“Dancing With the Stars” Ratings Comeback: Record-Breaking Finale, Robert Irwin’s Win & What It Means for Reality TV
Dancing with the Stars just pulled off something many aging reality franchises only dream about: a genuine ratings comeback. The Season 33 finale, which crowned Robert Irwin & Witney Carson champions, drew about 9.24 million viewers and a 2.15 rating among adults 18–49, marking the show’s biggest finale audience since the Laurie Hernandez era back in 2016.
In a TV ecosystem dominated by streaming, splintered audiences, and endless content, the ABC dance competition — adapted from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing — just reminded everyone that old-school appointment television still has some moves left. The question is: how did Dancing with the Stars manage to waltz its way back into cultural relevance?
From Laurie Hernandez to Robert Irwin: A Tale of Two Eras
To understand why this finale matters, it helps to look back at 2016, the last time Dancing with the Stars pulled in a finale this big. That season leaned on the post-Olympic glow of Laurie Hernandez, a breakout star from the U.S. women’s gymnastics team. It was a different TV moment — fewer streamers, less competition, and broadcast still very much the default.
Fast-forward to 2025, and the show is navigating a fragmented media landscape where a “hit” is often measured in trending clips instead of overnight Nielsen ratings. Against that backdrop, matching and even surpassing its 2016 finale numbers isn’t just a nostalgic victory; it’s evidence that the series has successfully retooled itself for the social-media era while hanging onto its “comfort TV” DNA.
“The beauty of Dancing with the Stars is watching people you think you know discover a completely different side of themselves in front of millions.”
— A commonly echoed sentiment among longtime critics of the show
The Laurie-era finale felt like a peak of traditional celebrity shine. The Robert Irwin finale, by contrast, feels like a bridge between old-school stardom and new-school virality — part ballroom, part global group chat.
Robert Irwin & Witney Carson: Why This Win Landed So Hard
On paper, Robert Irwin is a classic DWTS contestant: famous name, beloved family legacy, and a built-in audience. But his arc this season felt less like legacy cosplay and more like a genuine evolution — from wildlife kid to full-fledged entertainer. Paired with veteran pro Witney Carson, Irwin delivered a narrative tailor-made for finale night: earnest, slightly awkward at first, and increasingly confident as the weeks went on.
That growth story matters, because Dancing with the Stars has always been less about technical perfection and more about emotional investment. Viewers will forgive the occasional missed step if they feel the journey is real.
Witney Carson, meanwhile, demonstrated why she’s one of the show’s most reliable pros: sharp choreography, smart use of theme weeks, and a knack for packaging her partner’s strengths while minimizing his weaknesses. She leaned into Irwin’s natural likability and sense of wonder, framing routines that played more like mini-narratives than technical showcases.
“We just wanted to put as much heart out there as possible. If people felt that, we’ve already won.”
— Robert Irwin, speaking in post-finale interviews
That ethos — heart over hype — was a smart contrast to some of the show’s flashier celebrity bookings in past years. It gave the finale a warmth that felt closer to early-season DWTS than to the more stunt-cast-heavy era of recent memory.
Highest-Rated Finale Since 2016: What the Numbers Actually Mean
The headline stat is simple enough: 9.24 million total viewers and a 2.15 rating in adults 18–49, the key ad-buying demo. That’s a big deal on its own, but in 2025 it’s borderline remarkable. Few broadcast shows crack those numbers regularly, let alone a franchise more than three decades into its run.
- Total viewers: Suggests strong multi-generational appeal — parents, kids, and grandparents can all watch.
- 18–49 rating: Indicates the series didn’t just rely on legacy viewers; younger adults actually showed up.
- Finale uplift: The jump for the finale signals that word-of-mouth and social buzz built steadily across the season.
In the streaming era, any unscripted show that can still function as a weekly cultural check-in has outsized value. It gives broadcasters a rare live-viewing anchor — a show people don’t want spoiled by Twitter, TikTok, or group chats.
Inside the Season: Casting, Storylines & the Strictly DNA
One of the reasons this season clicked is that it remembered the original Strictly Come Dancing formula: emotional narratives, clear improvement arcs, and just enough glitz to feel like event television without tipping into self-parody. The casting strategy mixed nostalgic names with social-media-savvy figures, ensuring there was always someone you recognized — or someone whose clips you’d already seen on your feed.
Structurally, the show stuck to its comfort-food template: themed weeks, guest judges, and live musical performances. But behind the scenes, the pacing was noticeably tighter, with packages and rehearsals increasingly cut for maximum sharability — you could drop many of them straight into TikTok without losing the plot.
At its best, this season captured the core of both Strictly and DWTS: the idea that the ballroom is a kind of cultural neutral ground, where athletes, actors, influencers, and legacy TV personalities are all judged by the same metric — how well they can tell a story in 90 seconds of choreography.
What Worked: Strengths of the Finale & Season
- Emotion-first storytelling: The emotional stakes of the finale felt genuine, avoiding the over-produced melodrama that sometimes plagues competition shows.
- Smart use of nostalgia: Nods to earlier seasons, including comparisons to the Laurie Hernandez finale, gave longtime fans a sense of continuity without feeling stuck in the past.
- Cross-generational appeal: Robert Irwin’s family-friendly image and social reach helped attract both older viewers and younger fans raised on his late father’s legacy.
- Refined pacing: The live show moved briskly, maintaining energy without overwhelming viewers with voting instructions and filler.
“This is the rare reality competition that hasn’t forgotten its own heart. It still believes people can surprise you — and themselves.”
— Entertainment critic commentary on the show’s enduring appeal
Where It Stumbles: Format Fatigue & Voting Frustrations
Even in a record-setting year, Dancing with the Stars isn’t immune to its own limitations. Some of the format’s longstanding issues still cropped up during the season and finale.
- Predictable structure: The show’s week-to-week format, while comforting, can feel overly familiar to casual viewers who aren’t deeply invested in a particular contestant.
- Voting complexity: The combination of judges’ scores, audience votes, and occasional rule tweaks can be confusing, especially for new or lapsed viewers dropping in for the finale.
- Celebrity imbalance: As always, the line-up features contestants with wildly different starting advantages — dance training, fanbases, and media familiarity — which can skew the competition.
None of these flaws are fatal — they’re almost part of the show’s texture by now — but if DWTS wants to sustain this ratings bump, gentle innovation on the voting and format side wouldn’t hurt.
What This Finale Signals for the Future of “Dancing with the Stars”
The biggest takeaway from this record-setting finale is that there’s still an appetite for big, glossy network competition shows — provided they evolve just enough to feel plugged into the current moment. Dancing with the Stars has quietly become a case study in how to modernize without losing the essence of a format imported from another culture and another TV era.
Going forward, expect ABC to double down on:
- Global-friendly casting: Stars with international recognition and strong social presence, much like Robert Irwin.
- Sharable storytelling: Routines and rehearsal packages crafted to live as standalone clips online.
- Eventized finales: Bigger musical guests, crossover appearances, and milestone celebrations to sell the finale as a must-watch live event.
The latest finale doesn’t just prove that Dancing with the Stars can still compete — it suggests the show may have entered a new phase, one where nostalgia and innovation dance surprisingly well together.
For now, Robert Irwin & Witney Carson’s victory stands as both a satisfying end to a strong season and a proof-of-concept for where the format can go next. If the ratings are any indication, audiences are ready to keep dancing.
Review Snapshot
With its highest-rated finale since 2016 and a warmly received win for Robert Irwin & Witney Carson, Dancing with the Stars proves it can still command live audiences in the streaming age. The season’s strengths lie in its emotional storytelling, savvy casting, and smart pacing, even as longtime issues like voting complexity and format fatigue linger at the edges. Overall, the show feels less like a relic and more like a refreshed classic that has found its rhythm again.
