Willow Shields is the youngest Dancing with the Stars competitor identified in the available reporting: CBS News listed the Hunger Games actor at 14 when she joined season 20 in 2015. The evidence supports a roundup of notably young contestants, but not a definitive all-time ranking of eight: comparable first-episode ages are not established for every season.
Who is the youngest contestant in the show’s history?
CBS News’s season 20 cast gallery, published March 2, 2015, lists Willow Shields as 14 and names Mark Ballas as her dance partner. Shields is the youngest competitor identified in the sources reviewed here. This is an age at the time of competition, not her age today.
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Dancing with the Stars pairs celebrities with professional dancers for choreographed routines judged by ballroom experts, according to ABC’s series page.
Eight notably young contestants—and what the record supports
The available reporting verifies Shields’s age and two season-specific youngest contestants, but it does not supply comparable ages at first competition for eight people across the show’s history. The names below are therefore a transparent roundup, not a ranked all-time top eight.
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| Contestant | Season and reported age | What the evidence establishes |
|---|---|---|
| Willow Shields | Season 20; 14 | CBS News listed her age and partner Mark Ballas in its 2015 cast gallery. She is the youngest competitor identified in the sources reviewed. |
| Xochitl Gomez | Season 32; 17 | ABC News described Gomez as that season’s youngest celebrity contestant. |
| Bristol Palin | Season 11; 19 | CBS News reported in 2010 that Palin was among the youngest members of that season’s cast. |
| Kyle Massey | Season 11; 19 | The same CBS News report identified Massey, alongside Palin, as one of the season’s youngest contestants. |
| Other four places | Not established | The available sources do not verify four additional names with comparable season-entry ages. Naming them as the next-youngest would imply an unsupported historical ranking. |
Why “youngest” depends on the comparison
Youngest across the whole series
An all-time record requires comparing contestants’ ages when they first competed across seasons. The cited reporting identifies Shields at 14 as the youngest competitor in the material available here, but it is not a complete season-by-season age audit.
Youngest in a particular season
Season-level descriptions answer a narrower question. ABC News called Gomez the youngest contestant in season 32 at 17; CBS News called Palin and Massey the youngest in season 11 at 19. Those labels do not make them the youngest across the series.
Rank #2
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Where to watch the current season
For season 35 in 2026, ABC Help Center lists a live, two-night premiere on ABC and Disney+ in September. ABC’s season 35 announcement also points to next-day streaming on Hulu. These references are U.S.-oriented; check local listings and platform availability for your territory and the current schedule.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- 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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