Bruno Tonioli Recounts 2005 Doubts as Dancing with the Stars Grew
bruno tonioli said Dancing with the Stars was met with outright skepticism when it launched in 2005, but the show outlasted the doubt and is now heading into another expansion in 2026. Speaking at the Disney 2026 Upfront in New York City on May 12, he and Julianne Hough framed the series as a rare broadcast success that still has room to grow.
May 2005 Doubts
“It was May 2005, and at the time… Andrea Wong was running ABC, and Bob Iger was working there as well, and I know the story. It is a long story. They told me the story. And everybody was saying, ‘This is never gonna work. They're crazy,'” Tonioli said. He added, “Next year, we were up there with American Idol — I could not believe it.”
The first season premiered with Tonioli, Carrie Ann Inaba and the late Len Goodman as judges, while Kelly Monaco, John O'Hurley, Joey McIntyre, Rachel Hunter, Evander Holyfield and Trista Sutter made up the contestant list. Monaco won that season, giving the show an early proof point before it had any long-term track record.
Hough On Longevity
“I mean, this show got turned down so many times at the beginning, because people were like, a ballroom dancing show? Like, what? Is that really a thing?” Hough said. She joined the series in 2007 and said it has “survived 20 years” and is now “thriving more than it ever has.”
“To see that it's been around not only just, like, survived 20 years, but is now thriving more than it ever has, it just goes to show that, like, when you stay in authenticity and integrity of what this show is — which is craftsmanship, just rooting for people to grow and succeed, and go on the journey of transformation, and keep that family experience — that's timeless,” she said.
Beating Heart, 2026 Growth
“The reason it lasted, and it still is, is because it is a show that has a beating heart — it's not fake. We really do it because we love it,” Tonioli said. He also said, “And…we always push the bar. We always make it better. And the audience really responds to that,” then added, “We are really there 100%...We are there with our hearts beating. I think people get that. They get the truth.”
The franchise is set to expand with Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro on July 13, 2026, on ABC and Hulu. That makes the current nostalgia more than a backward glance: the show’s origin story is now part of the case for why the brand still has value as it adds another title to the lineup.
