Spray Tans: The Real Star of ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Well, guys…we did it. We successfully cha-chaed our way through the 22nd season of ABC’s reality TV series Dancing with the Stars. After nine back-breaking weeks of rehearsals, the newest dancing queen (or king) will be announced in the two-night season finale, and the winner takes home the shiny, shiny Mirror Ball Trophy.

Three contestants still stand. Will it be ABC News Meteorologist Ginger Zee? Male model/inspiring human Nyle DiMarco? Or MMA fighter and consummate bad-ass Paige VanZant? It’s anyone’s game right now — in fact, every finalist has killed it this season with their dancing skills and star quality. So we thought we’d examine the real star of the show: the spray tan.

According to head makeup artist Zena Shteysel (who has won two Emmys for her face wizardry), the DWTS cast has a weekly tanning regimen that we hear is a two-hour long process. “We have what we call spray tan Sundays, where everyone comes in on Sunday to get tanned,” Shteysel tells InStyle. “We have two body makeup artists who take care of the whole cast, and we also use . . . bronzer to give shimmer at the base and make everything look flawless.”

In anticipation of the season finale, let’s take a look at a short history of the spray tan on Dancing with the Stars:

Geraldo Rivera Reporting for Duty

Who can forget Geraldo Rivera salsa dancing as Donald Trump? What ended up being his swan song on Season 22 became one of the greatest spray tan jobs this DWTS fan has ever seen.

Suzanne Somers Is in Good Company

As far back as we can remember, Suzanne Somers has always had a sun-kissed glow. This woman is #blessed. She’s been on this earth for almost 70 years and wised up; now she has her own organic makeup and tanning line and girl, we can tell.