Top Five Best Contestants Over 50 on Dancing With the Stars

Though Dancing With the Stars tries to cast people of all ages for every season, the older people tend to have a harder time on the show. In fact, looking back on the past five seasons of the show, every winner has been under the age of 40!

But, despite the youngsters having an advantage, there have been some incredible contestants who were more than half a century old. Here are the top five best contestants on Dancing With the Stars who were on the show when they were 50!

Jennifer Grey (50)
No one stuck Grey in a corner as she competed on Dancing With the Stars during Season 11 with partner Derek Hough. She not only won the whole thing, but she’s also still the oldest woman to take home the Mirrorball trophy. Of course, starring in the movie Dirty Dancing only mildly helped her compete, we’re sure.

Kirstie Alley (60)
Alley was a contestant on DWTS not once but twice! She first competed with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy back in Season 12 and wound up getting second place. She then competed again during the All-Star Season and came in 7th.

Marilu Henner (64)
Henner was in amazing shape when she competed on the show with partner Derek Hough. She didn’t make it all the way, but she did prove a lot of ageists wrong and showed how you can still be a fantastic competitor on the dance floor no matter how old you are!

Donny Osmond (51)
Osmond was on Season 9 of DWTS and competed with partner Kym Johnson. He was doing a show in Vegas with his sister Marie so he certainly had the stamina (and a knowledge of choreography) to go the distance. He ended up beating his competition and took home the Mirrorball Trophy.

Lea Thompson (53)
Thompson didn’t make it to the finals — she came in 6th place — back in Season 19, but she was an amazing dancer nonetheless. She was also partnered with Artem Chigvintsev.