‘Dancing With the Stars’ Reveals Week 5 Theme: ‘Super Bowl Night’

LOS ANGELES, OCTOBER 5, 2026 — Dancing With the Stars has finally filled in the blank on its Season 35 calendar. The Week 5 theme — which ABC had listed as a mysterious “TBD” when the season’s theme schedule was announced in September — was revealed on Good Morning America on Sept. 30: “Super Bowl Night.” The Oct. 13 episode will celebrate memorable Super Bowl halftime performances, the first Super Bowl-themed episode in the long-running competition series’ history.

The announcement completes the puzzle for a season that has been building toward its midseason stretch. The Oct. 13 show will honor “the music, spectacle and unforgettable moments of the big game,” according to the Good Morning America reveal, and it arrives squarely in ABC and ESPN’s long lead-up to Super Bowl LXI, which the networks are scheduled to carry on Feb. 14, 2027. For a show that has themed weeks around everything from Disney villains to Taylor Swift, a full night built on halftime-show spectacle feels less like a stretch and more like an inevitability.

The last missing theme

When ABC first released the Season 35 theme lineup, every week had a name except one. Week 5 sat there labeled “TBD,” and the show let the mystery linger through the premiere weeks. Good Morning America finally ended the suspense in a Sept. 30 segment, confirming “Super Bowl Night” as the theme for the Oct. 13 episode. The segment framed the night around the halftime shows that have become appointment television in their own right — the pyrotechnics, the marching bands, the surprise guests — and the couples will be dancing to music associated with those iconic performances.

The reveal landed just as the season found its rhythm. The two-night premiere aired Sept. 15 and 16, with the 16 celebrities dancing to a No. 1 song from the year they were born. “Viral Hits Night” followed on Sept. 22, and “Yacht Rock Night” on Sept. 29 sent the season’s fourth celebrity home. That leaves the schedule clean and complete from here to the finale.

The full Season 35 theme schedule

Here is the complete run of themed weeks, with the dates each episode airs:

Week 1 (Sept. 15–16): the two-night premiere, with each couple dancing to a No. 1 song from the year they were born. Week 2 (Sept. 22): “Viral Hits Night.” Week 3 (Sept. 29): “Yacht Rock Night.” Week 4 (Oct. 6): “Mariah Carey Night.” Week 5 (Oct. 13): “Super Bowl Night.” Week 6 (Oct. 20): “Dedication Night.” Week 7 (Oct. 27): “Horror Movie Night.” Week 8 (Nov. 2): “Disney Night.” Week 9 (Nov. 10): “Grammy Night.” Week 10 (Nov. 17): the Semi-Finals. Week 11 (Nov. 24): the Finale.

It is a gauntlet. “Mariah Carey Night” lands Tuesday, Oct. 6, and from there the themes get more demanding — dedications, horror-movie theatrics, Disney pageantry, Grammy-worthy performances — before the semifinals and finale decide who lifts the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy.

Yacht Rock Night fallout

The smooth sounds of the ’70s and ’80s were not kind to everyone. On the Sept. 29 “Yacht Rock Night,” Hanson singer Taylor Hanson and pro partner Britt Stewart were eliminated after their foxtrot to the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” scored 18 out of 30. The final three pairs — Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson, Hanson and Stewart, and Jackson Olson and Emma Slater — waited through the results before Hanson and Stewart were sent home in the season’s fourth elimination.

The judges’ scoreboard told the story of the night. Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov topped the leaderboard with a 24 for their foxtrot to Toto’s “Hold the Line,” matched by Glee alum Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson’s 24-point jive to “You Make My Dreams Come True.” The Traitors finalist Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas earned a 22 for their quickstep, while Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy, Paralympian Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach, and Fresh Prince star Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik each scored 21.

Near the bottom, the danger is real. Bachelorette alum Tyler Cameron — the season’s famous Floridian, a Jupiter native — and partner Sharna Burgess scored 17 out of 30 for their jive to Orleans’ “Still the One,” the second-lowest score of the night. Only Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson scored lower, with a 15 for their foxtrot to “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” Cameron survived the week, but the judges’ scores are starting to paint a target on his back.

The elimination history so far: TikTok creator Connor Leavitt and Adele Zaikman went home in episode one; Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills in episode two; celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis and Alan Bersten in episode three; and Hanson and Stewart in episode four. Twelve couples remain.

The race for the Len Goodman Mirrorball

The remaining field: Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov, Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong, Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold, Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach, Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson, Jackson Olson and Emma Slater, Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy, Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa, Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas, Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik, and Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess.

Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough host, with Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough at the judges’ table. Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, simulcasts on Disney+, and streams the next day on Hulu. “Mariah Carey Night” is up next on Oct. 6 — and then, on Oct. 13, the ballroom goes to the Super Bowl.

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