Dancing with the Stars returned for its fifteenth season on September 24, 2012, welcoming back hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke Charvet. The familiar sounds of the Harold Wheeler orchestra and vocalists filled the ballroom throughout, though some performances featured alternate musical arrangements. Fan-favorite dance troupe members – Oksana Dmyrenko, Emma Slater, Sharna Burgess, Henry Byalikov, and Sasha Farber – were back to support the celebrities, joined this season by Sonny Fredie Pedersen. Season 15 marked a significant shift for the show: an "all-star" cast of previously competed celebrities vying for another shot at the coveted mirrorball trophy. Notably, six of these returning stars had already claimed victory in past seasons, with a particularly strong showing from Season Eight, which contributed three of the thirteen contestants. This season also broke new ground by introducing fractional scoring – a first for *Dancing with the Stars* – and culminating in an unprecedented finale featuring three female celebrity finalists.