Dancing with the Stars has become an iconic staple in the landscape of reality television. The show sees famous faces, from reality stars to singers, competing for the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy. The series premiered in 2005 and has gone on to be a huge hit, running for over 30 seasons.

After appearing on Disney Channel’s Shake It Up, Zendaya competed on Season 16 of DWTS and gained exposure to an entirely new audience. Her success on the competition series is arguably what led to her major roles in films such as The Greatest Showman, Challengers, the Dune series and the Spider-Man franchise.

However, despite making it all the way to the finale, Zendaya lost the competition to Kellie Pickler. Even though she would go on to win a ton of awards and have huge success, Zendaya recently revealed she is still upset about losing the hit dance competition.

Zendaya Admitted She Is Still Upset About Losing Dancing with the Stars

Despite the fact that it’s been ten years since Zendaya competed on Dancing with the Stars, she is still a bit upset about how things panned out. In 2013, Zendaya was one of many famous faces competing in the hit show’s 16th season. However, despite their best efforts, Zendaya and her dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy would lose to Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough. This didn’t mean Zendaya wasn’t well-received on the show. She got a lot of high scores during her run and the judges were very complimentary.

“Listen, I’m still harboring a little animosity about that,”
Zendaya told
W Magazine
recently
. “I felt that loss. I was only 16-years-old, and it was highly stressful.”

According to the actress, she found the experience of competing on live television every week “so scary,” and added, “I took it very seriously, which, in retrospect, I wish I didn’t. I wish I’d enjoyed it a little bit more and just was like, ‘Eh, whatever.’ You know what I mean? But I was stressing myself out. I really went through it on that [show].”

She also told the outlet that she doesn’t watch Dancing with the Stars these days, even though she appeared on the show. Zendaya revealed this fact during her appearance on an episode of The Awardist podcast in October 2024. Zendaya told listeners that she hasn’t watched the show since she competed.

“I have not watched Dancing With the Stars since I was on [it],” she said. “I didn’t really watch Dancing With the Stars before I was on Dancing With the Stars. I don’t think I was the target demographic. My grandma, like, loves Dancing With the Stars. That’s her bag. I also think it was a very stressful experience. I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m gonna be watching this anymore.’”

Zendaya’s partner Val has gone on to win the Mirrorball trophy three times with Rumer Willis, Laurie Hernandez, and Xochitl Gomez. However, even though he’s more than made up for his loss with Zendaya, he still says the experience upsets him. In 2018, Val explained his feelings to Entertainment Tonight.

“My biggest heartbreak was on Dancing With the Stars, not winning with Zendaya, honestly. That was a huge heartbreak for me because she was 16,” he said. “I wanted this to be such a huge moment for her. She worked so hard, and I really wanted her to lift that trophy and jump-start her career. And she didn’t lift the trophy and I felt heartbroken about that.”

However, Val did see the positive, explaining that Zendaya’s appearance on the show “jump-started her career.” He went on, “That’s when you learn that it’s not necessarily always about winning or losing, it’s really about learning through the process and then using those tools to further yourself down the road.”

Kellie Pickler Spoke Highly Of Her Time On Dancing with the Stars

The season’s winner, Kellie Picker, spoke highly of her time on the show. At the time, she sat down with Country Weekly and described having to learn a new routine every week. While the process was grueling, Kellie said she loved doing it.

“It’s been so much fun,”
Kellie said
. “But we rehearse every day and it’s very grueling. We have no say over our dance style; they tell us each week what we’ll be dancing next. They give us the music and [Derek] creates the choreography based on the music. All the professional dancers have been dancing their whole life. They’re trying to teach us everything they know in a week, which is impossible! But I think that’s the thing that makes the show so great, watching everybody learn and struggle through it, and then get out there and do it anyway.”

Kellie said that she had some experience from her days in school, which helped her during her run on DWTS. “I was a cheerleader in seventh grade and in my sophomore and junior year in high school,” she revealed. “It’s been quite some time, and cheerleading is a lot different than ballroom dancing. But the thing that has helped me the most, my greatest strength, is my flexibility.”

And Kellie felt right at home with fellow country singer Wynonna Judd, who was also competing on the show. “I’m so glad I have another country girl out here,” Kellie said. “She’s country royalty. She is someone that I admire and I look up to as well. She has an incredible story and is such a strong woman. I think she represents the women in country music and women in general. And she’s so funny.”

Zendaya Impressed Val With Her Professionalism At Such A Young Age

Val continues to show Zendaya love today. In 2020, he congratulated Zendaya after she won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Euphoria, becoming the youngest actress to do so. Val showered Zendaya with praise in a post on Instagram where he shared one of their past performances.

“I always knew you were special. Our season on DWTS, and now your continued success since has brought me [a] ridiculous amount of joy,” he wrote. “I’m so proud of you Z! Youngest ever winner of an Emmy for a leading role. You’re a superstar, and always have been! Love you fam to many more wins in your life.”

This wasn’t the first time Zendaya was the youngest person to achieve a particular feat. Her time on Dancing with the Stars was very similar. When she joined the cast, Zendaya was just 16-years-old. This made her the youngest participant in the show’s history. This record would later be broken when Willow Shields joined the 20th season of the show at 14.

Zendaya was shown meeting Val for the first time in behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage in the second episode. Even before she began, Zendaya called the task she was about to take on as a contestant “scary.”

“I feel like I’m just going to go out there and work as hard as I can, and do my very best,”
she said
, adding, “My biggest fear about being the youngest is proving to everyone that I could be just as good as them.”

The two practiced a contemporary dance set to the One Republic song “Feel Again.” However, Val said he didn’t think “any of it” was “easy” for Zendaya. Still, he believed there was “just so much potential in what she could do.”

“With Val, he’s like the perfect balance between tough and nice,” Zendaya said when she started on the show. “It’s a good balance and that’s what I like.”

Several weeks later, it was time for the finale and everyone was awaiting the results. Val spoke with Extra ahead of the big show to praise Zendaya. He said his preconceived notions of working with a teenager went away after working with her.

“I thought I was going to be dealing with tantrums all season,” he said jokingly. “No offense. But I’m working with a professional, sincerely professional way beyond her years. And I was dealt a full house this season, obviously.”

Even though Zendaya was disappointed she lost the competition, she still finished as runner-up, making it all the way to the end of the season. When speaking to ABC 7 after the finale, Zendaya seemed to predict her own future by claiming her time on the show attracted a whole new audience to her.

“I think this is an incredible platform, you know what I mean? It’s just the beginning of a new start to some things I’m gonna be doing,” she said. “I feel like, you never look at it as the end or something that’s negative. It’s just a platform for me to continue my music and everything else that I have set up, so I think it’s a great start. Whatever it is in life you’re going for, things happen for a reason and I truly believe that. This has been a way for me to inspire kids and a way for me to reach out to people I never would’ve been able to and that’s the most important thing for me.”

Shortly after the finale, Zendaya spoke with HuffPost Live, where she reflected on her working relationship with Val. She also reflected on the competition itself, explaining that they both did their best every single week.

“I’m a perfectionist and Val, my partner, is also a perfectionist,” she said. “So we really clicked in that kind of way. And we didn’t want to just put on performances and we didn’t ever want to give half of ourselves. We gave 150% every time. Even when I knocked him out and gave him stitches. He was still working hard and pushing himself. That’s an amazing thing to see as a young lady — to see someone who’s working so hard, he’s a good role model.”

She repeated her sentiment from earlier in the season, saying she didn’t want her partner to be “nice all the time.” Zendaya even joked that she requested someone “tough” and that she “didn’t like nice people.” “He definitely pushed me to be better,” Zendaya remembered. “And he saw something in me. He wasn’t going to let me just stop at ‘OK,’ which I think is awesome.”