ABC names Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller first Dancing With the Stars cast members

ABC opened the season 35 race for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy with two reality-TV names built for cross-franchise fandom: Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller. The network confirmed both women as the first contestants for Dancing With the Stars at Hulu’s second annual Get Real House event in Beverly Hills, California, giving the ballroom competition an early signal that this fall’s cast will be shaped as much by recognizable personalities as by dance ability.

The selection is less a surprise than a strategy. Higgins arrives with built-in visibility from Love Island U.K. and The Traitors, while Miller brings Bravo familiarity from Summer House and the kind of ongoing off-screen drama that keeps unscripted television in the conversation. Together, they fit a clear programming play: ABC is using DWTS to pull in viewers who already follow these franchises and to turn their loyalties into live-voting energy once the competition begins.

That crossover instinct is increasingly central to how entertainment brands fight for attention. At a time when audiences move easily between streaming platforms and social feeds, casting people who already carry fan bases from other reality shows gives Dancing With the Stars a ready-made promotional engine. It also positions the series as part of a broader unscripted ecosystem rather than an isolated dance contest, especially with ABC using the Get Real House event to showcase additional programming from Hulu, ABC and Freeform in the same setting.

The timing matters, too. Season 35 is set to air in fall 2026 on ABC and Disney+, with episodes available the next day on Hulu, extending the show across broadcast and streaming in a way designed to keep the cast in circulation all week long. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough made the announcement, underscoring that the network is not just unveiling contestants, but building a season around names that can travel across platforms and fandoms.

One of the first immediate signs of that strategy came from Rob Rausch, Higgins’ The Traitors castmate and that season’s winner, who reacted positively to her casting and said he thinks she could do well in the competition. That kind of public endorsement matters in reality television, where audience allegiance often transfers from one show to another. With Higgins and Miller leading off the season 35 rollout, ABC has made clear that Dancing With the Stars intends to compete for attention by recruiting contestants who already know how to command it.