Amber Glenn makes 'Dancing with the Stars' debut with a cha-cha

Victoria Hernandez, USA TODAYThu, September 17, 2026 at 5:19 AM UTC

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Amber Glenn is taking her talents from the ice to the ballroom.

The figure skating sensation is a contestant on Season 35 of "Dancing with the Stars" and made her debut on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Her first challenge with her dance partner, Pasha Pashkov, was a performance of the cha-cha.

The duo twirled and did body rolls to 1999's "Smooth" by Santana and Rob Thomas. The gold medalist wore a nude two-piece outfit made up of a halter and skirt covered in fringe and jewels. She even had a solo with some floor work and had the crowd cheering with a flip at the end.

Judges Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli each gave them a score of 6 for a total of 18.

"This is a great experience not just as a person, but also as an athlete," Glenn told Extra after the performance. "I think it's going to help me in the future. There's some stuff that, of course, the judges said that I was like, 'Oh, yep! That's because I skate, my bad,' that is completely different that I have to adjust to. I'm usually on top of ice, not trying to dig into the dance floor. So I'm just going to work on that the next couple of days."

In her behind the scenes interview during training, Glenn shared that she "did a little bit of ballet when I was younger" and said she was anxious about dancing with a partner after excelling in a solo sport.

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"I didn't realize it would be such a drastic difference between skating and ballroom," she said. "Like how you sit in your hips and the way you just crunch things."

Glenn won a gold medal with the United States in the figure skating team competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Fellow figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi, Adam Rippon and Meryl Davis all won "Dancing with the Stars" in their respective seasons competing on the show.

Glenn is up against a few fellow athletes. Ezra Frech is a track and field star with two gold medals from the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. Jackson Olson is a second baseman for the Savannah Bananas.

For his part, Pashkov's best outing on the show was in Season 32 when he took reality television star and entrepreneur Ariana Madix to the semifinals.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amber Glenn makes 'Dancing with the Stars' debut with a cha-cha

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