Dancing with the Stars: Season 16
Season sixteen of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 18, 2013. Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke Charvet returned as hosts, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli returned as judges. The Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers also returned to provide the music throughout the season. Fractional scores did not continue this season. This is the first season where all finalists did not learn a Latin and
Season 16 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Dancing with the Stars Season 15.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Season overview
Season sixteen of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 18, 2013. Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke Charvet returned as hosts, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli returned as judges. The Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers also returned to provide the music throughout the season. Fractional scores did not continue this season.
This is the first season where all finalists did not learn a Latin and a ballroom dance; no finalist learned Tango, Raisman did not learn Paso Doble, Jones did not learn Samba, Pickler did not learn Salsa, and Zendaya did not learn Rumba. Each of the four finalists also did not dance one of the two new dance styles introduced this season. Raisman and Zendaya did not dance Jazz while Pickler and Jones did not dance Contemporary.
This marks the fourth win for Derek Hough giving him the most mirror ball trophies out of all the professional dancers on the show.