Dancing With the Stars season 35 premieres on September 15 on ABC and Disney+.
Pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy, along with DWTS season 33 champion Joey Graziadei, will make a cameo on the season 2 premiere of R.J. Decker.
The R.J. Decker premiere airs right after the DWTS premiere on September 15 on ABC.
Dancing With the Stars is trading the ballroom for the boardwalk.
The season 35 premiere is just weeks away, and fans are ready to see new celebrities and pros compete week to week. This year, dancers Jenna Johnson and Valentin “Val” Chmerkovskiy, along with DWTS season 33 champion and The Bachelor star Joey Graziadei, are changing things up ahead of the first episode.
Thanks to an Instagram post on August 29, fans learned that Jenna, Val, and Joey will guest star in the season 2 premiere of the procedural drama R.J. Decker. The episode is slated to air right after Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
“Iconic moves with familiar faces are reaching coast-to-coast 🌴,” the caption read alongside a sneak peek promo. “Watch @jennajohnson, @joeygraziadei, and @valentin guest star on the season premiere of #RJDecker after #DWTS Tuesday, September 15 on ABC! Stream on Hulu.”
Fans were excited to see Jenna, Val, and Joey do something outside of Dancing With the Stars.
“Stop this [right now] 👏👏🔥🔥 I can’t wait!!!” one person wrote in the comments. “This is going to be so fun!!!” another exclaimed. “Obsessed with this trio ✨💖,” a different follower added.
R.J. Decker follows a former newspaper photographer and ex-con (played by Scott Speedman) as he gets a fresh start as a South Florida private investigator. As he takes on various crimes, he must work with his journalist ex, her wife, his former cellmate, and others from his past.
A press release from ABC noted that the R.J. Decker episode, titled “The Point of Us Breaking,” sees the titular character reunite with an old prison adversary as he investigates a slew of bank robberies.
This is something to look forward to!
