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‘DWTS’ nearly got scrapped before it aired — and the reason will totally surprise you

Before it became a hit, ‘DWTS’ had to beg stars to join — here’s why they were scared

Back in the day, the first season of 'Dancing With The Stars' faced a couple of challenges. For the unversed, let us share with you that the inaugural season of 'DWTS', which featured six celebrities Trista Sutter, Evander Holyfield, Rachel Hunter, Joey McIntyre, John O’Hurley, and Kelly Monaco, premiered on June 1, 2005. At that point in time, the creators of the ABC dance competition were worried whether the viewers would watch the show. Along with this, they had a fair share of concerns regarding casting as well. Then, Tom Bergeron and Lisa Canning were the hosts, meanwhile Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Len Goodman served as the judges for the season.

In a July 2025 Entertainment Weekly feature, executive producer Deena Katz shed light on the history of 'Dancing With The Stars' Season 1. "I was called on the ABC side and told that Andrea Wong was passionate about trying to bring Strictly to America. They sent me strictly because I was not aware of it, and it was like, 'Oh my gosh, live ballroom dance with celebrities.' I wasn’t even sure the thing would ever go. They didn’t have these kinds of shows. It was so much ‘Fear Factor’ and things that were mean-spirited," Katz recalled.

Considering that it was the first season of 'DWTS', it was difficult for the team to convince the celebrities to join the show and train for a dance competition. Katz further elaborated, “There was a sense of, ‘If you do this, you’re never going to work in scripted again. You’re never going to do a movie again.’ And that is not true. People get movies, series, and hosting gigs afterwards because of being on the show. But it was really hard at first to convince people, ‘You should do this and I promise you it’s not going to hurt you.’ It’s live, which is also scary.”

Later, Katz revealed that the casting strategy for the debut season of 'DWTS' was to search for celebrities who had a good fan following and were appealing to a wider audience. Katz continued, “There was no blueprint before season 1, and so you’re making it up as you go and having a little bit of everything. At the time, ‘The Bachelorette’ was huge. Trista Sutter came on, and that was our first foray into reality. ‘General Hospital’ was massive, and Kelly Monaco was a star of it. Daytime audiences are rabid fans. Joey McIntyre is one of the greatest boy-banders of all time and a teenage idol. You want to have that eye candy. John O’Hurley, you didn’t know anything about him. You knew Jay Peterman on ‘Seinfeld.'”

Katz went on to say, “One of the great things about our show is you might know who they are, but you don’t really know them. We wanted to try to look at people that have fan bases in different ages and backgrounds, so you’re not hitting the same note.” Elsewhere in the interview, Katz mentioned that the casting process hasn't changed since that first season. Katz noted, “It’s just trying to give the audience a little bit of everything. To this day, we don’t audition anybody. It’s still a jigsaw puzzle, even 34 seasons later, of making it the right mix to make sure you’re reaching out to the biggest audience.”