Dancing with the Stars kicked things off strong with a power-packed and explosive season 31 premiere episode.
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The show returned for its history-making season on the Disney+ streaming platform, becoming the first live streamed show on the platform.
VIDEO: Dancing with the Stars season 31 cast
While the same judges, Bruno Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Len Goodman, returned, there were more changes to be seen.
Along with a few returning pros and a revamped set, host Tyra Banks was joined for the first time by a new co-host, the winner of season 19, Alfonso Ribeiro.
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In the first instalment, however, there was a bit of sorrow as one couple became the first eliminated of the season, that being the pair of Jason Lewis and Peta Murgatroyd.
The duo performed the cha-cha-cha and received mixed to negative critiques from the judges, ultimately resulting in a score of 18 out of 40 and unanimously losing the judges' save.
Jason was the first eliminated contestant of the season
The judgments were also paired with a cacophony of boos on several occasions, though, due to the stricter scoring and harsher critiques for relatively strong performers.
The premiere episode also established an early frontrunner among the 16 celebrity and professional pairings, that being TikTok sensation Charli D'Amelio.
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Joined by returning pro Mark Ballas, they danced the cha-cha-cha to Savage, getting rave reviews from the judges for her technical ability.
They were scored a 32 out of 40, the highest of the night and enough to make them an early favorite moving forward.
Charli established herself as the frontrunner with the night's highest score
Other strong performers from the night were Wayne Brady and Witney Carson, picking up their own strong 29. While on the other side of the leaderboard were Vinny Guadagnino and Koko Iwasaki, the lowest scorers of hte night, along with Teresa Guidice and Pasha Pashkov, who were in the bottom two alongside Jason and Peta.
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