Dancing with the Stars' 23rd season got off to a great start for Laurie Hernandez and James Hinchcliffe, who tied for first place on the judges' leaderboard during Monday night's premiere broadcast on ABC.
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James, a professional race car driver, and his pro partner Sharna Burgess and Laurie, an Olympic gold gymnast, and her pro partner Val Chmerkovskiy topped the judges' leaderboard out of the 13 competing couples when they each received 31 out of 40 points from Dancing with the Stars judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough and Bruno Tonioli.
James and Sharna danced the foxtrot and wowed the judges, while Laurie and Val did the same with their cha cha performance.
Two couples also tied for third place on the leaderboard: Country singer Jana Kramer and partner Gleb Savchenko as well as actress and former The Celebrity Apprentice contestant Marilu Henner and partner Derek Hough.
Both pairs earned 27 points from the judges. Jana and Gleb danced the Viennese waltz, while Marilu and Derek took the stage with a jive routine.
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At 26 points, fifth place also turned out to be a tie between retired NFL wide receiver Calvin Johnson Jr. and partner Lindsay Arnold as well as iconic singer and producer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and partner Allison Holker. Calvin and Lindsay delivered with the cha cha. Babyface and Allison impressed with a foxtrot routine.
Seventh place also represented a tie for the following two couples: Former rapper and The Vanilla Ice Project star Vanilla Ice (formally known as Robert Van Winkle) and partner Witney Carson as well as Little Women: LA star Terra Jole and partner Sasha Farber.
Both pairs earned 25 points from the Dancing with the Stars judges. Vanilla Ice and Witney pleased the crowd with a cha cha featuring moves from the former rapper's "Ice Ice Baby" music video. Terra, the first little person to compete on the franchise, showed she's in it to win it with a jive performance.
Talk show host and model Amber Rose and fellow celebrity Ryan Lochte, an Olympic gold swimmer and former What Would Ryan Lochte Do? star, tied for ninth place after they each scored a total of 24 points on the leaderboard with their respective partners.
Amber and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy danced a foxtrot routine, as did Ryan and partner Cheryl Burke.
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While Ryan and Cheryl were being critiqued by Carrie Ann, she began yelling "excuse me" at someone who seemingly ran up onstage to attack Ryan or protest his participation, probably in connection with his Rio scandal. The show cut to an immediate commercial break and both Cheryl and Ryan appeared flustered, shocked and worried when the broadcast returned.
At 22 points, eleventh place was a tie between The Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick and fellow celebrity Jake T. Austin, a Disney Channel star.
Maureen and partner Artem Chigvintsev took the stage with a Viennese waltz, while Jake and partner Jenna Johnson performed the jive.
Finally, former Texas governor and U.S. presidential candidate Rick Perry and partner Emma Slater finished the night in thirteenth -- and last -- place on the judges' leaderboard. The pair received only 20 points from the DWTS judges for their cha cha routine.
Next week, there will be two back-to-back Dancing with the Stars broadcasts on Monday and Tuesday night at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
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Both shows will be two-hours long, and next Tuesday night's episode will feature one of the 13 couples getting eliminated based on votes cast following the first two performance shows.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski