{"id":63060,"date":"2026-09-16T00:50:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T23:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/?p=63060"},"modified":"2026-09-15T15:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:22:41","slug":"sarah-jane-nader-isnt-the-first-same-sex-pairing-on-dancing-with-the-stars-heres-who-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/16\/sarah-jane-nader-isnt-the-first-same-sex-pairing-on-dancing-with-the-stars-heres-who-was\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Jane Nader isn’t the first same-sex pairing on Dancing With The Stars, here’s who was"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Thy Nader star Sarah Jane Nader<\/a> and Hailey Bills are the first female same-sex pairing on Dancing With The Stars in four years, but as it turns out they’re not the first. <\/p>\n

Sarah told People<\/a>: “I\u2019m so comfortable being around women, and I think that girlhood is such a powerful thing. The fact that we’re two strong young women stepping on the dance floor together is just a representation of that and also of my queerness.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has described being paired with Hailey as \u201csuch an honour\u201d and a \u201ccrazy opportunity\u201d, while Hailey said she is \u201cso unbelievably excited\u201d about the experience. <\/p>\n

However, the first ever same-sex pairing on Dancing With The Stars prior to Sarah Jane Nader was with JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson in 2021. <\/p>\n

JoJo said at the time: “I think that being paired with another female for the first time ever, first-ever same-sex couple, is such an honour. Love is so accepted and so celebrated that it\u2019s not weird; it\u2019s cool, it\u2019s nice, it\u2019s awesome. I\u2019m happy I got to be the first, but I would never expect to be the last.”<\/p>\n

Then the following year in 2022, Drag Race star Shangela starred on DWTS alongside Gleb Savchenko, creating the show’s first male-male celebrity\/pro partnership.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the season Shangela shared: “Seeing a drag queen with a male dancer is going to be something powerful.” Gleb added: “It\u2019s all about art and love,\u201d he said, adding that it didn’t matter whether \u201ctwo guys\u201d or \u201ctwo girls\u201d were dancing together. \u201cTo me it is creating something special,\u201d Gleb said. \u201cWe have created history, and I love everything about it.\u201d The pair made it all the way to the finale and they finished in fourth place. <\/p>\n

For all the latest reality TV cast member news, scandals, gossip and updates \u2013 like <\/i>Reality Shrine<\/a><\/i> on <\/i>Facebook<\/a><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In fact there were two who came before her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249734183,"featured_media":63072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1358],"tags":[2165],"class_list":["post-63060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dancing-with-the-stars"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/16\/sarah-jane-nader-isnt-the-first-same-sex-pairing-on-dancing-with-the-stars-heres-who-was\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Sarah Jane Nader isn’t the first same-sex pairing on Dancing With The Stars, here’s who was","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/16\/sarah-jane-nader-isnt-the-first-same-sex-pairing-on-dancing-with-the-stars-heres-who-was\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2026\/09\/16\/sarah-jane-nader-isnt-the-first-same-sex-pairing-on-dancing-with-the-stars-heres-who-was\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.realitytvshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ellie-New-Featured-Images-2026-09-15T152158.524-150x150.png","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.realitytvshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Ellie-New-Featured-Images-2026-09-15T152158.524.png"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ellie Ring"}],"creator":["Ellie Ring"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Reality Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-mX3_1x3z.png"},"keywords":["dancing with the stars"],"dateCreated":"2026-09-15T23:50:30Z","datePublished":"2026-09-15T23:50:30Z","dateModified":"2026-09-15T23:50:30Z"},"rendered":"