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On the U.S. main series of Dancing with the Stars, Cloris Leachman holds the oldest-contestant record: she was 82 when she competed in Season 7. The available evidence also identifies Willow Shields, 14 in Season 20, as the youngest contestant. A published historical ranking names five of the oldest through Season 27, but the sources do not establish a complete, current five-youngest list.
Who are the oldest contestants on DWTS?
The following five names come from a ranking published in 2018, covering contestants through its Season 27 context. Ages are those reported for the competition season; the fifth position is a tie, not a sole fifth-place entry.
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| Contestant | Age during competition | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Cloris Leachman | 82 | Season 7 (2008) |
| Buzz Aldrin | 80 | Season 10 (2010) |
| Billy Dee Williams | 77 | Season 18 (2014) |
| Tommy Chong | 76 | Season 19 (2014) |
| Florence Henderson | 76 | Season 11 (2010) |
Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s 2018 ranking places Chong and Henderson together at the fifth listed position. It is a dated ranking, not a verified all-time audit of every later season. A 2024 retrospective analysis likewise identifies Leachman as the age-record holder and Aldrin as the oldest male contestant it found, but does not supply a complete updated top five.
What the oldest-contestant record means
Leachman competed at 82 in Season 7, and the 2024 retrospective analysis confirms her as the record holder. The 2018 ranking reports that she finished seventh. Aldrin, 80 in Season 10, is identified by that retrospective as the oldest male contestant; the 2018 list describes him as the second-oldest contestant overall.
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Henderson’s age is also supported by a contemporaneous report on her Season 11 cast: CBS News reported her as 76, alongside that season’s younger contestants. That report verifies her age in that season, not her place in a current series-wide ranking.
Who are the youngest DWTS contestants?
The youngest record holders supported by the available sources are:
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- Youngest overall and youngest female identified: Willow Shields. She was 14 during Season 20. A 2024 retrospective identifies her as the overall record holder, and TIME’s 2015 Season 20 recap independently reports her age.
- Youngest male identified: Hayes Grier. The 2024 retrospective analysis places him at 15 in Season 21.
These are record-holder facts, not the first two entries of a verified five-person ranking. The cited material does not establish the remaining youngest contestants in order, so a full “five youngest” list cannot be responsibly supplied from it.
How to read contestant ages and rankings
Age records can shift by a year depending on the date used: a contestant’s age at the season premiere may differ from their age at their first performance or later in the competition. The retrospective analysis says it calculated ages from dates of birth and season premiere dates, while noting that there is no officially licensed contestant dataset and that some dates required cross-checking. The historical oldest-five ranking does not establish a uniform date method for every entry.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →For that reason, the table is best read as the ages and season placements reported by the 2018 source, while the two youngest records are attributed to the 2024 retrospective and, for Shields, the contemporaneous TIME recap. The sources support Leachman as the oldest and Shields as the youngest; they do not prove that every ranking position remains unchanged after those publications.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where to find the U.S. series
ABC’s official series page lists the show, cast, and episode information. Availability and episode listings can change.
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- Language: English
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- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Run Time: 51 minutes
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