“Dancing With the Stars” pro reveals she’ll be missing from Disney Night amid illness

Key Points

• New Dancing With the Stars pro Adele Zaikman will not appear on Monday’s Disney Night episode.

• “I’m sadly feeling unwell and won’t be performing in the opening number on Dancing With the Stars tomorrow,” she shared on social media, promising, “I’ll be taking this time to take [care] of myself.”

• Zaikman was crowned the winner of spinoff series Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro over the summer, earning her a spot on the main series.

Dancing With the Stars will be down a pro for Disney Nightbut she promises she’s doing her best to return in full force.

Adele Zaikmanone of season 35’s two new pros alongside Hailey Bills, announced that she has made the decision to sit Monday’s new episode out after falling under the weather.

“I’m sadly feeling unwell and won’t be performing in the opening number on Dancing With the Stars tomorrow,” Zaikman shared on her Instagram Stories on Monday. “I’m so sad to miss a show day, but I’ll be taking this time to take care of myself. Sending so much love to everyone on that ballroom floor. I’ll be cheering you on from home.”

Zaikman’s absence will be felt, but it won’t prove as much of a drastic interruption as, say, the one-week benching of Val Chmerkovskiy two weeks back. Zaikman and her celebrity partner, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Conner Leavitt, were eliminated on the first night of season 35’s jam-packed two-night premiere. Chmerkovskiy and his celebrity partner, The Rookie‘s Jenna Dewan, are meanwhile still in active competition.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Disney and ABC for comment.

Even once eliminated, the series’ pro cast members still play important roles in the ongoing season.

The entire cast, plus the members of the DWTS troupe, appear in each episode’s opening spectacle. They’re also frequently tapped to fill in as backup dancers for their castmates’ routines, as Zaikman was last week, when Chmerkovskiy and Dewan danced a haunting Argentine tango to “Uninvited” by Damned Anthem and Kendra Dantes.

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Zaikman was cast on the show in a quite unusual way. Where, normally, pro dancers are sought out by the show’s talent scouts, ever on the hunt for rising stars in the world of dance, Zaikman’s audition process was broadcast for the whole world to see.

The Israeli-Ukrainian dancer competed on the spinoff series Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro over the summer. In the neck-and-neck finale, she was crowned its winnerguaranteeing her a spot as a pro on the main series.

Dancing With the Stars will air its next episode on Monday, Nov. 2, to make way for ABC’s coverage of the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday. New episodes of season 35 will resume their usual airtime on Tuesdays next week, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+.

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