Speaker 1: Recording from the unbearable heat of Palm Springs for Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars Gone. It was one hundred and eleven today, Val,
Speaker 1: did you know that?
Speaker 2: I did not know that, But when I was looking
Speaker 2: for you in the parking lot, I felt that it.
Speaker 1: Was one hundred and eleven in the parking lot and
Speaker 1: it was zero degrees in the ice rink of Afrossure Arena. Well,
Speaker 1: it's like Comic Con here, but with spray tans. We've
Speaker 1: decided there is not enough dancing on our plate, so
Speaker 1: we are recapping the next pro val. Talk to me
Speaker 1: about what the last week of prepping for con has
Speaker 1: been like.
Speaker 2: It's been a exciting, hectic. It has been kind of
Speaker 2: feels like a reunion, you know, like a like a
Speaker 2: high school reunion of sourts. Obviously, we have celebrities coming
Speaker 2: back from different seasons, which is exciting again not just
Speaker 2: for us, but for other celebrities to get you know,
Speaker 2: because you watch the show, you're a fan of certain people.
Speaker 2: Like you said you got to meet Christi Yamagucci.
Speaker 1: Christi Yamagucci. I was like, what, Johnny Weir, I'm friends
Speaker 1: with Johnny Weir. That's so cool.
Speaker 2: Johnny man, he's amazing. So yeah, so like that's fun.
Speaker 2: First of all, this is the first time Dancing with
Speaker 2: the Stars is doing something like this, so that's fun. Again,
Speaker 2: there's excitement in the uncertainty of things, but it's shaping
Speaker 2: up to be a great show, a great weekend, and
Speaker 2: I'm yeah, I'm excited to kiss babies and take selfies.
Speaker 1: Yes. Well, let's learn a little bit more about who
Speaker 1: might be joining you at the next Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars con with episode four of the Next pro we
Speaker 1: have a very special guest judge.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, let's go.
Speaker 1: But before we get into our guest judge, we are
Speaker 1: reminded that Natalie went home last week. She had a
Speaker 1: medical elimination, and we have learned through interviews over the
Speaker 1: past few days she suffered from a concussion and was
Speaker 1: not cleared to continue. Now, have you ever had a
Speaker 1: concussion from dancing? That's pretty serious?
Speaker 2: Uh? Yeah, I mean no, A concussion is definitely serious. Obviously,
Speaker 2: there's so much new science out there about exactly how
Speaker 2: serious it can be. I you know, personally from my experience,
Speaker 2: I've been hit with elbows many, many times throughout my career,
Speaker 2: and one in particular I got we were doing blocking.
Speaker 2: So again, you know the dress rehearsal, how close it
Speaker 2: is to the actual live show. This we were going last.
Speaker 2: This was in the finale, and this was our freestyle
Speaker 2: and Zendea rocked me in the eye with her elbow
Speaker 2: during that run. And again, I mean blood everywhere, gushing,
Speaker 2: gushing over the and I just did there wasn't enough
Speaker 2: turnaround for me to go to Cedars and get it
Speaker 2: stitched up. So they had like butterfly, butterfly tape whatever tape, Yeah,
Speaker 2: butterfly tape and yeah, and show what was going on.
Speaker 2: I went out. I mean again, it was the last
Speaker 2: episode of this epic season. We had a huge chance
Speaker 2: of winning, and I just knew how nervous she was
Speaker 2: for the day in general, so I just try to
Speaker 2: alleviate the pressure. But yeah, I was, I mean it
Speaker 2: was kind of cool. Again for me, this is like
Speaker 2: what a thing. And I told, you know, at the time,
Speaker 2: I told her, I was like, you know, one day
Speaker 2: I'll be able to say that these and you know,
Speaker 2: I got these stitches from these and there I mean foreshadow.
Speaker 1: Look at her now, you know, No, it's almost like
Speaker 1: you who made her the stars? No, Okay, you don't
Speaker 1: want to take care of.
Speaker 2: But again, show mus go on. In the spirit of
Speaker 2: that phrase, obviously, you know, we did continue. It was
Speaker 2: super random that I, you know, imagine going live and
Speaker 2: then I'm coming down before any context, right, hearing down
Speaker 2: the stairs with her giant black eye. But again it
Speaker 2: makes for a cool story. We ended up losing that season,
Speaker 2: which was heartbreaking, but all in all it was Yes,
Speaker 2: the answer is yes. I don't know if I was
Speaker 2: ever concussed, but I've certainly taken some elbows.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Well, we open with Robert's joyous return, followed
Speaker 1: by Shirley and Mark. Shirley admits she is impressed with
Speaker 1: their evolution, but Mark wants to see their grit and
Speaker 1: how they deal with setbacks and pressure. Tristan says he's
Speaker 1: gotten over some nerves. He said, now that he felt
Speaker 1: like he's really been at the bottom. There's nowhere to
Speaker 1: go but up.
Speaker 2: I remember you last last week?
Speaker 1: Okay by Tristan, I thought for sure, I was like, okay.
Speaker 2: But no, no, He's still in it.
Speaker 1: Is still in it. And he said on a technicality,
Speaker 1: which is in his head, you know, he's like, am
Speaker 1: I really supposed to be here so that you know,
Speaker 1: but like you said, he feels like, okay, he's hit
Speaker 1: rock bottom.
Speaker 2: No in a chair, Danielle, come on, you need is
Speaker 2: a chance?
Speaker 1: That's it, that's right. And then out comes our guest judge.
Speaker 1: It is two time Mirror Ball Chance Amy nominated choreographer
Speaker 1: and truly one of the coolest women on the Planet's
Speaker 1: VAL's better half Jenna Johnson.
Speaker 2: Totally so cool. She's definitely the coolest.
Speaker 1: It's so cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, she's not back there for sure telling me
Speaker 2: to say this. No, no, she's super cool. I'm so proud. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I said it in our last episode. Is that,
Speaker 2: you know, we work alongside each other, and that's such
Speaker 2: a huge blessing in our life. We get to spend,
Speaker 2: you know, because our job takes so much of our time,
Speaker 2: the fact that we buy the fold, get to pursue
Speaker 2: what we love and at the same time have a
Speaker 2: relationship and at least see each other, have some proximity
Speaker 2: to one another. Even the physical touch on set while
Speaker 2: waiting around is just is very comforting. So on that end,
Speaker 2: very lucky. But on the flip side, I never get
Speaker 2: to really just celebrate her for her and not be
Speaker 2: tied somehow to her work. So it's just fun. It's
Speaker 2: fun to see her shining. And I'm a huge advocate
Speaker 2: for her as a professional. And you know, I came
Speaker 2: onto the show as Max's little brother and took me
Speaker 2: some years to establish myself. And you know, obviously I
Speaker 2: am very proud to be her husband, as she is
Speaker 2: very proud to be my wife. But those titles have
Speaker 2: nothing to do with, you know, the level of pedigree
Speaker 2: that she has accomplished in the space. And when you
Speaker 2: introduce her, you introduce her, yeah, by her own damnselng huh,
Speaker 2: and then you know, fun fact she's also married to Val.
Speaker 2: That's so fun, you know. So I think she's just
Speaker 2: excellent and I'm very lucky that I get to share
Speaker 2: space with such a brilliant choreographer and professional.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I was so lucky to share that space
Speaker 1: with her last season too, And on tour, she's just
Speaker 1: she's remarkable. Well, Jenna performs a Robert coined spicy and
Speaker 1: extremely difficult dance to a cover of Leslie Gore's You
Speaker 1: Don't Own Me. She doesn't even break a sweat.
Speaker 2: It's I know, it's crazy, it's crazy that she walked
Speaker 2: off like because I've seen you know, we've seen the
Speaker 2: other weeks and Brandon respectfully, well Brandon and both Derek,
Speaker 2: but Brandon was just dread.
Speaker 1: Even seem out of breath.
Speaker 2: She was just like hello, just she's just again she's
Speaker 2: an incredible discipline.
Speaker 1: Yeah, peak excellence, peak, Like I mean.
Speaker 2: Again, it's just a certain standard that she holds herself too,
Speaker 2: which is is hard to match. And I you know,
Speaker 2: I've I pride myself on that, but she, you know,
Speaker 2: she's on a different level. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, once finished, Robert notes that she was dancing with
Speaker 1: someone who wasn't our pal val he's too busy becoming
Speaker 1: a celebrity podcaster. Yeah, but that's the life of a dancer.
Speaker 1: You need to find chemistry and make it look real,
Speaker 1: no matter who it is, whether it is genuine or not.
Speaker 1: So this week's theme is chemistry.
Speaker 2: Chemistry. I spoke to her, she said, oh, they they
Speaker 2: didn't keep the line, but I guess she did an
Speaker 2: OTF and they asked her about what is it like
Speaker 2: to find chemistry with someone else, and like, you know
Speaker 2: that just have you met my husband? She said he
Speaker 2: could find chemistry with a piece of paper. Yes, like Okay, thanks,
Speaker 2: thank you, Thanks Jen.
Speaker 1: It is true for both of you guys that like
Speaker 1: both you could, you could have chemistry with a paper towel,
Speaker 1: a rock. Both of you have that.
Speaker 2: I will have chemistry with anything that I'm creating, something
Speaker 2: that I'm passionate about. Yeah, you know, so I'm passionate
Speaker 2: about playing basketball. When I go out and I played
Speaker 2: pickup bowl, I have a lot of chemistry with my teammates.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh I saw it. We went to a NETS
Speaker 1: game together and you played basketball in the NETS practice court.
Speaker 1: You played a little pickup games with Alan and Brandon
Speaker 1: and you guys, I would you would have thought someone
Speaker 1: told you, if you work hard enough at this, you
Speaker 1: might get drafted tonight because you were drenched in sweat
Speaker 1: and you were focused.
Speaker 2: How you do anything is how you'll do everything. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and so you know that's what breeds chemistry. It's like
Speaker 2: when you see someone that you're taking part of in whatever,
Speaker 2: whether these podcasts and whatever, like, you see somebody be
Speaker 2: passionate about that and invest in that, and we share
Speaker 2: that common ground and then you're gonna have chemistry. You're
Speaker 2: gonna you know, you're bound to find something. Again, back
Speaker 2: to what we're talking about because it's dance, because it's
Speaker 2: partner dance, you are the most You become the most
Speaker 2: important thing in my life for those next two minutes,
Speaker 2: you know. And that's my approach to my partners when
Speaker 2: I'm dancing, and I know that Jena has the same approach.
Speaker 2: You know, that person then becomes my most sacred individual
Speaker 2: for the next two minutes as long as we're in
Speaker 2: you know, doing our dance. To me, that is the
Speaker 2: foundation of chemistry. It isn't physical attraction. It isn't a
Speaker 2: lot of times chemistry gets hijacked with with with the
Speaker 2: sexual kind of yet to it. But it really isn't
Speaker 2: about that. Even obviously you could have a physicality about
Speaker 2: the performance, there certain aesthetics that are more compatible. Whatever
Speaker 2: the physical is in the eye of the beholder. That
Speaker 2: that's that part is in your brain. My approach and
Speaker 2: where my chemistry comes from. It comes from camaraderie, you know.
Speaker 2: It comes from caring about this person a lot, and
Speaker 2: caring about the thing that we're trying to accomplish together.
Speaker 1: The judges have selected the rumba and the Argentine tango
Speaker 1: as the dance styles for this week. Both those dances
Speaker 1: demand passion and intimacy. So did you like the selections?
Speaker 1: Is that what you would have chosen for the dance styles?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, totally, totally Rumba. They lend themselves to that, right.
Speaker 2: Intimacy is kind of woven into the fabric of those styles,
Speaker 2: and so they lend themselves to a little bit more
Speaker 2: of an intense chemistry.
Speaker 1: Well, with that, we are thrown into rehearsal Day one. Jenna,
Speaker 1: who is just so beautiful, comes walking in to meet
Speaker 1: the dancers to find out who is the most compatible
Speaker 1: with one another. They will be flipping through partners every
Speaker 1: time she yells switch, and she calls it speed dating
Speaker 1: the next pro edition, which was a really concise way
Speaker 1: of saying exactly what they were doing. Nina immediately gravitated
Speaker 1: to Alan, who she has danced with for years, and
Speaker 1: Adele speeds off to Aj, who has become familiar to her.
Speaker 1: But then they switch. Stephanie switches to Alan and immediately
Speaker 1: knows that's going to be her pick, especially because she
Speaker 1: has no vibes with Aj. Selena feels most comfortable with Eric,
Speaker 1: and Tristan feels the spark with Stephanie. Adele on the
Speaker 1: other hand is very lucky. She feels it with everyone.
Speaker 1: What a great quality to have.
Speaker 2: Again, you know, it's one of those things like she's
Speaker 2: clearly very passionate about dance, and again that passion is
Speaker 2: part of what makes those dances so great. And as
Speaker 2: someone that pursued this on an excellent level and trying
Speaker 2: to be the best in the world, which she came
Speaker 2: very close to being. Yeah, it's no surprise that she
Speaker 2: is able to find chemistry with anybody because I think
Speaker 2: maybe she's just so immersed in the dance. I think
Speaker 2: that's another thing as well. It just reflecting on me,
Speaker 2: like I get so immersed in the performance that, yeah,
Speaker 2: you become one with the dance and with the person
Speaker 2: you're creating with, Otherwise you won't be able to create
Speaker 2: it on a high level. Yeah. So yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: I could see that.
Speaker 1: Well, there is definitely when you have two pros together
Speaker 1: and you really are creating together. I can see because
Speaker 1: like I'm thinking about listening to you talk and I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about my experience. There really isn't a whole lot
Speaker 1: of creating I get to do. I get to tell
Speaker 1: Pasha what I want, what story I want to tell,
Speaker 1: and then Pasha as the choreographer and as the pro
Speaker 1: creates the dance, and then I have to learn it.
Speaker 1: So it's of course, you know, I end up loving
Speaker 1: it and I'm excited to learn it, and as we're
Speaker 1: going through it, I'm like, oh, I love this, But
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like I ever really get to be
Speaker 1: like I've had. I've had ownership of this move, even
Speaker 1: though I probably should have. At the end, I'd like
Speaker 1: to go back and redo my season. You know, I
Speaker 1: want to do it again, Pasha, we got to do something.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you.
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, there's a I mean, look, there's obviously
Speaker 2: acting as part of the performance. Even though this is dance,
Speaker 2: there's a big part of that that's acting. So you're
Speaker 2: an actress. Have you ever, how does chemistry work with you?
Speaker 1: I can also have chemistry with anything, I really can.
Speaker 1: I mean, there have been, like you said, there have
Speaker 1: been times, and of course, as an actor, sometimes you
Speaker 1: are having to make out with someone totally, you know,
Speaker 1: whereas I don't think in dance you might want to
Speaker 1: sell that idea that maybe you're going to but you
Speaker 1: don't usually end up making out with your dance partner
Speaker 1: on the ballroom floor.
Speaker 2: What's interesting is I look back at seasons and for
Speaker 2: the art, I would quite often like if it, you know,
Speaker 2: if it was like some dramatic little love affair, or
Speaker 2: even in a comedic way, like I would plant the
Speaker 2: kiss at the end of a dance, like it's just whatever,
Speaker 2: what's supposed to happen at the end of this story.
Speaker 2: And now looking back, I'm just like, what where was
Speaker 2: I What am I doing? Yo? But I you know,
Speaker 2: I look back at a lot of decisions I made
Speaker 2: in my life like that. But yeah, the with the
Speaker 2: with the casualness with which I've invaded other people's space,
Speaker 2: I mean again consensually obviously of course, you know, it's
Speaker 2: just like whoa, That's a creative choice that I've taken
Speaker 2: on several occasions. So yeah, so again, I think there's
Speaker 2: an innocence to some of this choreography that to the
Speaker 2: outside perspective has like it just looks different. Right. It's
Speaker 2: like when you're you know, hearing a conversation from the side,
Speaker 2: you might not know you understand the context of what's happening.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, when I'm creating and the report that
Speaker 2: you build in the room, sometimes it's like, I think
Speaker 2: actors can relate. It's just like, yo, this is a scene.
Speaker 2: Let's get a scene done. When this scene's over, you
Speaker 2: might look at each other like I gotta go to
Speaker 2: the bathroom quick. You know. It's like and there's almost
Speaker 2: the chemistry flips completely to like a real, real fun friendship. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Like I think friendship needs to exist, yes, because at
Speaker 2: least for me, I don't really do well with people
Speaker 2: I don't like or don't respect or don't want to
Speaker 2: be around. I'm not willing to go the distance for
Speaker 2: someone that isn't worth it. What I mean by that
Speaker 2: as someone that's taken this opportunity for grant or taking
Speaker 2: me for grant. Whatever. So, no, I can't build chemistry
Speaker 2: with anybody. But if we're friends and we're on this
Speaker 2: journey together, like, let's let's do it, let's play, let's
Speaker 2: let's make things up.
Speaker 1: Yeah. In the end, Jenna has the girls select who
Speaker 1: they want to dance with, and this is how it unfolds.
Speaker 1: Selena chooses Eric, Stephanie and Nina both choose Alan, Dell
Speaker 1: chooses aj and no One chooses Tristan, who is embarrassed
Speaker 1: and realizes that he is the weakest link, and so
Speaker 1: with the traffic jam, Allan is tasked with choosing between
Speaker 1: the two and he chooses Nina over Stephanie, and now
Speaker 1: Stephanie is forced to choose another partner, and she then
Speaker 1: chooses the undrafted Tristan, who she just danced with last
Speaker 1: week and she felt like that gave her a disadvantage,
Speaker 1: so she's not thrilled and he is not happy about
Speaker 1: being her second pick. So it is a real rough start.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, again, just judging on the surface, I
Speaker 2: don't I'm not in that house. What's different about this
Speaker 2: show is they're spending a lot of time together, so
Speaker 2: perhaps they're building a friendship outside of the competition, which
Speaker 2: I'm sure they are, and I'm sure they did with Stephanie,
Speaker 2: so I could see how that may feel like betrayal.
Speaker 2: But also, man, what a I mean, I got to
Speaker 2: check him on his like selfishness, Like, bro, this is
Speaker 2: not about your friendship with her. This is about a
Speaker 2: competition and a huge opportunity for her. And I don't know,
Speaker 2: like you know that phrase of like if you really
Speaker 2: love something, you let it go, And I think, you know,
Speaker 2: I feel like to some degree, like if you're really
Speaker 2: friends with her, then you need to read the room
Speaker 2: and realize that maybe she'll have a better chance with
Speaker 2: somebody else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even if for no other reason other than the
Speaker 1: fact that why two weeks in a row would I
Speaker 1: want to show myself dancing with this, with the same
Speaker 1: person I've already danced with, as opposed to something you
Speaker 1: haven't seen from.
Speaker 2: Me, which is what we want to see. I want
Speaker 2: to see different things. I don't want to see the
Speaker 2: same thing, and you get a very limited amount of
Speaker 2: opportunity to showcase that. So I thought that that was
Speaker 2: a very selfish move, and like, not, no, that's I
Speaker 2: mean again, I coul stand how he felt, but to
Speaker 2: have made it her fall because what about the other girl.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not like the other girls ran to you.
Speaker 2: So I think at that moment in time, I felt
Speaker 2: like disappointment. Of course he should have felt that. I
Speaker 2: would have felt that, But to have placed so much
Speaker 2: of that burden on Stephanie was very you know, I
Speaker 2: don't want to say selfish, but it was just unfair,
Speaker 2: very unfair. And we'll get into that more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I would have It would have been so interesting.
Speaker 1: Had I think the entirely projection. I don't know, but
Speaker 1: I think the only reason she didn't go to yet
Speaker 1: even another guy, was out of the fact that she
Speaker 1: felt she did feel bad because had she decided to
Speaker 1: say go with Eric, he would have had to choose. Now, Okay,
Speaker 1: now I've got two women I need to choose between.
Speaker 1: But I think she was like, I've already not chosen
Speaker 1: him once, right, I can't to not choose him again,
Speaker 1: And so she went to him. And yet I think
Speaker 1: she was so unselfish with that. I think she really
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Well, if you watch the show like it goes on,
Speaker 2: like it doesn't stop there, you know. They then get
Speaker 2: in the room and he's still guilting her, you know,
Speaker 2: still giving her this like I'm like, I know, bro, no, no,
Speaker 2: get to it. Get to work. By the way, you
Speaker 2: still got to get in the compete, so you gotta
Speaker 2: worry about you, not who she who.
Speaker 1: She's picking a spending all this time thinking about her decision.
Speaker 1: You've got to get in there. The dancers then blindly
Speaker 1: choose what style of dance they'll be doing and are
Speaker 1: given some time to connect, but not before Jenna breaks
Speaker 1: the news. This time, both dancers in the lowest rated
Speaker 1: couple are going to be eliminated.
Speaker 2: Which is huge, which once again is why Stephanie wants
Speaker 2: to make the right choice. And again I'll go to
Speaker 2: Alan choosing, you know, going with Nina. Like friendship, all
Speaker 2: of that is important, but you're here for a reason.
Speaker 2: All of you are here for a reason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, someone's gonna win, you know.
Speaker 2: And you gotta make choices that will give you the
Speaker 2: best chance to be successful in what you're doing right now.
Speaker 2: And if your friendships are really good friendships, they're gonna
Speaker 2: they're gonna survive the test of this competition.
Speaker 1: Yep. So Stephanie and Tristan and Adele and aj get
Speaker 1: the rumba, and Nina and Alan and Selena and Eric
Speaker 1: get Argentine tango. We jump into couples rehearsals. There are
Speaker 1: two days until the performance. Tristan is giving Stephanie the
Speaker 1: cold shoulder. And have you ever been in a situation
Speaker 1: with a partner where one of you is giving the
Speaker 1: cold shoulder and you're and you're trying to get.
Speaker 2: To Yeah, no, I mean if I don't get Jen
Speaker 2: food after after she gets back from this rehearsal, you're.
Speaker 1: Going to get the cold shoulder. Okay, I promise I'll
Speaker 1: get you out of here.
Speaker 2: This is not right. No, no, no, as as you heard
Speaker 2: on that phone call, she's not going to be here.
Speaker 1: It's not going to be here for a bit. I
Speaker 1: know that's true. Okay.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: They decide to clear the air, and Tristan admits he's petty.
Speaker 1: He felt kind of dissed.
Speaker 2: This was good, This was good. At least there's some
Speaker 2: self awareness. And I again, I don't I'm not trying
Speaker 2: to say that you can't have feelings or can't be disappointed.
Speaker 2: I just want you to own your own moment of
Speaker 2: hurt without having to you know. It's like, what is it?
Speaker 2: People love company? Yeah, misery loves you know, and it's like, no,
Speaker 2: you're come in with me. We're gonna we're gonna feel
Speaker 2: herd together.
Speaker 1: And it's like, no, that's there's gotta be one of
Speaker 1: your incredible phrases for misery loves company. Where's it? How
Speaker 1: does death get involved into one of those phrases?
Speaker 2: Russian phrase?
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, a Russian phrase for something like that. So
Speaker 1: Tristan says he's gonna twist the knife a few more
Speaker 1: times until he gets over it, and then he focuses
Speaker 1: on getting over the hurdle. Eric and Selena, though, are
Speaker 1: figuring it out, integrating the themes of their song into
Speaker 1: the dance, and Selena is nervous. She does not want
Speaker 1: to be the reason Eric is eliminated totally. Nina and
Speaker 1: Alan's dance have decided to include elements of not only
Speaker 1: the Argentine tango, but also elements of rumba and a samba.
Speaker 1: Aj is immediately confident with his routine praising the passion,
Speaker 1: but Adele admits that he is a challenge to work with.
Speaker 1: She says a key to working with him is to
Speaker 1: make him feel like he's the boss and in the lead,
Speaker 1: But in reality, maybe she's just making him feel that way.
Speaker 1: Do you like to feel like the Boston in the
Speaker 1: lead as the man in the dance?
Speaker 2: I mean, if I did what I look, how are
Speaker 2: you treating me here? I don't feel like the boss.
Speaker 2: I'm still showing up. Give him my all anyway. Listen,
Speaker 2: the different rooms navigate differently, Obviously, different partnerships navigate differently.
Speaker 2: I think he's met his match. You know, he's not
Speaker 2: gonna run over Adele unfortunately like he did with Selena,
Speaker 2: or you know, he's just not gonna he might but try. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but I just I know Adele and I know that
Speaker 2: I don't know her personally, but I know an Adele.
Speaker 2: I've seen that the archetype. Yeah, and so cool like
Speaker 2: he can she'll like giggle and do whatever she's gonna
Speaker 2: do anyway.
Speaker 1: That night we have the couple's dates as if Chris
Speaker 1: Harrison is the host. As funny as it sounds, I
Speaker 1: know firsthand from Pasha, bonding outside of the dance floor
Speaker 1: is vital to a good partnership.
Speaker 2: What do you mean, Well, sometimes you need a healthy
Speaker 2: professional distance. And I don't mean like obvious, you know,
Speaker 2: the obvious where your brain goes. You know, this is
Speaker 2: the chemistry episode. But again that aside, sometimes you you
Speaker 2: want to like I said, I don't want to know
Speaker 2: too much about you, No, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 2: I don't I don't need to know that part. I
Speaker 2: just want to, like I want to have just the
Speaker 2: right amount of distance where when we get together and
Speaker 2: do this dance thing, we're excited to just do the
Speaker 2: dance thing and I'm not like still thinking about that
Speaker 2: other stupid thing you said at lunch, you know, right right,
Speaker 2: like keep the stupid things to the studio and to
Speaker 2: the dance.
Speaker 1: I will say though, that like some of my favorite
Speaker 1: bonding moments with Pasha were in moments where we would
Speaker 1: just find one of us would say or do something
Speaker 1: that was so funny and where you get the giggles
Speaker 1: and you end up both just laying on the floor
Speaker 1: laughing so hard and I don't know like that some
Speaker 1: of that stuff then does happen in the moments where
Speaker 1: you're not focusing so much on learning the choreography, but
Speaker 1: where you go, I'm starving, we haven't eaten anything. Can
Speaker 1: we get Chipotle?
Speaker 2: Real quest? Totally?
Speaker 1: And so you know, I at least also to see
Speaker 1: for their mental health, these pros and now knowing from
Speaker 1: Ezra this past weekend that they didn't even have their
Speaker 1: phones to see them get out of the studio and
Speaker 1: get out of the house like some fresh air. Doing
Speaker 1: something outside of being stressed about your getting eliminated at
Speaker 1: all times is good for you. It's good for everyone,
Speaker 1: to be honest.
Speaker 2: No, and it's and it's what makes the show so
Speaker 2: fun is that it does introduce that element we used
Speaker 2: to have dancing on Dancing with the Stars, we used
Speaker 2: to have our packages go outside of the studio and
Speaker 2: be more like, you know, adventurous and stuff we still
Speaker 2: do for like Disney episodes are now like one off
Speaker 2: if it pertains to the dance somehow. But no, it's
Speaker 2: fun and you're right, I mean it is. You do
Speaker 2: build rapport, you do build chemistry. When you get to
Speaker 2: know each other a little bit more, you break you know,
Speaker 2: you break that comfort barrier if you will, and you
Speaker 2: guys are clicking and it's cool. But yeah again that
Speaker 2: could go both ways.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So they go to a ferris wheel together
Speaker 1: and talk about the importance of trust. Nina gets emotional.
Speaker 1: She just doesn't want to let Alan down. Selena and
Speaker 1: Eric go on a boat ride to drink orange and
Speaker 1: green juices. Eric emphasizes how much he believes in her
Speaker 1: and is ready for them to shine together.
Speaker 2: Eric is smooth, Yeah he is, and he's very smooth.
Speaker 1: Adele and Aj go to lunch, which feels way less
Speaker 1: cool than a ferris wheel or a boat, but they
Speaker 1: still exchange stories of their dance origins, and we learned
Speaker 1: that AJ's dad was a champion dancer too, and he
Speaker 1: pushed back his wedding by two months to be on
Speaker 1: this show, Stephanie, And again, what.
Speaker 2: Are you talking? Am I supposed to have empathy for that?
Speaker 2: Like you for fiance is just like you're gonna do
Speaker 2: what where with?
Speaker 1: Who?
Speaker 2: You're gonna go on on dates with? Anyway? Pursue your dream. Bro,
Speaker 2: That's a good That's a great companion. Wherever she is.
Speaker 1: Stephanie and Tristan go play botchy ball. Stephanie talks about
Speaker 1: her family's history with the show, including her wonderful brother Ezra,
Speaker 1: a current pro on the show, and she admits that
Speaker 1: she feels a lot pressure in this competition. Good news
Speaker 1: though this time together has helped repair the issues between
Speaker 1: her and Tristan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good, it's good. She you know, she said
Speaker 2: something at a like OTF, which is you know, their
Speaker 2: solo confessions. She said something like it would be humiliating
Speaker 2: for me. Again, Like I just I just really feel
Speaker 2: for Stephanie and on this, you know, through throughout this process.
Speaker 2: I just think that she really did take a huge chance.
Speaker 2: She's right, she you know, she has been on the
Speaker 2: show before. This is kind of you know, her taking.
Speaker 2: She could have just continued to kind of linger around
Speaker 2: the show, maybe have continue to do Skeleton Crew. She
Speaker 2: already has an in yeah, you know, but she put
Speaker 2: herself out there to do this, to do the next
Speaker 2: pro and and really try to go for it. So
Speaker 2: I just know how much this means to her. Obviously
Speaker 2: it means a lot to everybody. Yeah, but I just
Speaker 2: I know where she's coming from. It does take a
Speaker 2: lot of humility to It's the same thing that I've
Speaker 2: been saying about AJ not having, you know, she she
Speaker 2: is having that. She has that in spades. If she
Speaker 2: had and here I dare I say, if she had
Speaker 2: a little bit of a j just a tiny bit
Speaker 2: of that quality, maybe she would have done things differently
Speaker 2: and wouldn't have been so apologetic for not choosing the
Speaker 2: pardon that she chose, and then continue to be apologetic
Speaker 2: and then continue to try to meet this person, you know,
Speaker 2: so like you need to. I feel for her because
Speaker 2: I think she's she's grown a lot through this competition
Speaker 2: and I got to know her even more by watching
Speaker 2: the show. So I hope she's happy. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: she's take away the fact that she was very unlucky
Speaker 2: with a few things yep, along the way, that if
Speaker 2: they were slightly different, maybe things would have been a
Speaker 2: little different for her, but even having said that, she
Speaker 2: still shined. Yeah, like, once we get to the performance, well,
Speaker 2: you know, we'll talk about it, but she still killed it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she did well. With that out of the way,
Speaker 1: the couples start rehearsals. On day two, Jenna visits Adele
Speaker 1: and Aj, who she knows is one of the best couples,
Speaker 1: but reminds them the chemistry between them cannot look fake.
Speaker 1: To prove it, she quickly gets up close and personal
Speaker 1: with Aj to show them how it's done. The queen
Speaker 1: at work. Also, Aj accidentally grabs Adele's butt in the
Speaker 1: throes of a passionate move right. Jenna's responsors, WHOA, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe a little higher. It made me laugh.
Speaker 2: That's my bud. That's my bud, oh man. But that's
Speaker 2: the room, you know, does the process and if you're
Speaker 2: not from this world or you're it's out of context.
Speaker 2: Yeah that feels crazy, but that's the room, and that's
Speaker 2: the process. That same action outside of the room, not
Speaker 2: the process, yeap, completely inappropriate. But in the room, like
Speaker 2: this is your workshopping passion if you will in a
Speaker 2: safe space, yeah, go for it, you know, I mean
Speaker 2: the difference between a waste and a butt is just
Speaker 2: half an inches depends on the butt.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put that on a shirt. Jenna then visits
Speaker 1: Selena and Eric and tells them that they need to
Speaker 1: find more natural human moments, which seems to immediately work
Speaker 1: in the horny department with Stephanie in Tristan, Jenna wants
Speaker 1: them to settle it down and use genuine emotion, especially
Speaker 1: with Stephanie getting emotional with all of the pressure, and
Speaker 1: during her visit with Alan and Nina, she can tell
Speaker 1: that there's a great friendship there, but there is a disconnect,
Speaker 1: especially still with Nina's timing a constant note that appears
Speaker 1: to be in her head.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had they had a great dance. They didn't
Speaker 2: have any chemistry.
Speaker 1: No, I'm not the same thing. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: it's a great dance, but I'm not sure there was
Speaker 1: a whole lot of even eye contact.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, because he doesn't. He's such a good person, Alan,
Speaker 2: and he's such a good friend that he led that again,
Speaker 2: take the lead on his decision making and cool. Great.
Speaker 2: You got to live with the results and with you know,
Speaker 2: with the choices that you make. So I didn't think
Speaker 2: that this was a good choice for him.
Speaker 1: Really, would you have you think he should have chosen Stephanie.
Speaker 2: I mean I think he would have looked so much
Speaker 2: better with Stephanie. Yeah, totally, Like between those two, I
Speaker 2: think he should have won with Stephanie. It's so interesting,
Speaker 2: and it's like that little difference, right if he doesn't
Speaker 2: have the guilt of a friend to choose to go
Speaker 2: with Nina, he chooses Stephanie, and then Stephanie doesn't have
Speaker 2: that moment and then Stephanie. Well again it's like we
Speaker 2: could we could go on and on hypotheticals, but yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that that one decision impacted both of their seasons.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so It's so crazy too, because then so
Speaker 1: Stephanie made the choice for herself, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: choose Christian just because he's my friend. But then immediately
Speaker 1: she was almost punished for that because then he then
Speaker 1: Alan did choose his friend. Yeah, oh, I know, it's
Speaker 1: so Oh, this was a rough week. Then back at
Speaker 1: the house, Alan is making Adele the rolls Royce, her
Speaker 1: favorite food, and he admits the highlight of his entire
Speaker 1: career so far was his dance with her, and she
Speaker 1: would have been his first pick, but he is concerned
Speaker 1: for his partner Nina. He knows that she's in her
Speaker 1: head about timing and his future depends on it. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Tristan tells Selena he isn't giving up. He is fighting
Speaker 1: to stay in the game. Is he he still seemed dejected,
Speaker 1: you know, like and I get it, he's had a
Speaker 1: few weeks where he has felt and has been kind
Speaker 1: of shown that he has been in the bottom, that
Speaker 1: maybe he's a weak link. And even Stephanie said that
Speaker 1: the reason she didn't automatically pick him that they do
Speaker 1: have great chemistry, but that the week before his emotional
Speaker 1: state was a lot to handle. And I do feel
Speaker 1: like we really he lets how he is feeling in
Speaker 1: the moment really take over what's going on in the room.
Speaker 1: How hard is that to not, like, you have something
Speaker 1: going on in your personal life? For you, you're having
Speaker 1: a bad day. How hard is it to not let
Speaker 1: that just tank your dance? Not for you? Yes, not
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: I mean this is my escape. This is where I
Speaker 2: go to go go away from the things that I'm
Speaker 2: going through, you know, this is where this is my
Speaker 2: safe space. But yeh, no, I mean again, that's that's me.
Speaker 2: To me, this is my sanctuary, and it's like flow
Speaker 2: state in which I kind of forget a lot of things.
Speaker 2: So no, for me, that's that's not that's not a
Speaker 2: challenge to me. This is therapy.
Speaker 1: And now we are at show night. Everyone gets show
Speaker 1: night ready and Robert resets the stakes. First up is
Speaker 1: Adele and aj with the rumba. They performed to Teddy Swims.
Speaker 1: You got another thing coming, Val, what'd you think of
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 2: Well, I was gonna refer to another story. I mean, again,
Speaker 2: I don't want to overshare, but I from my own experience.
Speaker 2: I mean, my wife and I experienced a miscarriage at
Speaker 2: an event that we were supposed to perform at, and
Speaker 2: while having the most excruciating moment of my life with
Speaker 2: and seeing my wife having this, I had to then
Speaker 2: still go downstairs and put on a show, and we
Speaker 2: made up an excuse that she heard her neck during rehearsals.
Speaker 2: And now I'm dancing with Max. I was like, Max,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you why, but you're gonna
Speaker 2: have to learn these steps and we're gonna have to
Speaker 2: make something up, and I have to justify all of
Speaker 2: these people that came to watch me dance. So again,
Speaker 2: I am I proud of that. No. Actually, there's a
Speaker 2: few times I showed up and did the right thing
Speaker 2: that probably was not the right thing to do. That
Speaker 2: was one of them. But for that you know, thirty
Speaker 2: seconds or whatever. I mean again, my mind was elsewhere. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but when the music went on, I got to at
Speaker 2: least enjoy myself for one minute of that song and
Speaker 2: then be out to the reality that was in my life. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean it's hard. I'm just trying to
Speaker 2: reflect on when it was really that that serious. Not
Speaker 2: to say that any of the things that they're going
Speaker 2: through is that serious, but but yeah, I know it's hard.
Speaker 2: But that's that's when you got to lock it, lock
Speaker 2: it in, you know, and really focus on the bigger
Speaker 2: picture and you know, kind of also count your blessings,
Speaker 2: move on and just you know, realize that the opportunity
Speaker 2: that you have, Yeah, and maybe not necessarily prioritize little
Speaker 2: you know, your little ego that got hurt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I remember you guys told me that story.
Speaker 1: Jenna told me that story when we were on tour.
Speaker 1: We were in a meet and greet and it's like
Speaker 1: because I I mean I saw the things you guys,
Speaker 1: not of course to the level you just mentioned, but
Speaker 1: like even just some of the physical things you guys
Speaker 1: have to overcome something that seemed that sounds kind of minor,
Speaker 1: but that is a big deal. The amount of beads
Speaker 1: that get stuck in y'all's fate, just little rhinestones all
Speaker 1: over that. And then it literally in the middle of
Speaker 1: a quick change, hopping around on one foot while someone
Speaker 1: digs through your the sole of your foot with tweezers
Speaker 1: to get a rhine stone out of your foot, and
Speaker 1: then running back on stage and giving it your all,
Speaker 1: and nobody in the audience being the wiser.
Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, you take pride in that. Yeah, this
Speaker 2: is this is why you get paid the big bucks, right,
Speaker 2: and you earn it, But those are the moments that
Speaker 2: you earn it. And again, I'm not here to advocate
Speaker 2: for complete self sacrifice for your work. No, but this
Speaker 2: is not our work. This is our passion. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: I am. I romanticize about sacrificing for my passion. I
Speaker 2: romanticize about especially physical sacrifice. I have a five inch
Speaker 2: titanument played in my neck with eight screws I'm sad
Speaker 2: that my career, my profession took me there, but I'm
Speaker 2: proud that I have the literal scars to say that
Speaker 2: I've I've gave him my all with no regret. So
Speaker 2: you know, Jen takes pride in those, and.
Speaker 1: We all do.
Speaker 2: The people that you were on tour with, we all
Speaker 2: take pride in showing up.
Speaker 1: So Adele and AJ with their rumba, what did you
Speaker 1: think of their dance?
Speaker 2: It was good? It was great. Again. Aj is a
Speaker 2: great dancer. I don't think he's as great as he
Speaker 2: thinks he is, but he is. You know, he's good.
Speaker 2: He's a great dancer, he's a good choreographer. I gave
Speaker 2: him his flowers last week. I think he took that
Speaker 2: so last week for sure, Again, Adele, I mean the
Speaker 2: essence of ballroom dances, especially in the rumbas, to present
Speaker 2: your lady, and you know there's a lot to present there. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 2: and you know she's she's a Rolls Royce that got
Speaker 2: a little autopilot on her too, So just enjoy the ride.
Speaker 2: Yeah and so yeah, I mean again, I thought that
Speaker 2: she's a rock star and he did a great job
Speaker 2: to compliment it. I thought that him kissing his necklace.
Speaker 2: You know, I thought that was a little cheesy, but
Speaker 2: you know, different people have a different swagger, you know, meters,
Speaker 2: So maybe he thought that that was really cool.
Speaker 1: And in your opinion, it's just not.
Speaker 2: And so maybe there's a few other people out out
Speaker 2: there that thought that was cool too. But but no,
Speaker 2: I it was a great performance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, surely is awestruck. She did not see that coming.
Speaker 1: She calls Adella superstar. She does tell Aj to dig
Speaker 1: a little deeper, though it may have been a little
Speaker 1: out of his comfort zone. Jenna loved seeing her notes
Speaker 1: in play, and Mark thought the start was bumpy, but
Speaker 1: he loved their rumba content.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a great routine. It was. It was
Speaker 2: a really great routine. They they had passion. I wouldn't
Speaker 2: say they had like you know, do I did they
Speaker 2: look like Did they look like they would have fun
Speaker 2: on a date together? No? They did not, did I
Speaker 2: You know, when you ship them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he didn't ship.
Speaker 2: I did not ship them.
Speaker 1: You didn't come up with their with their No.
Speaker 2: I rowboted them to the nearest island, okay, But I
Speaker 2: wasn't shipping them on a far you know journey.
Speaker 1: Okay. I get it. Next up is Selena and Eric
Speaker 1: with their Argentine tango. But first we get a very
Speaker 1: natural product placement for got to the hair product. I
Speaker 1: have to tell you that got to be hairspray is
Speaker 1: the closest thing to glue. I mean truly, it is
Speaker 1: the best. Nothing moves.
Speaker 2: I remember, well doesn't it Isn't it called glued?
Speaker 1: It is called glued to be glued, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: I remember talking to the hairdressers and makeup artists on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars who are Emmy Award winning year
Speaker 1: after year after year, the best of the best, and
Speaker 1: I remember saying, like, how are we going to get
Speaker 1: my hair into a bun? And they're like, oh, don't worry,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll depend on And I'm like you, but that's
Speaker 1: that's gonna take. So I have to be upside down
Speaker 1: in this dance. Don't worry about don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: And then they put that salac that glue in your
Speaker 1: hair and it's like you take it down and it
Speaker 1: just oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's incredible. It's like a helmet.
Speaker 1: It is. It is like a helmet.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then Eric's brees it onto his head. I assume
Speaker 1: it was very candid. It's just natural the way it happened.
Speaker 2: Look, there is a nervous tick that we have of spread,
Speaker 2: and it's to retire your shoelaces a million times.
Speaker 1: Okay uh.
Speaker 2: And then and also to you know, your extra shine,
Speaker 2: extra shine okay, faned down, extra shine, extra shine boom.
Speaker 1: Got to be glued, got to be glued.
Speaker 2: It's a good product. And it's interesting that I'm the
Speaker 2: one that introduced got to be to the trailers because
Speaker 2: I've been using their product forever because I have curly
Speaker 2: hair that I used to slick back. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 2: why I grew out my hair because now in the
Speaker 2: bun it's like slick back. I don't have to use
Speaker 2: so much product much product.
Speaker 1: I liked last season when you had your hair all
Speaker 1: slicked back, but then it was it was still down.
Speaker 1: It was just kind of poofy back here in the
Speaker 1: lock of your neck. Yeah, it looked good.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, So what did you think of this?
Speaker 2: The best dancer of the night by far? Probably, I mean, yes,
Speaker 2: Adele and Alan. That was a really strong rumba obviously
Speaker 2: dedication to his mom passing, and really strong heartfelt performance.
Speaker 2: You don't want to even compare the two because they're
Speaker 2: in a different genre from each other emotionally, but this
Speaker 2: was the best dance of the season, and to me,
Speaker 2: he looked like a pro on Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 2: and he, you know, took the lead again. I know
Speaker 2: that it took two to tango, but that takes three sometimes,
Speaker 2: those Argentinian knights, but they they worked together, but he
Speaker 2: took the lead coreographically and he just I mean like
Speaker 2: he was oozing. He got the gig for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a it was a really nice adjustment, just.
Speaker 2: Clean, perfect moments. Chemistry. Yeah, man, interested. I shipped them, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you ship them.
Speaker 1: I shipped them, not a rowboat, a full ship.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, we're getting the ones parked up by
Speaker 2: Monte Carlo. Okay, yeah yeah, those mega yachts.
Speaker 1: Okay. The judges love this one, giving the couple a
Speaker 1: standing ovation. Shirley announces she needs a fan after their
Speaker 1: performance and says that in her fifty years of teaching,
Speaker 1: she has never seen something quite like it, and she
Speaker 1: says the routine could be on Dancing with the Stars tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Totally totally and it would get tense huge yeah, rave, yeah, yeah, people,
Speaker 2: I just thought it was excellent. Yeah, the look just
Speaker 2: every day everything stole the show was that was the
Speaker 2: best one.
Speaker 1: Jenna can't believe this has been inside Eric the whole
Speaker 1: time and now she wants to dance with him and
Speaker 1: they have both become front runners and in the competition.
Speaker 2: Again we say it and maybe it was said on
Speaker 2: the show. I don't know. There was a teacher. I
Speaker 2: want to give him a shout out, Graham Oswick. He's
Speaker 2: educator in the Ballroom Dance Space forever. He's raised many champions.
Speaker 2: He's a British guy and he used to tell me,
Speaker 2: like you know, you want all the women watching your
Speaker 2: couple dance thinking about, man, it must be so nice
Speaker 2: to dance with him, just like not I want to
Speaker 2: dance with but like it must be. It looks like
Speaker 2: it feels so good, Yeah, to be partnered with him,
Speaker 2: and the same for the lady. And you know you
Speaker 2: watched Eric and Selena's dance and I think watching him
Speaker 2: kind of help support her first soul in the room.
Speaker 2: And then in the final performance, I thought that, you know,
Speaker 2: every woman and man out there looked at that and said, man,
Speaker 2: I would have loved to dance with him.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Well, next up is Stephanie and Tristan with
Speaker 1: their rumba to somber back to Friends. This is a
Speaker 1: big moment for these two.
Speaker 2: Hold on. The song was called back to Friends. Yeah,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, shout out to the producers. I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, perfect, perfect.
Speaker 1: What did you think of their dance?
Speaker 2: Honestly, very good, very good. It surprised me. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was definitely his best performance of the season. And
Speaker 2: she looked great. Yeah, she looked really really good.
Speaker 1: So were you then surprised that they end up spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: they end up in the bottom too, as the two
Speaker 1: that go.
Speaker 2: Home, only because Alan and Nina just have a little
Speaker 2: bit more technical ability in their dance. Their dance was
Speaker 2: not the one like, I do not want to see
Speaker 2: that again. Yeah, I don't care to see that again.
Speaker 2: I want to see Eric and Selena again. May maybe
Speaker 2: I'll watch agent they'll do that again. And I'm curious
Speaker 2: to see certain things. But you know so so no,
Speaker 2: I just think, I just think. Yes, the top two
Speaker 2: couples were clearly Selena and Eric, but the other two couples, again,
Speaker 2: the only difference was that they just had a little
Speaker 2: bit more technique in the in their dance, and and
Speaker 2: so the judges just kind of, you know, had to
Speaker 2: say that. But Stephanie looked amazing. Yeah, and if it
Speaker 2: was you know, if it was any other night, I
Speaker 2: think she'd still be in the competition.
Speaker 1: Surely had notes throughout the dance about some bad timing
Speaker 1: and balance. So I guess it's not really that much
Speaker 1: of a shock that she didn't feel connected with this one.
Speaker 1: Mark felt like the chemistry was going in and out
Speaker 1: of their dance and it was lacking explosive moments. Shirley
Speaker 1: found it too crowded with content, though cleverly choreographed, but
Speaker 1: she didn't feel the chemistry. Jenna thinks Stephanie has a
Speaker 1: little bit of fire missing and that she needs to
Speaker 1: get out of her own.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, well again, steph is a product of center
Speaker 2: stage education and so this is where you have the
Speaker 2: Utah pipeline of excellence.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, so Jens knows Ezra and Stephanie for a
Speaker 2: very long time, sees her grow up, so you know,
Speaker 2: there is a genuine empathy there, and she knows her
Speaker 2: as the kid that Ezra was just describing to you.
Speaker 2: And so to see that confidence start to leave her,
Speaker 2: and I think it will us because of you know,
Speaker 2: like I said, because of the show, and at least
Speaker 2: the not because of the show rather, but the last
Speaker 2: couple of weeks that she had experienced, you know, Jenkins
Speaker 2: sense that. Yeah, And I think when she said that,
Speaker 2: you saw like tears Stephanie. I mean, she's been through it, man,
Speaker 2: So I I just am so proud of how she
Speaker 2: handled herself. Yes, I really felt for her. Yeah, And
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to again. I'm not the one that
Speaker 2: is gonna give sympathy to anybody that's living living out
Speaker 2: their dream in Australia, you know, and beautiful, you know,
Speaker 2: getting to do what they love. But she, yeah, she had.
Speaker 2: This was a really grown experience for her and.
Speaker 1: She should walk away from this experience with her head
Speaker 1: held very high. There's nothing she could look back on
Speaker 1: in this experience. Of course she could look back and
Speaker 1: say I would make a different decision, but there's nothing
Speaker 1: she should look back on and feel embarrassed by. She
Speaker 1: showed she.
Speaker 2: She's gonna work for a long time. Oh. I love
Speaker 2: the show, and the winner of the show is going
Speaker 2: to be very successful on Dancing with the Stars. I
Speaker 2: know it. But Steph is going to do her thing.
Speaker 2: She's got a long career ahead of her, and I
Speaker 2: think sometimes you don't win, but you really take huge
Speaker 2: leaps forward in your career. This is that time. She
Speaker 2: might not win next pro but I think everybody that
Speaker 2: watched the show will walk away loving her so much more,
Speaker 2: and even professionally, I think her opportunities, even within the
Speaker 2: Dancing with the Stars ecosystem, will only grow. And like,
Speaker 2: I want to work with Steph tomorrow. If I have
Speaker 2: a gig, I'm calling Steph because of how she conducted
Speaker 2: herself in such challenging times.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I I.
Speaker 2: Saw what kind of person that is. I want to
Speaker 2: work with that person. Yeah, and the talent is there.
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. Finally, Nina and Alan perform their Argentine tango
Speaker 1: to a quirky song for Passion. If you ask me,
Speaker 1: Mary and Hill's down at times. I thought it sounded
Speaker 1: a little bit like one of my son's toys. Not
Speaker 1: gonna lie, are you Dan? Well, what were your thoughts
Speaker 1: on this dance?
Speaker 2: Well? Again, I thought the samba choice was ridiculous. The
Speaker 2: judges thought the same. Yeah, I understand, you know, we
Speaker 2: forget that there's no phones in the house. There's no,
Speaker 2: you're not getting any advice. You know, you have kind
Speaker 2: of like, oh what do you think? And then you're
Speaker 2: like you have no no one to give you any
Speaker 2: sort of feedback like maybe not, maybe don't do that,
Speaker 2: and so yeah, so I know where he's coming from.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh, the more I show, the cooler it
Speaker 2: will be.
Speaker 1: You Like, no, shouldn't that have been something? They asked
Speaker 1: Jenna though, shouldn't it have been something when they were
Speaker 1: thinking about shouldn't they been like, Jenna, can we ask
Speaker 1: you a question to thinking about doing a samba instead?
Speaker 2: No, she would have said, no, She said, you probably
Speaker 2: don't because the thing is, it's like part of chemistry
Speaker 2: is the intensity between the two people, right, And it's
Speaker 2: like why we love Eric and selenas because you know,
Speaker 2: I sometimes you want a performance to connect with you, right,
Speaker 2: like break the fourth wall, look me in the eyes, like, hey,
Speaker 2: get me in there with you, and sometimes don't look
Speaker 2: at me. I just want to be a voyeur, you know,
Speaker 2: I just want to see you to connect and be one,
Speaker 2: like let me just be a fly on a wall
Speaker 2: where I may not even I should not be you know.
Speaker 2: So first of all, he breaks the fourth wall and
Speaker 2: winks at the camera, which is such a douchey move. Alan,
Speaker 2: I love you, bro, but I'm gonna have to talk
Speaker 2: to you about that.
Speaker 1: You got to talk about the swag meter.
Speaker 2: Oh the swag I mean it took a j's kissing,
Speaker 2: the marinking whatever.
Speaker 1: Makes that look real cool?
Speaker 2: Huh. It was so cool because he didn't at least
Speaker 2: he didn't look at me while doing that, right, you know,
Speaker 2: So there are times to break the fourth wall, not
Speaker 2: not the time when your assignment is to create chemistry
Speaker 2: with your partner, because what does that tell me? That
Speaker 2: tells me that for that one second, you're not really
Speaker 2: interested in your partner.
Speaker 1: Right, and you're telegraphing to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and also you're making it about your thing. Now,
Speaker 2: maybe in his view it was like watch me get that,
Speaker 2: you know, which is like, but but again, that's not
Speaker 2: that's not cute either, Like, that's not showing you in
Speaker 2: the light that we just saw you for a few weeks.
Speaker 2: So and again I think all of that is motivated
Speaker 2: by the fact that that's his buddy.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I'm not saying that you're not You
Speaker 2: shouldn't create with your friends of course you should. And
Speaker 2: there's a friendship that's already built. We spoke about that earlier.
Speaker 2: That's the foundation of a certain chemistry. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: thought that they didn't make really good decisions and the
Speaker 2: dance was just okay for me. Yeah, I didn't feel chemistry.
Speaker 2: I didn't ship them, and yeah it was okay, And
Speaker 2: especially going after the dances that they went after, it's
Speaker 2: like that's also part of the thing. It's like the
Speaker 2: order matters, and they went last, which is a great
Speaker 2: position to be in. But we were already blown away
Speaker 2: by Eric and Celine.
Speaker 1: Well, Jenna liked it. She loved the chemistry, pointing out
Speaker 1: that some of the hotter moments, but surely was not sold.
Speaker 1: She points out the assignment this was the Argentine tango.
Speaker 1: She thought they incorporated too many other elements, losing the brief,
Speaker 1: referencing that her son Mark loves bending the rules in
Speaker 1: a similar fashion. But they do call it Nina's best
Speaker 1: performance so far, and everyone points out Alan has constantly
Speaker 1: made his partner the best they can be and now
Speaker 1: we're at the reserve.
Speaker 2: Which is which is huge. You know. Again, it's a
Speaker 2: testament to him as a partner, and you know his
Speaker 2: readiness for Dancing with the Stars. Again, corny, not corny.
Speaker 2: This is just my opinion. You know, who's to say
Speaker 2: that that, My my metric of what makes somebody attractive
Speaker 2: or not is the one, even though you know I'm
Speaker 2: improven to know what I'm talking about. But he is
Speaker 2: a caring partner and that is a huge thing on
Speaker 2: our show, and so I think, yeah, he also has
Speaker 2: the qualities to be on dancing He has those qualities
Speaker 2: and they're being showcased because all his partners look so good.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, Well, now we are at the results with
Speaker 1: two contestants being eliminated, and I don't think it will
Speaker 1: come as much of a surprise. We've already said we
Speaker 1: agree with these results. Mark announces that Stephanie and Tristan
Speaker 1: are in Jeopardy and Shirley reveals that the second couple
Speaker 1: on the chopping block is Nina and Alan. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you were not surprised by this, but in the end,
Speaker 1: Shirley sends home Tristan and Stephanie. Yeah, Robert gives them
Speaker 1: some final words of encouragement, and Shirley says, in her
Speaker 1: heart she believes that Stephanie is a star. The dancer's
Speaker 1: hug perfectly placed behind Robert as he says goodbye. And
Speaker 1: that is our episode. We are now down to six.
Speaker 2: Wow, just like that.
Speaker 1: Who is your front runner after this week?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I want to give Tristan a
Speaker 2: moment because he was very graceful. He was did say
Speaker 2: all the right things, which you know, almost redeemed himself.
Speaker 2: And Stephanie again, I was heartbroken, but I think she
Speaker 2: saw that coming by the time the elimination came around.
Speaker 2: Who's my front runner? I think after tonight's episode, Eric
Speaker 2: is my front runner. Obviously, Adele has the ability to dance.
Speaker 2: That's clear. You could just you could see that even
Speaker 2: if you're not a mole room dancer and you've watched
Speaker 2: Dancing with the Stars, I think you can see like,
Speaker 2: oh that's kind of like okay, cool. But because we
Speaker 2: know so many other qualities that are essential to being
Speaker 2: successful on our show. To me, Eric has come out
Speaker 2: as the front runner because he's got the look, he's
Speaker 2: got the sound, he's a gentleman, he's smooth, he's swaggy,
Speaker 2: and just now he showcased that he can choreograph a
Speaker 2: really good routine like that is what you're looking for,
Speaker 2: you know, especially again, and I hate to put that
Speaker 2: out there, but like it's a lot more competitive amongst
Speaker 2: the girls on our show than it is with the boys,
Speaker 2: you know, respectfully to all of us. Right, there's just
Speaker 2: so much talent, thankfully, there's just not that many boys dancing.
Speaker 2: Thanks guys. Baseball is great, you know, so so yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it's just a lot more competitive on that side,
Speaker 2: and you know, I just think, yeah.
Speaker 1: I felt like watching Tristan and Stephanie, I felt like
Speaker 1: Stephanie was devastated by the news, and there was a
Speaker 1: part of me that felt like Tristan was a little relieved,
Speaker 1: you know. And I remember thinking when I was on
Speaker 1: last season that there were certain celebs when they found
Speaker 1: out they were going home, seemed like they were like,
Speaker 1: I'm happy.
Speaker 2: And there was a few dancers and.
Speaker 1: I can take it. Yeah, I'm ready for this to
Speaker 1: be over. And then there were the mees who were like,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Totally, I mean, we were sad. Here's and I I
Speaker 2: will say this to you as well. Maybe I already did,
Speaker 2: but I say this to my partners, especially when you know,
Speaker 2: when we get eliminated. We eight nine you're so close
Speaker 2: to the finale, you're sad because it's over. And I
Speaker 2: try to communicate that that sadness is not exclusive to
Speaker 2: the to you who got eliminated in the semi or
Speaker 2: the quarters. It's there for everybody that passes that like
Speaker 2: week four threshold, five threshold, because now you've invested two
Speaker 2: months of your undivided attention into the partnership, into this team,
Speaker 2: into this goal, into like and it's super fun. You
Speaker 2: are you have now lived in this bubble of rhinestones
Speaker 2: and movement and physicality and expression and.
Speaker 1: Just triggering all those parts of your brain that for
Speaker 1: us most of the time, I don't get to use
Speaker 1: those muscles totally. I didn't even know those were there
Speaker 1: that I could even learn something.
Speaker 2: And you just have a master at your service, I know,
Speaker 2: you know, helping you along the way. So that's really
Speaker 2: sad regardless of whether you win or not. Actually, you know,
Speaker 2: I wasn't sad because we lost. I was sad because
Speaker 2: that's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's over, that's it, I know.
Speaker 2: You know, And I just had a blast for you know,
Speaker 2: three and a half months doing some of my best
Speaker 2: work being and then then the vanity metric covid all
Speaker 2: like being praised by the world so much of TikTok,
Speaker 2: so Yeah, I mean it's human to feel sadness, but again,
Speaker 2: after having done the show for so long, I try
Speaker 2: to be as balanced as possible. But it's it's also
Speaker 2: important to just be human and it's okay too to
Speaker 2: be sad. But that sadness wasn't just exclusively yours. Because
Speaker 2: you lost, I think, well, why don't you just say
Speaker 2: why were you so sad?
Speaker 1: I was sad it was over.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe that the next day I wasn't going
Speaker 1: to have a call time, and that I wasn't going
Speaker 1: to have a minimum of four hours to dance with Pasha,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't going to get to you know, we
Speaker 1: were it was the next week was Prince week, and
Speaker 1: you know you've already prepped it. You know what dance
Speaker 1: you're doing, you know what your costumes are going to
Speaker 1: look like, you've seen some stuff, you've been involved, and
Speaker 1: it was like, but I really want to do that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you you wake up the next day and
Speaker 1: you're like, I got nothing on my calendar today because
Speaker 1: it was going to be dance, and now that's it. So, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's sad. It's sad when it's over. So but I
Speaker 1: did feel like, obviously Tristan's gonna this is his dream,
Speaker 1: this is his passion, He's going to continue it. But
Speaker 1: I do think he felt in over his head and
Speaker 1: that this experience was a little overwhelming and that before
Speaker 1: he could ever be a pro on Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 1: there's some emotional regulation that he needs to, you know,
Speaker 1: get a handle.
Speaker 2: Oh totally. I mean, not just emotional regulation, he needs
Speaker 2: to get a hand on kills and yeah, a lot
Speaker 2: of things. But hopefully he does. I know he will.
Speaker 2: And either way, I mean again, it's like, what a
Speaker 2: great experience. But yeah, I mean I felt for Stephanie. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it totally felt for Stephanie. That was a hard like
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: A hard week.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you all for joining us for this episode.
Speaker 1: Really great talking with you as always.
Speaker 2: Val.
Speaker 1: The people love your voice. I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: read any of the comments they love your voice.
Speaker 2: I did, I did. I read those are the comments.
Speaker 2: I scrolled out.
Speaker 1: Oh you like those?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like those?
Speaker 1: You heard those?
Speaker 2: Double tap? Thanks guys,