Speaker 1: Hello, it is that time again. I am Danielle Fischl,
Speaker 1: TV director, podcaster, mother of two, and unless you commonly
Speaker 1: pass a very specific off ramp on the one oh
Speaker 1: one freeway in the San Fernando Valley, I'm probably the
Speaker 1: first thing you think of when you hear the word
Speaker 1: to panga. But if you are one of the millions
Speaker 1: and millions of people who have kept up with Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars over the past twenty years of its
Speaker 1: reality show Supremacy, you may recognize me as a contestant
Speaker 1: on season thirty four of the program, recently eliminated with
Speaker 1: just three shows left, and one of those shows, a
Speaker 1: very special anniversary event took place tonight, and I was
Speaker 1: lucky enough to be seated in the ballroom for all
Speaker 1: of the festivities, and I am so excited to tell
Speaker 1: you about what I saw, which is the reason for
Speaker 1: this year podcast. It is my hope that I could
Speaker 1: bring listeners along for my journey from no prior dance
Speaker 1: experience to some dance experience, to the Elite eight to
Speaker 1: a pair of impressive seats Tonight. Like I said, tonight
Speaker 1: was the twenty year extravaganza, with just seven couples left,
Speaker 1: each celebrity was tasked with creating a dance inspired by
Speaker 1: a former standout freestyle from the show's history, and then
Speaker 1: they would be paired with a former celebrity champion for
Speaker 1: a relay dance. All assignments that sound very overwhelming having
Speaker 1: been a part of the schedule, So I am home.
Speaker 1: I just had the most amazing night at the twentieth
Speaker 1: anniversary party of Dance with the Stars, and I wore
Speaker 1: a really beautiful yellow dress. I was completely obsessed with
Speaker 1: this dress. I will say it was more body hugging
Speaker 1: than I'm used to wearing, and so I was kind
Speaker 1: of like adjusting my dress all night anyway, As any
Speaker 1: woman knows if you have been I also had to
Speaker 1: wear a strapless bra. If you have ever worn a
Speaker 1: strapless bra, if you have ever worn a bra, you
Speaker 1: know that the very first thing you do, the very
Speaker 1: first thing you do when you get home, is take
Speaker 1: that sucker off. Just sometimes you don't even wait till
Speaker 1: you're all the way in the door. Sometimes I open
Speaker 1: up my car door, and if my kids are not
Speaker 1: with me, and I don't have to deal with getting
Speaker 1: them out of their car seats, if I just fly
Speaker 1: open my door, the very first thing I'm doing is
Speaker 1: reaching my hand under my shirt and unclasping that bra,
Speaker 1: and I'm getting that bad boy off. So I got
Speaker 1: home and immediately ripped off my dress and my undergarments
Speaker 1: and I put on my pajamas and I am wearing
Speaker 1: the in my jam collaboration that Jenna Johnson did where
Speaker 1: she for all boy Moms, we know that one of
Speaker 1: the hardest parts of only having boys and not having
Speaker 1: a daughter is that they don't make many matching clothes
Speaker 1: for moms and sons. And Jenna having a son Rome,
Speaker 1: I figured out that that is something that you could
Speaker 1: fix pretty easily and doing it really well with pajamas. Anyway,
Speaker 1: she gifted me these pajamas a pair for my youngest son, Keaton,
Speaker 1: because I think they only go to four te and
Speaker 1: this that I'm wearing now, and these are so comfortable.
Speaker 1: But I'm realizing as I'm starting to talk to you
Speaker 1: that the tag is still on it. It's just aggressively hanging. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I before we get into the details of tonight, I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about what it was like
Speaker 1: for me. So selfish, that's my podcast. It's okay, I'm
Speaker 1: allowed to I'm allowed to talk about myself. First. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about what it was like for me
Speaker 1: to be back in the ballroom my first week not competing.
Speaker 1: I was really excited to go, and I was nervous
Speaker 1: that I was going to feel very sad that I
Speaker 1: wasn't competing. And there's definitely I'm not gonna lie and
Speaker 1: say that there's no sadness that I was that I'm
Speaker 1: not still part of the competition, or that I didn't
Speaker 1: get there tonight and think, oh man, I wish I
Speaker 1: wish I had this feeling of like it's show night
Speaker 1: and you're in wardrobe and you know you've gone through
Speaker 1: here and makeup, and you've got a theme and you're
Speaker 1: you know, there was there certainly was. I got there
Speaker 1: and there was a part of me that was like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I wish I wish this was still my
Speaker 1: home for this but it does still feel like my home.
Speaker 1: But you know, like I wish I was I had
Speaker 1: been here all day. And on the other hand, man,
Speaker 1: is it ever fun to like see all these people
Speaker 1: I love so so much? And I'm not just talking
Speaker 1: about the cast and the pros. I'm actually specifically this
Speaker 1: time not talking about them. I'm talking about the crew security,
Speaker 1: the PA's chuck my guy, I'm talking about the wardrobe assistance.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the social media team. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: all the people that really like make the show, the
Speaker 1: stand ins, all the people who make this show from
Speaker 1: behind the scenes that you guys never get to see.
Speaker 1: Seeing all of them and not having it be a
Speaker 1: rushed I'm on my way here, or you need me
Speaker 1: to do a social media thing real quick, or or hey,
Speaker 1: can you ZiT me into my dress? Or like to
Speaker 1: really like see them and give them a hug and
Speaker 1: to not feel like I was rushing into the next thing,
Speaker 1: or to be paying attention to what time it was,
Speaker 1: to just really be living in it, and to still
Speaker 1: feel like such a part of it because it is
Speaker 1: still season thirty four and I'm still a cast member
Speaker 1: of this season. It was so fun, It was really nice.
Speaker 1: It was a really good feeling. This crowd too, was
Speaker 1: pros and celebs, going all the way back to the
Speaker 1: very first season thirty four seasons ago. And I know
Speaker 1: for some of you that are newer fans to watching
Speaker 1: the show, that's confusing. You're like, how are we only
Speaker 1: at twenty years but there's thirty four seasons. They used
Speaker 1: to do two seasons a year. They would do a
Speaker 1: spring season and they would do a fall season, and
Speaker 1: I kind of miss those days. I kind of miss
Speaker 1: those days of two seasons. But of course it's obviously
Speaker 1: the show is very expensive, and you know, it's a
Speaker 1: big old production. It also used to be two nights.
Speaker 1: The show itself would be on Monday nights, and then
Speaker 1: on Tuesday it would be the results. So if you
Speaker 1: watched the show tonight, you may have seen Tom bergeron
Speaker 1: who came back just an absolute legend of hosting, came
Speaker 1: back tonight as a guest judge, and he in I
Speaker 1: wonder if they it was live, I'm assuming so they
Speaker 1: couldn't really edit it out. But he made the request
Speaker 1: to go back to the days of having a results show,
Speaker 1: which I thought was really interesting. Before I went into
Speaker 1: the ballroom tonight, I made sure I went and saw
Speaker 1: my boy Dylan. I went and met him at his trailer,
Speaker 1: and he looked incredible. They were doing an Argentine tango
Speaker 1: Dylan and Danny, and I could just tell that he
Speaker 1: had had such a good week. We have been in
Speaker 1: community every day and I knew he was having a
Speaker 1: good week, but I knew he also was feeling the pressure.
Speaker 1: This was a week he really wanted and needed to
Speaker 1: have a breakout week. He really wanted to rise to
Speaker 1: the occasion, rise above the pack, and have a standout,
Speaker 1: spectacular dance. And I knew he was feeling the pressure.
Speaker 1: And I said, how are you feeling and he said,
Speaker 1: I'm feeling good. He said, our rehearsals have all gone
Speaker 1: really well. And he said, but you know, sometimes you
Speaker 1: have like some really good rehearsals and you have really
Speaker 1: good camera blocking, and then you just get super nervous
Speaker 1: before the show and you don't know, you don't know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. And I was like, you've got this.
Speaker 1: You've definitely got this. And he was paired with Rumor
Speaker 1: Willis for the relay race. And you know, anybody who
Speaker 1: watches this show and has watched this show knows that
Speaker 1: Danny cannot hide what she's feeling. It is on her face.
Speaker 1: And she came out from her trailer and I said,
Speaker 1: how's it going this week? How's it going with Rumor?
Speaker 1: And she said they are incredible. She's like, honestly, they
Speaker 1: should like compete together, like it's unbelievable, and I just
Speaker 1: instantly my heart was just so full, and I was
Speaker 1: so happy because I knew that if there was if
Speaker 1: any of that wasn't true, it wouldn't it wouldn't be
Speaker 1: coming out of Danny's mouth like and I just knew, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's he's got this relay and he has got this
Speaker 1: great dance, and my proud bestie heart can relax. And
Speaker 1: then we went into the ballroom and it was packed
Speaker 1: with friends and former pros and celebs. I finally got
Speaker 1: to meet Louie van Amstell, who you guys know I
Speaker 1: interviewed the week that I ended up being eliminated. He
Speaker 1: was the first person I got to share what my
Speaker 1: contemporary dance was about. And I'm so grateful that I
Speaker 1: got to have that conversation with him and that we
Speaker 1: did that podcast before the show even aired, because I
Speaker 1: always would have wondered if any of you would have
Speaker 1: thought that I was making it up, that that's what
Speaker 1: my dance was about, and that it wasn't in my
Speaker 1: package if I hadn't talked about it with Louie before
Speaker 1: that episode even aired. Anyway, Louie and I had never
Speaker 1: met face to face, and we have communicated since the
Speaker 1: podcast that we did together, and I was so excited
Speaker 1: to meet him tonight. We didn't get to talk for
Speaker 1: very long because he came up to give me a
Speaker 1: hug while I was in the middle of my conversation
Speaker 1: with Danny and Dylan, and so we didn't get to
Speaker 1: talk for as long as I wanted to. But boy,
Speaker 1: it was so nice to meet him face to face
Speaker 1: and to give him a hug. He is such a warm, thoughtful,
Speaker 1: lovely man, and I hope that it's not the last
Speaker 1: time I see him. I want to see him again.
Speaker 1: He was just really great. Some other friends and people
Speaker 1: that you may know and that I know that we're
Speaker 1: in the audience. I saw Candice Cameron Beret was there.
Speaker 1: Danica mckeller was there. I saw a sign that Jaliel
Speaker 1: White was gonna be there. His name was on his chair.
Speaker 1: I did not see him, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: that means he wasn't there. I'm sure he was. I
Speaker 1: need to text him. I will ask him if he
Speaker 1: was there, but I wish I had seen him. Sharna
Speaker 1: Burgess of course was there. I saw Peta was there.
Speaker 1: Sean Johnson was there, Christi Yamaguchi was there, Donald Driver
Speaker 1: was there. Rashad Jennings was there. He was obviously in
Speaker 1: the show. He was competing with Elaine. It was us.
Speaker 1: It was just a star studded, fantastic night. Apollo Ono
Speaker 1: was there. He competed with Jordan. That was pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: We'll get into all the relay race stuff. One of
Speaker 1: the things they did tonight to celebrate the anniversary is
Speaker 1: they had lots of archival footage over the last twenty
Speaker 1: years of the show, former pros as kids, basically from
Speaker 1: when they started on the show, Tom Bergrown, lots of
Speaker 1: Len Goodman. They did a beautiful in memoriam package and
Speaker 1: had a beautiful dance that Riley and Ezra performed to
Speaker 1: the in memoriam section of the show. Just a really
Speaker 1: beautiful celebration. Also, I'd love to talk about that opening
Speaker 1: number choreographed by Derek huff Boy, was it beautiful? Started
Speaker 1: off with the six original pros from the show, and
Speaker 1: they did a beautiful job, so gorgeous, and then it
Speaker 1: continued down onto the ballroom floor with all the current pros.
Speaker 1: Really fast paced, I mean fast, fast, fast, fast fast,
Speaker 1: and Alan had to he was in the opening number,
Speaker 1: and then he was also the first performer of the
Speaker 1: night with Elaine and they were doing as alsa, so
Speaker 1: he also, like that was super fast. So I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure how he caught his breath to open the
Speaker 1: show like that, but opening number was just absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1: And then, of course I've mentioned it a few times,
Speaker 1: there was the reveal of Tom Berger, on which everyone
Speaker 1: knew he was going to be there, but it was
Speaker 1: so fun and so great, and I know Julianne got
Speaker 1: emotional introducing him. I don't even know all the details,
Speaker 1: but I know that he was fired after a certain
Speaker 1: period of time, and I know that he was heartbroken,
Speaker 1: and I don't remember what the situation was, but I
Speaker 1: do know that there was not always good blood there
Speaker 1: after that happened. And since that time, it's water under
Speaker 1: the bridge and they have made up and hands have changed,
Speaker 1: you know, people who used who were in charge at
Speaker 1: that time are no longer in charge. And it was
Speaker 1: a really nice homecoming for everybody to have Tom back
Speaker 1: in the ballroom. I thought he did a really great
Speaker 1: job judging, I really did, and I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to expect because as a host, you know, he's not
Speaker 1: a dance expert, and so you know, I thought he
Speaker 1: did the perfect thing, which was he didn't offer any
Speaker 1: critiques about the dancing. He didn't say anything like about,
Speaker 1: you know, putting energy in your fingertips or something where
Speaker 1: it's like, sir, is that your area of expertise? He
Speaker 1: didn't do any of that. He just said what he
Speaker 1: connected with. He gave them compliments, He talked about how
Speaker 1: something made him feel. He talked about their shared history,
Speaker 1: if they had shared history. I thought he did a
Speaker 1: really nice job and blended in very well with our
Speaker 1: other fantastic judges. I really do. I think he did
Speaker 1: a great job. I really enjoyed him. I also, before
Speaker 1: they went out onto the floor, I got to see Whitney.
Speaker 1: I also got to see Robert. My Robert. I am
Speaker 1: another one. I just you know, love so very much,
Speaker 1: and every time we see each other, we just have
Speaker 1: so much to say. And I hope that I feel
Speaker 1: oh am I getting emotional. I always hope with my
Speaker 1: friends that I feel like a safe space to open
Speaker 1: up and share things with. I want that for all
Speaker 1: my friends. But there are sometimes there are some people
Speaker 1: who seemingly have just everything going for them, but they're young,
Speaker 1: and I know how overwhelming it can be to have
Speaker 1: so much pressure on your shoulders and to have so
Speaker 1: much going on and to be, you know, to be
Speaker 1: such a positive force like Robert is, and for people
Speaker 1: to want you to maintain that, and he has. He
Speaker 1: has never once complained about a single thing ever. But
Speaker 1: I hope he knows that I'm always there for him.
Speaker 1: And I feel like when I see him and I'm
Speaker 1: able to say how are you, and we actually really
Speaker 1: get to connect and I get to hear about the
Speaker 1: highs of the week, the lows of the week, what
Speaker 1: he's looking forward to, what his anxieties are about that
Speaker 1: night or whatever. It's just every single time I see him,
Speaker 1: I walk away feeling better, and I hope he feels
Speaker 1: the same way. I just every time I see him,
Speaker 1: I get so bright inside. And it was great to
Speaker 1: see him, and I did say I was like, Robert,
Speaker 1: I don't think I have a single picture with you.
Speaker 1: So we took a picture tonight and it's very cute.
Speaker 1: I love it so much. I also took a great
Speaker 1: picture with Dylan because I realized, like, how is it
Speaker 1: possible I don't have pictures with my friends like I
Speaker 1: have so few pictures with these people, but I'm not
Speaker 1: good about remembering to take pictures. We will be taping
Speaker 1: a live episode of Danielle With at Disney California Adventure
Speaker 1: Park on December fourth. If you live in the Southern
Speaker 1: California area or if you can be in the Southern
Speaker 1: California area on December fourth, we have an opportunity for
Speaker 1: you to join us. Between now and November twenty fourth
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five, you can enter for your chance
Speaker 1: to win tickets to attend the Coast one oh three
Speaker 1: point five Private Holiday Party at Disney California Adventure Park
Speaker 1: on December fourth, twenty twenty five, including an overnight stay
Speaker 1: at the Disneyland Resort Hotel for a family of four
Speaker 1: and two day one park per day tickets to Disneyland
Speaker 1: Park or Disney California Adventure Park. Plus you will have
Speaker 1: the chance to meet us while we are taping an
Speaker 1: episode of Danielle With inside Disney California Adventure Park. Visit
Speaker 1: Coast one oh three five dot com forward slash Danielle
Speaker 1: With now to enter for your chance to win. Let's
Speaker 1: jump into the individual dances. Alex and Val did a
Speaker 1: foxtrot to sing into the rain, and it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I mean, the judges absolutely loved it. It was an
Speaker 1: absolute ten ten, ten, ten, a perfect forty, truly beautiful.
Speaker 1: I I'm gonna go out on a limb. I don't
Speaker 1: even know if it's a limb. I'm going to say
Speaker 1: I think Alex is the best dancer on the show
Speaker 1: right now. I just do. I think she's the best
Speaker 1: dancer on the show. I previously, I don't know. She
Speaker 1: has grown so much, and I thought she started as
Speaker 1: a great dancer. I like week one was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: she's really talented. She has grown leaps and bounds, and
Speaker 1: she's also really to see her personality develop and to
Speaker 1: see her become more comfortable being on television. I don't
Speaker 1: think she had ever even really been on television before
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars, certainly not live television. I mean,
Speaker 1: of course she's a world renowned social media maven, but
Speaker 1: like to watch her grow and develop like this has
Speaker 1: been just spectacular to witness, and I'm so proud of her,
Speaker 1: so proud of her to watch her go out there
Speaker 1: and kill it with val tonight, and you know, she
Speaker 1: just keeps building, She just keeps building. She's stunning, she's graceful,
Speaker 1: she's moving across the floor. She's really I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think she's I think she's the top dancer right now.
Speaker 1: Robert and Whitney did Footprints in the Sand. They did
Speaker 1: a fox trot, which was inspired by Bindy's freestyle. It
Speaker 1: was a dedication dance to their dad. Really, another beautiful,
Speaker 1: fantastic foxtrot. Ten's across the board again. It was actually
Speaker 1: the first full forty for an individual dance. Team Chicago
Speaker 1: had the first full forty the week I got eliminated,
Speaker 1: but that was a team dance. Robert's dance tonight was
Speaker 1: the first perfect ten dance across the board and the
Speaker 1: gold confetti cannons went off, and I was sitting on
Speaker 1: the ballroom floor and I was watching everybody celebrate, watching
Speaker 1: everybody celebrate in the skybox, and I was sitting there,
Speaker 1: and then they went to commercial, and I realized, like, oh,
Speaker 1: because we're at commercial, there's still like two and a
Speaker 1: half minutes. And I thought I literally might get tackled.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I'm going to run up to
Speaker 1: the skybox and grab him and give him a hug.
Speaker 1: And I did. I just jumped up from my seat
Speaker 1: and I ran across the floor and a woman in
Speaker 1: a red shirt said to me, like hi, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Hi, I have to go doctor Robert. And
Speaker 1: she was like okay. I have no idea if she
Speaker 1: knew who I was or if she was just like
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna stop this lady who's running. But I
Speaker 1: ran upstairs into the skybox and I grabbed him and
Speaker 1: I told him how proud of him I was. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, I was just so excited for him, just
Speaker 1: so proud and so excited. I wish I could stop
Speaker 1: crying because I feel a little like a crazy lady
Speaker 1: who just keeps crying over a dancing show. But I'm
Speaker 1: just so proud of everybody. Okay, I'm gonna move on.
Speaker 1: Whitney and Mark did an Argentine tango to sell Block Tango.
Speaker 1: I think it's from Chicago, if I'm not mistaken. I
Speaker 1: thought this dance was just spectacular. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: I've said that now about every single dance, but I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess that's to be expected when you're in week
Speaker 1: nine out of eleven. It was remarkable, the lifts that
Speaker 1: they did, the tricks that they did Whitney split the
Speaker 1: just every single thing about it. It was intense, it
Speaker 1: was sultry, it was it was filled with personality. It
Speaker 1: was just beautiful. And I saw in the package that
Speaker 1: Whitney had said that she was having a hard time
Speaker 1: getting the quick flicks and kicks, and man, you would
Speaker 1: never know it because she looked phenomenal. And I know
Speaker 1: that Mark really pushes her, which is exactly what she wants,
Speaker 1: and it pays off every single week. I look forward
Speaker 1: to their dances every single week. I thought she looked amazing.
Speaker 1: I thought Mark looked amazing. I thought this was spectacularly done.
Speaker 1: And then Dylan and Daniella Ain't No Sunshine they did
Speaker 1: an Argentine tango. I was nervous when I heard that
Speaker 1: they were doing an Argentine tango Ain't No Sunshine. I
Speaker 1: was like, I can't picture how this song is going
Speaker 1: to work with an Argentine tango. I loved the song. Oh,
Speaker 1: I forgot to tell you. Whitney and Mark also perfect
Speaker 1: tense forty across the board. And then because they had
Speaker 1: immunity from the relay race, which means they didn't need
Speaker 1: to do the relay race, they were automatically given two points,
Speaker 1: so she ended up with she had forty two points
Speaker 1: before the relay even started because she was just given
Speaker 1: the two points. Another perfect dance, just absolutely nothing, no notes,
Speaker 1: no notes, perfect dance. Uh, Dylan and Daniella this They're
Speaker 1: Argentine Tango. I think this Argentine Tango. I'm not just biased.
Speaker 1: I think Danny and Dylan's Argentine Tango is the dance
Speaker 1: of the night for me. And there were so many
Speaker 1: great dances tonight it's hard for me to pick. I
Speaker 1: freaking loved h this Argentine Tango. I loved every single
Speaker 1: aspect of it. I thought Dylan was such a star,
Speaker 1: such a star. He knew he needed to have a
Speaker 1: breakout night. He was not thrilled with the way last
Speaker 1: week went. He really wanted to step up his game tonight,
Speaker 1: and boy did he. He was so in character, he
Speaker 1: was so strong, he was leading so well. The lifts just,
Speaker 1: I mean, truly, just unbelievable. This dance from beginning to
Speaker 1: end was perfect. And I cried, which will not surprise
Speaker 1: those of you who are listening to this podcast, where
Speaker 1: I've already cried like six times. I cried the minute
Speaker 1: it was over because I from the conversation I had
Speaker 1: with him before the night started, through the conversations I
Speaker 1: had with him this week, I knew how important this
Speaker 1: night was to him, and I knew how important this
Speaker 1: breakthrough feeling was. And boy, oh boy, watching him just
Speaker 1: kill it. I was through the roof, just through the roof.
Speaker 1: And when he went up there and then they got
Speaker 1: their perfect scores, I wanted to do the same thing
Speaker 1: I had done for Robert, and I wanted to run
Speaker 1: up there into the skybox, but there was only one
Speaker 1: minute before Jordan and Ezra were performing, and I knew
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have time to run up to the skybox,
Speaker 1: give him a hug, and get back into my seat,
Speaker 1: so I stayed in my seat. But man, gosh, what
Speaker 1: a what a night. Then there was Andy and Emma,
Speaker 1: who did a quick step to putting on the ritz.
Speaker 1: And you know, spoiler alert if you haven't heard, if
Speaker 1: you are listening to this before you watch the show,
Speaker 1: first of all, what are you doing? But if you
Speaker 1: are listening to this before you've watched the show, Andy
Speaker 1: and Emma, Andy went home tonight. And the interesting thing
Speaker 1: is that of all the nights, I thought tonight was
Speaker 1: the most impressive night Andy had had since he held
Speaker 1: the camera in his hand. When everybody fell in love
Speaker 1: with him that night, I thought, I, you know, when
Speaker 1: I heard they were doing a quick step, me along
Speaker 1: with the rest of the world, was probably like, h
Speaker 1: how's a quick step gonna go? I know Andy struggles
Speaker 1: with his knees. I know he recently had just posted
Speaker 1: he had a bunch of fluid drained from his knees.
Speaker 1: It was a hot, hot post. And I thought, Wow,
Speaker 1: how's he gonna know? What's he gonna do a quick step?
Speaker 1: And then I thought, well, it's probably not going to
Speaker 1: be that quick and there's probably not going to be
Speaker 1: that many steps, and it's just gonna they're gonna call
Speaker 1: it a quick step. But how quick and how many
Speaker 1: steps can it be? I thought it had significantly more
Speaker 1: content than I thought it was going to and I
Speaker 1: he there were times that he really moved. I was impressed.
Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, that was more than I that
Speaker 1: that was more than I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 1: And so I was then kind of surprised. And then
Speaker 1: with the relay dance, which I'll get into. The relay dance,
Speaker 1: Emma is such a marketing genius. And you know, she's
Speaker 1: starting a marketing company after the season ends, and I
Speaker 1: will probably be the very first person to hire her
Speaker 1: because she's literally a genius. She's a marketing genius. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: And what she did with the relay, you know, she
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, I mean, I don't even know I'm
Speaker 1: putting words in her mouth because I have not had
Speaker 1: this conversation with her, but I imagine that some of
Speaker 1: what she was thinking was, Okay, we're up against Dylan
Speaker 1: and rumor willis they're going to be able to dance
Speaker 1: circles around us. We are going to have to lean
Speaker 1: into the entertainment value and him Andy's you know, Caitlin
Speaker 1: Bristow ripping open his shirt and having that those abs
Speaker 1: under there, that T shirt. I thought, wow, if if
Speaker 1: there were, however many people voting for Andy before, they
Speaker 1: are having an influx of phone calls, of votes and texts.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm saying phone calls. What year
Speaker 1: is this? Nineteen eighty five? Like they are getting text
Speaker 1: votes up the wazoo. Okay, I am eighty five before
Speaker 1: Andy tonight, and so I was I was really I mean,
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was somehow
Speaker 1: surprised that Andy went home tonight. I I don't know how. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then we have Elaine and Alan it takes two.
Speaker 1: They did a salsa, which I thought the salsa was
Speaker 1: was really great. Elaine in that green. I don't know
Speaker 1: that I would have ever thought that anybody could look
Speaker 1: good in that kind of uh. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what you would call it, neon lime green, but boy,
Speaker 1: that is a great color for her. I saw her
Speaker 1: backstage in the breezeway before she went out there, and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, you look spectacular. They
Speaker 1: kicked off the show, Like I said, I do not
Speaker 1: know how Alan even had the breath to do a
Speaker 1: salsa right after doing that opening number. He had to
Speaker 1: do a real quick change, but you know, they kicked
Speaker 1: off the show on a real high note. She got
Speaker 1: four nines. And then we had Jordan and Ezra. They
Speaker 1: did a cha cha to get up and she got
Speaker 1: three nines and a ten. And I thought that last
Speaker 1: move they did in the dance with Ezra, they were
Speaker 1: like kind of stacked on top of each other. It
Speaker 1: was like a thrust move where they were stacked on
Speaker 1: top of each other. It was so great. And to
Speaker 1: see Jordan be real spice see and fun. I thought
Speaker 1: it was super sexy. I thought they absolutely knocked it
Speaker 1: out of the park. Overall, tonight was just, you know,
Speaker 1: I guess I should not be surprised. It's week nine.
Speaker 1: Everybody had to step up their game, and the performances
Speaker 1: tonight showed it. It was just it was really fun.
Speaker 1: And then there was a relay race. The relay races
Speaker 1: were set up so there were seven couples tonight, but
Speaker 1: as I mentioned, Whitney did not have to compete in
Speaker 1: the relay, so Whitney was safe from that, which means
Speaker 1: there were six couples competing in the relay. They were
Speaker 1: then paired up and the two couples would compete to
Speaker 1: one song, so someone would have forty the first forty
Speaker 1: five seconds of a song and somebody else had the
Speaker 1: next forty five seconds of a song. Jordan and Ezra
Speaker 1: were paired with Apollo Ono, which means Jordan was dancing
Speaker 1: with Apollo Ono and Ezra was not on the floor.
Speaker 1: And then Dylan and Danny with Rumor Willis. Dylan was
Speaker 1: with Rumor Andy and Emma had Caitlin Bristow. Caitlin was
Speaker 1: with Andy. Robert and Whitney had Sochi Gomez, which means
Speaker 1: Robert dance with Sochi. Elaine and Alan had Rashad Jennings.
Speaker 1: Rashad danced with Elaine and Alex and Val had Joey
Speaker 1: Gratzia Day and so yeah, Alex got to dance with Joey,
Speaker 1: and I thought their package at the beginning, showing that
Speaker 1: Alex ended up with a bloody nose because Joey kept
Speaker 1: hitting Alex's nose in their dance. Alex is she for
Speaker 1: look She may look like that, she may look like
Speaker 1: a princess and look like a just beautiful barbie, but
Speaker 1: she is not afraid to get her hands dirty. She
Speaker 1: is not afraid to get thrown to the ground trying
Speaker 1: to do a double cartwheel with Val or doing a
Speaker 1: trick with Joey. Like she is all in and I
Speaker 1: so just love that about her. Rashad Jennings came over
Speaker 1: to me last week when I was in the audience
Speaker 1: for something else, and he came over to me and
Speaker 1: he was very sweet introduced himself to me. It was
Speaker 1: so nice to meet him. I got to spend a
Speaker 1: little bit of time tonight with him and his wife.
Speaker 1: We took a picture together. Really nice to hang out
Speaker 1: with him. So Chi Gomez is so sweet. I'm such
Speaker 1: a fan. I introduced myself to her a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago and then got to spend a little bit
Speaker 1: of time with her tonight. I think she had an
Speaker 1: incredible week with Robert, the two of them being, you know,
Speaker 1: so young and energetic and just vivacious, and I can
Speaker 1: only imagine how how bubbly this week was around them.
Speaker 1: It makes me wonder what it was like to be
Speaker 1: Whitney in this situation. When you're a little older and
Speaker 1: you're around you know, nineteen and twenty one year old
Speaker 1: lots of energy. You're like, did I ever have that
Speaker 1: much energy? Did I? Or did I? Did I not?
Speaker 1: Caitlin Bristow I did her podcast last week. It's just
Speaker 1: she's so fun, so wonderful. It was so great to
Speaker 1: see her really leaning into working with Andy and talking
Speaker 1: about wanting to see some sex appeal from Andy. I
Speaker 1: thought that was really funny. And Andy saying that Emma
Speaker 1: won't let him and Caitlyn saying I'll let you. I
Speaker 1: just I thought that was really cute rumor Willis and Dylan.
Speaker 1: I mean truly looks like they have been dancing together
Speaker 1: for years. I can't believe they only met this week,
Speaker 1: and I think only had like two days of practice,
Speaker 1: maybe three. Really fun to watch them together. I thought
Speaker 1: they did an incredible job. Jordan and Apollo Ono. This
Speaker 1: dance with the two of them was beautiful. I knew
Speaker 1: immediately the fact that they are both in world class athletes.
Speaker 1: I was like, man, this is gonna be beautiful. This
Speaker 1: is going to be precise, it's going to be crisp,
Speaker 1: it's going to be clean, and it was. It was
Speaker 1: all of those things, and it was elegant. And to
Speaker 1: see Jordan paired with somebody a little more her height
Speaker 1: was also really nice. Love my boy Ezra, love their partnership,
Speaker 1: love their friendship. Wouldn't change a thing, but you know,
Speaker 1: when you're dealing with that big of a height difference,
Speaker 1: it's really nice to actually see her have to work
Speaker 1: a little less and for Apollo to not have to
Speaker 1: work as hard as Ezra has to work to get
Speaker 1: down to be more Jordan's height. I just thought it
Speaker 1: was really nice and they did such a beautiful job.
Speaker 1: I thought that was. I thought it was just a beautiful,
Speaker 1: beautiful dance. So of the relay dances, Jordan and Apollo one,
Speaker 1: Dylan and Rumor one, and Robert and Sochi one, which
Speaker 1: means Robert ended up with forty two points for the night,
Speaker 1: Dylan and Danny ended up with forty two points for
Speaker 1: the night, Jordan and Ezra ended up with thirty nine
Speaker 1: points for the night, and then it was time to
Speaker 1: go into the elimination. I was actually shocked that they
Speaker 1: did an elimination tonight. It feeling like such a massive
Speaker 1: party and celebrating twenty years. I thought, what are the
Speaker 1: odds they're going to eliminate anybody tonight, and maybe they'll
Speaker 1: just do a double elimination next week. So I was
Speaker 1: really surprised. I kept waiting for them to be like,
Speaker 1: you were all safe, and then it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're actually really doing an elimination. So yeah, like I said,
Speaker 1: I was actually surprised that it was andy tonight. I thought,
Speaker 1: of all the nights, tonight was a night that there
Speaker 1: was actually a significant amount of Ammo to quote unquote
Speaker 1: justify voting for him, not just because you love him,
Speaker 1: not just because you think he's entertaining, not just because
Speaker 1: he brings you joy, but because you actually look at
Speaker 1: the dance and say, I thought this dance was good,
Speaker 1: and I want to see a dance from this person
Speaker 1: again next week again, not just because of the joy,
Speaker 1: not just because of the fandom, not because of that,
Speaker 1: but because of dance ability, Like I actually thought, of
Speaker 1: all nights, tonight was one of his best dance performances.
Speaker 1: So Andy and Emma made it through week nine. Congratulations
Speaker 1: to them on a killer season, and now there are
Speaker 1: only six remaining as we go into the semifinals. Next week,
Speaker 1: Semifinals week Prince Night, all of the couples will be
Speaker 1: dancing to dances too, Prince songs, and gosh, I can't
Speaker 1: believe it. After that, there will be I'm assuming it
Speaker 1: will be a five couple finale unless they decide to
Speaker 1: do a double elimination next week just for the purpose
Speaker 1: of having a four person finale. I'm gonna assume it
Speaker 1: will be a five person finale. So it's anybody's guess
Speaker 1: who's gonna be in the finals. I don't know. It's hard.
Speaker 1: I was going to tell you my predictions, but I
Speaker 1: don't know. After the show wrapped, After the elimination, Andy
Speaker 1: and Emma were told well that it was their last
Speaker 1: last performance. Uh. There was a huge twentieth anniversary party
Speaker 1: on the stage next door. It was spectacular. They had
Speaker 1: Deadline was there doing a not just a photo booth
Speaker 1: like real beautiful portrait studios. I got to take some
Speaker 1: pictures there. They had a DJ, they had of course
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars, had a huge dance floor, and
Speaker 1: then there was food galore. King's Hawaiian was there and
Speaker 1: I ate a lobster roll with on King's Hawaiian bread,
Speaker 1: which if you have not had a lobster roll on
Speaker 1: King's Hawaiian bread, you really need to, you really need
Speaker 1: to experience that. I also had a slice of Margarita
Speaker 1: pizza from Casamigos because there was a Casamigos little booth
Speaker 1: and they were they had Margarita's and Margarita pizza and
Speaker 1: I don't drink, so I skipped the margarita, but I
Speaker 1: did have a slice of the Margarita pizza, which was
Speaker 1: very good. And then CPK was there and they also
Speaker 1: had pizza, and you know, you know your girl loves
Speaker 1: her some CPK. I've never turned down CPK ever once
Speaker 1: in my life, and so I had that too, and
Speaker 1: then I don't know what else it was that was
Speaker 1: over there, but it was a bunch of like little
Speaker 1: small bites and I had a bunch of little small
Speaker 1: bites that were not that memorable. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what they were. That was not from CPK, that was
Speaker 1: from some other place. I literally don't even remember the
Speaker 1: name of it. But there were just little tiny bites
Speaker 1: and they were not memorable. The King's Hawaiian place. They
Speaker 1: also had brownie bites, and I had brownie bites. And
Speaker 1: then Van Lewin was there, Van luin ice cream. I
Speaker 1: don't even know that I'm saying that right, but they
Speaker 1: were there and they had a peanut butter brownie honeycomb
Speaker 1: ice cream. What what is this? So I had two
Speaker 1: scoops of that, and then also Randy's famous doughnuts were there,
Speaker 1: so I grabbed a dome to go. Also Voss water.
Speaker 1: Voss water is the official water of the car household.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys, I don't know how
Speaker 1: you would know that, but this is the water I
Speaker 1: keep stocked in our house, Foss water, and I you
Speaker 1: know what, it's fancy, and I don't even try to
Speaker 1: hide it. Yeah, I'm a fancy water person in our house.
Speaker 1: This is the water we have. Look at this one.
Speaker 1: Look at this Voss water. It's be dazzled. It's be dazzled.
Speaker 1: They only had a handful of them, and I took
Speaker 1: a picture of them because they're so beautiful. And the
Speaker 1: guy behind the counter said, Danielle, would you like one?
Speaker 1: I said, red, really, I can have one, and he
Speaker 1: said yes, you're a part of the cast. I don't
Speaker 1: know if if that was always their intention, that they
Speaker 1: were going to give out these be dazzled, sparkling beauties
Speaker 1: to cast members, but I told him, listen, I didn't
Speaker 1: win a mirror ball, but now this Voss water is
Speaker 1: going to be my mirror ball. I'm really just stacking
Speaker 1: up the stuff on my table back here. I just
Speaker 1: keep compiling things. But anyway, party was really fun. As
Speaker 1: you heard, I basically just ate my way through it.
Speaker 1: I did do a workout today. I worked out with
Speaker 1: a trainer for the first time and forever, because I
Speaker 1: am not going to let this momentum that I have
Speaker 1: of being physical and working out of every day just
Speaker 1: go to waste. So I have hired a personal trainer.
Speaker 1: I worked out with my trainer today and then I
Speaker 1: ruined it all by eating multiple pieces of pizza, a
Speaker 1: lobster roll, ice cream, a doughnut which I ate on
Speaker 1: the way home, and a very rich chocolate brownie. But
Speaker 1: you know what I say, I ruined it. I didn't
Speaker 1: ruin anything. It was the highlight of my day was
Speaker 1: eating all of that delicious food. Okay, maybe not the
Speaker 1: highlight of my day. The highlight of my day was
Speaker 1: cheering on my friends and watching them all absolutely crushing
Speaker 1: on the ballroom floor. But a very very close second
Speaker 1: was all that food I ate. Anyway, thank you guys
Speaker 1: for listening to this episode. I will talk to you
Speaker 1: all again soon. I'm very excited later this week to
Speaker 1: be sitting down with Whitney Lovitt. Whitney and I have
Speaker 1: a lot to chat about, and I'm very excited to
Speaker 1: introduce you all to the Whitney I know and now
Speaker 1: love and have gotten to know over the last three months.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to sharing that person with you all.
Speaker 1: So thank you all for listening. This is thank you
Speaker 1: for letting me do this every week and talk soon. Bye.
Speaker 1: Danielle with the Stars produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.
Speaker 1: Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge
Speaker 1: of production Danielle Romo, producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbosch.
Speaker 1: Theme song by j Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Danielle Woodstars and vote for me