In honor of Dancing With the Stars airing its 400th episode this week to kick off season 24, we’re taking a stroll down Memory Lane, and reliving some of the most compelling bits of those 400 episodes.

We’re looking back at Dancing with the Stars’ best seasons in the hopes that this coming season joins their ranks.

Season 5

Winners: Julianne & Helio Castroneves
Finalists: Maks & Mel B, Jonathan & Marie Osmond

In many ways, season 5 established the show as it would be going forward. In addition to the dancing, there was the drama of live television, such as Marie Osmond’s spontaneous swoon. Two new pros joined the ranks, Derek Hough and Mark Ballas; though neither made the finals, they would go on to win nearly half of all future seasons.

The level of dance skyrocketed, and the season gave us two of the most iconic dances in DWTS history: Mel B’s paso doble and Helio’s Mask-inspired quickstep. Much of that was due to the producers taking the plunge and casting stars who already had dance experience. Voters responded with backlash, and voted against the ringers.

After the shocking elimination of Sabrina Bryan (to this day, DWTS’s greatest injustice), producers fought back by no longer announcing the Bottom Two. It came to a head when viewers crowned Helio as the champion over Mel B.

Season 8

Winners: Mark & Shawn Johnson
Finalists: Cheryl & Gilles Marini, Tony & Melissa Rycroft

Season 8 kicked off a three-season hot streak for DWTS, despite a rocky start. But as Steve Wozniak traumatized viewers with the Worm, several frontrunners emerged (a welcome change from the prior two seasons, when Kristi Yamaguchi and Brooke Burke were anointed winners on week one).

Gilles, an unknown heartthrob, became the show’s first male ringer, and Cheryl did some amazing things with him. But Shawn, the show’s first gymnast, utilized her athleticism and Mark’s creativity to keep up with Gilles. Melissa, a last-minute cast replacement who surprised us all, rounded out the finals.

It was DWTS’s best final three – the Underage, Unknown, and Unmarried – and Melissa remarked that she didn’t even care who won. But in the show’s narrowest victory ever (less than 1%), Shawn became the youngest winner at age 17.

Season 9

Winners: Kym & Donny Osmond
Finalists: Dmitry & Mya, Louis & Kelly Osbourne

With the show more popular than ever, season 9 began with the show’s largest cast, a whopping 16 celebrities. It took a while to whittle that down to a manageable number, and Natalie Coughlin was an unfortunate casualty of said whittling. But in the meantime, several compelling narratives emerged.

Mya was clearly the best dancer, but Dmitry’s penchant for “messing about” and shirtlessness drew Len’s ire, resulting in 9-7-9, 10-8-10, or even 10-7-10 scores. Derek brought his A-game with Joanna Krupa, winning both the team dances and the first instance of the Mambo Marathon (which became a beloved regular feature). Donny proved to be a natural entertainer, and took every opportunity to ham it up with Marie Osmond. And Kelly Osbourne became the surprise dark horse candidate, as she became very invested emotionally in the show and won viewers’ hearts.

Once Aaron Carter whined himself out of the competition, the remaining four stars battled it out in a semifinal where no one should have been eliminated. Joanna was eliminated, and we witnessed a refreshingly different final without any of the usual pros involved.

In the end, viewers once again voted against the ringer with dance experience, and gave the Mirrorball to Donny and Kym. This was the first instance where the trophy went to a pro who was really due for a win; that tendency would grow by leaps and bounds as viewers became more invested in the professional dancers.

Season 10

Winners: Derek & Nicole Scherzinger
Finalists: Anna & Evan Lysacek, Maks & Erin Andrews

Learning from the prior season’s mistake, season 10 featured a scaled back cast of 11, but what a cast it was! Kate Gosselin was the villain that had been noticeably absent from DWTS until that point in time, and she proved to be the partner who smashed through even saintly Tony’s patience. Pamela Anderson provided the weekly sex appeal, Niecy Nash the comedy, and Chad Ochocinco miserably failed at romancing Cheryl. The dark horse of the season was Erin Andrews, who was recovering from her PTSD from a stalker’s nude videos, but made it to the finals.

But the story of the season was the competition between not one but two ringers: Evan and Nicole. Evan was attempting to replicate Kristi Yamaguchi’s success as an ice skater, whereas Nicole was trying to become the first star known for dancing to actually win. The two traded off the top of the leaderboard all 10 weeks, and we watched with bated breath to see who would triumph in the finals. All things (like flawless Argentine tangos) being equal, Evan and Anna choked in the freestyle round, allowing Nicole to waltz off with a victory.

Season 14

Winners: Peta & Donald Driver
Finalists: Mark & Katherine Jenkins, Cheryl & William Levy

After a few lackluster seasons, DWTS bounced back, invigorated by a new pro dancer: Peta. There were several very good dancers, with Katherine’s sweetness and technical ability marking her as the one to beat. But under Peta’s tutelage, Donald emerged as a great dancer, moving better on the dance floor than any footballer had in years.

It appeared that the third slot would go to Maria Menounos and Derek, but they were cruelly eliminated in the semifinals, replaced by William (whose entire dancing career was predicated on taking off his shirt and sliding around). In the end, Donald triumphed over Katherine.

Season 15: All-Stars

Winners: Tony & Melissa Rycroft
Finalists: Derek & Shawn Johnson, Val & Kelly Monaco

The All-Star season stands as the pinnacle of DWTS, and we really wish the show would do another one some day. Without needing to spend precious time getting to know the celebrities as they got to know what dancing was, we jumped right into the best dancing the show’s ever seen… and the juiciest storylines!

Would Bristol Palin undeservedly stick around as she did before? Would Sabrina Bryan be redeemed for the unjust elimination? Would Kirstie Alley finally make Maks’s head explode? Could Gilles Marini’s head get any bigger? Would Apolo Anton Ohno take off his shirt?

In the end, we were left with our first all-female final. Val finally broke through as a successful pro, engaging in one of the most epic showmances ever on DWTS. But without a kiss with Kelly to seal the deal, he landed in third place.

Viewers were left to choose between talent and sentiment. Shawn and Derek had performed some of the best dances ever seen on DWTS. But Shawn and Derek already had trophies, whereas Melissa and Tony didn’t, the latter after fourteen seasons of trying. In the end, affection for Tony carried the day, as he and Melissa hoisted the Mirrorball… but DWTS fans were the real winners that season.

Season 20

Winners: Val & Rumer Willis
Finalists: Allison & Riker Lynch, Sharna & Noah Galloway

DWTS had a few off seasons, but bounced back in time for their landmark 20th season (and 10th anniversary).

Much like season 10, we opened with two immediate frontrunners: Rumer and Nastia Liukin. The latter was expected to win and the former was a revelation, but otherwise the two girls were very similar – young and nimble, uncomfortable with the public eye, and partnered with the two best guys on the show. As the two vied for supremacy, the rest of the field kept things interesting.

Mark redeemed himself to viewers with his work with Willow Shields, a teenage actress who was right at home in Mark’s high-concept routines. Willow was eliminated too early. Kym, meanwhile, had a pretty epic showmance going with Robert Herjavec. Who cares that they didn’t win, when they ended up married? Sharna, meanwhile, first made a name for herself by choreographing wonders (and tearjerkers) for the one-armed Noah.

When the dust settled, the semifinals consisted of Rumer, Nastia, Noah, and Riker Lynch (who was a game celebrity, but ultimately undermined by his lackluster partner). The semifinal episode was the best episode of DWTS to date, as everyone brought their best moves and all their tears to the dance floor. Viewers voted off Nastia (because votes were reflective of the previous week), leaving Rumer’s path to the Mirrorball wide open.

Season 23

Winners: Val & Laurie Hernandez
Finalists: Sharna & James Hinchcliffe, Lindsay & Calvin Johnson, Gleb & Jana Kramer

The last season was, even despite the lack of available hindsight, one of the show’s best. Gymnast Laurie Hernandez entered the season as the victor presumptive, but met a challenger completely out of left field: IndyCar driver James, who was anointed “Best Male Dancer Ever” on DWTS.

All season, the two vied for the Mirrorball, never conceding an inch. Laurie was always going to be the victor, but James was good enough to make us believe he might pull an upset.

Several other couples vied for the other spots in the finals, which were wide open. Calvin utilized his strength as a footballer to perform some insane lifts with Lindsay, cinching third place. An unfortunately showmance-y Gleb & Jana rounded out the finals. Among other things, season 23 was notable for allowing some of the newer pros a chance to shine.

It left us really excited for the next season… and we can only hope season 24 will rank among the show’s best!

Look for us to continue reminiscing about the best seasons of DWTS’s last 200 episodes in a separate article later! In the meantime, what were your favorite seasons from the early days of Dancing with the Stars? Any favorite dances or celebrities?