Speaker 1: It's once again time for an episode of Danielle with
Speaker 1: I am your host, Danielle Fischel, a podcaster, TV director,
Speaker 1: mother of two, and one time Kushling spokesperson to Panga
Speaker 1: Lawrence of Boy Meets World fame. But for those of
Speaker 1: you who know what a passa doble is, you probably
Speaker 1: recognize me as a recent competitor on season thirty four
Speaker 1: of Dancing with the Stars. In experience I consider to
Speaker 1: be one of the most meaningful of my life, and
Speaker 1: keep in mind, I only finished eighth Imagine if I won,
Speaker 1: I do every night anyway. Here I am days away
Speaker 1: from the final show where I will dance once again,
Speaker 1: still recording this podcast, keeping you up to date on
Speaker 1: my ballroom adventures, just as excited as you are to
Speaker 1: find out who will hold that Len Goodman Mirror Ball
Speaker 1: Trophy above his or her head. And I continue to
Speaker 1: talk to experts, former contestants, incredibly gifted pros, and instrumental
Speaker 1: crew members, hoping to give an inside glimpse into what
Speaker 1: it takes to produce a show as fun as Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars. And today I have the honor of
Speaker 1: sitting with someone who has become synonymous with the program.
Speaker 1: A sitcom star who began his Hollywood career as a
Speaker 1: child on shows like Silver Spoons and The Fresh Prince
Speaker 1: of bel Air, then began his own Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars journey in season nineteen, where he became one of
Speaker 1: the show's most iconic participants, taking home first place and
Speaker 1: forever reminding the world who exactly created the Carlton dance,
Speaker 1: now known as the Alfonso. He would leverage his lovable
Speaker 1: nature on the show into a hosting gig on America's
Speaker 1: Funniest Home Videos, never knowing exactly how the ballroom could
Speaker 1: ever make its way back into his life, And then,
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, for season thirty one, Alfonso is
Speaker 1: named co host of Dancing with the Stars, a position
Speaker 1: he still holds today, becoming a face of not only
Speaker 1: the network, but proof of what Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 1: can do for not only your career but also your spirit.
Speaker 1: He's the man who sees it all and isn't afraid
Speaker 1: to talk about it. It's my fellow Team Chicago member,
Speaker 1: the great Alfonso Ribero. He knows hello. So good to
Speaker 1: see you, Alfonso. I do want to start with a
Speaker 1: story I have never told publicly, which is this extremely
Speaker 1: odd coincidence of when my husband and I noticed that
Speaker 1: we were walking right next to you at Disneyland. So
Speaker 1: nobody would even know that this had happened, but I
Speaker 1: had just started thinking, I wonder, I wonder if this
Speaker 1: is the year I do Dancing with the Stars. I wonder,
Speaker 1: Like it was just kind of on my brain a
Speaker 1: little bit, and I knew I've wanted to do it
Speaker 1: for so many years, and I you know, it's summer,
Speaker 1: and I know the season's coming up. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: wonder if this is the year? And then Jensen and
Speaker 1: I are walking out of the Grand Californian and I
Speaker 1: hear this beautiful voice and I go, is that a
Speaker 1: fond so? And sure enough, directly in front of me,
Speaker 1: by like just five steps, is you. And you were
Speaker 1: there with some of the pro dancers from Dancing with
Speaker 1: the Stars and I come up behind you were with
Speaker 1: a tour guide and I come up behind you. I
Speaker 1: tap you on the shoulder. I'm like Alfonso, and you
Speaker 1: turned around, I'm like hi, and we had this beautiful reunion.
Speaker 1: We hadn't seen each other in ages, and the first
Speaker 1: thing out of your mouth to me was, why haven't
Speaker 1: you done Dancing with the Stars yet.
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, yes it was. It was supposed to happen.
Speaker 1: It was supposed to happen.
Speaker 2: Yes, the universe finds ways to tell us our inner
Speaker 2: thoughts are correct.
Speaker 1: Yes, to let you know you're on the right path.
Speaker 2: You're on that path, like, hey, just just in case
Speaker 2: you're you're going down this road, but really you might
Speaker 2: go the other way. Here's a little something to just
Speaker 2: push it over the edge exactly.
Speaker 1: And you really were that thing for me. You you
Speaker 1: were that person that moment that was like, this feels
Speaker 1: like it was intervention. It was a divine It was
Speaker 1: a divine moment, running into you, talking to you, hearing
Speaker 1: that you I mean, and just it looks as though
Speaker 1: you're having the time of your life. It just it
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, I really do think this was this
Speaker 1: was for a purpose, and it was yeah, well that
Speaker 1: was great. I want to talk to you about your
Speaker 1: own dance journey.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: There was an interview this week with Dina Katz where
Speaker 1: she said that you had originally reached out to her
Speaker 1: about doing the show during season two. What was it
Speaker 1: about Dancing with the Stars that made you know so
Speaker 1: early on that it was something you wanted to be
Speaker 1: a part of.
Speaker 2: You know, I felt like this minute I saw the
Speaker 2: show after the first season, I was just like, you know,
Speaker 2: if there was ever a show that I could connect
Speaker 2: to that I would love doing and have fun doing,
Speaker 2: this was the concept, right, and it wasn't It was popular,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't like in its Hey they popular yet, right,
Speaker 2: and this would be perfect for me. This is something
Speaker 2: that I would enjoy. I watched, you know, I saw
Speaker 2: Apollo and I saw you know, Joey Fatone do it,
Speaker 2: and I saw these people and I was like, this
Speaker 2: looks amazing, Like put me on, put me, you know,
Speaker 2: put me in coach. And I was, you know, shown
Speaker 2: no love in the beginning, you know that it was
Speaker 2: like no, no, no, no no. And I and I
Speaker 2: had such a high and low love hate relationship with
Speaker 2: the show by time I did get on the show,
Speaker 2: because you know, I had wanted to do it, they
Speaker 2: wouldn't let me do it. Then I didn't want to
Speaker 2: do it because I was like, get it.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, it's like a divorce where you
Speaker 2: go through all the different stages right on a break
Speaker 2: and like went through all of that and because I
Speaker 2: was you know, I was friends with a lot of
Speaker 2: the dancers of that at that point, right, because of
Speaker 2: my friendships of people who had done the show, I
Speaker 2: got to become friends with all of their pros, Right.
Speaker 2: So I knew Karina through Mario, and I knew you know,
Speaker 2: Kim Johnson, and I knew Ryl and so I knew
Speaker 2: all of these people. But I was like, you know,
Speaker 2: always on the outside, right, No, you can't get in.
Speaker 2: You can't get in. You can't get in, You're not
Speaker 2: part of the club. And then you know, seventeen seasons later, right,
Speaker 2: and season nineteen, you know, Dina calls me. I'd literally
Speaker 2: just gotten back from a vacation with my family, and
Speaker 2: she was like, now's the time we're asking you to
Speaker 2: do it. And I was like, you know, fifteen pounds overweight,
Speaker 2: you know, just gotten off vacation in summer. But I
Speaker 2: was like, there was nothing I was specifically coming back
Speaker 2: to specifically, So I was just like, all right, let's
Speaker 2: go and started that journey.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I mean, I totally understand the love hate
Speaker 1: roller coaster you go on with something like that. And
Speaker 1: so by the time you got it was season nineteen nineteen. Yes, wow, Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: you and I have one big career distinction that we share,
Speaker 1: and I do think it's one of the major reasons
Speaker 1: why Dancing with the Stars can be really like transformative
Speaker 1: for us. Ninety nine percent of strangers only know us
Speaker 1: by a fictitious name, yep. And then here you get
Speaker 1: this opportunity to be Alfonso, right and to really let
Speaker 1: America see who you are outside of what they already know,
Speaker 1: for you to be, and for you to do it
Speaker 1: in a way where you get to be vulnerable through dance.
Speaker 1: Did that resonate with you? Did you see that right
Speaker 1: from the beginning?
Speaker 2: All right? Well I saw that from the beginning.
Speaker 1: In season two, right right, exactly right.
Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, this this dance that everybody knows
Speaker 2: me for, this character that everybody knows me for. I
Speaker 2: continued for years and years and years to continue to say,
Speaker 2: that's not who I am, right, Like, I'm this kid
Speaker 2: who grew up in the Bronx in New York, Right
Speaker 2: Like I wasn't this bel air kid that everybody thought
Speaker 2: of me as. And all I wanted to do was
Speaker 2: show that I wasn't that. I think that you know,
Speaker 2: once again, like you know, saying, like your situation, the
Speaker 2: universe finds the right way in the right time. It
Speaker 2: wasn't the right time, right, I wasn't in the right
Speaker 2: space yet to present myself as who I truly was
Speaker 2: versus who I wanted people to see me as. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh what a great distinction.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so being being able to do it in
Speaker 2: season nineteen, because I'd gone through the ups and the
Speaker 2: downs and the ins and the outs and the highs
Speaker 2: and the lows, I was truly capable of saying, I'm
Speaker 2: just going to give you me, yeah, and I'm just
Speaker 2: going to go on this journey. I'm going to go
Speaker 2: on this you know this this eleven week, you know,
Speaker 2: fourteen week, really journey. Hopefully I get to fourteen and
Speaker 2: just give people me and if it works, it works.
Speaker 2: If it doesn't, it doesn't. But at least it was
Speaker 2: truly me and that's who That's who it was I was.
Speaker 2: I was so in my out of my head, in
Speaker 2: my body and just being that. I think that it
Speaker 2: elevated my performances because it was really me. It was
Speaker 2: really just a love and a joy of and feeling
Speaker 2: so blessed to be on the show. To be able
Speaker 2: to do the ship'd have finally been given the chance
Speaker 2: to be part of this family that I so longed
Speaker 2: to be a part of Before that, that joy, I
Speaker 2: believe came across it, and I think it helped elevate
Speaker 2: me amongst the competition.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, while you're there, I'm sure you never imagine
Speaker 1: that Tom Bergeron is going anywhere. But while you're dancing
Speaker 1: on the show, did the hosting of the show ever
Speaker 1: cross your mind? Like, wow, I bet this is a
Speaker 1: fun show to host.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yeah, absolutely, yeah, Now that was This was
Speaker 2: like many years later, right that. Obviously things came into play,
Speaker 2: of course, but Tom Bergeron is the reason for my
Speaker 2: hosting career, like in general, in its success, right because
Speaker 2: I had hosted before. But it turns to me on
Speaker 2: week seven or eight, and you know, personally, he goes, no,
Speaker 2: I'm leaving America's Funniest Home Videos, And I said, I
Speaker 2: did not know that. Why are you leaving? Like it's
Speaker 2: a great job, why would you leave that. It's just time.
Speaker 2: It's time for me to start, you know, slowing down,
Speaker 2: And it's it's a it's a hard job with the
Speaker 2: family because we lived back east and back and forth,
Speaker 2: and we constantly have to come back out here to
Speaker 2: do tapings and they want us here for voiceover or
Speaker 2: not be able to do it from a studio elsewhere,
Speaker 2: and it's just become too much for me. And so
Speaker 2: I think, and he's saying this to me, I think
Speaker 2: you would be the perfect replacement for me. And so
Speaker 2: I'm going to go to Vinde Bona and ABC and
Speaker 2: let them know that this is my feeling. Not that
Speaker 2: that feeling had a lot of weight, but it absolutely
Speaker 2: had weight because it made Vinda Bona, who didn't know me,
Speaker 2: who didn't really know that much of me, take a
Speaker 2: look right, and that became, you know, literally the launching
Speaker 2: pad for my career. And it's funny because you know,
Speaker 2: obviously people are always like offonsin you keep taking Tom
Speaker 2: Bursrun's jobs. I'm like, no, Tom Bersroan keeps giving me
Speaker 2: his job.
Speaker 1: Exactly. You keep saying you're the person.
Speaker 2: You're the guy, You're the guy, You're the guy. And
Speaker 2: so you know, of course I looked at every hosting,
Speaker 2: every all shows. Right when you're trying to be a host,
Speaker 2: You're like, oh, that would be something that's good for me,
Speaker 2: Oh that would be that wouldn't be so good for me.
Speaker 2: I don't think I could really do well at that.
Speaker 2: And you're looking at all of it, and I'm thinking
Speaker 2: this show would be amazing, but I'm like, Tom is
Speaker 2: never leaving. There'll never be a time that Tom's not
Speaker 2: on this show, so like, don't even think about it, right,
Speaker 2: And then you know people know of this, but like
Speaker 2: Tom's parents got sick. Yeah, and I got a phone
Speaker 2: call from Dina one Sunday afternoon saying Tom might not
Speaker 2: be able to do Monday night show because back then
Speaker 2: it was on Mondays, right, And you're the one we'd
Speaker 2: love to come in and have and do this for Tom.
Speaker 1: And this was how many seasons after yours?
Speaker 2: This was like three seasons after after I think it
Speaker 2: was two seasons after. I think it was season twenty one,
Speaker 2: and and I'm like wow. So I talked to Tom
Speaker 2: and he's like, dude, I you know, really appreciate if
Speaker 2: you could do that for us. Like I'm you know,
Speaker 2: we're not sure what's going to happen. Hiating it up
Speaker 2: not missing that episode. But then his mom did get sick,
Speaker 2: and so the next week I came in and so
Speaker 2: I hosted the show. So before I actually hosted the show,
Speaker 2: I had already hosted the show and I had an experience,
Speaker 2: and but once again it was like that was cool,
Speaker 2: that was awesome. It's never happening, right or.
Speaker 1: Even in your mind thinking well, that's a nice position
Speaker 1: to be in. Anytime they need somebody to fill in
Speaker 1: for someone they know they can count on me. I'm
Speaker 1: absolutely great news.
Speaker 2: I'm the guy. Right. So that's so then we read
Speaker 2: of Tom no longer being on the show. It was
Speaker 2: like the immediately I'm like, no, right, no, it's it's
Speaker 2: not for me right now. This is not the right move, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, especially not on good terms. Yeah right, Tom is.
Speaker 2: Leaving, handing it over, right, And I went, nope, nope, nope, nope,
Speaker 2: not that they offered me the job. But it was
Speaker 2: still like Newton, I don't even want to get into that. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Tyra was hired. She had done a couple of seasons,
Speaker 2: recognized that it wasn't necessarily working out well, you know,
Speaker 2: for all parties, And so I called up Dina Katz
Speaker 2: one day and I said, hey, you know, let's go
Speaker 2: to dinner. And so, you know, all four of us, right,
Speaker 2: Jerry and Angela and I and and Dina went to
Speaker 2: dinner and I said, I just want to let you
Speaker 2: know that i'd like to throw my name in the hat.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know
Speaker 2: whether she's leaving. I don't know what you guys are deciding.
Speaker 2: I don't know any of that. What I do know
Speaker 2: is I want you to personally know that this is
Speaker 2: what I want to do. And she was like, I'm
Speaker 2: really happy you said that. I never thought you would
Speaker 2: actually want to do it because of your relationship with
Speaker 2: Tom and and so I was like, yeah, but I
Speaker 2: think enough years have passed that it's not me taking
Speaker 2: his gig, it's me coming after him want a gig
Speaker 2: heat which is a difference.
Speaker 1: You're right, absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2: And I said, this would be really awesome if that
Speaker 2: would happen. And then a few weeks later, I get
Speaker 2: a phone call from Conrad Green, who had just then
Speaker 2: been hired to come back in, and it was, look,
Speaker 2: here's what's happening. The show is no longer going to
Speaker 2: be on ABC, It's going to be on Disney Plus only.
Speaker 2: Is this still something you want to do? And I'm like, absolutely,
Speaker 2: even if it's you know, doing this show on the
Speaker 2: way out. I would still love to do it. And
Speaker 2: because it was moving to Disney, plus it could no
Speaker 2: longer be a single host show. It had to have
Speaker 2: two hosts. Okay, because no commercial breaks, there was no time.
Speaker 2: There's no other ways to move the stuff in and
Speaker 2: out of the set, so you had to go off
Speaker 2: of the stage to create that space. Right. So I
Speaker 2: said yes, they said yes, I start. I start with
Speaker 2: Tyra and I absolutely loved that was in the skybox,
Speaker 2: I was with celebrities and the pros and I had
Speaker 2: a blast and it was great. And then ultimately, you know,
Speaker 2: there was a parting of the ways between Tyra, ABC
Speaker 2: and the show, and I got a phone call and
Speaker 2: we're moving you downstairs and we've hired Julianne to be
Speaker 2: upstairs and a co host with you, and the rest
Speaker 2: is really history. It's been incredible.
Speaker 1: I love my think my favorite part of that story
Speaker 1: is when that you made the decision to call Dina
Speaker 1: and say let's go to dinner, and then you actually
Speaker 1: saying I just want to throw my name into the hat.
Speaker 1: Because so often we assume that if if something is
Speaker 1: right for us, or we go well, I've already, I've
Speaker 1: already hosted. Dina probably knows that I maybe they're already,
Speaker 1: and you don't. You don't say anything, you don't make
Speaker 1: the extra effort, you go. If they wanted me, they
Speaker 1: probably would have asked, we make all of these bad assumptions.
Speaker 1: And yet then when you actually decided I have I
Speaker 1: want to let her know that I would love this,
Speaker 1: this would be a dream for me. Her response was,
Speaker 1: I would have I would never have thought you would
Speaker 1: do it, and so you could have been sitting around thinking, well,
Speaker 1: of course they know I want it, and yet it's
Speaker 1: the exact opposite. They're thinking, he would never do it.
Speaker 1: Let's not even ask.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So I love that you. You took this upon yourself,
Speaker 1: your you made your dream come true. You manifested that
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: But that's the way I've always looked at everything. Right,
Speaker 2: assume nothing right for granted nothing. Yeah, right, you are?
Speaker 2: You know. Look, I think I've been incredibly lucky and
Speaker 2: fortunate to have incredible reps my entire career. Right, But
Speaker 2: they're reps, right, they're not a US.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: There's no one who is going to fight for you
Speaker 2: more than you, right, And no one can be a
Speaker 2: cheerleader for you more than you. Right. We allow our
Speaker 2: egos to get in the way of our passions, right
Speaker 2: we like, you know, I mean I can't really like
Speaker 2: go in and say I want something because if I
Speaker 2: didn't get it, then like my heart would be broken
Speaker 2: and then and.
Speaker 1: Then I would feel desperate because I said I what
Speaker 1: I wanted.
Speaker 2: Yeah, none of that, Yeah, right for me, you know,
Speaker 2: switching gear slightly, It's like I hit on my wife,
Speaker 2: right yeah, Like I was like, I'm interested in you,
Speaker 2: I want to take you on a date. I would
Speaker 2: like this yeh. And you know, almost to the point
Speaker 2: where it was like.
Speaker 1: Whoa, he's so so forward, sir.
Speaker 2: Okay, like really all of that, Like, well, my thing
Speaker 2: always was, well, how is she supposed to know?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: How is anyone supposed to know what I'm feeling and
Speaker 2: thinking and wanting and desires? And no one could ever
Speaker 2: know that, So it doesn't you're not you know, there's
Speaker 2: in the dating world, right, like you know, you know,
Speaker 2: shoot your shot, right, Like there's so many guys who
Speaker 2: are like I can't shoot my shot, Like, I mean,
Speaker 2: she might turn me down. Well, you already turned down
Speaker 2: if you don't shoot your shot exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you missed one hundred percent of the shots you
Speaker 1: don't take, Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, hey, this still could have been zero, right,
Speaker 2: you know, But but I wanted to put my name
Speaker 2: in there, and I felt and I feel like even
Speaker 2: now still when I want to do something, I make
Speaker 2: phone calls, right, you know, Like last year I hosted
Speaker 2: the Disney Parks Christmas Parade. They're special in Orlando. I
Speaker 2: called up my team and said, hey, still want to
Speaker 2: do this again this year? Let me know, make some calls.
Speaker 2: We want to do this.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: They're like, are you sure? You know it's like and
Speaker 2: I'm like, absolutely, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It was fun. Right. It was a tough week because
Speaker 2: of the different things that were happening here and there,
Speaker 2: But still I wanted to do it. And so for me,
Speaker 2: it's always about go get what you want, Go at
Speaker 2: what you want. The worst that could happen is you
Speaker 2: don't get it and you didn't have it anyway, and
Speaker 2: it's not for you. It wasn't made for you, it
Speaker 2: wasn't designed for you. Right, yep. It wasn't your gig.
Speaker 2: It was someone else's gig.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Fine.
Speaker 1: It also is like, it may not happen this year,
Speaker 1: but it could happen next year. You know, you don't know, You.
Speaker 2: Never know when, you never know how, and you never
Speaker 2: know how someone is going to get the idea, right,
Speaker 2: so you just always present that in hopes that they
Speaker 2: do get the idea they do like go oh wow,
Speaker 2: that actually could work, and then find a way to
Speaker 2: make it work rather than find a way for it
Speaker 2: not to work.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Really smart, really smart. I love that. I love that.
Speaker 1: I want to talk now about this season of the
Speaker 1: show in particular. You have been around, You've been paying
Speaker 1: attention since season one, so you are a historian of
Speaker 1: the show.
Speaker 2: Some might say it's the.
Speaker 1: Twenty year anniversary, and everyone keeps saying it's one of
Speaker 1: the most stacked casts we've ever seen. You and I
Speaker 1: were we are now just chatting a few days before
Speaker 1: the finals. If you had to write out season thirty
Speaker 1: four year twenty a report card, You're going to write
Speaker 1: a report card for the season.
Speaker 2: Okay, where are we at? Well, if we were writing
Speaker 2: this at the beginning of the season, some things would
Speaker 2: be very different.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's hear let's hear it.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, obviously, you know, being incredible friends with
Speaker 2: Emma Slater, Right, So my wife Angela are like best
Speaker 2: friends and so, and she goes on vacations with us,
Speaker 2: and like she is a member of the family, and
Speaker 2: I know how incredible she is, and I know what
Speaker 2: she can do with someone, especially utilizing the social media space.
Speaker 2: But could never have guessed that Andy Richter would have
Speaker 2: gone as far as he did, right, could never have
Speaker 2: seen that, right, but yet it happened right at the
Speaker 2: start of the season. I never could have imagined a
Speaker 2: world where Whitney Levitt wasn't in the finale, yep, right,
Speaker 2: Never when we did our dance, our team dance, that
Speaker 2: we would win, and yet one of our members would
Speaker 2: go home, right, right, Like, these are things that knowing
Speaker 2: the show, knowing the history of the show, knowing the
Speaker 2: tendencies of the show, could you ever imagine that these
Speaker 2: things would have happened?
Speaker 1: Yes, I think.
Speaker 2: That this season is remarkable because you can take let's
Speaker 2: say seven through nine, seven through nine, seven through ten,
Speaker 2: that group of the contestants in terms of order, right, yep, Like,
Speaker 2: so we're gonna have five, right, so seven through nine
Speaker 2: or ten, how good they would be? But be seven
Speaker 2: through ten, Yeah, because every one of everyone in that
Speaker 2: group in most years would be in the final, right, like,
Speaker 2: without question. Right. I think the only other season that
Speaker 2: I would say that that wouldn't be the case would
Speaker 2: be Charlie Demilio season right just stacked, yep. Right, But
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that that that last season, which was
Speaker 2: very good, yeah, could even prepare to the quality of
Speaker 2: dance the quality of growth that this season has had. Right.
Speaker 2: The social media impact has thrown the show on its head, yep.
Speaker 2: Because it isn't about what you do on the stage
Speaker 2: anymore fully, it is a lot of how you handle
Speaker 2: and guide your season online. Yes, and that's a whole
Speaker 2: new can of worms that no one ever really had
Speaker 2: to deal with until this. Right, there's little bits of
Speaker 2: it last season, like you saw it with Alana mar
Speaker 2: and you saw it with Stephen and Aerozak, Right, you
Speaker 2: saw that their social media campaign created a little bitz
Speaker 2: and got them further along than they might have otherwise.
Speaker 2: This year, it's everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, it makes such a difference.
Speaker 2: It's it's everything, Like you can't say you know, And
Speaker 2: I'll say this because I believe this, and I would
Speaker 2: say this in every world but Whitney Levitt was the
Speaker 2: best celebrity dancer on.
Speaker 1: The show, agreed, se Yeah, I said it too, like.
Speaker 2: You can't deny like Alex Earl and Robert have gotten
Speaker 2: they're close, They're very close.
Speaker 1: They're yep.
Speaker 2: And and we could discuss other aspects of why some
Speaker 2: of those might even be above her in different ways,
Speaker 2: but in terms of pure on the floor dance, not
Speaker 2: even close? Correct could part that no one gets to
Speaker 2: actually understand and see what's the difference in the choreography,
Speaker 2: what is the level of choreography? That's right? You know,
Speaker 2: there are moves that look that are easy, and then
Speaker 2: there are moves that don't look great that are really hard.
Speaker 2: And the professionals can see the difference, but regular eyes can't.
Speaker 2: And you question whether, well the choreography almost so hard
Speaker 2: that they couldn't show more flair in their routines. Right now,
Speaker 2: That's that's a lot of insight, right, But at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, you could never imagine that she
Speaker 2: doesn't make the finale, No, I know, right, So the
Speaker 2: report card is man a tough one, right, I shee
Speaker 2: as the host, I can't criticize certain things, but consistency, right,
Speaker 2: being a little all over the place in terms of
Speaker 2: scoring and numbers and theories. Right, So the theory of judging,
Speaker 2: not the not them actually judging the theory. Right. Are
Speaker 2: we all being judged on the same scale or are
Speaker 2: there different scales for different people?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: And I don't think I don't know the answer, right,
Speaker 2: the world doesn't know the answer. Only the judges know
Speaker 2: that answer. Right. But that kind of consistency is difficult
Speaker 2: for the show. So doing a report card, I say,
Speaker 2: execution of dance a plus, A plus plus Right, execution
Speaker 2: of the show a plus plus. The things that Conrad
Speaker 2: Green has implemented this season with the celebrities and the
Speaker 2: host being part of the team dance, and that all
Speaker 2: of the different things bringing a past championing back to
Speaker 2: dance belong with the celebrity only mind blowing that we
Speaker 2: accomplish this and it was.
Speaker 1: Fantastic, exactly and it was so great.
Speaker 2: Right, like wow, you know, I think that there are
Speaker 2: some things that the show still needs to look at,
Speaker 2: elevated even further. And I think, and I've pitched some
Speaker 2: ideas to Conrad. I won't get into all of those things,
Speaker 2: but like things that will I think help tell the
Speaker 2: story from the beginning to the end even better. But
Speaker 2: I got to give the show an a plus plus
Speaker 2: on this season. It really has been a phenomenal show.
Speaker 2: I think, I think you're all laugh at it. But
Speaker 2: there's only one real negative so far, and that was
Speaker 2: our Rock and Roll Night, Hall of my rock and
Speaker 2: Roll Hall of Fame night judged that was kind of
Speaker 2: all over the place, right right, Those things have happened,
Speaker 2: those things have happened before, and technically it was better
Speaker 2: than the season before.
Speaker 4: The person I heard I heard saying names for themselves, right,
Speaker 4: But I really think the show this season has been
Speaker 4: It's been absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2: I think that the relationship with Julianne and I hosting
Speaker 2: the show together has grown to a really wonderful level
Speaker 2: of consistency and connection. And I think all I think,
Speaker 2: you know, our celebrities, you and and and the others
Speaker 2: like brought so much to this season. People have asked me,
Speaker 2: you know, why is this show so successful right now?
Speaker 2: And I think many reasons, but one of the main
Speaker 2: reasons is obviously, we have an incredible cast and tells
Speaker 2: an incredible story and engaging and so many of you
Speaker 2: guys opened your heart up, you know, to the world.
Speaker 2: To be vulnerable, to go through this journey, you know,
Speaker 2: purely has been amazing. And I think that there's there's
Speaker 2: no way to script it. There's no way to write it,
Speaker 2: to to put the pieces together, to manipulate it, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: it just has to happen organically, and that just comes
Speaker 2: down to people really opening themselves up. I think one
Speaker 2: of the most amazing things is to watch someone like
Speaker 2: Alex Earl, who at the very beginning was yep, there
Speaker 2: was no entrance, right, not allowed in here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there were a lot of walls, a lot of
Speaker 1: walls came across as.
Speaker 2: Cold, right, but those were security right.
Speaker 1: Correct, masks, yeah, protection, those.
Speaker 2: Were protection for herself. Right. She lives in the social
Speaker 2: media world where you know one wrong word and they're
Speaker 2: coming after you, right, So those walls are up. But
Speaker 2: to see where she's at now, yeah, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: I said the exact same thing. Her journey has been
Speaker 1: maybe my favorite of the people left in the finale.
Speaker 1: Her journey has been my favorite for exactly that reason.
Speaker 1: And even behind the scenes, it was very similar.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just the persona she was representing to people
Speaker 1: in the first couple of weeks was very guarded. Behind
Speaker 1: the scenes, she was very guarded, and over the weeks
Speaker 1: there has just been a thawing and a defrosting and
Speaker 1: her personality is oozing out of her now and she
Speaker 1: it's just it's beautiful to see.
Speaker 2: So I now why she has the followers that she has. Yes,
Speaker 2: even though she doesn't really give them this that we've
Speaker 2: been so blessed to see. You know, when I first
Speaker 2: met her at that party in New York, and she
Speaker 2: just came and hung out with me, she just stood
Speaker 2: with me for like almost an hour, right, But it
Speaker 2: was like, I'm not getting.
Speaker 1: In here, Yeah, why do I what do we like?
Speaker 2: We're talking, but I'm not I'm not getting in now.
Speaker 2: When I have a conversation with her, I'm like, there
Speaker 2: she is, yeah, right, And those kinds of journeys are
Speaker 2: are what makes this show special. And when people give
Speaker 2: of themselves and go through it and we get to
Speaker 2: witness it, that's that's that's TV brilliance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned the party in New York and I
Speaker 1: saw you there as well, and actually you told me
Speaker 1: that there was one piece of advice you give to
Speaker 1: all of the contestants when they start the show. Are
Speaker 1: you comfortable sharing that with our audience?
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean the advice that I give is literally
Speaker 2: I kind of give a lot of advice.
Speaker 1: But you give good advice.
Speaker 2: I sometimes say the one thing and then like the
Speaker 2: next day, I say another one thing. Here's one thing,
Speaker 2: but there's tomorrow, there'll be another. One thing is to
Speaker 2: truly give of yourself, yourself up, go through the journey,
Speaker 2: let people truly see who you are. And I've always
Speaker 2: described this show as a reality show encased in a
Speaker 2: dance competition, but not a reality show that we're used
Speaker 2: to seeing. Right, It's not the fake reality where we're
Speaker 2: going to create drama on It's true reality, where we're
Speaker 2: going to see you live on air in your most
Speaker 2: vulnerable state. Give the audience, give of yourself, and we
Speaker 2: will be with you on that ride. Yeah, that was
Speaker 2: the one thing that I said.
Speaker 1: That was the thing you said. My piece of advice
Speaker 1: is this is a reality show, and therefore you have
Speaker 1: to be your most real Yes, and and that Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it isn't you know? That is the thing
Speaker 1: I loved about it is you know, in all the
Speaker 1: otfs and in the master interviews, there are prompts. You know,
Speaker 1: they want they're trying to they're trying to weave a story.
Speaker 1: They don't want the story to be false, but there
Speaker 1: has to be a story. And I would regularly go, well, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say that, because that's that's not that's
Speaker 1: not resonating for me.
Speaker 2: They sometimes hated me on my season because I was like,
Speaker 2: I ain't saying that, right, I'm not, I'm not doing that,
Speaker 2: but never coming out of my mouth right like badly
Speaker 2: do you want to win? You want to win this?
Speaker 2: Like I'm never saying that. I'm not. I'm not doing
Speaker 2: that because now I'm creating expectation, and that expectation can
Speaker 2: come off cocky, yes, come off arrogant. That there's all
Speaker 2: kinds of layers underneath those words that I'm like, nah,
Speaker 2: I'm too smart to know about how this all works.
Speaker 2: So I was guarded but open.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Right. The other thing that I always that I said
Speaker 2: to everybody, and I didn't know whether it was going
Speaker 2: to be one of the two things, right, was when
Speaker 2: you get up to the skybox, you have this is
Speaker 2: the only moment in the show that no one has
Speaker 2: control over you, right, right, No other moment Everything in
Speaker 2: the package is edited, everything on the floor is choreographed,
Speaker 2: Every every moment of the show that you're scene is
Speaker 2: produced correct. Yeah, that's the moment that you get to
Speaker 2: say to America, why me? Why are you voting for
Speaker 2: me and not someone else? This is your moment?
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: And I love that. I love that, and I love
Speaker 2: that Julianne has gotten you know, over the last couple
Speaker 2: of seasons, so good at making that connection, right, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't think in the beginning it was truly understood
Speaker 2: how important that moment was the celebrities journeys. But now
Speaker 2: it's like she gets it, and that's why I think
Speaker 2: even it's the elevation of the show. The show is
Speaker 2: that much better because everything has been elevated and the
Speaker 2: understanding of the importance of these moments. And you know,
Speaker 2: the other night, like yeah, I don't you know, the
Speaker 2: judges didn't recognize it, but Jordan and Ezra had a
Speaker 2: crash in the routine where he got hit on one
Speaker 2: of the lifts and she came over to me and
Speaker 2: it's like I'm off mic at this point, like I
Speaker 2: didn't put them up to my mouth, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: are you okay? Right, I'm seeing her eyes well up
Speaker 2: and right. So I'm holding her hand in that moment,
Speaker 2: and those are the moments for me that I truly
Speaker 2: enjoy the most, where I'm making this human connection. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's a TV show happening, and we know, and it's
Speaker 2: the lights and the glamour and you know, Bruno jumping up,
Speaker 2: and you know, all of the judging and all of
Speaker 2: the theatrics. But at the end of the day, like
Speaker 2: and I said this to every one of you guys
Speaker 2: coming in, I got you. Yeah, I'm there with you.
Speaker 2: My heart is connected to yours when you come to me,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, are you okay? And she was like,
Speaker 2: and she had like a kind of but not really
Speaker 2: moment that I thought was like, wow, okay, I got you.
Speaker 2: Whatever they say right now, whatever energy's coming, like, I'm
Speaker 2: putting my protective bubble around you, I got you. And
Speaker 2: then they stood up and they were like, I was like, well,
Speaker 2: and I looked out in my hand. I looked at her.
Speaker 2: We both looked at each other and we just let
Speaker 2: go of each other's hands. Like they just went off.
Speaker 1: Right, It's no big deal, nothing happened. I didn't make
Speaker 1: a face nobody even knows.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's those beautiful moments for me on a
Speaker 3: personal level that is, like, I love it when I
Speaker 3: come over and I get like a moment with you guys,
Speaker 3: even if it's just a look, just like making eye
Speaker 3: contact of just saying how proud I am of what
Speaker 3: you guys have accomplished.
Speaker 2: That's the part that makes it so special for me
Speaker 2: on a personal level. Not the job. Right do the job,
Speaker 2: We do the thing. I come up with a line,
Speaker 2: I might say something funny, I might be whatever it is.
Speaker 2: But for me, it's that moment because no one else
Speaker 2: on that stage knows that moment unlike like we all do, yes,
Speaker 2: know what it's like to stand over there and have
Speaker 2: given our heart, worked our butts off. This is the
Speaker 2: last time we'll do that dance. It's all it's all
Speaker 2: that work, all that work, every hour, every moment, all
Speaker 2: the pain, all the suffering that we go through to
Speaker 2: deliver that one moment, that minute and twenty seconds on
Speaker 2: that stage. Yep, now it's done. Yeah, nobody else can
Speaker 2: understand that moment like us.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: That's a special moment for me on a personal level
Speaker 2: that I get to share with all of our incredible
Speaker 2: celebrities like yourself every week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And it is a special moment because I
Speaker 1: always look forward to knowing that at the end of
Speaker 1: that dance, I get to go stand next to you
Speaker 1: and have that moment with you. And having you stand there,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like you're with your pro partner, who's
Speaker 1: the person you have own the closest to and you trust.
Speaker 1: I mean, assuming you have a good partnership most people do,
Speaker 1: you trust them as if they are a member of
Speaker 1: your family like you have you have learned to just
Speaker 1: totally trust them. And then having you on the other side,
Speaker 1: I always felt like I am I am sandwiched between
Speaker 1: a fortress of goodness and so no matter what happens
Speaker 1: from this moment on, at least right here I feel good.
Speaker 1: So thank you for making that such a safe space.
Speaker 1: Robert has had such an incredible journey on the show,
Speaker 1: and it is no secret that he is the Veguus
Speaker 1: favorite to win his partner, Whitney, she has won her
Speaker 1: only mirror Ball with you. What do you think makes
Speaker 1: Whitney such an amazing partner?
Speaker 2: Well, you know we talk behind the scenes a lot, right,
Speaker 2: I am a life mentor to her in many ways,
Speaker 2: and my wife Angela is even more of a of
Speaker 2: a life mentor for her. On a personal level, It's
Speaker 2: incredible to watch the growth of that little girl that
Speaker 2: I met twelve years ago. Yeah, right, like she was
Speaker 2: a baby.
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 2: Literally, yeah, how old is she?
Speaker 1: How old is she?
Speaker 2: Thirty?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: My gosh, thanks, thirty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe thirty two? Wow, So she was like twenty.
Speaker 2: Yeah she was. She was twenty when when we when
Speaker 2: we work together, she's twenty, she's either thirty thirty one.
Speaker 2: To see who she's become is incredible. What I'm able
Speaker 2: to look at is her brilliance on the floor. She's
Speaker 2: able to create weekly with her contestants. You know, sometimes
Speaker 2: it's a battle, right for her, sometimes it's easy. Mi
Speaker 2: low with her was the season that she should have
Speaker 2: gotten her second one. They were incredible together, and I
Speaker 2: actually believe, and I think I'm saying something that I've
Speaker 2: never really said to her, but I believe that season
Speaker 2: broke her slightly because I believe that she put everything
Speaker 2: into that season and was still so young that to
Speaker 2: have not come home with the win created different emotions
Speaker 2: in her and a bit of separation between herself. The
Speaker 2: pro and the show or Celebrity and the show. Right,
Speaker 2: it's coming back, coming back with Robert, and I'm watching
Speaker 2: her give in a different way that she's done over
Speaker 2: the last several years of herself right and open up
Speaker 2: and allow people in. This is a funny story about
Speaker 2: about who Whitney is. She'll kill me, but it's true.
Speaker 2: Our season, we win, We go to New York, we
Speaker 2: do GMA, we do the View, and that's it. Right,
Speaker 2: it's over, and it's done. There are no more obligations.
Speaker 2: It's over. And Whitney picks up her bag and says
Speaker 2: bye with her back to me as she's walking out
Speaker 2: the door.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, hey, hey, come here. It's like what I was like,
Speaker 2: come here. She's like no, I'm like, Whitney.
Speaker 1: Now we're going to have a proper goodbye.
Speaker 2: Come here. This is you are gonna give me a hug,
Speaker 2: You are gonna we are gonna say goodbye. We're gonna
Speaker 2: share and have this moment. You don't want it, I
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 1: She doesn't like I don't like goodbyes.
Speaker 2: Yeh, nope. We are doing this and that is Whitney.
Speaker 2: She is a ball of beautiful love. Yeah, she's a competitor,
Speaker 2: tough young woman. She is a go getter. She is
Speaker 2: incredibly talented, but there's always a little nah, you're not
Speaker 2: a little out right, a little in the beginning, not
Speaker 2: letting in. I think the Milo season kind of cemented
Speaker 2: that slowly.
Speaker 1: I reinforced that wall a bit right and.
Speaker 2: And I think she's recognizing we had a conversation, but
Speaker 2: I think she's recognizing that that has to go away
Speaker 2: for this to happen. And it was beautiful to watch
Speaker 2: the difference this last week with Prince Knight sent my
Speaker 2: final week as it happened after our conversation, there was
Speaker 2: a difference and what she's able to accomplish with Robert
Speaker 2: never being a dancer, I know, I mean he's an
Speaker 2: athlete right like he is. It was funny. There was
Speaker 2: a video I was standing behind it when it happened
Speaker 2: of Robert and Alan burst in doing like seeing how
Speaker 2: high like the box jumps. Right, they were doing it
Speaker 2: based on the judge's desk, and Alan would have busted
Speaker 2: his head on the desk. Robert would have jumped up
Speaker 2: on the desk like from a like literally straight up.
Speaker 2: His feet were well above the desk.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: She's an athlete, right, you know you wrestle in alligators
Speaker 2: and crocodiles and stuff. You know you're going to be
Speaker 2: an athlete. But to see his his texture start to
Speaker 2: come to life is and Whitney is the perfect person
Speaker 2: to do that. Whitney knows how to make a coy,
Speaker 2: make a number, choreograph a number to be memorable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she definitely does that. The trick that they
Speaker 1: just did this past week where she flips him over
Speaker 1: her back. I thought it was so much fun. I
Speaker 1: was like, that's just you know, stand up in apploud, like, yes.
Speaker 2: They didn't show it at all on Monday, really never
Speaker 2: showed it on Monday.
Speaker 1: Wow. So they only did it during dress rehearsal.
Speaker 2: They did onss rehearsal and then the show and we
Speaker 2: were like, what was that?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's so cool.
Speaker 2: We ain't got to show everything exactly, We've got to
Speaker 2: be prepared to do it. And it was incredible. It
Speaker 2: was an incredible move. And like she barely does anything.
Speaker 2: He just basically like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some resaults over her, yeah, backflips over her, whatever
Speaker 1: you want to. I know, it's pretty incredible.
Speaker 2: How how are you doing that so an incredible partnership.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I think at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: I think that depending on what happens this week, mm hmmm,
Speaker 2: they're the favorites. But I think Alex is right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right there.
Speaker 2: We'll see. Now three hour finale going to be amazing,
Speaker 2: It really is.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be. It's gonna those last few minutes, as
Speaker 1: per usual, are going to be nail biers.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Can we talk for a minute about Team Chicago because
Speaker 1: it for me is a major life moment. Really, that
Speaker 1: performance and the work we put into it and then
Speaker 1: pulling it off that night and all of us crashing
Speaker 1: to the floor and then standing up and celebrating like
Speaker 1: we had just won a Mirror Ball or won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl is my I have so many favorite memories
Speaker 1: for the show, and it's not even hard for me
Speaker 1: to say that's my favorite moment, that's my favorite memory,
Speaker 1: and my favorite moment from my entire time on Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars. It will be that moment that really
Speaker 1: sticks with me. So why do you think that week
Speaker 1: and that and that group of people blended so well together.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that a lot of it has to
Speaker 2: do with your your ability to pick the right team.
Speaker 2: You and Dylan coming up with that. You know, I
Speaker 2: saw your your podcast on that one and like devising
Speaker 2: a plan on how you're going to get these members together. Yeah,
Speaker 2: was brilliant because really that was the right group. Yeah right,
Speaker 2: everybody in that group was going to work well together. Right,
Speaker 2: And I'll go into the whys. Obviously Danielle and Pasha, right,
Speaker 2: so you guys are a foursome that were together, and
Speaker 2: and so that team had to be together, right. So
Speaker 2: obviously Ezra and Jordan, Whitney and Mark were the outliers
Speaker 2: in that. But Daniella and Pasha used to take from
Speaker 2: Mark's mom, Yep, they know each other incredibly well. Right,
Speaker 2: Jordan and and Ezra were kind of the outliers, right.
Speaker 2: But the beauty of having Ezra was Ezra was actually
Speaker 2: had great ideas but never had the wait a minute,
Speaker 2: I believe the seniority thing, the competitive He just would
Speaker 2: be like what about and everybody would go, that's even better,
Speaker 2: that's good. And so what what was great about our group?
Speaker 2: And this I think really brings it down to the core,
Speaker 2: is there's a there's a improv thing that people do.
Speaker 2: If you do improv. One thing that you have to
Speaker 2: do in improv, and that is yes. And and our
Speaker 2: group was yes. And all the time. It was never no,
Speaker 2: but ye. And that brought everyone together. They felt like
Speaker 2: their voices were heard, even if it wasn't what was chosen.
Speaker 2: It was always about improving for the team. You can't
Speaker 2: ever understand from the outside how important teamwork is when
Speaker 2: you're trying to accomplish something as a group.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: And and I'd heard stories from the other group that
Speaker 2: that was not the case, that there was a lot
Speaker 2: of well, I think it should go like this, and
Speaker 2: I think it should go like that. And we were
Speaker 2: working together and we were always improving. Can I tell
Speaker 2: the audience something that happened with you that that I
Speaker 2: think is a beautiful thing. So obviously the whole week
Speaker 2: it was great. We get to the video is playing, we're.
Speaker 1: On site before we're about right before.
Speaker 2: We're ready to go, right, and it's a minute and
Speaker 2: a half, right, and we go over the celebrity only section, right,
Speaker 2: and you were struggling.
Speaker 1: I called it a meltdown. I did. I talked about
Speaker 1: it on my I did. I called it a melt down.
Speaker 1: I had a foo blown melt down.
Speaker 2: I was like, it was a full, full moment of
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, this is I can't. I don't have it,
Speaker 2: and I will. And you no longer were breathing. I
Speaker 2: was like shaking, right, and you were shaking, and this
Speaker 2: was the most beautiful thing I have seen in all
Speaker 2: my time on the show. MARKRK turning to you, who's
Speaker 2: not your partner, no right, turning to you, looked you
Speaker 2: in the eye and said, breathe, yeah, breathe, take a breath.
Speaker 2: And you couldn't get your breath. You couldn't just breathe,
Speaker 2: just breathe.
Speaker 1: And he put his hands on my shoulders and he
Speaker 1: grabbed me into a tight hug.
Speaker 2: And hugged you. And when he hugged you, I was
Speaker 2: standing behind you, right, and I watched your body melt
Speaker 2: into his body like full, you're right too, I will
Speaker 2: do my best. I will try to give in here,
Speaker 2: stop the demon from running. Correct, And you melted into
Speaker 2: his body and you and you took a breath, your
Speaker 2: body melted, your hands stopped shaking, and he was like,
Speaker 2: you got this, You've got this. Just breathe into it. Relax,
Speaker 2: We've got you. We're here. And I walked around to
Speaker 2: you and I looked you and I said, we got this.
Speaker 2: And then you guys separated and we did it one
Speaker 2: more time. I think there was like fifteen seconds left
Speaker 2: on the top right, and you did it. You did
Speaker 2: it perfect, right. We got in two hour circle, the
Speaker 2: music started, you're supposed to You're right behind me when
Speaker 2: we started, and like it was like because we were
Speaker 2: counting out our eight so you were in the third
Speaker 2: count of eight and I turned around and I said
Speaker 2: to you. I looked in your eye and I went
Speaker 2: and I smiled and you smiled back. We got this
Speaker 2: and yeah, yeah, and then we went out it and
Speaker 2: we did it. Killed it, I mean killed it. It
Speaker 2: was literally there was nothing looking back at it. There
Speaker 2: was nothing that I could find. No I would go
Speaker 2: it should be this, or it could be It was
Speaker 2: perfect and it was the most beautiful moment of taking
Speaker 2: where we were from the beginning, yes, right walking in
Speaker 2: there as a team, figuring it out the pros, having
Speaker 2: an idea, but like working through it after the first day,
Speaker 2: feeling like we only got halfway through this and we
Speaker 2: only got one more rehearsal, how are we even going
Speaker 2: to do this to that moment was one of my
Speaker 2: greatest moments on this show from my season and any
Speaker 2: other season. Was really seeing that moment and I even
Speaker 2: just like I said it to Mark later that next week,
Speaker 2: and I was like, that was the most beautiful thing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we really we really cared for one another so much
Speaker 2: that it was like, what do we need to do
Speaker 2: for all of us to be together and succeed? Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: I have that is why that That's why that dance,
Speaker 1: that's why that week of it's very easy for me
Speaker 1: to go favorite moment. I know exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: I know exactly what it is, and it's because of
Speaker 1: all of those it's because of all of those things
Speaker 1: that like, no one would ever know that no and
Speaker 1: no one would ever know or even imagine how much
Speaker 1: we put into every second that we are out there.
Speaker 1: It is truly a complete giving of yourself. And and
Speaker 1: you know, if you think about thirty four seasons of
Speaker 1: this show, if we were to we could figure it
Speaker 1: out easily. How many people in total have done the show.
Speaker 1: Let's say it's a thousand, whatever fight a thousand people.
Speaker 1: Do you know how small it is to have a
Speaker 1: thousand people who truly know what this experience means.
Speaker 2: And I would say a lot less than that because
Speaker 2: most don't ever get to that point in the show.
Speaker 1: You're right, most are you know, a lot of them
Speaker 1: are gone. Whoever's gone week one, we do.
Speaker 2: Right to all of those you got thirty four.
Speaker 1: Weeks gone right, right, And.
Speaker 2: More than likely the first three or four never really
Speaker 2: get to that place of full connection and they're starting
Speaker 2: to like go from I'm absolutely terrified walk on the
Speaker 2: floor to let's go perform this. Yeah, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. And so it's a very small number of
Speaker 2: people that really get to understand and feel what this journey,
Speaker 2: this experience.
Speaker 1: Really Yeah, yeah, you're right. I want to talk to you.
Speaker 1: You mentioned it a little bit, and I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you about some of the judging because I
Speaker 1: think if it would be remiss for us to not
Speaker 1: touch on the idea that and maybe it's especially after
Speaker 1: this last week, it feels like maybe all three judges
Speaker 1: have a totally different approach to their job. And in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, that's great. Who wants three of
Speaker 1: the same person up there? You want three different approaches.
Speaker 1: But with that said, when you've got different approaches, sometimes
Speaker 1: that means there can be some tension. Yeah, what is
Speaker 1: your overall I know you said you had made you
Speaker 1: have some thoughts and some suggestions. You don't have to
Speaker 1: tell us your ideas that you've pitched to Conrad, But
Speaker 1: what do you think about how difficult it is to
Speaker 1: explain how and why you are giving a score that
Speaker 1: you are giving week to week, person to person, and
Speaker 1: how is there a way to make it a little
Speaker 1: more straightforward for the audience to understand it?
Speaker 2: Well, I think that's a very difficult question. Yeah, first
Speaker 2: I would say, you know, I've guess judged on the show.
Speaker 2: I've done it several times on Strictly Come Dancing, which
Speaker 2: is the UK the parent of the original show, and
Speaker 2: judging is incredibly hard. The reasons why it's hard is
Speaker 2: because you're you're having to try to come up with
Speaker 2: something to say to starting with fourteen contestants for weeks
Speaker 2: and now add thirty four seasons for Bruno and Carrie,
Speaker 2: how do you stay fresh? How do you stay relevant?
Speaker 2: How do you stay sometimes self important? And that is
Speaker 2: that creates a really difficult thing for each one of them.
Speaker 2: When Len was on the show, everyone understood their roles
Speaker 2: right it was very clear, right. Len was the technique
Speaker 2: right stickler, right, Carrie Anne was the emotion right judge,
Speaker 2: and Bruno was the show right. So it's very clear
Speaker 2: with Len being gone, no one has filled that role.
Speaker 2: So because that role is not being filled now, it's
Speaker 2: kind of everywhere everyone feels as if they need to
Speaker 2: cover the Len, but no one's doing Len. Right. Yeah, that,
Speaker 2: but they're all kind of but not. And so there
Speaker 2: have been inconsistencies because on one hand, you're saying, oh,
Speaker 2: I love the story, but I'm giving it a seven
Speaker 2: because you had a hop or you had a and
Speaker 2: you're like, well, wait a minute, then why are you
Speaker 2: telling me it's the problem, isn't the scores? The problem
Speaker 2: for me would be the explanation because now this is
Speaker 2: the bigger view we have social media, and social media
Speaker 2: is creating a difficulty for them to express themselves because
Speaker 2: they're getting hammered on social media. Yeah right, So now
Speaker 2: no one wants to actually say they're trying to They're
Speaker 2: trying to say it, but not say it because they
Speaker 2: don't want to get killed in social media, and that
Speaker 2: to me is the problem. Every one of those judges
Speaker 2: have a right to decide what they want to give
Speaker 2: and what they want to say. That's their right, that's
Speaker 2: their job, whether we agree with it or disagree with it.
Speaker 2: Plenty of times I'm like, what you know, what are
Speaker 2: you talking about? Like, I don't know what you saw,
Speaker 2: but I saw. But that's why. That's why they're people
Speaker 2: and not mission right, and that is it is what
Speaker 2: it is. And a lot of us could sit there
Speaker 2: and say that we would be better at it, or
Speaker 2: some people can say that be better at it and
Speaker 2: do this. I guarantee you after two shows, you'd be
Speaker 2: really a lot of people be real quick to be like, I'm.
Speaker 1: Good, I'm good, I'm good. I don't want this job.
Speaker 2: I want this job.
Speaker 1: I agree with you.
Speaker 2: It's it's the job that only brings hate. Right. No
Speaker 2: one sits there and says, we love.
Speaker 1: You, we love you so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I told this person that you didn't like their
Speaker 2: full week of work. Right, So it's a thankless job.
Speaker 2: I call it parenting. Right. It's just no one tells
Speaker 2: you that you're a good parent. You just happen to
Speaker 2: find out later when they're adults, right, whether they go
Speaker 2: off and do something special. Yeah, So to me, it's
Speaker 2: there are I think there are ways to create growth
Speaker 2: so that you can show the growth of contestants, but
Speaker 2: there's also a way for the show to explain what
Speaker 2: they're judging the world of Dan's tried to do it
Speaker 2: and it was way too complicated. They have like it was, yes,
Speaker 2: it was like what is this right, Like, just give
Speaker 2: us a score. The biggest problem is, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: is we start on week one and someone gets eights.
Speaker 1: I know, right, yeah now, but.
Speaker 2: Let me backtrack for a seconds. The problem is is
Speaker 2: that it's not about the journey. It's actually not about
Speaker 2: the journey. It's eleven individual weeks. Yes, now Robert has
Speaker 2: done the jive three times, so that's a little creek.
Speaker 2: But when you do that routine, you're not doing it again,
Speaker 2: right right, So yes, it's possible that you on week
Speaker 2: one could actually deliver a.
Speaker 1: Ten exactly, and then the next week you might get
Speaker 1: a six.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you can do the jive week one and get
Speaker 2: a ten, and then do week two and do the
Speaker 2: do the samba and be horrible. Or you could do
Speaker 2: a fox trot and you have no rise and fall
Speaker 2: and you're fish and you got heal leads when it's
Speaker 2: total leads in it, or it's the other way around,
Speaker 2: but right like, it's there. You can you can go
Speaker 2: up and down and that's okay, but no one is
Speaker 2: explaining that. I know, no one is saying that, and
Speaker 2: everybody thinks of it as the arc of a season, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and I mean I know I felt it
Speaker 1: because I you know, I would sometimes see dances and
Speaker 1: the one dance would be seven seven seven, and then
Speaker 1: another dance would be eight eight eight, and I'd go, wait,
Speaker 1: are you telling me that those two dances are only
Speaker 1: three points apart?
Speaker 2: How?
Speaker 1: How could that be right? And so in that would
Speaker 1: be that well, because really that one shouldn't have been
Speaker 1: a seven, it should have been something else. But because
Speaker 1: the week before, for it was a seven seven seven,
Speaker 1: there's nowhere to go, but there is somewhere to go.
Speaker 1: But that isn't what we're used to seeing as the audience,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's not what the judges are used to doing.
Speaker 1: So there is a feeling that you cannot go backwards, right,
Speaker 1: But like you said that that isn't true. And I
Speaker 1: do think although painful for maybe the fan base and
Speaker 1: the celebrity to go wow, it really hurts to get
Speaker 1: nine to nine to nine, and then the following week
Speaker 1: see six sixty six. But they are individual dances. You
Speaker 1: would walk away from that and go, you know what,
Speaker 1: the the Argentine tangos not for me with the three sixes,
Speaker 1: but I love the one where I got the three nines.
Speaker 1: And that's just how it is. Some were cut out
Speaker 1: for some dances more than others.
Speaker 2: That's okay, but that is unfortunately that is an emotional Yeah,
Speaker 2: and the audience will literally kill the judges. Yeah, if
Speaker 2: they did that. So now we're in this very difficult
Speaker 2: arena of what do they do, what.
Speaker 1: Can they do?
Speaker 2: What should they do?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Right? Well, they're doing the best they can, yep, exactly,
Speaker 2: and they will forever be criticized.
Speaker 1: Because that is the job. Yeah, that's the job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so you know, I think it's been interesting
Speaker 2: to watch on social media people doing their own judging
Speaker 2: and you know, but it's been quite interesting to watch that.
Speaker 2: But you always have to remember, as I started this interview,
Speaker 2: it's a reality show exactly in case in a dance competition,
Speaker 2: and so the reality show still has to exist. It
Speaker 2: has to be a human experience and you have judges,
Speaker 2: like I remember Len would sometimes he'd be in a
Speaker 2: good mood and something would tick him off, and Len
Speaker 2: was not going to give anybody more a four, right,
Speaker 2: And you'd be like that one no four gave last
Speaker 2: week you gave a six four and it was first
Speaker 2: and the last week better. And it would be like,
Speaker 2: I'm in a bad mood than I can right, all right,
Speaker 2: all right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: That's a reality TV show. If you want something other
Speaker 1: than that, go to a ballroom competition, you know.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And that's what this is. And and by the way,
Speaker 2: it's the best that anyone has ever done it.
Speaker 1: You're exactly right, exactly right. It is so well done,
Speaker 1: it's it's the.
Speaker 2: Best Conrad Green coming back to this show understanding what
Speaker 2: the core of this show is but still being able
Speaker 2: to bring it into this new generation and this new
Speaker 2: the show has been phenomenal and he's truly one of
Speaker 2: the best execs I've ever had a chance to work with.
Speaker 2: But brilliant, brilliant and knows this show. He's done an
Speaker 2: incredible job of developing this into into the number one
Speaker 2: show on TV. The ratings this week was through the roof,
Speaker 2: through the one.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: My final question for you, and I know you get
Speaker 1: asked this all the time, but with all the new
Speaker 1: online discourse, I think it's worth asking again, who is
Speaker 1: one celebrity you would love to see on the show?
Speaker 1: You never know you may run into them at Disneyland.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, that's such a hard thing because I
Speaker 2: recognize the reality of where the celebrities are at point
Speaker 2: doing the show, right, Like, there's been such a change
Speaker 2: in what is a celebrity uh huh days, you know,
Speaker 2: getting you know, getting that a list movie star that
Speaker 2: you see people you know this would be my dream partnerships,
Speaker 2: and you go, that person ain't doing this.
Speaker 1: Tom Cruise is not going to do Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're thinking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mess around and say, will Smith stud do it?
Speaker 2: Do it as lessons real? Right, So it's been really difficult.
Speaker 2: I think Dina has such a hard job, especially thirty
Speaker 2: four seasons in. I have said Jennifer love Hewett.
Speaker 1: Oh you know I just ran into her. I ran
Speaker 1: into her at Halloween Fest and she was watching and
Speaker 1: she was a fan. I think that's a possibility.
Speaker 2: Well, the problem is she's her show is still going
Speaker 2: at the same time, so I know it until that
Speaker 2: show ends, and we never want shows to end.
Speaker 1: So exactly, she can't do it for a while.
Speaker 2: You know, we're looking at many seasons down the road. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think she'd be fun. I think she'd be fun
Speaker 2: to do. I think people the nostalgia, the talent, the joy.
Speaker 2: She is a fan. I've mentioned it to her in person.
Speaker 1: Good.
Speaker 2: I think she'd be really fun to do.
Speaker 1: That's a great answer. I think you're absolutely right. She
Speaker 1: would be fantastic for the show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and then and then, I you know, I
Speaker 2: keep working hard on getting Ava's godfather to come do
Speaker 2: the show, which is Steve Young, oh forty nine or quarterback.
Speaker 2: So I keep working on, yeah, saying all right, next year,
Speaker 2: next year, next year, next year, next next, next year.
Speaker 2: We're gonna next year. This has been four years now,
Speaker 2: so so when he watches this, we gotta put I
Speaker 2: gotta put him put him on, put him out there again.
Speaker 1: Well, I I just sat behind Justin Turner at the
Speaker 1: last week's taping, and I am friendly with Justin and
Speaker 1: his wife Courtney, and I think he would be an
Speaker 1: incredible booking, a great get. Yeah, absolutely, Alfonso, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for taking the time I talk. I could
Speaker 1: talk to you forever, honestly, I I so enjoy your perspective.
Speaker 1: I just think you're one of the most lovely, smart,
Speaker 1: uh driven, considerate, wonderful people. I mean, you're such a
Speaker 1: family man. There's I could say so many wonderful things
Speaker 1: about you, and I hope everyone knows. I think they do.
Speaker 1: You're also one of the most inspiring individuals in career
Speaker 1: wise that I have ever met, and I so admire you.
Speaker 1: I look up to you. I hope to do a
Speaker 1: fraction of the things that you have done. So thank
Speaker 1: you for being here with me today, and I will
Speaker 1: I'll see you next week for the finale.
Speaker 2: Finale, the finale.
Speaker 1: We're here.
Speaker 2: Those incredibly kind words. Obviously, we've known each other for decades,
Speaker 2: long time. Yeah, and it was it was such amazing.
Speaker 2: It's so amazing to have you on the show. And
Speaker 2: I'm so happy that we ran into each other at Disneyland.
Speaker 1: Me too.
Speaker 2: I think this happened because you brought a lot of
Speaker 2: joy to a lot of people this season and it
Speaker 2: was very special.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Alfonso, so good to see you. I'll see
Speaker 1: you in a couple of days.
Speaker 2: A couple days.
Speaker 1: Danielle with the Stars Produced and hosted by Danielle Fischl.
Speaker 1: Executive Producers Jensen Carpenemy Sugarman Executive in charge of production,
Speaker 1: Danielle Romo, Producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbasch. Theme song
Speaker 1: by Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram at Danielle with
Speaker 1: Stars and vote for me