Britt Stewart Brings the Energy, Even When Votes Don’t Follow 

By Jenna Barr

“Dancing With the Stars” duo Britt Stewart and Taylor Hanson were sent home from Season 35 on September 29, finishing in 13th place. 

The elimination came in week three, after a foxtrot that earned their best score of the season so far, an 18 out of 30.  Despite them scoring higher than two couples who stayed, viewer votes sent them home.  Fans were quick to point out that Stewart has never made a finale during her career on Dancing with the Stars. 

It’s an odd fate for one of the show’s most experienced dancers.  A Colorado native who started dancing at age 3, Stewart was a principal dancer in all three High School Musical films and toured with artists like Janet Jackson and Rihanna.

Career Timeline

2016: Joins the DWTS troupe, where she stays for five seasons

2020: Becomes the show’s first Black female pro; reaches the semifinals with Johnny Weir (6th)

2021: Martin Kove (15th)

2022: Her best run, (5th) with Daniel Durant, whom she later married in August 2025

2023–2025: Adrian Peterson (11th), Eric Roberts (10th), Baron Davis (13th)

2026: Taylor Hanson (13th)

But luck isn’t the whole story.  Hanson and Stewart’s 18/30 was tied for the third-lowest score of the night, and this season showed how much the fan vote can swing results.  Stewart has often landed on the wrong side of it, as we can see from the timeline above.  

Off the dance floor, her impact is easier to measure.  She’s the president of Share The Movement, a nonprofit that launched in 2021 and has provided more than $30,000 in summer scholarships to young BIPOC dancers.  She has called DWTS the “cherry on top” of her career. 

This season has also been rocky behind the scenes.  After judge Carrie Ann Inaba critiqued Jenna Johnson’s choreography on Super Bowl Night, Johnson’s husband, Val Chmerkovskiy, posted a since-deleted reference to Will Smith’s Oscars slap.  Producers called the post inappropriate and suspended him for a week.  He missed Dedication Night on October 20, and Alan Bersten filled in for his partner, Jenna Dewan.