Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 18)

Dancing with the Stars (season 18)
Promotional advertisement for season 18
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	11
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	March 17 (2014-03-17) – May 20, 2014 (2014-05-20)
Additional information
Celebrity winner	Meryl Davis
Professional winner	Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Season chronology
← Previous Season 17 Next → Season 19

Season eighteen of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 17, 2014.Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli returned as judges; Tom Bergeron returned as host while Erin Andrews replaced Brooke Burke-Charvet as co-host. Bandleader Ray Chew replaced the Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers. In addition, the skybox made a return to the show and the judges table returned to the left side of the ballroom.

This season was also first to feature a new twist called "The Switch Up", which gave viewers the opportunity to vote and change up celebrity/professional pairings for a week during the season. Each celebrity was required to leave his or her assigned partner and perform with a new pro for one week.

This season is notable for being the first in which a dance that has been featured in every season, the paso doble, was only performed once (by Charlie White and Sharna Burgess).

On May 20, Meryl Davis and her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy were crowned the champions, marking the first time a Chmerkovskiy brother has won. Amy Purdy and Derek Hough were the runners-up, and Candace Cameron Bure and Mark Ballas finished in third place.

The cast of twelve and their professional partners were revealed on March 4, 2014, on Good Morning America.

Nine of the twelve professional dancers from the previous season returned for season 18. A tenth, Sasha Farber, returned to the Dance Troupe while Tristan MacManus and Tyne Stecklein did not return in either capacity. These three were replaced by former Troupe members—Witney Carson and Henry Byalikov—and also by Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who had returned following a two-season hiatus. Joining Sasha Farber and Lindsay Arnold in the Troupe is Jenna Johnson from season ten of So You Think You Can Dance and Artem Chigvintsev, a professional on the British version of the show. Gleb Savchenko did not return to the dance troupe this season.