Zendaya started her journey on Dancing With the Stars season 16 as the youngest contestant that had ever competed on the show. Unsurprisingly, she was able to impress the judges from her very first dance on the stage. Back in 2013, DWTS recruited 11 new celebrities to join the dance competition and Zendaya was partnered with Ukrainian-American professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy. During a season that featured extremely tough competition, Zendaya proved herself as a professional dancer that dazzled the judges each week. She ultimately made it to the finale but was runner-up to Kellie Pickler.
Before landing her role in the ongoing Spider-Man trilogy of movies and becoming the youngest lead actress in a drama to win an Emmy for Euphoria, Zendaya was best known for the Disney Channel original series Shake It Up. Describing herself as a hip-hop dancer, she was able to adapt to the completely new style of dance and deliver some incredible moments on and off the stage. At just 16 years old, Zendaya proved she was mature beyond her years and was praised by the judges for her ability to bring life to every dance.
Right out of the gate with her first dance, Zendaya & Val proved themselves to be a fierce duo, earning the highest score of the night with all 8s. The three judges were left stunned by her raw talent to emote while dancing. Zendaya is widely considered to be one of the best contestants of all time on the show's long-running history due to her positivity throughout the competition. The teen topped the leaderboards for 6 out of the 10 weeks of the competition. In week 5, Zendaya received the first 10s of the season from Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli for her exquisite Argentine Tango, and a 9 from Len Goodman. Throughout the season, Zendaya and Valentin were praised by the judges for their passionate Argentine Tango, with Bruno quipping that she is the ultimate femme fatale. Carrie Ann commented that every dance and movement of hers had a story, remarking on how special she is as a dancer.
Many fans think that she deserved to win the entire competition, and #ZendayaIsOurWinner even trended on Twitter at the time. Zendaya and Val earned the highest point total in both finale nights, earning a perfect score with their freestyle dance to Justin Bieber's "Beauty and a Beat." Not only did Zendaya and Val dance incredibly, but they also danced alongside some young dancers who all said they were rooting for Zendaya.
Zendaya's performances and attitude during the competition are an inspiration even seven years later. She showed that she could compete in a professional ballroom dancing competition even at the age of 16. All in all, Zendaya is still hailed as one of the greatest contestants of all time on Dancing With the Stars.
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC.