The audience at Tuesday night's Dancing With the Stars had their attention firmly diverted from the ballroom drama when cameras captured Zac Efron in the crowd, sending social media platforms into immediate frenzy.
The Social Media Explosion
As soon as cameras panned to the 38-year-old actor sitting in support of his younger brother Dylan, platforms including Reddit and X became flooded with commentary from astonished viewers. Fans overwhelmingly agreed that Efron looked more natural and more like his former self than he had appeared in years, sparking thousands of posts within minutes.
One stunned fan announced: "Oh wow, Zac Efron is back," while another remarked on his facial structure, noting: "His jaw is looking proportional again." The consensus among viewers was overwhelmingly positive, with multiple comments praising his appearance.
"I don't know what he did, but his face doesn't look as botoxy tonight - he looks great," wrote a third viewer, while a fourth agreed: "He looks so much better than he has in a long time." The enthusiasm continued with another fan adding: "He looks so good now - he actually looks like Zac again."
Brotherly Support Amid Competition Drama
The High School Musical star had arrived to cheer on his 33-year-old brother Dylan, who found himself in a precarious position during the semi-finals. Despite scoring only 55 points across both of his dances, placing him at the bottom of the leaderboard, Dylan Efron managed to secure a coveted spot in next week's finale thanks to a significant surge in fan votes.
The evening saw a shocking elimination when Whitney Leavitt, star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, was sent home despite earning near-perfect scores. This leaves Dylan competing against Jordan Chiles, Robert Irwin, Alix Earle and Elaine Hendrix for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in the upcoming finale.
The Jaw Injury That Changed Everything
The renewed appreciation for Zac Efron's appearance comes more than a decade after the actor suffered a horrific jaw injury that dramatically altered his facial structure. In November 2013, Efron slipped on a pair of socks and fell, smashing his chin into a granite fountain in what he described as "shattering" his jaw.
In a 2022 Men's Health interview, Efron revealed he lost consciousness during the accident and woke to find "his chin bone hanging off his face." The trauma caused his masseter muscles, which sit along the inside of the jaw, to significantly overcompensate and grow in size, permanently altering his facial appearance.
"The masseters just grew. They just got really, really big," he explained to the magazine. This unintentional transformation fuelled years of plastic surgery rumours, particularly after his more angular jawline went viral in an April 2021 Earth Day video.
Efron revealed he only became aware of the speculation when his mother called to ask if he'd secretly undergone cosmetic work. Addressing the rumours, he stated: "If I valued what other people thought of me to the extent that they may think I do, I definitely wouldn't be able to do this work."
Radio host Kyle Sandilands, a longtime friend, defended him at the time, comparing Efron's natural looks to a priceless painting and stating he would never undergo plastic surgery. "It would be like getting a Picasso and having a kid finger-paint over it. Why bother?" he said.
The Dancing With the Stars audience reaction marks a significant moment for the actor, with fans celebrating what many described as the return of his familiar appearance and the apparent resolution of issues stemming from his accidental injury over a decade earlier.
