Desperate ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Looks To Taylor Swift Theme Week To Save Struggling Ratings

Sparks are about to fly on Nov. 21, when Dancing with the Stars is set to air a Taylor Swift-themed special episode.

“A Celebration of Taylor Swift” will see the remaining contestants of Season 32 of the popular competition series dancing to songs from across Swift’s career. Dancing With the Stars choreographer, Mandy Moore (who also choreographed The Eras Tour, Swift’s massive, ongoing world tour, and has no relation to the This Is Us star) will guest judge the episode. 

The song selections and dance styles have yet to be announced, but one has to assume that some of Swift’s biggest, catchiest hits will grace the small screen. But the real question is: do we think someone will perform “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)”? 

The Swift week also comes as the show has been struggling to pull in viewers. Per TVLine, DWTS brought in 4.3 million viewers and earned a 0.5 demo rating, a low for the franchise. But if dedicated Swift fans show up in droves for DWTS like they did for the Eras Tour, we wouldn’t be surprised if a far larger crowd tunes in to the Nov. 21 special.

This announcement is hot on the heels of a gold rush of Swiftian news items, including the re-release of her seminal pop album 1989, which became her biggest first week of sales of any of her albums so far — including the original release of 1989 back in 2014 — with over 1.6 million copies sold. Additionally, The Eras Tour concert film isn’t doing so poorly either, grossing $13.5 million in North America on its fourth weekend in theaters, amounting to a total run of $231 million so far.

The DWTS competitors still left in the running at this point are Barry Williams, Lele Pons, Ariana Madix, Charity Lawson, Harry Jowsey, Alyson Hannigan, Xochitl Gomez and Jason Mraz (who performed with Swift on her Speak Now tour fifty million eras ago, back in 2011, where they did a sweet duet of “I’m Yours”). 

By the time the Swiftie special bows, there will be just six duos left, but it looks like the winning contestant won’t be out of the woods for some time, as the finale is scheduled for Dec. 5, where one couple will come out on top with the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.

Is it too late to convince ABC that, instead of featuring Taylor’s flashiest, danciest hits, they should go with some deeper cuts? I’m personally advocating for a devastating performance of “Happiness” — it is Evermore season, after all.

Dancing with the Stars airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC and streams on Disney+.