Julianne Hough broke into the live broadcast with an urgent directive after the show’s digital voting infrastructure collapsed.
“A quick update for everyone who is voting at home,” Hough, 38, announced roughly 26 minutes into the live broadcast on ABC and Disney+.
“This is coming through live right now: Voting on ABC[.com] is currently down live. So please make sure that you guys are texting for everyone.”
“We will keep you posted as the night goes on,” she added.
Co-host Alfonso Ribeiro joined Hough in delivering the emergency procedural change as thousands of viewers encountered error screens, failed submissions, and inaccessible pages while attempting to cast ballots through the official web portal. The pivot to SMS text messaging required viewers to send each celebrity contestant’s designated first-name keyword to the network’s short code, 21523.
The severity of the malfunction forced show producers to make an emergency call midway through the telecast, discarding all digital ballots cast during the East and Central broadcasts. Network representatives confirmed that text voting remained operational throughout the remainder of the live broadcast window.
The decision to scrap online ballots entirely triggered immediate backlash across social media, where fans vented frustration over lost votes and raised concerns about how the sudden shift might disadvantage newer performers with younger, web-centric fanbases less inclined to default to SMS messaging.
Voting mishaps have previously disrupted the long-running reality competition, though full-scale cancellations of digital ballots remain rare. The production has historically weathered phone line glitches and broadcast discrepancies, at times withholding eliminations or carrying judges’ scores over into subsequent weeks to preserve competitive fairness.
The real-time live audience voting format left little margin for error, with the digital blackout threatening to compromise the entire leaderboard and the integrity of the season’s first eliminations. The sheer surge of premiere-night traffic across linear television and streaming platforms overwhelmed the digital infrastructure.
The ballroom returned for a new season with a star-studded roster taking to the dance floor, only to face catastrophic technical chaos that derailed the premiere broadcast. The online portal is expected to undergo technical maintenance to resolve server capacity issues ahead of next week’s live episode.
The show continues to draw massive momentum and high live engagement across multiple platforms.