This is an accepted version of this page Season twenty-one of the American television competition series Dancing with the Stars premiered on September 14, 2015.

On November 24, conservationist Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough were crowned the champions, while Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess finished in second place, and soldier (and hero of the 2015 Thalys train attack) Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold finished in third.

While Peta Murgatroyd was originally announced as a professional, she was sidelined for the season by an ankle injury; Allison Holker replaced her spot in the cast.

Color key: Individual judges' scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough, Bruno Tonioli.

Individual judges scores in the chart below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Alfonso Ribeiro, Julianne Hough, Bruno Tonioli.

After suffering a mini-stroke, Kim Zolciak-Biermann was unable to attend the dress rehearsal and live show, and had to withdraw from the competition.

Her partner, Tony Dovolani, performed their samba routine during the live show with Jenna Johnson.

[27] Individual judges scores in the chart below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Bruno Tonioli.

Individual judges scores in the chart below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough, Olivia Newton-John, Bruno Tonioli.

Midway through the show, the four couples participated in dance-offs, with the winners receiving three points to be added to their total scores.

Due to the unexpected withdrawal of Tamar Braxton earlier in the week, all four couples advanced directly to the finals.

[30] On the first night, couples danced a previously-learned style to a new song that was coached by one of the three judges, as well as a freestyle routine.