Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Premiere: Conner Leavitt Eliminated

“It’s not an even playing field, right?” Mark Ballas posited during a Sept. 10 appearance on the Get Real podcast alongside partner DWTS Maura Higgins. “It’s like the cast is split in half and someone’s going. It’s kind of like boys over there, girls over there, one of you is going from each group, right?”
But trust, stars are bringing their A game to the ballroom. In fact, before 10 Things I Hate About You actress Julia Stiles, 45, and her partner Ezra Sosa honor the late Dolly Parton—performing a quickstep to “9 to 5″ on Sept. 16—Sosa emphasized that Stiles wasn’t saving her skills for the premiere to be their last dance. 
“She’s doing absolutely incredible,” Sosa told E! News Sept. 6 as the pair prepared for the DWTS premiere. “I will confidently say I’ve never worked with someone who’s working so hard and who’s so passionate about doing this, and it just makes me so excited to see their journey on the show.”