Speaker 1: And just like that, Season thirty four of Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars has come to a close. The winner has
Speaker 1: been crowned, the freestyles have been performed, the confetti canons
Speaker 1: have exploded, and I am Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director,
Speaker 1: mother of two, and soon to be vagabond, traveling city
Speaker 1: to city in the Dancing with the Stars Live Tour.
Speaker 1: In the end, it seems I did, indeed become a
Speaker 1: professional dancer. I am home now. I am just back
Speaker 1: from one of ther's biggest TV moments, the closure for
Speaker 1: one of the most memorable few months of my life. Tonight,
Speaker 1: I was lucky enough to perform one last time on
Speaker 1: the show. But the real news here is that Robert
Speaker 1: Irwin is our King of the ballroom. More on that
Speaker 1: in just a bit. Because I continue to record this
Speaker 1: podcast even through the final musical note, chronicling my own
Speaker 1: journey through the show, learning dance from scratch and living
Speaker 1: to talk about it, and I continue to fulfill my
Speaker 1: professional duty. Please to report back as your eyes and
Speaker 1: ears from the season finale. So, oh my gosh, what
Speaker 1: a day, What a week, what a few months. The
Speaker 1: finale has obviously been in full swing for at least
Speaker 1: the last week, but the prep starts for it weeks ago.
Speaker 1: You know, the pros are all anybody who's still in
Speaker 1: the competition is already having the conversations about finale week.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, the week I was eliminated,
Speaker 1: which was week eight, we had our first creative meeting
Speaker 1: about a finale, about a freestyle. What are we going
Speaker 1: to do if we if we, you know, get to
Speaker 1: the freestyle. So for weeks the couples have been talking
Speaker 1: about their plans and what are they going to do
Speaker 1: if they are fortunate enough to make it to the finale,
Speaker 1: and the pros have been thinking about the choreography, and
Speaker 1: the songs have been cleared and the ideas are happening.
Speaker 1: So it's been weeks in the making, but it has
Speaker 1: really been full swing obviously since last week. I got
Speaker 1: to do two little performances on the show. I was
Speaker 1: a part of the opening number, which is the returning
Speaker 1: Returning Contestants number. Everyone who was a part of the
Speaker 1: season this year had a part in the opening number.
Speaker 1: Mine part was with of course Pasha and Jen and Johan.
Speaker 1: We started in the garage. It was a kind of
Speaker 1: a cha cha salsa number. You know, like a little
Speaker 1: salsa bit, which was really fun. Our dresses were not
Speaker 1: exactly salsa style dresses. They were more, you know, traditional
Speaker 1: ballroom style dresses. But they wanted everybody in. They wanted
Speaker 1: us in purple, and the dresses they had that were
Speaker 1: in purple were like that. But it was a beautiful dress.
Speaker 1: I loved mine. I love purple, and I loved the
Speaker 1: opening number. I thought the opening number was really fun.
Speaker 1: It was great to be back in rehearsal with everybody.
Speaker 1: We only had one true rehearsal day. We all got
Speaker 1: together on Saturday, and Lauren wasn't able to be there,
Speaker 1: and Scott wasn't able to be there, and Whitney and
Speaker 1: Mark were not there either. Everybody those people were all
Speaker 1: out of town and so then we got to Scott
Speaker 1: did not come into town until today, So today was
Speaker 1: the first day I got to see Scott and his
Speaker 1: husband Mark. Always so great to see them. I did
Speaker 1: not have enough time with them today. When I saw them,
Speaker 1: I said, one day, it's just not enough with you.
Speaker 1: But the rehearsal was really fun. We had a really
Speaker 1: wonderful choreographer for the opening number. He was spectacular to
Speaker 1: work with. And so fun and and you know, you
Speaker 1: can tell when there's somebody who's really good at what
Speaker 1: they do, and everything just goes super seamlessly. So our
Speaker 1: rehearsal day for the opening number was only two hours,
Speaker 1: and nope, I take it back, it was four hours.
Speaker 1: I forgot our little bumper rehearsal that we had. The
Speaker 1: bumper is the bit that I got to do with
Speaker 1: Whitney and with Andy where Andy ripped open his shirt
Speaker 1: and had a hairy chest. We had two hours for
Speaker 1: that one, and then we had four hours for the
Speaker 1: opening number. And of course everybody works in their own
Speaker 1: individual groups with their pros, so we were put in
Speaker 1: our positions by the choreographer, and then our pros had
Speaker 1: been taught our choreography, and then the pros teach their
Speaker 1: celebs and so we all kind of go off into
Speaker 1: our own little corner learn the choreography and then put
Speaker 1: it all together. And it was just a fun days.
Speaker 1: It was so good to see everybody again. It was
Speaker 1: great to see Corey again. Obviously I haven't seen Corey
Speaker 1: since the very first two weeks. It was so good
Speaker 1: to see my boy Baron again. Barren and I have
Speaker 1: been close since day one, so it was really great
Speaker 1: to see him. I didn't get to see Lauren on
Speaker 1: that day. She wasn't in town, so I got to
Speaker 1: see her yesterday for camera blocking or gosh, I was like,
Speaker 1: yesterday may have been Sunday. We did camera blocking on Sunday.
Speaker 1: It is great to see her too. She looked spectacular.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys have heard her new song.
Speaker 1: By the way, Lauren Hareggie's new song. It's been out
Speaker 1: now for maybe a little over a month. I am
Speaker 1: such a fan. It's so good. You guys really need
Speaker 1: to go check it out. So check out Lauren Hereki's
Speaker 1: new song. It was just fun. It was just fun
Speaker 1: to be back with everybody, and you know, doing the
Speaker 1: bumper with Whitney and Andy was just also so fun.
Speaker 1: You know, like what's not to have fun with this?
Speaker 1: With this cast, it's just everything everything you think it
Speaker 1: is it is is just amazing. My husband would like
Speaker 1: me to say that I.
Speaker 2: Am the only eliminated contestant to have been at every show,
Speaker 2: which makes me sound like the loser that I am,
Speaker 2: But that's okay.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna accept that. Yes, I went to every show.
Speaker 1: I got eliminated. In week eight. Week nine was the
Speaker 1: twentieth anniversary, and everybody was invited to the twentieth Anniversary,
Speaker 1: and I did not want to miss that celebration. And
Speaker 1: then Week ten was Prince Knight, and I really I
Speaker 1: wanted to be there too. I didn't want to miss that.
Speaker 1: Tonight was the finale, and of course I got to
Speaker 1: dance in it. So there were two dances or two
Speaker 1: weeks that I technically shouldn't have been there, but I
Speaker 1: went anyway, And I honestly, I don't even feel that
Speaker 1: embarrassed about it, because I just love it so much.
Speaker 1: I love the people, I love the environment, I love
Speaker 1: the music, I love watching the dances. It's just it's
Speaker 1: the greatest place on Earth. Sorry, Disneyland, you may be
Speaker 1: the happiest place on Earth, but the Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars Ballroom is the greatest place on Earth. So during
Speaker 1: the week, while we were practicing our opening number and
Speaker 1: then our bumpers, we didn't really interact much or see
Speaker 1: the finalists there at they were rehearsing at our main
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars rehearsal space, which is on Highland.
Speaker 1: They were rehearsing there and they sent the rest of
Speaker 1: us to a different rehearsal studio because there were so
Speaker 1: many of us, and so I didn't really get to
Speaker 1: see a lot of the finalists throughout the week. I
Speaker 1: did get to see them a little bit on camera
Speaker 1: blocking day, and even then I really tried to give
Speaker 1: everybody their space because you could tell that everyone had
Speaker 1: been working really hard and everyone was a little stressed.
Speaker 1: They had to know six dances this week. They had
Speaker 1: to do their freestyle, they had to learn a new dance,
Speaker 1: and then they had to have choreography for four instant dances.
Speaker 1: And because they didn't know the song. You know, they
Speaker 1: can have choreography planned, but you know, it changes when
Speaker 1: you know the song and when you haven't done it before.
Speaker 1: So anyway, they had to know six dances. They had
Speaker 1: to have six dances in their muscle memory and on
Speaker 1: their brain. And I really just obviously lent my support
Speaker 1: and said hello and would give a hug, but also
Speaker 1: gave everybody their space to just be in the moment.
Speaker 1: The overall feeling today for the finale was really celebratory.
Speaker 1: Leading up to this week, there were moments where you
Speaker 1: could tell people were stressed and there was a lot
Speaker 1: to think about and then when the actual day arrived today,
Speaker 1: everyone I talked to all the finalists, I said, how
Speaker 1: are you feeling? What's going through your head? Like, how
Speaker 1: are you feeling right now? And all of them said,
Speaker 1: I am just having the best time. It just feels
Speaker 1: like a party. And they said, all the work's been done,
Speaker 1: there's nothing else I can do, Like, even as far
Speaker 1: as the performances go, they knew they were going to
Speaker 1: get judged, but the judging wasn't then going to carry
Speaker 1: over into like is someone going home tonight? And you'd think, oh, well, no,
Speaker 1: no one's going home tonight. But even worse than that,
Speaker 1: one person's gonna win and everyone else is going to
Speaker 1: find their their place. But nobody was stressed about that part.
Speaker 1: Everyone was like, it's out of my hands. All the
Speaker 1: work of the season is behind me at this point,
Speaker 1: other than the dances I need to perform tonight and
Speaker 1: I can just go out there and have the time
Speaker 1: of my life and like, whatever happens happens. And so
Speaker 1: everyone I spoke to just said it felt like a
Speaker 1: really joyous celebration and like a party. It didn't have
Speaker 1: its normal maybe the anxiety that normally surrounds a live
Speaker 1: show night. For the finale, each couple was selected by
Speaker 1: a judge, and the judge then got to choose what
Speaker 1: dance they wanted to see from them. So I loved this.
Speaker 1: I thought this was really fun. I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: or why the judges necessarily picked the songs that they
Speaker 1: or the styles that they picked, or if they even
Speaker 1: really did was it really I mean, there's really only
Speaker 1: so many dances left that they haven't done, so I'm
Speaker 1: not really sure. I'm not really sure about this whole, like,
Speaker 1: you know, picking the songs, like there's really not that
Speaker 1: many left. But I still I thought it was great.
Speaker 1: I I don't think you can go wrong with any
Speaker 1: of the judges. I have a real soft spot in
Speaker 1: my heart for Bruno. I just think he's I just
Speaker 1: think he's truly wonderful and he makes me laugh, and
Speaker 1: I also think he gives very thoughtful critiques. And yeah,
Speaker 1: so I probably if I, if I had my drothers,
Speaker 1: I probably would have ended up with Bruno the way
Speaker 1: my boy Dylan and my girl Danny did so. Alex
Speaker 1: Earl and Val did a samba to hip hip Chin Chin,
Speaker 1: and boy did I think that was stellar. I thought
Speaker 1: her samba was so good. I loved her colorful frilly
Speaker 1: pants and her just unbelievable six pack. What a what
Speaker 1: a song. And then Derek picked a quick step for
Speaker 1: Robert and Whitney to do and they did it too.
Speaker 1: Are You Going to Be My Girl? By Jet and
Speaker 1: I thought that was so fun. I was it's so
Speaker 1: great to see Robert do a quick step. His energy,
Speaker 1: his enthusiasm, his just he's he's so cut out for that.
Speaker 1: So that was a really good choice by Derek. And
Speaker 1: then Bruno picked a passa Doble to Stampede by Alexander
Speaker 1: Jean featuring Lindsay Sterling for Dylan and Danny oh Man.
Speaker 1: That that was something else, something else. First of all,
Speaker 1: to watch how far Dylan has come over the season,
Speaker 1: to see where he started week one and then to
Speaker 1: see where he ended up tonight is just gosh, It's
Speaker 1: such an incredible journey. So proud of him, so so
Speaker 1: proud of him. And then also on like a shallow note,
Speaker 1: he is so unbelievably ripped. He's so ripped. I was like,
Speaker 1: where are you finding the time, sir to work out
Speaker 1: like this? It probably has more to do with what
Speaker 1: he's eating than the workouts, but my goodness, I felt
Speaker 1: like I could see tendons, like I could see individual
Speaker 1: tendons inside his body. And for Elaine and Alan, Derek
Speaker 1: picked a rumba to take My Breath Away by Jay
Speaker 1: hall Boy. I thought that was beautiful too. The performances tonight,
Speaker 1: as you would expect for a finale, were real wonderful.
Speaker 1: I didn't get to be in the skybox for Elaine's
Speaker 1: dance because shortly after her dance was something I had
Speaker 1: to do with one of my dances, so I had
Speaker 1: been pulled out, so I was watching it on the
Speaker 1: monitor off and on, but really just incredible, beautiful, graceful, gorgeous.
Speaker 1: And then Carrie Ann and Aba picked Apasa Do Blay
Speaker 1: to Break in Dishes by Rihanna for Jordan and Ezra,
Speaker 1: And first of all, is there a better song than
Speaker 1: Breaking Dishes? I love that song so much. It's such
Speaker 1: a vibe. I can't help but just dance and move
Speaker 1: every time I hear that song. And Ezra's so cute.
Speaker 1: He was telling me that during the week he just
Speaker 1: kept serving face all through their Pasa Do and Jordan
Speaker 1: had to be like, sir, you are supposed to look intense,
Speaker 1: stop stop giving looks, and oh my god, I just
Speaker 1: I loved it. I loved it so much. I thought
Speaker 1: it was unbelievable. Jordan another one who her journey from
Speaker 1: where she started to seeing her tonight in the finale
Speaker 1: just really she just has grown so much and her
Speaker 1: confidence is through the roof now as it should be.
Speaker 1: And to see the risks that they have taken through
Speaker 1: the season have been some of my favorites. I just
Speaker 1: think some of the decisions they have made, even if
Speaker 1: they didn't necessarily pay off the way they were hoping
Speaker 1: they would like, they ended up being you know, whether
Speaker 1: or not everything landed perfectly, You can't. You're never going
Speaker 1: to do that if you're going to be willing to
Speaker 1: take risks. Part of that is that some of them
Speaker 1: aren't going to land perfectly every time, but when they do,
Speaker 1: when they do land, man is it special. And I
Speaker 1: think if I had to pick riskiest partnership, riskiest choreography,
Speaker 1: most willing to take risks of this season, it would
Speaker 1: be Jordan and Ezra. And I will tell you it
Speaker 1: made it thrilling. I love that about them and it
Speaker 1: made it exciting to watch every single week and you
Speaker 1: just couldn't help but root for them every single week
Speaker 1: just to see what they came up with next. It
Speaker 1: was definitely they were definitely maybe the most exciting couple
Speaker 1: for me to watch because of those risks. So kudos
Speaker 1: to Ezra on his first ever finale and wow, wow,
Speaker 1: pretty pretty exciting, and congratulations to Jordan for just absolutely
Speaker 1: killing it and for both of them for holding each
Speaker 1: other down. You know it. Really it really felt like
Speaker 1: a partnership where even though Ezra was the pro, he
Speaker 1: recognized that performance wise, you're not gonna get a partner
Speaker 1: that's more confident in front of people than a gold medalist,
Speaker 1: you know, like that Olympian mentality as he mentioned, And
Speaker 1: so he knew when it was time to like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let her hold me down, and vice versa. She
Speaker 1: knew when to say, like I need to lean into
Speaker 1: you and to trust you and to let you take
Speaker 1: you take, let you take lead, and uh yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just a really that was a beautiful partnership. Another amazing
Speaker 1: thing about this finale was the dance. And I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you behind the scenes, the instant dance. So they
Speaker 1: started talking to us about the instant dance weeks ago.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't tell us when the instant dance was going
Speaker 1: to happen, and they but they did tell us there's
Speaker 1: going to be something called an instant dance. Here's how
Speaker 1: it's going to work, and you don't know exactly when
Speaker 1: it's coming up. But if I were you, guys, I
Speaker 1: would start prepping those things now. And they said it
Speaker 1: can be any one of your first four dances and
Speaker 1: you're not going to know the song. And I remember
Speaker 1: being like, I'm sorry, what we have to do?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: And I then was out of the competition, and I
Speaker 1: was even thinking, like as far as watching the show,
Speaker 1: I was like, this feels very stressful and like it
Speaker 1: doesn't really seem fair. And I thought, also, it's how
Speaker 1: good could they possibly be when they are only hearing
Speaker 1: their song? And I mean, I guess what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say is, in my mind, I was mentally pooh poohing.
Speaker 1: I was pooh poohing the instant dance. I was like,
Speaker 1: we don't need this, we don't need this. Maybe if
Speaker 1: it were only two to choose from or something like,
Speaker 1: maybe that would make it better. I was wrong. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna come right out and say it I was
Speaker 1: wrong as a viewer, as someone sitting up in the
Speaker 1: skybox watching it, not having to be one of the
Speaker 1: pros and not having to be one of the celebs,
Speaker 1: it was the most exciting part of the night. It
Speaker 1: was even more exciting than the freestyles because we knew,
Speaker 1: like none of us had seen them, none of us
Speaker 1: had seen them during rehearsal, none of us had seen
Speaker 1: us during camera blocking, because there wasn't anything to camera block,
Speaker 1: there wasn't anything to see. So it had this buzz
Speaker 1: and this feeling of anything can happen, and the fact
Speaker 1: that it is less produced and less perfect, and you
Speaker 1: get to see your celeb, your fave, possibly make a
Speaker 1: mistake where there's not a whole lot of mistakes going
Speaker 1: on at this stage of the game, and you got
Speaker 1: to just see them a little out of their element,
Speaker 1: a little thrown off and a little less polished. It
Speaker 1: was wonderful to watch. So I'd just like to say,
Speaker 1: not that many people know that I was pooh pooing
Speaker 1: the instant dance, but I'm here to tell you I was,
Speaker 1: and I was wrong. I thought it was actually really exciting.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if they plan on doing it
Speaker 1: every year, but it was as a viewer, I thoroughly
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, and you know, they didn't. They didn't. Nobody
Speaker 1: scored so drastically different than anyone else that it made
Speaker 1: it like, oh gosh, it's really could end up hurting somebody.
Speaker 1: It's not like they gave fours for the Instant Dance
Speaker 1: and somebody else got tens. It was like, you know,
Speaker 1: nines and tens, and I thought it was I thought
Speaker 1: it was really great. I do want to share a
Speaker 1: little story about my boy Dylan, and I'm probably gonna
Speaker 1: start crying telling it. I'm get some I'm going to
Speaker 1: try to keep it together. So the day that we
Speaker 1: all had to pick our paddles up and pick the
Speaker 1: Instant Dance, Dylan and I also had to do it.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you this. The prep for these things goes
Speaker 1: way back. And so Dylan and I were talking on
Speaker 1: the day that we had to pick our paddles and
Speaker 1: I said, what are you hoping to get? And he said, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I just really want to get a foxtrot. I really,
Speaker 1: I just want a foxtrot. I feel like I loved it.
Speaker 1: I loved that dance, and he's like, so I just
Speaker 1: really just started trying to manifest it. Like I just
Speaker 1: started thinking, like, think foxtrot, think fox trot, thing foxtrot.
Speaker 1: And he's like, and you know the table they have
Speaker 1: in front of you, like the way the panel the
Speaker 1: paddles are. He's like, I really started thinking, like where
Speaker 1: if I were a producer, where would I have put foxtrot?
Speaker 1: Like I told them I wanted foxtrot. And so he's like,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, like they probably
Speaker 1: think I'm going for a paddle that's right in front
Speaker 1: of me. So I'm not gonna pick one of those.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick one of these. And he's like, and
Speaker 1: I just started like sending energy of like foxtrot, foxtrot, foxtrot,
Speaker 1: And he's like and I don't know, Like I just gosh,
Speaker 1: I hope I picked foxtrot. And I was like, you
Speaker 1: did you pick picked foxtrott. Of course, I don't know.
Speaker 1: No one knows. We were fully blindfolded. They had one
Speaker 1: of the lawyers from the show who had to be
Speaker 1: in the room with us to make sure no one
Speaker 1: could cheat. Like they were taking this serious, and so
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I'm just you know, this is
Speaker 1: my friend and he wants foxtrot, and so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell him, yeah, you did that, you got foxtrot. I
Speaker 1: know it. We're manifesting that for you. You got foxtrot. So I,
Speaker 1: you know, see him a couple days later, maybe at
Speaker 1: this point, it's a couple of weeks later, and somehow
Speaker 1: instant dances come up again and I go, well, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you manifested foxtrot for yourself, and he goes, oh,
Speaker 1: I told Danny that I really wanted foxtrot, and and
Speaker 1: Danny said that she didn't think foxtrot would have been
Speaker 1: the best for us. So now I'm really worried about it,
Speaker 1: because what if I did pick foxtrot and then it's
Speaker 1: not and it's not good, Like what if it's not
Speaker 1: the right one? And so then he kind of got
Speaker 1: in his head and he convinced himself that he didn't
Speaker 1: want foxtrot. And then when he pulled the battle and
Speaker 1: he saw that he got foxtrot tonight, he was bummed.
Speaker 1: His first feeling was that he was bummed, and he
Speaker 1: was worried that it wasn't going to be, that he
Speaker 1: wasn't going to be as prepared for it as he
Speaker 1: would have been had it been something else. And then
Speaker 1: just to watch him go out there and absolutely just
Speaker 1: put on the performance of a lifetime with that fox drop.
Speaker 1: It was so beautiful. And when you know, you talk
Speaker 1: about the journey of dancing with the stars and all
Speaker 1: the different types of journeys, you can have Dylan's journey
Speaker 1: of coming in there exactly like he said to Julian tonight,
Speaker 1: coming in there and thinking I'm not good at this.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to put on kind of a shtick.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to put something on. I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to be a comedian. I'm gonna have to go for
Speaker 1: production value. I'm gonna have to go for comedy because
Speaker 1: quote unquote, I can't dance. I'm not good at this.
Speaker 1: And then to see him just ten weeks later get
Speaker 1: the own into a situation like an instant dance and
Speaker 1: to truly be able to dance from his heart and
Speaker 1: to do it so beautifully. I spend a lot of
Speaker 1: my time as a director encouraging young people and actors
Speaker 1: to trust their instincts, to believe in themselves, and that
Speaker 1: when their guts tell them something and they feel something,
Speaker 1: to follow it, and to always stay in touch with
Speaker 1: what your instincts are telling you, and to see that
Speaker 1: moment tonight for Dylan where I got to pull him
Speaker 1: aside and say, your instincts, your instincts were exactly right.
Speaker 1: You manifested that for yourself. You wanted a fox trot,
Speaker 1: you picked a fox trot, and then you came out
Speaker 1: there and you killed it. I never, in my forty
Speaker 1: four years of life thought I would be crying about
Speaker 1: a foxtrot. I'm just gonna say that gives it's what
Speaker 1: what is happening to me? But I am just so
Speaker 1: so so proud of him, and I thought it was
Speaker 1: truly beautiful. So I wanted to I got permission to
Speaker 1: share that story because really that's that's what started my
Speaker 1: crying tonight was his instant dance. And then and then
Speaker 1: after all the instant dances were over, then we got
Speaker 1: into the freestyles, and you know, of course I had
Speaker 1: to sob through Dylan's freestyle as well, So I want
Speaker 1: to go into the freestyles. Alex and Val performed a
Speaker 1: freestyle to man Eater by Nelly Furtado and sports Car
Speaker 1: by Tate McCrae. Again just these freestyles were spectacular. Val
Speaker 1: and Alex. I've said it before on the show, and
Speaker 1: I stand by it that Alex's transformation on this show
Speaker 1: might just be my favorite. I think it's so obvious
Speaker 1: to anybody who watches the show that we have seen
Speaker 1: her blossom in front of our eyes. If you go
Speaker 1: back to week one and you watch the packages and
Speaker 1: you watch her interviews and her otfs, you don't see
Speaker 1: the same woman that you see in the finale. This
Speaker 1: woman that was in the finale, this woman that did
Speaker 1: this freestyle, has a quiet confidence about her, a real
Speaker 1: just ownership of who she is. And some of that
Speaker 1: anxiety or nervousness or insecurity that you see at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season has thankfully just really faded away.
Speaker 1: And if it's still there, it's so it's so deep
Speaker 1: down that it's not coming through anymore. And what you're
Speaker 1: seeing is this bright, brilliant, beautiful performer. And her partnership
Speaker 1: with Val is really special. I know Val pushes her,
Speaker 1: and he's a wonderful choreographer, he's a wonderful partner, and
Speaker 1: I also know how much they both benefited from Jenna.
Speaker 1: Jenna is I mean, she is an asset beyond assets,
Speaker 1: she is spectacular, and the fact that they were able
Speaker 1: to lean on her. I know, Vow absolutely relied on
Speaker 1: her for just helping him, keeping him grounded, helping him
Speaker 1: with choreography, and Alex felt really safe being able to
Speaker 1: go to her and being like, can you do this
Speaker 1: move for me so I can see what it looks
Speaker 1: like when you do it? Can you know, can you
Speaker 1: help me make this look great? And She's the perfect
Speaker 1: person to do that. So watching this performance tonight really
Speaker 1: felt great and I was thrilled for them. Robert and
Speaker 1: Whitney did a freestyle to Black and Gold by Sam's
Speaker 1: Barrow and the Nights by A Vichy. I thought this
Speaker 1: was so smart. I love that their freestyle started off
Speaker 1: very jazz but still upbeat and really fun, a little sexy,
Speaker 1: and then it made this transition where the song changed
Speaker 1: and the lyrics were, you know, involving a dad and
Speaker 1: a message from a dad, and I thought, oh, is
Speaker 1: it going to become very sentimental and slow and emotional?
Speaker 1: Are we going to get are we going to get
Speaker 1: more tears? I had no idea, and then it was
Speaker 1: still just upbeat and amazing. And when I saw it
Speaker 1: for the first time during camera blocking. I thought that
Speaker 1: was the right choice. That was the right choice. You know,
Speaker 1: Robert is such a dynamic performer and a dynamic individual,
Speaker 1: and he he could do anything he wanted. He could
Speaker 1: go be a movie star, he could go perform on Broadway.
Speaker 1: He could if he could sing, he could probably be
Speaker 1: a pop star. Like he is. He's a star. He
Speaker 1: is a He's just a star. There's no other way
Speaker 1: of saying it. He's got it and he could do
Speaker 1: anything he wants in the entertainment industry and it would
Speaker 1: be good and people would go and see it. And
Speaker 1: with that said, his family legacy is no longer needs
Speaker 1: to be his legacy. He can now really pave the
Speaker 1: way for what Robert Irwin is going the kind of
Speaker 1: legacy that Robert Irwin is going to leave and the
Speaker 1: trail he's going to blaze. And so I was happy
Speaker 1: that Tonight's freestyle felt inspired and fun and youthful and
Speaker 1: didn't actually make the turn into anything that felt like
Speaker 1: it was leaning too heavily into someone else's legacy. I
Speaker 1: just want to see him shine for who he is,
Speaker 1: because he's he's got it. He's got it. And then
Speaker 1: Dylan and Danny did a freestyle to Something in the
Speaker 1: Heavens by Lewis Capaldi. Oh I love this song. Start
Speaker 1: crying again. Stop it, Danielle, stop it right now. This
Speaker 1: was really really, really beautiful. Oh gosh, it was a contemporary.
Speaker 1: I thought it was so well done to see Dylan,
Speaker 1: with his height and his manliness perform this really touching,
Speaker 1: just beautiful, soft emotional contemporary was amazing. The choreography was
Speaker 1: so good. Where it ended in the water, oh my god. Also,
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened in the moment, but where
Speaker 1: Dylan kind of has to where Dylan like had to
Speaker 1: chuck Danny, and thank goodness, Pasha was the one catching her.
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened, but after the dance, while
Speaker 1: we were all up in the skybox, Dylan was like, sorry, Danny,
Speaker 1: I really had to chuck you. And Danny was like
Speaker 1: you really did? You like fully threw me and she
Speaker 1: was like, thank god it was Pasha who was catching me.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what happened that made her need
Speaker 1: to be thrown so much, but I thought that was
Speaker 1: a really I thought that was an interesting moment. I
Speaker 1: loved the I loved the lifts in it. Seeing Dylan
Speaker 1: do his handstand, I thought, was great. But nothing's going
Speaker 1: to top finishing in that water. I thought the water.
Speaker 1: I always think water's cool in a freestyle. I think
Speaker 1: anytime i've seen water incorporated, I'm like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: that just adds such a cool element. And I thought
Speaker 1: the way they used it was I had never seen
Speaker 1: it before. It doesn't mean it's never been done. I
Speaker 1: don't know, but I had never seen it before. It
Speaker 1: felt very unique, it felt very special, and I just
Speaker 1: I thought it was amazing. Couldn't couldn't love it anymore absolutely,
Speaker 1: sobbed my way through it, watched it from the staircase
Speaker 1: so that nothing could block my way because they had
Speaker 1: these balloons. I'm sure you guys saw up in the
Speaker 1: skybox they had these balloons. And then like anywhere I
Speaker 1: was standing, the balloons were basically my view. I'm like, guys,
Speaker 1: I am not very tall unless I have the exact
Speaker 1: spot in the middle where there are no balloons. I
Speaker 1: was like trying to peeking up over balloons. So I
Speaker 1: went down the stairs. I watched halfway down the staircase
Speaker 1: because I didn't want anything blocking my view. And then
Speaker 1: Elaine and Alan did a freestyle too. I hope I
Speaker 1: get it from a chorus line by District seventy eight.
Speaker 1: I thought this was the cutest, Like it was like
Speaker 1: it was a mini movie. I thought it was so cute.
Speaker 1: I love that they incorporated her, you know, actor performance.
Speaker 1: Everything about it was great. Using Andy as the director
Speaker 1: in the middle of it was so fun. Her quick
Speaker 1: change of having that beautiful dress on underneath her other
Speaker 1: beautiful dress. I thought that was really fun. I thought
Speaker 1: seeing her act and perform as this actress hoping to
Speaker 1: get a role, all of it just felt so fun.
Speaker 1: And she's so graceful and so beautiful and so fun
Speaker 1: to watch. I was really proud of them through this
Speaker 1: whole experience, and I was really proud of Alan's choreography
Speaker 1: and the whole thing you put together. And I told
Speaker 1: him that, I said, that was really fun. It was
Speaker 1: really fun. Felt it felt like the most whole production.
Speaker 1: It just it had everything. It had colors and rolling
Speaker 1: sets and people coming in and out, and you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just I loved it. I thought
Speaker 1: it was so well done, and I was really really
Speaker 1: proud of them. And then Jordan and Ezra did a
Speaker 1: freestyle to Motivation by Normany featuring Normany in the freestyle.
Speaker 1: This is going to go down in history as one
Speaker 1: of my favorite freestyles I have ever seen. I thought
Speaker 1: it was incredible. I loved every single second of it.
Speaker 1: I loved her grill, I loved her I loved Jordan's outfit.
Speaker 1: I loved the steel the fence that they brought in.
Speaker 1: I loved the reveal of Normani. I loved the two
Speaker 1: of them doing a no handed cartwheel whatever those beautiful
Speaker 1: things are called. I thought that was unbelievable. I thought
Speaker 1: the hip hop ness of it all was just amazing.
Speaker 1: I can't say enough wonderful things about it. I think
Speaker 1: it's easily one of the best freestyles I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Just absolutely blew me away. And I was, you know,
Speaker 1: I keep saying I'm proud, I'm proud of everybody, like
Speaker 1: a team mom, but boy, I really am. I'm just
Speaker 1: so proud of them, and it was. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: And kudos to Normani for coming out there, supporting your
Speaker 1: friend and just slaying it. I was just what a night.
Speaker 1: What a night. I can't say enough incredible things. There
Speaker 1: was a part of me tonight, of course that was
Speaker 1: so so excited and honored and thrilled to be back
Speaker 1: in the ballroom dancing. And on the other hand, I
Speaker 1: wanted to just sit there and watch this incredible show
Speaker 1: and cheer on my friends. And I did get to watch.
Speaker 1: I got to watch it from the skybox and I
Speaker 1: had a front row seat, and I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1: It was a night I will never forget. And then
Speaker 1: it was time to find out who was gonna win
Speaker 1: this whole thing. And I remember I was like squatting down,
Speaker 1: and I had my phone out and I was recording video,
Speaker 1: and I thought, I can't believe it's really happening. I
Speaker 1: can't believe it's really happening right now. For months we've
Speaker 1: been talking about Dancing with the Stars, and like, that's
Speaker 1: it here, it is. The moment is now. We're gonna
Speaker 1: find out who wins. And then they, you know, went
Speaker 1: down the line coming in fifth, Elaine and Allen coming
Speaker 1: in fourth, Dylan and Danny coming in third, Jordan and Ezra,
Speaker 1: and then they went to a commercial break, and during
Speaker 1: that commercial break, everybody just they moved all of us,
Speaker 1: all of the former say, former slebs, all of sure whatever,
Speaker 1: former clubs, former contestants. We had to move to the
Speaker 1: other side because there were the big confetti cannons that
Speaker 1: were about ready to go off and they didn't want
Speaker 1: our ears right next to it. They moved us to
Speaker 1: the other side, and everybody just gathered around, and we
Speaker 1: knew at this point it was either going to be
Speaker 1: Alex and Val or it was going to be Robert
Speaker 1: and Whitney. And I don't think anyone is surprised that
Speaker 1: that's the final two. It really felt right up until
Speaker 1: the last second, that you know, this could be anyone's.
Speaker 1: I had a feeling it was going to be Robert.
Speaker 1: I've had a feeling it was going to be Robert
Speaker 1: since you know, day one. I mean, it's hard to
Speaker 1: argue with the star making quality that is Robert Irwin
Speaker 1: and the fact that he is not only such an
Speaker 1: amazing person but is also an amazing performer. You know,
Speaker 1: I sing on the cake at this point, but so
Speaker 1: spoiler alert, it's Robert Irwin is the winner. And I
Speaker 1: would like to say that when I interviewed Jenna on
Speaker 1: this Yere podcast, she said that the hardest place to
Speaker 1: come in is second because they don't even say your name,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're in fifth. They said Elaine and
Speaker 1: Allen's name, they said Dylan and Danny's names, they said
Speaker 1: Jordan Ezra's names, and then they just announced the winner,
Speaker 1: and you know, confetti cannons go off and everyone cheers
Speaker 1: and everyone celebrates, and it must have been really hard.
Speaker 1: I just would like to think for a minute, it
Speaker 1: must have been really hard to be Alex there. And
Speaker 1: I know she wanted to win this very badly, and
Speaker 1: it was a spectacular season for her. I feel like
Speaker 1: I use that word a lot, but I don't know
Speaker 1: that there's many other words to describe this season of
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars. But congratulations to Robert and Whitney. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think Robert would mind me saying this,
Speaker 1: but especially to Whitney. You know, Whitney is a mom.
Speaker 1: She's she moved her children out here for the season.
Speaker 1: Her husband. They they're staying in a house nearby. And
Speaker 1: this show requires a lot of you, especially as a pro,
Speaker 1: where you are choreographing and you're listening to music and
Speaker 1: you're kind of working around the clock, and you're in
Speaker 1: these long rehearsals and you've got interviews and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like this show requires a massive sacrifice to be
Speaker 1: a part of. Don't get me wrong, it's worth it.
Speaker 1: But everyone has to sacrifice. And I know Whitney. Whitney
Speaker 1: felt it. You know, Whitney felt the sacrifice as we
Speaker 1: all did. And just to have it culminate in having
Speaker 1: a mirror ball trophy above your head, sitting on the
Speaker 1: shoulders of your fellow prose and being congratulated by everyone.
Speaker 1: I hope that tonight and every night moving forward she feels,
Speaker 1: and that Robert feels like it was all worth it.
Speaker 1: And I know even for everyone else who I didn't win,
Speaker 1: it was worth it. It was worth it. It was
Speaker 1: worth every rib injury, it was worth every hamstring tear,
Speaker 1: it was worth every stressful moment. It was worth all
Speaker 1: the lack of sleep. The show is very, very special,
Speaker 1: and those of us who have had the good fortune
Speaker 1: of being a part of it know what it's like.
Speaker 1: And I can't wait to watch it again next year.
Speaker 1: I can't believe it's over. So thank you all for
Speaker 1: letting me bring you on this journey. We are not
Speaker 1: done yet. We are just not done yet. We are
Speaker 1: going to continue to interview some of the folks from
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars and soon, Please le stay tuned
Speaker 1: to this feed because we have a big announcement coming soon.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to miss it. And in the meantime,
Speaker 1: next year, I'll see you on tour. I can't believe it.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. I told you guys, I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a professional dancer, and guess what I am now
Speaker 1: a professional dancer. I'm going on tour. I'm going to
Speaker 1: open the Dancing with the Stars tour. I am going
Speaker 1: to be a co host with Emma Slater. I'm opening
Speaker 1: the tour on January twenty second in Akron, Ohio, and
Speaker 1: I am concluding my first run on February fifteenth at
Speaker 1: Radio City Musical. So I will be going from the
Speaker 1: twenty second to the fifteenth, twenty second of January to
Speaker 1: February fifteenth, and then I've got a couple of days
Speaker 1: in April and may eventually do a few more in
Speaker 1: April and maybe May as well, But for right now,
Speaker 1: that's where I'm going to be. And then Andy is
Speaker 1: taking over for me in the middle of February, and
Speaker 1: then Elaine is popping in. So those are your three
Speaker 1: co hosts. Always with Emma Slater, and then there are
Speaker 1: going to be other people joining us. Jordan's going to
Speaker 1: join for a while, Dylan is going to join for
Speaker 1: a while, Alex is coming for a bit, Robert is
Speaker 1: coming for a bit, and Whitney is coming with Robert.
Speaker 1: So just it'll be an unbelievable tour. If you haven't
Speaker 1: already get your tickets, we can't wait to see you
Speaker 1: out there. It's going to be so much fun. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it. I have really enjoyed doing this, and like
Speaker 1: I said, it's not quite over yet. I have a
Speaker 1: few more interviews, a few more things I'm excited to
Speaker 1: bring you, So stay tuned for more Danielle with and
Speaker 1: stay tuned for some big announcements coming up soon. Thanks
Speaker 1: for letting me cry, Thank you for all of your support,
Speaker 1: Thank you for allowing me to go on this journey
Speaker 1: where I learned so much about myself. I think one
Speaker 1: of the things I learned about myself is just how
Speaker 1: much I love cheering for people who are working hard.
Speaker 1: I just cheering people on who are really doing something
Speaker 1: vulnerable and really giving it. They're all. There's not a
Speaker 1: better feeling than supporting and supporting other people doing that
Speaker 1: so thank you for doing that with me, and see
Speaker 1: you all next time. Bye. Danielle with the Stars Produced
Speaker 1: and hosted by Danielle Fischl. Executive Producers Jensen Carpenemy Sugarman
Speaker 1: Executive in charge of Production, Danielle Romo, producer, editor and
Speaker 1: engineer Tara Sudbasch. Theme song by Justin Siegel. Follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Danielle with Stars and vote for me