How Does Dancing With the Stars Choose Its Theme Nights? An Explainer
'Dancing With the Stars' Eliminates 4th Celebrity Contestant Despite Giving "Best" Performance
All we want for Mariah Carey Night at Dancing With the Stars Oct. 6 is to see Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa waltz to "Vision of Love," Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov get ready to rumba with "Hero," and whatever the troupe has planned for "Always Be My Baby."
Theme nights haven't always been a part of the ballroom competition series. But now they're part of the show, indefinitely. And, boy, contestants know they can't escape them.
While some classics such as Disney and Dedication Night will linger on, there's a process for deciding what other motifs belong together with the long-running series.
"It's by committee," the show's musical director Ray Chew explained to Parade in 2024 of how the whole song-and-dance comes together. "Its not just one aspect of the team that decides everything."
Ultimately, noted Chew, who first started leading the live band in 2014, "the executive producers decide what they want to air," but when it comes to a production as large as Dancing With the Stars, it takes far more than two to tango. Said Chew, "There's a lot of input and it's my full-blown task to make sure that I deliver."
Even before this season's lineup that honors pop royalty such as Carey and Whitney Houston and dove deep for Yacht Rock Night, "I think over the years we’ve kind of done everything theme wise that I would say would be really cool," noted Chew, namechecking Soul Train Night, Latin Night and tributes to other musical genres. "For Soul Train Night, there were many of my personal ideas in some of the arrangements, like the opening performance. I had a lot of input as to how we were going to do that, what we were going to do."
But his main weekly assignment is to literally make beautiful music.
With each of the songs rearranged to suit the style of dance (and, at times, avoid clearing them for use), Chew explained, "I am tasked with doing some of the songs very specific and particular in terms of what was in the original."
Eric McCandless/Disney
That will often mean adding accents and other sounds to tailor the beat to style of dance. "Everything that was done in the original," Chew noted, "I have to replicate and have available and make it sound like that, and then add whatever we’re going to do for the dances in the ballroom."
Which means he will spend Mariah Carey night with one eye on Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy's "My All" rumba and another working on arrangements for next week's ode to the best Super Bowl halftime shows.
"As I watch the show," shared Chew, "I'm looking at what we're doing for the upcoming show knowing that I have to give the teams what they need so they can rehearse."
Of course, that's just one small piece of the choreography. Keep reading to learn everything that takes place before the stars step foot in the ballroom.
ABC/Paula Lobo
How Much Do the Celebrities Get Paid to Be on Dancing With the Stars?
Citing multiple sources, Variety reported in 2019 that Dancing With the Stars contestants make $125,000 for the rehearsal period and first two weeks of the show. If they progress beyond that point, the outlet continued, they earn more money each week. At the time, sources told the publication stars could earn a maximum of $295,000.
However, Bobby Bones said he made more than this when he won season 27 with Sharna Burgess in 2018.
"That show pays OK," the radio personality said on a Sept. 2025 episode of Jason Tartick's podcast Trading Secrets. "Like, first episode, no money. Second episode, $10,000. I think it's like, $10,000, $10,000, $20,000, $20,000. It ends up being $50,000 an episode if you last."
Also receiving a base salary of around $110,000, Bones continued, "I ended up making close to $400,000 from that show."
ABC has not publicly confirmed any of these figures.
Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images
What Do the Pros Get Paid on Dancing With the Stars?
Similarly, little has been shared publicly about how much the pros get paid. But as with the contestants, it seems like the longer they're on the show, the more money they can make.
But even if a pro is eliminated in the first round, they're not leaving the ballroom empty-handed.
"You're guaranteed until a certain amount of weeks," Jenna Johnson said on a June 2025 episode of Kelly Stafford and Hank Winchester's podcast The Morning After. "I think there's different contracts though. I can't speak for everybody."
Disney/Eric McCandless
Do Pros Get Paid More If They Win Dancing With the Stars?
Apparently not.
While Johnson—who won season 26 with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, as well as season 33 with The Bachelor's Joey Graziadei—says the pros don't get a larger paycheck if they take home what is now called the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, she noted there's still an incentive to make it to the finale (besides bragging rights, of course).
"If you make it all the way to the end, you're getting paid the whole season, which is amazing, and you get a bonus on top of that for making it to the finale," she explained on The Morning After. "If you win, it's not like you win a $1 million and split it with your partner. You're just getting a cute trophy together."
Instagram / Dancing With the Stars
Do the Troupe Members Get Paid as Much as the Pros on Dancing With the Stars?
That doesn't appear to be the case.
On a 2022 episode of Trading Secrets, Lindsay Arnold recalled how her salary was cut "more than in half" when she was demoted from pro to troupe member.
Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images
How Are Pros and Celebrities Paired Together on Dancing With the Stars?
The pros get little input when it comes to being matched with a celebrity.
"You get no say," Lindsay said on a May 2025 episode of Maggie Sellers' Hot Smart Rich podcast. "It's very much just, 'Here's your partner. Make it work.'"
In fact, Jenna said the pairing is often a secret until the last minute.
"They really want to keep it a secret until you meet them live," Jenna said on The Morning After. "They want that genuine reaction. So I think people always think we know who we have and we're keeping it a secret. Absolutely not. They do not tell us. They really don't even want us to know the cast. It gets leaked a lot, but they want it very hush-hush until you walk in and meet your partner."
As for what the Dancing With the Stars team looks for when making these matches?
"It's based on height, build and personality and compatibility," former showrunner Rob Wade told E! News in 2015. "We don't pair people who aren't going to get on. It's too intense. It's not like The Bachelor or something, we couldn't do that. That would just be miserable experience for the celebrity, for us and the viewer. You don't want to see two people who don't like each other and, quite frankly, we have made that mistake pairing people up who didn't get on so well."
Disney/Eric McCandless
How Often Do the Pros and Celebrities Practice on Dancing With the Stars?
Put simply, a lot.
"Every day we have four-hour rehearsals," Rylee Arnold, who was partnered with Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik on season 33, shared on a September 2024 episode of the Lightweights Podcast With Joe Vulpis. "It’s either 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m."
But the work doesn't stop once the rehearsal wraps. Rylee noted she might then meet with producers or the creative team, work on choreography or study dance videos.
"Literally my whole life is devoted to it," she continued, "but it's my passion and it's what I love. So, it makes me so happy."
Indeed, it's a no-days-off kind of gig.
"We have our show day on Tuesday and then it's Wednesday to Sunday, straight rehearsals," Rylee added. "And then Monday we have camera blocking and then Tuesday's show day again."
Instagram / Emma Slater
Do the Pros Get to Pick the Songs Each Week for Their Dance With Their Celebrity Partner?
"Mostly yes," Emma Slater and Britt Stewart revealed in a September 2025 Instagram video, "though it's a collaboration with producers."
Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images
What's the Process Like for Making the Costumes for Dancing With the Stars?
If you thought the quickstep was fast, just wait until you hear about the pace of the costume department.
"We meet with the set and lighting designers, dancers and talent and create a story [for each pair]," costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner told TV Insider back in 2017. "Then we sketch out ideas. We have five days, max, to make all the outfits. That’s half a day per costume, not including all the rhinestones. The fitting and trimming we do later. We have about 20 people in our department and then we have a separate tailor shop. It’s a big enterprise."
In fact, costume designer Steven Norman Lee said pairs usually try on their costumes for the first time just hours before showtime. And while the department "might use a pair of pants again for the boys," he continued, everything is generally made custom each week.
As Gschwendtner added, "We do reuse things for group numbers or promo shoots, but not for the competition. We don’t reuse things unless there’s a specific reason to do so. We try to keep everybody fresh and new in something different every week, so it stays interesting."
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