The American ABC Network adaptation premiered on June 1, 2005, to over 13 million viewers, the biggest summer debut ever for an American reality series. The second week climbed to 15 million viewers, and the show climbed to #1 in the ratings, where it remained for the remainder of the summer 2005 TV season. The contestants were:

	Trista Rehn Sutter (The Bachelor contestant and the Bachelorette in series one) - partner Louis van Amstel (eliminated first)
	Evander Holyfield (heavyweight boxer) - partner Edyta Sliwinska (eliminated second)
	Rachel Hunter (model) - partner Jonathan Roberts (eliminated third)
	Joey McIntyre (singer and actor) - partner Ashly DelGrosso (eliminated fourth)
	John O'Hurley (actor and TV host) - partner Charlotte Jørgensen (runners-up)
	Kelly Monaco (actress) - partner Alec Mazo (winners)

Some viewers felt the outcome of the show was unfair, as half the winning points came from the judges' votes, instead of solely from the votes of viewers, and Monaco and Mazo had received a "perfect 10" from each of the judges that night (this view reflected a misunderstanding of the scoring system; in fact, because the scoring was based on ordinals and the audience vote was the tiebreaker, Monaco and Mazo must have received more audience votes). In response to the criticism, ABC announced a 90-minute special, Dancing With The Starss: Dance-off, a rematch between Monaco and O'Hurley (with their respective partners), to air September 20, 2005, at the beginning of the fall 2005 television season. The winner, determined solely by fan votes, was announced in a September 22 results show. This time, O'Hurley and his dance partner Charlotte emerged as the winners.

Evander Holyfield and Rachel Hunter appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of Dancing With The Starss, in a special Christmas 2005 competition. Both were eliminated during the first two rounds.

The success of Dancing With The Starss quickly inspired a similar show from the Fox Broadcasting Company entitled Skating with Celebrities (based on another British show, Dancing on Ice, from ITV). (Another dance show, So You Think You Can Dance, an RTL Group contest featuring unknown aspiring dancers, was already set to air before Dancing With The Starss premiered.)

Judges' Scoring summary
Bold scores indicate the highest for that week. Italics indicate the lowest