Speaker 1: Well, val, we have entered what I could only describe
Speaker 1: as prime time for Dancing with the Stars, because I
Speaker 1: know the big announcement about who the cast is and
Speaker 1: therefore who their pro partners are is September twod Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we know Whitney is with Germo, we know
Speaker 1: Jackson from the Savannah Bananas, we know the people they've announced.
Speaker 1: You have not been officially announced yet as coming back,
Speaker 1: but let's say you were coming back. How busy of
Speaker 1: a time is this run up to the Good Morning
Speaker 1: America announcement?
Speaker 2: Very busy and very exciting and not awkward. But like
Speaker 2: these first meets, you know, they it's a very unnatural
Speaker 2: speed at which they move, Right, You meet each other
Speaker 2: on camera for the first time, and then you immediately
Speaker 2: have to make huge decisions, Like you know, first of all,
Speaker 2: your promo shoot is like a day later, right, So
Speaker 2: that that's the imagery that will represent your couple for
Speaker 2: the next hopefully three months and forever ever after. Right,
Speaker 2: It's like the picture that lives forever.
Speaker 1: I know. And it's so early on and it is
Speaker 1: awkward because you have not learned any dance steps yet
Speaker 1: as the celeb, and yet they want you to dance
Speaker 1: all day long, dance for the camera, dancing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what the promo shoot is like, which is yes, again,
Speaker 2: it's not even about the dance step as much as
Speaker 2: it's like the rapport to do these dance steps together
Speaker 2: for six hours in front of strangers. You got to have,
Speaker 2: you know, you see the pros do it all the time.
Speaker 2: But because we have rapport, we have chemistry, We know
Speaker 2: each other. We besides knowing the steps, we also did
Speaker 2: there's familiarity to go out and do something vulnerable as is.
Speaker 2: I have issues with pictures as is. You know, imagine
Speaker 2: with somebody else who's relying on me to take, you know,
Speaker 2: the shot that will also present the first impression to
Speaker 2: the to the audience, you know, and you don't get
Speaker 2: a second chance to make to make that so I
Speaker 2: don't know. Again, a lot of times this promo shoot
Speaker 2: goes a lot better than expected, uh huh, and sometimes
Speaker 2: it could be quite forced with a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: Oh man, it's so funny you mentioned the promo shoot.
Speaker 1: I had such a great time at the promo shoot,
Speaker 1: but I also completely forgot it existed until you just
Speaker 1: mentioned it. I was like, that's right, you literally meet
Speaker 1: on camera. Hi, nice to meet you. There's lots of interviews,
Speaker 1: you know, otfs, what did you think of each other?
Speaker 1: And then you know, some protests, show me what you've got,
Speaker 1: kind of conversation on camera for them to hold a
Speaker 1: package around, and then yes, like the next day you
Speaker 1: spend twelve hours at a promo shoot wild well. At
Speaker 1: the same time, answering.
Speaker 2: Questions, taking photos constantly in your head is like are
Speaker 2: we having enough chemistry? Does this look appealable? Like will
Speaker 2: people vote for this?
Speaker 1: You know, do we like each other? Are we having
Speaker 1: a good time exactly?
Speaker 2: And then it's like, are we getting enough social media
Speaker 2: content to capture this awkward magic? You know? Right? Right? So, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a lot, and it is hectic, and I will say, honestly,
Speaker 2: you know, the social media aspect of it is so
Speaker 2: fun when it's done, when you're in flow, when it's
Speaker 2: like effortless, but it is a lot of pressure, added
Speaker 2: pressure and responsibility that not everybody has that kind of
Speaker 2: effortless ability to do.
Speaker 1: Do you have a social media team that helps you
Speaker 1: through the season?
Speaker 2: No? Wow, No, for Soul, that's yeah. I mean I
Speaker 2: was going to say kind of bougie, but it's not
Speaker 2: because it's such a big part of you know, everyone's
Speaker 2: livelihood nowadays, just their professional opportunities also heavily rely on that. No,
Speaker 2: I still treated like a diary. I mean, my little journal,
Speaker 2: you know, it's terrible. Yeah, and it's like two different journals.
Speaker 2: Instagram is like more a journal someone will read, and
Speaker 2: TikTok is more of a journal. I still think I'm doing,
Speaker 2: you know, for.
Speaker 1: Myself, you're private journal right. Well. At the same time,
Speaker 1: we are in the home stretch of Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1: The next pro these are the semi finals, and whoever
Speaker 1: survives this episode enters the finals. Big pressure all around.
Speaker 2: I'm invested. I mean, the show's been so fun to watch,
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I was at the edge of my seat.
Speaker 2: This whole episod and again and you know, I contested
Speaker 2: last week's results with Eric, but but looking at these four,
Speaker 2: you know, I really it really did feel like a
Speaker 2: final four that was deserving to be there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean, even though we could
Speaker 1: we could argue where people should have left, because technically
Speaker 1: last week Nina left, the week before, the week before,
Speaker 1: we had a problem with Eric, and we could go
Speaker 1: like well maybe they should have you know, reversed weeks
Speaker 1: or something. But when you look at these four, you
Speaker 1: do not feel like while they really let the best
Speaker 1: dancer go, you know, like you're looking these four going, yeah,
Speaker 1: these four people have a real shot at being on.
Speaker 2: That for different reasons. Yeah, some just are underdeveloped but
Speaker 2: have something special. Some people have, you know, a seasoned
Speaker 2: craftsmanship about this whole thing, and then have so many
Speaker 2: tools in their toolbox. And some people are all of
Speaker 2: the above and we'll see you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you were casting a show, you've got four
Speaker 1: unique characters, you don't have four of the same thing,
Speaker 1: which is great. So when you have been watching the season,
Speaker 1: are you happy you didn't have to enter this type
Speaker 1: of reality competition in order to become a pro on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars or have you thought like, man,
Speaker 1: I would have thrived in something like this A little
Speaker 1: bit of both.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've been employed for such a long time.
Speaker 2: I have to really look back and reflect what I
Speaker 2: felt like. I mean, I was watching, I was thinking, man,
Speaker 2: this is really hard, and yeah, within the parameters that
Speaker 2: they have to create. Not to say that it's easy
Speaker 2: on our show, it's not, But to answer your question.
Speaker 2: I was fortunate enough to learn on the job. That's
Speaker 2: why I'm a huge advocate for the Troop. I think
Speaker 2: it's you know, it's paid internship. There's nothing better, especially
Speaker 2: if you want to go into that line of work. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you get insight into everybody's room. That is valuable, you know.
Speaker 2: So I got casted as a pro right away, and
Speaker 2: you know, I missed out on that, and I had
Speaker 2: to really be observant. And obviously I knew my brother's
Speaker 2: process because of our proximity, but I, you know, not
Speaker 2: until those team dances that I get a chance to
Speaker 2: see how Mark works, how Derek works, how others work.
Speaker 2: So I think that's so valuable to be on Troop
Speaker 2: on our show and to be in my room, Jenna's room,
Speaker 2: everybody's room and see how they navigate from different fronts,
Speaker 2: not just how they lead the lesson or the choreography,
Speaker 2: but also how they they you know, what kind of
Speaker 2: frequency they keep in the room, how much tension do
Speaker 2: they let in there versus when they know how to
Speaker 2: like shift. So yeah, these guys don't have any of that.
Speaker 2: So I definitely I do feel very fortunate that I
Speaker 2: didn't have to go through this gauntlet.
Speaker 1: It's quite a quite an undertaking. Well, here we are
Speaker 1: to recap Dancing with the Stars the next pro Season one,
Speaker 1: episode seven. We open with our pal Robert returning to
Speaker 1: the dance floor and welcoming the four remaining contestants with
Speaker 1: a little celebratory jive does some nice kicks. He's followed
Speaker 1: by judges Mark and Shirley Ballas, who again no shade
Speaker 1: are dressed alike again surely had a real uh puffy shirt.
Speaker 1: What was what's the shirt from Seinfeldt? You know the
Speaker 1: yeah if I was like, wow, this is a it's
Speaker 1: like a period period shirt renaissance.
Speaker 2: And he was also kind of rocking Prince you know,
Speaker 2: I know, an.
Speaker 1: Undershirt exactly Prince with an undershirt. I do like it.
Speaker 1: This is now two weeks in a row. I'm starting
Speaker 1: to think they're doing this on purpose.
Speaker 2: They make a great scene, though.
Speaker 1: Boy do they. Robert then introduces the hopefuls to this
Speaker 1: week's guest. She's a two time Mirror Ball champion and
Speaker 1: a judge on the Australian Dancing with the Stars and
Speaker 1: a guest judge last season on season thirty four of
Speaker 1: our American Dancing with the Stars. It's Kim Johnson. How
Speaker 1: well do you know Kim?
Speaker 2: Pretty well?
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty well. She was at the Dancing with the
Speaker 1: Stars con with us, and I find her to be
Speaker 1: lovely and incredibly talented.
Speaker 2: She is again our time overlapped a little bit on
Speaker 2: the show. She's kind of the og that yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: the founding father with my brother and the OG's like
Speaker 2: I said, but yeah, she's wonderful. We actually went on
Speaker 2: tour together in twenty sixteen. That was the Alfonso season,
Speaker 2: the one that Alfonso and Whitney won. And then on
Speaker 2: that tour we really did bond. We got you know,
Speaker 2: on tour you get to spend a lot of time together.
Speaker 2: We were on the bus at that time. We didn't
Speaker 2: even have the big condo bunks. It was like the
Speaker 2: three bunks. It was very close quarters. And she was
Speaker 2: so lovely and such a classy individual, and you know,
Speaker 2: we we just again we connected and she shared her
Speaker 2: desire to meet somebody and what kind of somebody she
Speaker 2: would like. That that's somebody to be. And literally the
Speaker 2: next season where the promo shoots. Speaking of promo shoot,
Speaker 2: and she's with Robert, her current husband and father of
Speaker 2: her two kids. Yes, and it was exactly the person
Speaker 2: that she described.
Speaker 1: And we looked at each other and we're like, you
Speaker 1: manifested did this?
Speaker 2: So fast forward ten years, you know, her life has
Speaker 2: drastically changed, and it was fun to cross paths again
Speaker 2: at the corn and then seeing her guest judge. I
Speaker 2: thought she did a great job last year guest judge.
Speaker 1: She was amazing. Yeh, she was so good last season
Speaker 1: as a guest judge. And then talking about her beautiful husband.
Speaker 1: She just had her fiftieth birthday and they he threw
Speaker 1: her a huge birthday party. I thought that was very sweet. Well,
Speaker 1: Kim reveals that this week, every creative choice will be
Speaker 1: made by them. Can they elevate to the levels needed
Speaker 1: for Dancing with the Stars Now? For the first time,
Speaker 1: they will be performing two full dances in just a
Speaker 1: couple of days, which is half the time they have
Speaker 1: on the main show. So it feels a lot like
Speaker 1: what you've been doing for the past four months, just
Speaker 1: learning of forty two dances every day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of choreography, a lot of choreography, but.
Speaker 2: Again they're doing it with pros. It's interesting how they
Speaker 2: made the challenge where they're like you cannot contribute to
Speaker 2: any creative choices. That's the way I understood, right, because yeah,
Speaker 2: at least in Alan and Whitney's room, she was like, yeah, great,
Speaker 2: I know totally, yeah, let's do that. And he was
Speaker 2: good enough, Yeah it's good, Like tell him it's not good.
Speaker 1: I know. It did seem like they didn't even want
Speaker 1: to be you know, encouraged or you know, dissuaded from something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean again they First of all, I
Speaker 2: love how they refer to the brief. Yeah, definitely a
Speaker 2: brief brief. I like the brief.
Speaker 1: The brief's good. It gives you, It gives you, It
Speaker 1: gives you an idea of exactly what it is.
Speaker 2: I imagine a brief case. Yeah, that opens and boom.
Speaker 1: There it is. That's exactly what you need to do. Well,
Speaker 1: we learned that for the second dance of the episode,
Speaker 1: the contestants will be partnered together for one last time,
Speaker 1: but for the first dance, they will be performing with
Speaker 1: real life Dancing with the Stars pros, and then Whitney, Riley, Yawn,
Speaker 1: and Gleb walk on the stage and perform an awesome
Speaker 1: group number to Talk to Me by Robin. I loved
Speaker 1: seeing them all out there, how talented of a ballroom dancer.
Speaker 1: I know every I mean everybody you work with is
Speaker 1: incredibly talented, but can we talk for a second about
Speaker 1: how incredibly talented Gleb is?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, no, totally, But hold on, We're not gonna
Speaker 2: just highlight Gleb and not talk about the other three.
Speaker 1: They're all great, they're all wonderful, but I don't know
Speaker 1: that I. Okay, here's where I'm thinking, Here's why I'm
Speaker 1: highlighting Cleb. I feel like when Gleb is talked about
Speaker 1: outside of on the actual Dancing with the Stars show,
Speaker 1: maybe because of some personal life things, extracurricular activities that
Speaker 1: go on, that tends to be more of the focus,
Speaker 1: and I feel like sometimes it gets glossed over how
Speaker 1: incredibly talented he is totally and it's like watching him dance,
Speaker 1: you go, if everyone could just keep their nose out
Speaker 1: of places that they are not supposed to be, we
Speaker 1: could actually appreciate him for his talent, the way Whitney
Speaker 1: Riley and this season hopefully Yawn is going to be
Speaker 1: appreciated for their talent. I feel like Gleb sometimes maybe
Speaker 1: gets the short end of the stick because of you know,
Speaker 1: like you said, extracurricular activities.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you. I think Gleb is a
Speaker 2: extraordinary dancer, probably the best on our show, one of
Speaker 2: the best easily, you know, And it's so obvious to
Speaker 2: the eye when you see it. Yeah, and it's a shame,
Speaker 2: you know, I had that issue with in regards to
Speaker 2: how my name is mentioned and in other ways. You know, again,
Speaker 2: he maybe maybe he's caught some bad publicity over the
Speaker 2: past couple of years, but even good publicity just you know,
Speaker 2: not pertaining to the craft that we're trying to showcase
Speaker 2: and that we invested our entire lives in mastering. Like,
Speaker 2: regardless of whether you're talking about me in a good
Speaker 2: way or a bad way, you're not talking about the
Speaker 2: thing that I'm so proud of, right, And that was
Speaker 2: always a shame for me, Yeah, because I have so
Speaker 2: much pride in this work, and I know he does too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But you know, in relations to Next Pro and Dancing
Speaker 2: with the Stars in general, you wear many hats and
Speaker 2: you have many different responsibilities, and it would be very
Speaker 2: naive for you to think that you can just be
Speaker 2: a really great dancer, right, you know, I wish the
Speaker 2: world was like that, but you are now on a
Speaker 2: bigger stage and they're a lot more Yeah, there's a
Speaker 2: lot more eyes on you, and with that comes great responsibility.
Speaker 2: Maybe you didn't sign up for but you are here now, yes,
Speaker 2: And you know, I also didn't intend to be anybody's
Speaker 2: role model. I feel really awkward when I even though
Speaker 2: I love preaching. I love teaching and I love speaking
Speaker 2: to especially young people and inspire them, motivating them, I
Speaker 2: still feel very uncomfortable with the idea of like, what
Speaker 2: advice do you have? You know, you have such a
Speaker 2: successful this, this and that, and I'm like, I don't know. Luck, Yeah,
Speaker 2: like a lot of luck too, you know, obviously hard
Speaker 2: work and preparation, et cetera. Being proactive, being hard working,
Speaker 2: et cetera. But there's no formula, you know. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: he's a perfect example of somebody that's excellent and it
Speaker 2: maybe not being enough.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep. Well, the song comes to an end and
Speaker 1: Whitney informs the group that they will each be performing
Speaker 1: a different Latin style with their professional partner. This will
Speaker 1: put both their teaching and choreography skills to the test.
Speaker 1: Earlier in the day, a drawing was held to set
Speaker 1: partners and dance styles, and here were the results. Alan
Speaker 1: is paired with Whitney for the jive and he knows
Speaker 1: with a powerhouse like her as a partner, he will
Speaker 1: need to bring his a game. Adele is paired with
Speaker 1: Gleb and they get the samba. Luckily, this is Adele's
Speaker 1: favorite dance. AJ is paired with Riley and they will
Speaker 1: be dancing the cha cha, which leaves Selena to be
Speaker 1: paired with one of the best humans and dancers around
Speaker 1: Yan and they drew the salsa. Are there any of
Speaker 1: those dances? I guess I will just come right out
Speaker 1: and say, Pasha is not a giant fan of the
Speaker 1: cha cha. I was very excited for the cha cha
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh the cha chaw. He's it's
Speaker 1: not that fun. It's kind of hard to make it
Speaker 1: look great. He just doesn't like love the cha cha.
Speaker 1: So when I saw that Aj was paired with Riley
Speaker 1: and they were going to be doing a cha cha,
Speaker 1: want is he disappointed in that?
Speaker 2: If you go.
Speaker 1: You might be joes? Oh no, is that a bad one?
Speaker 1: So would you like, are there any dances there that
Speaker 1: you would have been like? That's the one you don't
Speaker 1: really want.
Speaker 2: Uh yes, if again with a celebrity partner respectfully.
Speaker 1: To you, then right, yeah.
Speaker 2: He's not excited for the chacha.
Speaker 1: Right with me? Okay, okay, thanks.
Speaker 2: He was pretty excited for the cha cha with his
Speaker 2: wife on tour. That was a really good jog.
Speaker 1: That was a great cha cha.
Speaker 2: No, I'm just joking with you. Listen, the church is
Speaker 2: just hard on the lady. And then when when you're
Speaker 2: a partner with a celebrity that now has to learn
Speaker 2: how to chatcha with you know, with with no help
Speaker 2: legs out like it's just technically it is. It's it's
Speaker 2: a little bit more of a challenge for the lady
Speaker 2: than salsa. Has more dividends, you know, like you could
Speaker 2: do a lift and a jump and a trick and yes,
Speaker 2: it's still hard. You still have to teach him. There's
Speaker 2: more roi for you know, there's a small bang for
Speaker 2: your buck you can throw and that's.
Speaker 1: What Yeah, that's what he said. He was like, compared
Speaker 1: to a salsa that you can actually just have like
Speaker 1: a lot of fun in. Uh we wanted to get
Speaker 1: it out of the way early on, so but.
Speaker 2: But would but just to give you a different perspective,
Speaker 2: like because he doesn't have to teach Riley how to
Speaker 2: how to dance cha cha chasha is a pretty good
Speaker 2: dance to get because it typically musically is is a
Speaker 2: is a funky you know, a beat. Uh, it's very
Speaker 2: pop song heavy, you know, so you're going to get
Speaker 2: a classic a lot of times or a song that
Speaker 2: people love. So it is. It's thigh energy. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of chachas that premiere on Dancing with the Stars. Okay,
Speaker 2: you'll see a lot of it, especially in the male celebrities.
Speaker 2: They always do very well because.
Speaker 1: They rip off the shirt.
Speaker 2: Yeah it's groove. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Robert finds them that even though they have professional partners,
Speaker 1: they will be the ones responsible for the creative decisions,
Speaker 1: including the choreography, and everything will all be reported back
Speaker 1: to the judges. And I cannot even imagine how hard
Speaker 1: that was for Gleb, Whitney, Riley and Yon to just
Speaker 1: have to keep your mouth shut. I can tell you,
Speaker 1: I cannot picture you in that scenario.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, Please somebody tell me what to do,
Speaker 2: Please tell me what to do. I think that's that's
Speaker 2: why I'm most if I'm ever like precious about this
Speaker 2: experience on behalf of the celebs. That's the reason why
Speaker 2: I'm like, you should be so. I mean, please, somebody
Speaker 2: if I could go nunchucks with the stars, you know,
Speaker 2: and have a master nunchuck ninja teaching me.
Speaker 1: Something that that right, right right.
Speaker 2: Just teach me, Like what a gift to be taught,
Speaker 2: especially in our age were.
Speaker 1: Responsible, I mean in dance, for you to have to
Speaker 1: be for someone to come in something you know so
Speaker 1: much about and to just say I'm just gonna keep
Speaker 1: my mouth shut while you you Wow, Okay, you like it.
Speaker 1: I can totally see why you'd want to be like
Speaker 1: a unchuck. Totally get that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, totally. I mean, like so with Adele for instance,
Speaker 2: I mean I know this from inside information, you know.
Speaker 2: Gleb was just like, yo, teach me your competition. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll do it. And because he's so nasty, he can
Speaker 2: dance on the level of a competitive athlete, because that's
Speaker 2: what that symble was, and we're going to get into
Speaker 2: that performance. But it's fun to see all these different pros.
Speaker 2: You could really see who's got what. That's what I
Speaker 2: meant like. It really felt like a good final four
Speaker 2: for different reasons. For each individual, you know, and it's
Speaker 2: like you have Selena and she gave you the the show. Yeah,
Speaker 2: way TV pop boom awesome. Yeah. And then with Adele,
Speaker 2: you just saw you saw an Olympic athlete and show
Speaker 2: you how you know, we watched the Olympics. There's nothing
Speaker 2: performative about the one hundred meter dash, but we're glued
Speaker 2: to the athleticism of it. It's so entertaining because it's
Speaker 2: at the highest level of human performance. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 2: I'm looking at when I'm watching Adele and that level
Speaker 2: of samba. So the feedback that they got, yes, you're right,
Speaker 2: but it's undeniable because of the quality that it is.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, it was. It was top notch. Robert
Speaker 1: sends them off to rehearsals with just one day left
Speaker 1: until their first performance. Adele and Gleb hit it off immediately.
Speaker 1: They speak to each other at Russian and Adele feels
Speaker 1: comfortable like she's dancing with her partner back home. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Alan is a little nervous and intimidated with Whitney. Makes
Speaker 1: sense to me, he's second guessing his choreography, but it's
Speaker 1: still coming together. She does, however, think he can work
Speaker 1: on his confidence. Alan says he will do everything in
Speaker 1: his power to get to the finals for his mom.
Speaker 1: And then Selena and Jan have a connection as well.
Speaker 1: They both have commercial dance background, so she's hoping to
Speaker 1: incorporate a lot of wow moments and maybe bend some
Speaker 1: rules and perform some lifts and over. In Studio four,
Speaker 1: Riley immediately notices that a very confident Aj is constantly thinking.
Speaker 1: As a result, she could see him losing patience with
Speaker 1: a celebrity if they mess up his choreography. I noticed
Speaker 1: AJ talking in third person quite a bit this episode.
Speaker 1: Let Aj lead, He said, let Aj lead you, and
Speaker 1: I was like, you are AJ sucker.
Speaker 2: He postponed his wedding for this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard, but he has postponed
Speaker 1: his wedding for this. Yeah, they mentioned it again. He's
Speaker 1: sacrificed a lot. I I know that these are only
Speaker 1: a few minutes of edited packages, but I do feel
Speaker 1: like it's possible AJ fell back into some bad habits.
Speaker 2: Yeah you know, Aj, I mean again, you know I'm
Speaker 2: a big fan of AJ. Yeah, after this episode, you know,
Speaker 2: I could definitely see him be a pro and dancing
Speaker 2: with the stars yeah, you know, he's definitely, definitely qualified.
Speaker 2: It's a matter of whether I'm going to enjoy his
Speaker 2: work or not, and whether people are going to enjoy
Speaker 2: working with him. But that doesn't mean that he's not
Speaker 2: qualified totally. He's obviously super handsome, He's got a great
Speaker 2: he's got a unique delivery, you know. I mean again,
Speaker 2: it's the British accent. I think you're forgiven for quite
Speaker 2: a bit when you when you got like an exotic
Speaker 2: sounding thing coming out of his mouth. So he's I
Speaker 2: don't know, I'm because again, he just has such a
Speaker 2: huge encyclopedia of information. So if you're casting a qualified teacher,
Speaker 2: he's got that. Do I think he's a star? No,
Speaker 2: you know, do I think he's it's gonna be so
Speaker 2: I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, you know, special,
Speaker 2: not everybody special, But I just I don't I don't
Speaker 2: think he's got the range in him, the range of movement,
Speaker 2: or the or the leading man charisma that I'm gonna
Speaker 2: want to I'm not going to get enough of. But
Speaker 2: as a professional dancing with the stars, I think he's
Speaker 2: got a lot of he he will be able to
Speaker 2: guide a celebrity into a very fruitful experience with a
Speaker 2: lot of great dancing, great choreography, thoughtful explaining, you know,
Speaker 2: the delivery with which he explains that that's that's on him,
Speaker 2: you know, not a whole mind to judge right well,
Speaker 2: but he's got it. He's got it. He's just you know,
Speaker 2: he's he's got some character flows.
Speaker 1: It's now. Later that night, the pros and judges have
Speaker 1: a little dinner together a debrief if he will. Yan
Speaker 1: reveals that he absolutely loves Selena. She took the lead
Speaker 1: right away and she is TV ready and Mark reveals
Speaker 1: that since day one, Selena has been in his top four,
Speaker 1: so seems like things are coming up. Selena Gleb felt
Speaker 1: like he was back in his competition days with Adele,
Speaker 1: but he's worried that the routine might be missing a
Speaker 1: wow moment, but he did feel wowed by her, saying
Speaker 1: he's flying in a private jet, not even a Rolls
Speaker 1: Royce with her. Whitney says that she is enjoying dancing
Speaker 1: with Alan, but he needs to work on believing in
Speaker 1: himself a little more. And then Riley, who did feel
Speaker 1: some lightheartedness in the beginning with aj says it quickly
Speaker 1: turned into intensity. She's not sure he'll be able to
Speaker 1: provide affirmations to a celebrity, since there is a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure being.
Speaker 2: Cultural, not disconnect, but affirmations.
Speaker 1: Then you'll like, you know, you say, you get to
Speaker 1: the day before, the day before camera blocking, and you're
Speaker 1: just doing runs all day and you're recording it on
Speaker 1: your phone, and then you're going and you're looking at it,
Speaker 1: and you look at it and you watch and it's
Speaker 1: pretty good, but you're silent the whole time. And then
Speaker 1: you go see that that right there, that's the part
Speaker 1: that I need you to I need you to pick
Speaker 1: your leg up a little bit more. And then another
Speaker 1: twenty seconds goes by and you're silent, and then you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: and that that right there, and then you finish watching it.
Speaker 1: I know myself when especially later in the season, where
Speaker 1: I was like I'm getting I'm definitely getting better. And
Speaker 1: sometimes then you watch it and you do, like it
Speaker 1: a minute and a half long dance, and then you
Speaker 1: walk away from it. You've just you in your mind,
Speaker 1: you're like, wow, I did it, And then the only
Speaker 1: thing you hear are like, there were two things you
Speaker 1: didn't do right right, needing to needing to have your
Speaker 1: pro look at you and go damn good, damn good
Speaker 1: dance right. There still some things I want to work on,
Speaker 1: but that was killer. Now I'm like, okay, thanks, because
Speaker 1: I'm holding my breath waiting for you to acknowledge whether
Speaker 1: or not what I just did that was yes, please,
Speaker 1: because I am not good and I'm gonna forget this
Speaker 1: the second we're off the ballroom floor and I'm never
Speaker 1: gonna do this again. So yes, Riley knows that celebs
Speaker 1: are sensitive little souls.
Speaker 2: Who that's important. Yeah, that's why they do a great
Speaker 2: job too. You know, the the Utah crew, they culturally
Speaker 2: are different. You know, they grow up in a different surroundings.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh, and that's why again, culturally you have the New
Speaker 2: York Tristate Area Eastern European crew have a very different
Speaker 2: relationship with affirmations.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. I at the very end of my
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars time, at one time I looked
Speaker 1: at Pasha and I said, next time we do this,
Speaker 1: before you give me all your notes, could you maybe
Speaker 1: say good job again? Give me all your notes. I
Speaker 1: was like, I just just every now and then i'd
Speaker 1: like to hear good job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know where that that stems from. It's
Speaker 2: almost like it's fluff, you know, and yeah, and we don't.
Speaker 2: It's almost like that would be disrespectful you and your time.
Speaker 2: Time is of the essence, you know. I'm sure there's
Speaker 2: another phrase for how limited time is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Every second passing you're closer to death
Speaker 1: is probably the rest.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Why waste our breath on unnecessary word?
Speaker 1: Why waste our breath on feeling good when we could
Speaker 1: be talking about things that are less than good? Death?
Speaker 2: Oh man, No, it's it's so important because again and
Speaker 2: I just I'm laughing because I have a tough time
Speaker 2: with that as well. I'm obviously learning and I've learned
Speaker 2: that those things make just such a huge difference, you know,
Speaker 2: the difference in your spirit, if you if you you
Speaker 2: know you're hearing, the difference between giving you some validation
Speaker 2: of like, yo, that was smash that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Cool?
Speaker 1: Great, two things?
Speaker 2: Bumbo? Yeah, can we get that done? Is that going
Speaker 2: to distract you? Is that okay with you? Like? Does
Speaker 2: that feel overwhelming? No? No, No, I got that because
Speaker 2: we could change it a week is simply no, I
Speaker 2: like that. Okay, cool, let's do it. Everything else is fine. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that changes the whole energy of how you approach the
Speaker 2: cleaning after blocking or whatever happens next.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, it makes a world of a difference. So
Speaker 1: with this information we jump right into the show. Night
Speaker 1: Round one, our final four have entered the ballroom. We've
Speaker 1: got Robert, Shirley, and Mark now joined by Kim at
Speaker 1: the judges table. First up is Alan and Whitney, who
Speaker 1: performed the jive to shake by Steven Sanchez. What did
Speaker 1: you think of this dance?
Speaker 2: Val great dance. It was a great dance, very sound,
Speaker 2: very clean. Great. Uh you see it and forget it immediately. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and the feedback was correct. You know, it's unfortunate, but
Speaker 2: it's right, like that's a great dance, but we need
Speaker 2: to see more. And and Whitney is so just so
Speaker 2: commercially striking, you know. So they I think they mentioned like,
Speaker 2: you know, she's the queen of finding camera. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: playing onto simplifying the jive, Like Mark said, I if
Speaker 2: I'm watching a jive and I'm not going like this
Speaker 2: like then that it's not you know, if I'm not
Speaker 2: bobbing my head okay, cool, But besides, bob in your head,
Speaker 2: like I want you to break that pattern and make
Speaker 2: me just engage with something that just I don't know creeds.
Speaker 2: Creed's dimension creates dynamics, you know, it didn't feel like
Speaker 2: it had those splashes that are those wow moments ver important.
Speaker 1: She also said that it seemed like maybe they were
Speaker 1: having a hard time building chemistry because they did a
Speaker 1: lot of side by side action.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so true. Again, yes by side is cool. I
Speaker 2: just think you know, her and Robert were two different
Speaker 2: They're different, you know, Alan is a little bit more
Speaker 2: grown up. They could have had a little bit of
Speaker 2: a different, like what they said, chemistry, and I think
Speaker 2: that would have gone a longer way. You know, they
Speaker 2: went for like very brother sister energy versus like man woman.
Speaker 2: They they just could have played more into that, into
Speaker 2: his masculinity, and she is so feminine and so complimentary
Speaker 2: of a strong masculine presence next to her. So yeah,
Speaker 2: could have thrown in a little trick in there because
Speaker 2: she you know, she's also good at that. And she
Speaker 2: would have told them those things.
Speaker 1: Had she had she been able to share advice, she
Speaker 1: would have said she.
Speaker 2: Would have definitely she would have been like, great jove,
Speaker 2: can we just do something fun that that's relatable. I
Speaker 2: think that's the other thing about Wow, And and something
Speaker 2: that I had to learn by doing the show quite
Speaker 2: a bit is coming in as a professional ballroom dancer. Like, yes,
Speaker 2: is dancing with the stars on the backdrop of ballroom dance.
Speaker 2: But it's not. This isn't what it's not about just
Speaker 2: ballroom dancing. It's about creating a show dance. Yeah, that
Speaker 2: has ballroom dance elements in it, but I want to
Speaker 2: see the show was the show, And I don't think
Speaker 2: all of us have the same quality of choreographing for
Speaker 2: a show.
Speaker 1: M hm.
Speaker 2: And that's huge.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Kim and Shirley both thought that Alan could
Speaker 1: have gotten more out of Whitney, and Mark disagrees a
Speaker 1: little with both the ladies. He calls it the best
Speaker 1: jive he's seen all season. He said he was bouncing
Speaker 1: whole time and the steam kept rolling.
Speaker 2: Like, for instance, I think Alan is a better dancer
Speaker 2: than Aj. Oh okay, but Aj is a better choreographer.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, those are places they can from each other.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like if I'm casting my show. For instance,
Speaker 2: Bell goes on the road, and I need a cast
Speaker 2: of dancers. I'm casting Alan over Ag all day. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but if I'm casting director of Dancing with the Stars, right,
Speaker 2: I'm more likely leaning towards Aj. I know he's going
Speaker 2: to be a little bit more soundproof as far as
Speaker 2: delivering great quality regardless of who his partner is.
Speaker 1: Mhmm. Interesting. Next up is Selena and Jan who perform
Speaker 1: a salsa to La Moodonza by Bad Bunny and Wow,
Speaker 1: I love it when Yon gets to be Yon. I
Speaker 1: just adore him. What did you think of this dance?
Speaker 2: It was? It was great, I mean, so fun, so entertaining.
Speaker 2: I didn't think I started kind of slow, like I
Speaker 2: wasn't sure. It wasn't very impressive for the first like,
Speaker 2: you know, a little bit okay, but it then really exploded.
Speaker 2: And actually, in hindsight, I think they paced their energy
Speaker 2: very well because those dances were felt long.
Speaker 1: Yeah they did feel long.
Speaker 2: Uh and uh no, and it was very It just
Speaker 2: it was fun. I mean, I want to see that again,
Speaker 2: you know that. That's the difference is like I didn't
Speaker 2: really care to see that jive again. I would have
Speaker 2: loved to see that salsa again. Yeah, there was a
Speaker 2: lot of personality moments. You know, it's like the feedback
Speaker 2: that Alan got using Whitney for those camera moments. You know,
Speaker 2: Selena really used Yon and his personality and immediately he
Speaker 2: like got the got the reaction from the judges. They
Speaker 2: were laughing at that tight shot of him making a facet.
Speaker 2: Uh so yeah, and then everything else is like really
Speaker 2: good choreography that was full of tricks. And you know, again,
Speaker 2: if like if they go out and compete in salsa
Speaker 2: competition or I'm not even talking about ballroom dance competition,
Speaker 2: ballroom dance competition, they're not making the next round. Okay, respectfully,
Speaker 2: okay at a competition that uh, Alan's jive would be
Speaker 2: definitely making the next round, you know, but you put
Speaker 2: that on a show competition or a show dance and rightfully,
Speaker 2: so it's gonna it's gonna blow that jive out of
Speaker 2: the water, you know. So it just depends. You know,
Speaker 2: there's that great phrase. It's like, sometimes it's your surroundings
Speaker 2: that are creating the perception or your worth rather than
Speaker 2: your actual worth. So you know, both these numbers are great,
Speaker 2: but it's like, what what's the what's the stage that
Speaker 2: they're being performed on because if it's in the proper
Speaker 2: competitive ballroom dance arena, then one, you know, the quality
Speaker 2: that's that that exists in Alan, you know, is not
Speaker 2: there in Selena or in Yon as far as strictly boring.
Speaker 2: But as performers, as dancers overall dancers, yeah, uh, they
Speaker 2: are on a different level. And that's why you see
Speaker 2: the world gravitate to those performances. Whether I like it
Speaker 2: or not, you know, I think those are you know,
Speaker 2: these are now we're saying the quiet part out loud,
Speaker 2: you know, and these are the fact that this show
Speaker 2: has grown to to to garner such eyeballs and now
Speaker 2: such curious eyeballs, and because of social media, such you know,
Speaker 2: given eyebass, we are now really having a public conversation
Speaker 2: about what the show is, what it's not, what gets rewarded,
Speaker 2: what doesn't, and it's it's actually that's how I think
Speaker 2: what makes the show not more fun to watch is
Speaker 2: because things are being adjusted and talked about in real time,
Speaker 2: and the impact of those conversations and social media is
Speaker 2: being reflected on our show in real time. So it
Speaker 2: is a real synergy between our show and social media
Speaker 2: and how every show try to capture that relationship and
Speaker 2: never could. I think it's interesting how Dancing with the
Speaker 2: Stars was able to do that, and that is by
Speaker 2: being such a a not open book, but just such
Speaker 2: a strange diconomy of like what are we being judged
Speaker 2: on and why and how and let's all discuss and
Speaker 2: really nailed down the you know, the ten commandments of
Speaker 2: what makes a great Dancing with the Stars performance. Yes,
Speaker 2: because it isn't strictly boring, No.
Speaker 1: It is not. The judges absolutely loved it. Mark could
Speaker 1: picture the dance being performed on Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 1: Latin night and said everything was in sync. Hymns calls
Speaker 1: Selena a star and compliments her clever choreography, the type
Speaker 1: of talent that gets you to the finals. Shirley loves
Speaker 1: her balance and says every step she takes she nails.
Speaker 1: The judges were cheering and dancing in their seats while
Speaker 1: watching them, and that's how they know they found a
Speaker 1: next pro big win here for them. And now we
Speaker 1: have Adele and Gleb who perform the samba to Maga
Speaker 1: Lenha by by Lando con la Istreas, which is Dance
Speaker 1: with the Stars. The name of the band is by
Speaker 1: Lando con Lasstreas, which is Dance with the Stars. Pretty great, val.
Speaker 1: What were your thoughts on these two?
Speaker 2: First of all, I think it's this is like the
Speaker 2: quintessential samba competition samba song. Like growing up, this was
Speaker 2: the sambah that we always practice too, and it's like
Speaker 2: just when you think of the dance, this is the
Speaker 2: music in the sound man. Yeah, I don't know what
Speaker 2: was being said in Portuguese, but it sounds a good song. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it was like perfect for a dell, perfect for them,
Speaker 2: and they crushed it, you know, like that's what That's
Speaker 2: what we all grew up wanting to dance. Like yeah,
Speaker 2: we just yeah, we just never thought that we would
Speaker 2: be on TV competing against salsas like the one before.
Speaker 2: But this is the epitome of like what really great
Speaker 2: Latin competitive dancing looks like world class? Yeah, on our show,
Speaker 2: maybe two other people can could have performed that.
Speaker 1: So that way, mm hm, who who could do it?
Speaker 2: I mean one of them is here, one of them.
Speaker 1: Is one of them is the star of this podcast here.
Speaker 2: I would give Brandon a shout out. You can probably
Speaker 2: handle that. Love it again just as far as heype,
Speaker 2: maybe obviously quality is there. Yeah, yeah, ok, yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean I think again, there's just I'm not talking, there's
Speaker 2: a particular style, yeah, you know, And and I hope
Speaker 2: people that are watching our show start to differentiate and
Speaker 2: see the difference. And it's not about like what's good
Speaker 2: and what's bad. It's about different styles of the same
Speaker 2: dance and how vastly different they could look. Because because
Speaker 2: the style of those performers is slightly different, little gestures,
Speaker 2: you know, Gleb and I kind of just grew up
Speaker 2: idolizing and appreciating a certain style, a very similar one
Speaker 2: with very similar idols, and we, you know, competed at
Speaker 2: a time at a similar time where that style was
Speaker 2: very popular. Yeah. That was great. I mean again, that
Speaker 2: was amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The judges are just astonished. Throughout the entire performance.
Speaker 1: Kim tells Adele she nailed it. It's a professional number
Speaker 1: you would see on Dancing with the Stars. Mark says
Speaker 1: she moves like a hooded cobra ready to strike, but
Speaker 1: does think she could have played with the musicality a
Speaker 1: bit more, but in the end calls it damn near perfect.
Speaker 1: Shirley considers Adele and Gleb a power couple. She mentions
Speaker 1: that if she had any note, it is to cater
Speaker 1: to the Dancing with the Stars audience and remember those
Speaker 1: one or two wow moments. But other than that, she
Speaker 1: is a masterpiece. Yeah, I agree, I couldn't I When
Speaker 1: he said to play with the musicality a little bit more,
Speaker 1: I was like, wait, what what does that mean? Exactly? Val,
Speaker 1: what does that? What does that note mean? Play with
Speaker 1: the musicality more.
Speaker 2: It's kind of like the note that I gave to
Speaker 2: Alan and Whitney, where it was just like, right, just job.
Speaker 2: They were sounding sombing zalmie the whole time, you know,
Speaker 2: they didn't like break and then pop back in. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like like give us a you know, sometimes you need
Speaker 2: to give us a moment to breathe and digest. It's like,
Speaker 2: it's like silence in the middle of a really powerful monologue. Right, yes,
Speaker 2: it could go a long way and give us a
Speaker 2: second to digest, like what was just said before going
Speaker 2: into the next thought. The same with dance. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was just it was overwhelmingly good, but a lot
Speaker 2: of it, you know, so you almost got to corset
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, I do understand that now, and Finally, it's
Speaker 1: AJ and Riley with the chat shot A little booth
Speaker 1: Thing by Paul Russell.
Speaker 2: Little booth thing. My favorite thing is you saying these names.
Speaker 1: I know, I have to read them all very like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's this one? I don't know, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: mean I do know a little booth thingg I know that.
Speaker 2: Song, You'm a little booth thing that one, of.
Speaker 1: Course, Yeah that song is great. Who doesn't know that song?
Speaker 1: But you know, yeah, the samba song. I'm not as
Speaker 1: familiar with.
Speaker 2: Maglena.
Speaker 1: Okaya, Maggleene. It's not Magalen. Yeah, okay, Magdelena, Yeah, okay, Magelena.
Speaker 1: Well what did you think about a J and Riley's
Speaker 1: cha cha? I mean it was it was good, well choreographed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was well choreographed. Very it was a good
Speaker 2: piece of dancing with the stars choreographer, right, you know,
Speaker 2: there was nothing special. Actually, I know they were having
Speaker 2: a tough time, but I thought Riley's you know again,
Speaker 2: Riley is just such. She's got star power.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: So what she still has to learn and and improve
Speaker 2: as a dancer or as a choreographer, as a teacher
Speaker 2: or whatever. Uh, she makes up for it with just
Speaker 2: her presence. She's got real star power. I don't think
Speaker 2: he's got star power, you know. So he he's a
Speaker 2: very smart, uh choreographer and teacher and and he will
Speaker 2: do a great job guiding celebrity through this journey. Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: If that's if that's what you're trying to cast, A
Speaker 2: great teacher who's gonna help if you're looking for, you know,
Speaker 2: the next Derek Huff that you didn't find them, I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, right, Shirley says, aj threw in everything but the
Speaker 1: kitchen sink for this one and nailed the essence of
Speaker 1: the cha chaw while showcasing and perfectly leading. Riley Kim
Speaker 1: agrees and loves his ability to give his partner some
Speaker 1: wow moments.
Speaker 2: I will I will give give him that. That's really
Speaker 2: good feedback from Shirley. Shirley clearly really likes Aju. She does,
Speaker 2: I mean again, because she's seen him do this job
Speaker 2: and saying that he probably did it pretty well. Yep,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I gotta She did mention the fact that he,
Speaker 2: you know, he took a girl that's taller than him,
Speaker 2: bigger than him, and what would she say? From here,
Speaker 2: there and there and landed on her foot. That's something
Speaker 2: she's right, I mean, yeah, yeah, he's scrappy. Like again,
Speaker 2: I'm an AJ fan, I'm not I'm not hating on
Speaker 2: a J. He's just you know, we would have been
Speaker 2: arch nemesis. We wouldn't be friends in high school. But
Speaker 2: he's awesome. He's very talented. Again, you could see that he.
Speaker 1: He's not lacking in the confidence department, which is super important.
Speaker 1: I mean the confidence that likely said to pick up
Speaker 1: a Riley and to throw her around, you know, like that.
Speaker 2: To quote you know, the more ballast of this season next,
Speaker 2: bro is you know you're gonna be standing next to
Speaker 2: some killers out there the next to Valve.
Speaker 1: Gotta have confidence, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: But none of this is knocking a J. By the
Speaker 2: way he stunds lovely.
Speaker 1: Yes he is, and we already know we love Shirley
Speaker 1: and Shirley loves him.
Speaker 2: So whatever surely says.
Speaker 1: Whatever Shirley wants, surely gets. Mark felt it lacked soul,
Speaker 1: funk and grit.
Speaker 2: Great. See I love that, Mark, Thanks, you know that's
Speaker 2: what it is. So it's like, can he acquire that?
Speaker 2: For sure? He needs to really, he needs to humble
Speaker 2: himself and start taking lessons elsewhere and all the things.
Speaker 2: You know, then he'd really win me over because some
Speaker 2: of those choices are corny. I already called that out before,
Speaker 2: right there. Sound they're clean, they're polished, they're good, they're musical,
Speaker 2: they're everything except for cool.
Speaker 1: Right right, And you gotta have some swag, got some swag.
Speaker 2: It's like Selena again, I'm not trying to like prop
Speaker 2: her up even more, but she made good choices and
Speaker 2: and and she sells them. She's cool, Like what she
Speaker 2: does is cool, and I like total So it's it's
Speaker 2: it does go a long way. Maybe I'm not articulating
Speaker 2: articulating a well, but I don't know what cool is,
Speaker 2: you know, but there is an authenticity to cool. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, Alan is also not that cool, mm hmm,
Speaker 2: but in a different way. Yeah, you know, he's he's
Speaker 2: he's also wonderful. I could see him be a great
Speaker 2: professional on our show as well. But he's got a
Speaker 2: long way to go. Is also as far as his
Speaker 2: choreography and and you know, his choices. But anyway, let's
Speaker 2: keep it going.
Speaker 1: With round one done, Robert reminds us there's a whole
Speaker 1: round to go. And the contestants will partner up with
Speaker 1: one another one last time. So the girls pick sealed
Speaker 1: envelopes from Robert and the results are Adele gets Aj
Speaker 1: as her partner and Selena has Alan. And then there
Speaker 1: are a second round of envelopes, leaving Aj and Adele
Speaker 1: with the foxtrot and Alan with the quick step for
Speaker 1: him and Selena. Remember this is a dance Selena had
Speaker 1: some issues with last week, so she is happy to
Speaker 1: get a second chance at it. It's a final attempt
Speaker 1: to convince the judges that they deserve to be in
Speaker 1: the finals. So we enter rehearsals once again with one
Speaker 1: day left before their next big performance. In Studio one.
Speaker 1: Aj gets intense right off the bat, his calling card
Speaker 1: at this point. He's determined to travel across the floor
Speaker 1: more than any other dancers who are attempting a quick.
Speaker 2: Step, fighting words.
Speaker 1: Fighting words. It's only one other couple you're against, one
Speaker 1: couple of years.
Speaker 2: Feeling himself. I saw that change in the episode. He
Speaker 2: started speaking with a little more bravado.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, as I said, and calling himself AJ. Three times.
Speaker 1: He talked in third person.
Speaker 2: He's good, man, He's good, He's uh. He did a
Speaker 2: great job with this routine. Yeah, he was passionate about it.
Speaker 2: He's again, I mean.
Speaker 1: He's fired up. I don't know if you know this,
Speaker 1: but he had to postpone his wedding.
Speaker 2: He did postpone. Did he ever get married?
Speaker 1: I don't know, who knows. Maybe he's still postponing it.
Speaker 1: So meanwhile, Selena and Allan are taking in all the
Speaker 1: prior feedback they've gotten from the judges and incorporating them
Speaker 1: into the dance. Alan is thrilled to be dancing with Selena,
Speaker 1: but being the last commercial dancer in the competition makes
Speaker 1: her nervous. And then back with Aj, he starts talking
Speaker 1: in the third person. This is this is when it happened.
Speaker 1: It's never a good sign A Jay really wants to
Speaker 1: go to the finale. Adele knows that's what AJ wants.
Speaker 1: But this is.
Speaker 2: Very much about AJ.
Speaker 1: Oh, this is all about AJ. AJ wants what AJ wants.
Speaker 1: And listen, these two are incredibly talented, so you know,
Speaker 1: I hopefully their intensity can translate when it matters the most.
Speaker 2: But again, it's like he's making good choices within reason. Obviously,
Speaker 2: you know, cool or not cool, there's still I said
Speaker 2: it weeks ago. You know, decisiveness is really important, and
Speaker 2: those crucial times that you have X amount of time
Speaker 2: to complete a routine, like you could have the coolest
Speaker 2: ideas if they never came into realization, like who cares
Speaker 2: right where you could have some corny, all reliable ideas
Speaker 2: and just go with it and put together a cleaner
Speaker 2: routine and win the show.
Speaker 1: Right back at the house that night. And here's where
Speaker 1: I realized, we do not get a got to be
Speaker 1: moment this week. I didn't see it. I watched twice
Speaker 1: looking for it. In the end, I feel like my
Speaker 1: hair is going to suffer for it. So I missed
Speaker 1: it this week. Either way, the dancers are feeling the
Speaker 1: stress and going over their routines knowing that tomorrow night
Speaker 1: someone's dream is coming to an end, and we waste
Speaker 1: no time because it is now shown night round two.
Speaker 1: Surely wants to see good posture and proper frame, but
Speaker 1: above all else, she wants them to have fun. And
Speaker 1: so first up, it's Alan and Selena with a quick
Speaker 1: step to Valerie by Amy Winehouse. Now, val let's hear
Speaker 1: your thoughts on this semi finals dance for Alan and Selena.
Speaker 2: I thought it was uh.
Speaker 1: A minus a minus. Oh, okay, that's better than I
Speaker 1: thought I was. To be honest, I feel again like
Speaker 1: it was pretty forgettab it was lackluster. It was it
Speaker 1: was lackadaisical. I didn't love it. I didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't want to see it again. No, don't don't
Speaker 1: really remember much from it.
Speaker 2: No, then and this is this was Yeah, this was
Speaker 2: what sent Alan home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was this dance for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Again, it should have had a little a little
Speaker 2: bit more entertainment. I don't really care about the quick step. Yeah,
Speaker 2: just do a couple of runs around and then do
Speaker 2: the show thing, and then do a couple more runs
Speaker 2: and then do the show thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think again, I think he ran out
Speaker 2: of steps. That's where he needs to improve, which he can.
Speaker 2: I mean again, that's that's not easy, but it's doable.
Speaker 2: Like go back it take just invest in learning new
Speaker 2: wow moment vocabulary, and then you'll have it. You know,
Speaker 2: once you could tap into some of those moments. Everything else.
Speaker 2: He knows how to link. He knows it's pretty good.
Speaker 2: You know, his quality of dances is up there. He
Speaker 2: knows all of this stuff. He just ran out of
Speaker 2: cool steps and ended up just running around without any
Speaker 2: real purpose or intention. You know, there were moments that
Speaker 2: just at that point, it's like every move has to
Speaker 2: have some sort of value to it, right, you know. Right,
Speaker 2: It's like, I know, it's not good when they do
Speaker 2: the cutaways, and the cutaways are more than one second
Speaker 2: and quite frequent, like right, So then so we could
Speaker 2: look away from the routine m hm, you know, And
Speaker 2: it had quite a few of those, So no, I
Speaker 2: just didn't think it had any sort of impact.
Speaker 1: Surely compliments their personalities and ability to shine on stage.
Speaker 1: Kim admires their musicality. She can tell they'd make for
Speaker 1: very fun partners if she was a celebrity on the show,
Speaker 1: and Mark says they nailed everything needed in the quick
Speaker 1: step and could genuinely see either one of them on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I think the other thing that was unfortunate for Alan
Speaker 2: is that we saw him do the jive and then
Speaker 2: we saw him do the quick step, and we just
Speaker 2: saw him be the Lavador retriever and like he would
Speaker 2: have had a few more things, he had worse steps
Speaker 2: left in other styles, I think.
Speaker 1: Correct, Yeah, we got to see a lot of jumping around. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: now with tonight's final dance, it's Adele and Aj performing
Speaker 1: the foxtrot to Too Sweet by Hosier. What did you
Speaker 1: think of this routine? Oh yeah, so yeah, comfortable all
Speaker 1: a mode with some ice cream on top. Yes, really great.
Speaker 1: I mean Mark says that no matter how much the
Speaker 1: show evolves, one thing that will never go out of
Speaker 1: style on Dancing with the Stars is true classic ballroom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was like the movement was great, but it
Speaker 2: was it was him loving it and her loving it.
Speaker 2: You know, he loved it so much and that gravitated
Speaker 2: like this was the most charming I've seen him. Look, yeah,
Speaker 2: I really just this is the coolest I've ever seen him. Look,
Speaker 2: because that's where he's cool, you know, in the fox trots,
Speaker 2: the proper frame, the you know, that's where all of
Speaker 2: that essence is cool, and he's trying to be other
Speaker 2: things then it's inauthentic. This is very authentic and his
Speaker 2: enthusiasm for the way he spoke about it. And you know,
Speaker 2: his father is an ex champion I think, mostly in
Speaker 2: ballroom dance, so this is like, yeah, it is what
Speaker 2: he does. And he does take a lot of pride
Speaker 2: in that, and I felt that, but I felt it
Speaker 2: less from an ego standpoint and more from a real
Speaker 2: passion standpoint in this particular dance more than the other
Speaker 2: ones where I felt like he was just competing and
Speaker 2: being you know, power tripping. He just knows what he knows,
Speaker 2: and he knows these moves work, and so let's just
Speaker 2: do these moves here. He really knew, you know, knew
Speaker 2: that these moves work. But also it was just like
Speaker 2: really passionate about doing them. Yeah, excited to do them.
Speaker 2: And I felt that and that was really fun. And
Speaker 2: she's excellent and he led her really well and she
Speaker 2: added to the performance. So it was great, Yeah, really
Speaker 2: really good. But but again it was it was the
Speaker 2: best I've seen him look to.
Speaker 1: Yep, I think the word instead of cool, which is
Speaker 1: so hard to define, there's a little bit of there's
Speaker 1: you need edge, you need a little bit of edge,
Speaker 1: and there's he's he's edgeless, he's able exactly Well. Kim
Speaker 1: was blown away, calling it perfection and complementing Adele's sexiness.
Speaker 1: Shirley calls Aj a star, but hopes he appreciated the
Speaker 1: lovely lady on his arm. She calls them the new
Speaker 1: generation of Dancing with the Stars, and I mean, and that's.
Speaker 2: Saying AJ really, how old is he? Like?
Speaker 1: Oh really? Oh that's funny. These four really felt like
Speaker 1: a good final four. I mean it felt great. It's
Speaker 1: not an easy decision, and you know, I'm looking at
Speaker 1: all four of them, like you said, for all for
Speaker 1: different reasons. They all have strengths, they all have weaknesses.
Speaker 1: They all could probably be pros on Dancing with the Stars,
Speaker 1: and yet they would still all have things they need
Speaker 1: to work on.
Speaker 2: So you know, listen, I just I took a lesson
Speaker 2: this afternoon. Wow, from somebody that's better than me and
Speaker 2: more qualified than me. You know, I think we always
Speaker 2: have something to learn. And if we're not learning, then
Speaker 2: what are we doing? You know? You anxious? If I'm
Speaker 2: learning something new?
Speaker 1: Well, it's time for the elimination who will make the finals?
Speaker 1: Before the big announcement and emotional surely compliments each of
Speaker 1: the four dancers on their strengths and then has the
Speaker 1: difficult job of feeling that Tonight, after deliberation, the very
Speaker 1: tough decision was made to send home Alan. I will
Speaker 1: say I thought they made the right decision looking at
Speaker 1: It was a difficult choice for sure, but looking at
Speaker 1: the two different performances we got from all of them tonight,
Speaker 1: Alan is just you know, and some of that's also luck,
Speaker 1: Like you said, the fact that he had a jive
Speaker 1: and a quick step, both of those were randomly chosen,
Speaker 1: Like maybe if.
Speaker 2: We step, if there was like apastable, Yeah, he can
Speaker 2: throw her around, he could thrash her on the ground,
Speaker 2: like all the things that you don't really do that
Speaker 2: in the quick step. Now, he could have thought outside
Speaker 2: the box and been like, Hey, we're gonna do like
Speaker 2: a scissor kick leap down to the ground that I'm
Speaker 2: going to slide in. She'll do a kip while I
Speaker 2: slide behind her because she can, yeah, and do some
Speaker 2: maybe some other acrobatic thing like you should have workshopped
Speaker 2: a few more, a few more moments that potentially aren't
Speaker 2: quick step essentials but can enhance a performance to be
Speaker 2: in the dance, right, It was the right choice.
Speaker 1: It was the right choice. As sad as we are
Speaker 1: to see Alan go, he's such a such a lovely guy.
Speaker 2: He is a lovely guy. And I will second that
Speaker 2: he actually is a lovely guy in real life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you've already said, which is such a compliment
Speaker 1: that if you were looking for dancers right now, Alan
Speaker 1: would be at the top of your list, you would
Speaker 1: you would cast him today. I didn't say the very
Speaker 1: top he would be, he rise to the top?
Speaker 2: Would hear the top? Okay, he's reliable, he's amazing in
Speaker 2: the room, he's a great team player, he's just yeah,
Speaker 2: and he's qualified.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Well, Alan admits that he is devastated, but
Speaker 1: he's also very proud of the way he performed and
Speaker 1: he should be. He hopes his mom would be proud,
Speaker 1: and as viewers, we all know that she would be.
Speaker 1: And Robert has one last chat about Alan's passion and
Speaker 1: the inspiring story he brought to the show, and then
Speaker 1: he gives us a goodbye while everyone cries and hugs
Speaker 1: behind him. And next up, one more episode val it's
Speaker 1: the finale. We have adele Aj and Selena dueling for
Speaker 1: the final spot, and we find out the last episode
Speaker 1: is going to have a live studio audience and more
Speaker 1: celebrity partners as they will be joined by Neve Schulman,
Speaker 1: Adam Raupon and Charlie Demilio. That's exciting, well.
Speaker 2: Both of those guys were Jena's partners.
Speaker 1: Oh right, that's right, and mm hmmm.
Speaker 2: Some will say with me, yeah that's right.
Speaker 1: Who did win the season she was on with Neveh?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, Well, val our journey is coming to a
Speaker 1: close after only one more episode and then you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna miss you, but we'll be back.
Speaker 1: We'll have more stepping on toes. Oh, I know we're
Speaker 1: gonna We're gonna keep stepping on to What do you want, like, subscribe?
Speaker 1: Tell us what you want? Look at you professional podcaster
Speaker 1: can send your emails to vow At.
Speaker 2: This was so fun.
Speaker 1: This was so great. And next week we've got a
Speaker 1: we've got a huge finale.
Speaker 2: I know, it's been so great just talking. So somebody
Speaker 2: in the comments was like, I love the show, but man,
Speaker 2: vow really spoke a lot the show, really let us
Speaker 2: know about his private private life. He knows this is
Speaker 2: about the damn show. Right, I'm wait till.
Speaker 1: What episode was that? I'm dying. I need to go
Speaker 1: find that comment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think of the last one. I want an
Speaker 2: old tangent abo, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Listen the husual I love your tangents. Listen, go watch
Speaker 1: a movie with your son and your beautiful wife, and
Speaker 1: tell tell Jenna to call me right now and tell
Speaker 1: me we've got to talk. Okay, Thank bye, Thank you
Speaker 1: all for listening.