Did Adele Zaikman’s DWTS Winner Spoiler Turn Out to Be True?

Yes. The pre-finale theory that Adele Zaikman had already won Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro ultimately identified the correct winner. Weeks before ABC aired the final result, Adele was photographed at or around the Dancing with the Stars rehearsal environment while Season 35 celebrity-pro partnerships were already preparing for the new season. Because The Next Pro had finished filming months earlier and its winner was guaranteed a Season 35 professional position, fans quickly concluded that Adele’s presence was evidence she had won. ABC never confirmed the photos at the time, so calling them definitive proof would have been premature. The August 31 finale has now supplied the missing confirmation: Adele really was the contestant moving into Season 35.

Related: Who Won DWTS: The Next Pro? Adele Zaikman Joins Season 35

What was the original Adele Zaikman winner spoiler?

The speculation began when paparazzi material appeared to show Adele sitting in a car around the DWTS rehearsal location while Season 35 preparations were underway.

That immediately stood out because the other remaining Next Pro contestants had not been identified in the same way. AJ Pritchard, Allen Genkin and Selena Hamilton were still publicly competing when Adele appeared to be spending time around the production that only the eventual winner was guaranteed to join.

Online dance fans quickly connected those facts. If Season 35 pros were already rehearsing with celebrities, and Adele was at the rehearsal studio, then the simplest explanation was that she had won the pre-recorded competition.

The theory spread well beyond Reddit and TikTok, eventually becoming the subject of multiple entertainment stories before the finale aired.

Why couldn’t the photos be treated as confirmation?

There were several plausible alternative explanations.

The Next Pro contestants already had relationships with DWTS producers, dancers and other people working around Season 35. Adele could theoretically have visited the studio for promotional work, a troupe opportunity, a group number or another production-related reason.

The photographs also did not show her openly rehearsing with a celebrity partner. They only appeared to place her around the production environment.

That distinction mattered because the finale had not aired. Reporting Adele as the official winner based solely on an appearance at the studio would have converted a strong clue into an unsupported fact.

The cautious interpretation was therefore the correct one at the time: the photos strongly suggested Adele might have won, but they did not prove it.

Related: Who Is Adele Zaikman’s DWTS Season 35 Partner? Is She Dancing With Conner Leavitt?

How did the finale confirm the spoiler?

The August 31 finale placed Adele against AJ Pritchard and Selena Hamilton in the final decision.

Selena finished third. AJ was announced as the runner-up. Adele then became the first winner of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro and officially earned the Season 35 pro position.

That result makes the earlier studio sighting much easier to interpret. Adele was not simply another contestant visiting the DWTS production after filming. She was the person who had secretly earned the right to join it.

The timeline also explains why the leak was possible in the first place. The Next Pro was filmed well before its television broadcast, while Season 35 rehearsals had to begin before viewers were allowed to know the winner. Production therefore faced an awkward practical problem: Adele needed to prepare for the job she had already won while ABC was still presenting her victory as an unresolved television competition. Eventually, hiding that became difficult.

Did the spoiler reveal Adele’s Season 35 partner too?

Not officially, but the same rehearsal detective work has produced another strong theory.

Current Season 35 reports repeatedly link Adele with The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Conner Leavitt. Conner’s participation in the new season has been widely reported, and several current pairing trackers now connect him specifically with Adele.

The full celebrity-pro partnerships are scheduled to be officially unveiled on September 2.

That means the winner leak may have exposed more than simply Adele’s presence on Season 35. The rehearsal activity that helped fans identify her as the winner could also have contributed to figuring out who she has been working with.

Until ABC confirms the partnership, however, Conner should remain described as Adele’s rumored or likely partner rather than an official pairing.

Was the Adele leak obvious in hindsight?

Very much so. Once Adele appeared around a production environment where Season 35 professionals were already preparing, the theory had a straightforward logic behind it. The winner of The Next Pro was promised a Season 35 celebrity partnership, and the actual Season 35 professionals had to begin rehearsing before ABC aired the finale.

The show’s pre-recorded format therefore created its own spoiler problem.

What fans did not know was whether producers might have deliberately allowed other contestants to appear around rehearsals to protect the result or whether Adele could have been there for another reason. Neither explanation ultimately proved necessary. The simplest theory was correct.

Adele won, joined the Season 35 professional lineup and had apparently already begun the next stage of her DWTS career while viewers were still debating whether she would survive the finale.

That makes the leak more than an amusing case of internet detective work. It reveals the difficulty of keeping a pre-recorded competition secret when the winner’s prize requires them to start another highly visible television job before the audience is allowed to know they earned it.