Every Season of DWTS Ranked From Worst to Best
It's once again time for another season of Dancing with the Stars, that show in which both the dancing and the stars are occasionally questionable. Before we jump into season 23, let's take a look back at the first 22 to see which casts soared and which ones were plagued with two (or 20) left feet.
Here's our ranking of every season of DWTS ever, from worst to best...
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23. Season 2 (2006)
Winner: Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke
This is possibly the saddest list of stars to read in 2016: Drew Lachey, Kenny Mayne, Tatum O'Neal, Giselle Fernandez, Master P, Tia Carrere, George Hamilton, Lisa Rinna, Stacy Keibler, and Jerry Rice. It didn't make the most interesting season of DWTS in 2006, either.
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22. Season 1 (2005)
Winner: Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo
With only six competitors, we barely count this season, though it did include such blast-from-the-past inducing names as Joey McIntyre, Evander Holyfield, and Trista Sutter.
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21. Season 7 (2008)
Winner: Brooke Burke and Derek Hough
Season 7 featured such national treasures as Kim Kardashian, Cloris Leachman, Lance Bass, Toni Braxton, Susan Lucci, and, you know, Cody Linley.
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20. Season 12 (2011)
Winner: Hines Ward and Kym Johnson
We call this a "meh" season. We recognize the names (like Wendy Williams, Chris Jericho, Kendra Wilkinson, Romeo, Ralph Macchio, Chelsea Kane, and Kirstie Alley), but that didn't mean we liked watching them all dance.
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19. Season 6 (2008)
Winner: Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas
Kristi Yamaguchi was great, but we look back at that roster that includes Steve Guttenberg, Mario, Adam Carolla, Penn Jillette, and Priscilla Presley and all we can say is "oof."
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18. Season 4 (2007)
Winner: Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough
Loved Apolo, but Billy Ray Cyrus, John Ratzenberger, Joey Fatone, Laila Ali, and a pre-Sharknado Ian Ziering made up a roster that was less of a "who?" than a "why??"
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17. Season 14 (2012)
Winner: Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd
Any list that includes Gavin DeGraw is automatically amazingly mid-2000s. The very random season 14 also included Urkle (Jaleel White), Melissa Gilbert, Gladys Knight, Sherri Shepherd, and even Maria Menounos.
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16. Season 5 (2007)
Winner: Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough
We would probably be willing to watch Jennie Garth, Mel B, Marie Osmond, and Jane Seymour start a powerful lady dance crew.
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15. Season 23 (2016)
Winner: Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy
Season 23 seemed to have it all—the talent, the nostalgia, the Olympics fever, and even the controversy thanks to Ryan Lochte's hecklers—but for some reason, it just kept failing to excite us, and it felt like it lasted years. This quote from the finale kind of says it all: "Vanilla Ice and Rick Perry! I mean, that duo never gets old."
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14. Season 10 (2010)
Winner: Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough
No surprise the Pussycat Doll won against Pamela Anderson, Jake Pavelka, Shannen Doherty, Niecy Nash, Erin Andrews, Chad Ochocinco, and, weirdly, Buzz Aldrin.
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13. Season 8 (2009)
Winner: Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas
Season 8 was an odd mixture of serious talent from Shawn, Melissa Rycroft, and Gilles Marini, alongside people like Denise Richards and Steve Wozniak. 'Twas a mixed bag.
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12. Season 9 (2009)
Winner: Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson
Season 9's huge cast included Donny Osmond, Melissa Joan Hart, Aaron Carter, and Macy Gray, but it also featured U.S. House majority leader Tom DeLay and a whole bunch of models and athletes who require googling.
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11. Season 3 (2006)
Winner: Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke
Who didn't have kind of a great time watching Joey Lawrence and Mario Lopez break it down on the dance floor?
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10. Season 13 (2011)
Winner: J.R. Martinez and Karina Smirnoff
Think about this: Rob Kardashian, Nancy Grace, Chaz Bono, David Arquette, and Kristin Cavallari all shared a dance floor once in 2011. Ricki Lake and Carson Kressley were there too. Why did season 13 not have its own backstage reality show?!
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9. Season 17 (2013)
Winner: Amber Riley and Derek Hough
A totally classic season. Amber, Corbin Bleu, Leah Remini, Jack Osbourne, Snooki, Christina Milian, Valerie Harper, Bill Engvall, Bill Nye, Keyshawn Johnson, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, and even Noel from Pretty Little Liars (Brant Daugherty).
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8. Season 18 (2014)
Winner: Meryl Davis and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Not only was season 18 fun thanks to Meryl competing against her ice dancing partner Charlie White, but it also featured Candace Cameron Bure, Danica McKellar, Billy Dee Williams (who withdrew after two weeks), Drew Carey, and Paralympian Amy Purdy. It didn't matter that no one had asked to see Drew Carey dance! We got to see it anyway.
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7. Season 20 (2015)
Winner: Rumer Willis and Valentin Chmerkovskiy
The chemistry between Rumer and Val was almost painfully good, and Nastia Liukin and Riker Lynch were also standouts, but otherwise all we can think of is Robert Herjavec falling deeply in love with his partner, Kym Johnson.
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6. Season 22 (2016)
Winner: Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd
Nyle made history as the first deaf winner, and he also gave us some impossibly smooth moves and one very upsetting homage to The Mask. Other standouts included Jodie Sweetin, Kim Fields, Boys II Men's Wanya Morris, and everybody's fave, Geraldo Rivera.
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5. Season 11 (2010)
Winner: Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough
What an odd and beautiful combo of nostalgia (Jennifer Grey, Florence Henderson, and David Hasselhoff), 2010 reality TV royalty (Audrina Patridge and The Situation), and randos like Bristol Palin, Kyle Massey, Brandy, Michael Bolton, and Margaret Cho.
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4. Season 16 (2013)
Winner: Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough
Not bad, season 16! Kellie Pickler, Lisa Vanderpump, Aly Raisman, Zendaya, Sean Lowe, D.L. Hughley, Andy Dick, Victor Ortiz, and Wynonna Judd may not all still be household names (though some definitely are) today, but we remembered who they were without Googling, so we call that a solid cast.
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3. Season 15 (2012)
Winner: Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani
Who doesn't love an all-star season? Melissa Rycroft's redemptive rise to the top was fun to watch, though they did pick a few odd names to join the list of supposed greats (Bristol Palin? Pamela Anderson?).
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2. Season 21 (2015)
Winner: Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough
Bindi was pure sunshine, and the rest of the cast wasn't lacking in entertainment, thanks to Nick Carter, Paula Deen, Garey Busey, Andy Grammer, Chaka Khan, and Alexa and Carlos PenaVega.
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1. Season 19 (2014)
Winner: Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson
Alfonso brought the nostalgia, with help from The Carlton, Tommy Chong and Mean Girls' Jonathan Bennett, but he also led a really stellar cast that scored a record number of high scores throughout the season, and it was so much fun to watch.