members of a group through media can reduce prejudice in much the same way that real-life contact does.

4. Broadening our range

Perhaps my favourite part of this season is watching people joyfully expand their sense of who they are.

Take Tyler Cameron, a contestant from The Bachelorette and former football player. Week after week, we've watched him fully commit to learning dance routines and genuinely enjoying the art and sport of dance. There's something wonderful about seeing a man who may have grown up in a world of tough masculinity discover that he can also be expressive, playful, and graceful—and that those qualities don't cancel each other out.

Or there's the male, heterosexual dance coach from Season 31 who was partnered with Shangela, a well-known drag queen from Ru Paul's Drag Race. He treats her exactly as he would any of his heterosexual female partners: with respect, warmth, and physical affection so that she looks and feels her best. (And yes, I'm also watching Season 31 now because the whole live, one-episode-a-week thing is simply too little Dancing With the Stars for me right now.)

Sociologist Eric Anderson's theory of inclusive masculinity suggests that as cultural attitudes become more accepting, men feel freer to express emotional openness, physical tenderness, and interests once considered "unmasculine" without fear of losing "status." In many ways, the ballroom is a living example of this shift. These are men who are broadening our definitions of masculinity without any shame attached to it.

Takeaway

Taken together, these four threads point to why we might cry over a Pasa Doble: It's not just for the entertainment, but for the reminder that perhaps there's more kindness, encouragement, and bravery in the world than we sometimes realize.