When Dancing with the Stars previewed season 33 in September 2024, Phaedra Parks was a contestant to watch: she was paired with professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy and brought the visibility of a longtime Real Housewives cast member to the competition. The forecast was only a snapshot, though. Parks was eliminated after Disney Night on October 22, 2024, and Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson won the season.
Why Parks drew attention before season 33
Disney announced Parks as part of the season 33 cast on September 4, 2024, pairing her with returning pro Val Chmerkovskiy. The season was scheduled to premiere on September 17. That pairing gave viewers a clear reason to follow her progress: Parks was entering a dance competition with an experienced partner, while bringing an established reality-television following from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. The pairing and schedule were confirmed in Disney’s season 33 cast announcement.
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Calling Parks “the one to watch” was an editorial prediction, not a sourced ranking of likely winners. The available season reports do not establish that she was expected to win, nor do they provide a verified statement from Parks or Chmerkovskiy about her prospects. Her participation itself was a compelling storyline; it was not evidence of a particular competitive outcome.
What her early score showed—and what it didn’t
ABC’s September 25 recap reported a combined 40 points for Parks and Chmerkovskiy across the first two weeks. That is an early-season score snapshot, not a final standing or a direct measure of her chances against the full cast. A single total cannot establish a season-long trend or support a reliable prediction of who would win.
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The season premiere also drew a reported 7.32 million Live + Same Day viewers and a 1.31 Adults 18–49 rating across platforms after seven days of viewing, according to ABC’s October 7, 2024 press release. Those figures describe the premiere’s audience measurement—not Parks’s individual popularity or voting support.
How Parks’s season 33 run ended
Parks and Chmerkovskiy were eliminated after Disney Night, as ABC reported on October 23, 2024. ABC also said Parks had gone further in the competition than any previous Real Housewives contestant. That distinction gives her run a notable place in the show’s crossover history, even though it did not take her to the finale.
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Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson ultimately won season 33 at the November 26, 2024 finale. The completed results put the earlier “one to watch” description in perspective: Parks was a notable contestant to follow, but she was not the season’s winner.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where to watch season 33
Disney announced that season 33 aired live on ABC and Disney+, with episodes available on Hulu the next day. Disney+ currently lists Dancing with the Stars in its catalog, but streaming catalogs and availability can change by date and territory. Check the services’ current listings for your location.
Quick Recap
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- Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
- Language: English
- Region: Region 1 U.S. and Canada only
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Run Time: 51 minutes
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