November 5, 2025 • 39 mins
It’s been an incredible 8 weeks for Danielle on Dancing with the Stars, but now that journey has come to an end.
Danielle talks about her emotions leading up to Tuesday night’s show, how the story behind her dance was supposed to be told and how it felt to be the captain for that perfect score team dance.
She may no longer be on the show but she’ll be dancing forever! It’s all on a brand new episode of Danielle With…
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello from home once again.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I am Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director, mother of two,
and even at spelling Bees. I am topa NNGA from
the nineties family sitcom Boy Meets World. But in twenty
twenty five, I was a contestant on season thirty four
of Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am just off the press.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Line for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night, despite
having no prior dance experience and the fact that the
last time I danced in public may have been at
my wedding, which was seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Tonight, by the way.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Here, I am back in my house after making it
to the final eight. Throughout this entire experience, I have
continued to record this here podcast, sharing every detail and
behind the scenes story with you as I fought my
way through a slayer like mosh pit of talented dancers
(01:19):
and explosive personalities, all in the hopes of winning Elen
Goodman Mirror Ball Trophy. As you are probably aware at
this point, I tonight was my last night, was my
last dance. I was eliminated, and.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I have such a wide range of emotions.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I'm obviously very sad to be leaving the competition. I'm
sad to have my day to day life is going
to so drastically change now. I have literally woken up
every single day and looked forward to rehearsal and looked
(02:11):
forward to what dance we were learning that week, and
to seeing Pasha and collaborating with him and hanging out
with him. Talking about not seeing him every day is
going to make me very sad. We had the most
(02:33):
dream like partnership you could possibly ask for. With someone
that you get thrown together with, you have no idea
what you're in for when you know, you throw yourself
into something so wholeheartedly and something that's going to be
so much a part of your life. And same for him,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
This is.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
This is his livelihood, this is something he's been, he's
you know, he's a professional dancer for his entire life,
and every year he puts himself out there and has
no idea who he's going to get and you never
know how you know, personalities, mesh, I think I am
(03:16):
comfortable speaking for both of us when I say it
couldn't have gone any better. I'm so lucky, just so
so so lucky that Pasha is my partner.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
He was truly the best.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And with him, of course came Danny, his wife, who
I just I'm completely obsessed with as well, and I love,
and their daughter Kiki, who I'm so lucky loves me
and wants to hang out with me and lets me
hold her, and just I just love their family so much,
so talking about him and not seeing him and them
(03:55):
every day is going to take some getting used to.
I really didn't want to cry this early on in
the podcast because overall, I feel so extremely positive about
everything we did, and it would be a lot harder
to be walking away from the show. If I could
(04:17):
look back and say, oh, you know, I think maybe
I got eliminated because I didn't put in the extra
work here, or because I didn't try hard here, or
because you know, some some reason, like there was something
I could point to, then maybe I would feel worse.
(04:39):
But we did every single thing we possibly could with
what we've had available to us. Where there're songs we
wanted that we didn't get that didn't clear. Sure were
their theme nights that you know, didn't necessarily speak to us,
but we had to give it our all anyway, of course,
(05:01):
all of those things, I mean, even for example, you know,
with tonight's dance the contemporary, which we were able to
do to dream On by Aerosmith, which was such a
dream come true for both of us, Like Pasha and I.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Just love that song and.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It was very very special to both of us, so
we were really excited about that. But we got the
song cleared and we knew we were going to be
able to do our contemporary to dream On right away.
Pasha was like, what's the story you want to tell?
What does this mean to you? You know, contemporary is
a very personal dance. It's usually about something, it's got
(05:41):
some emotion. And he said, what is it about? And
I said, I know the song like the back of
my hand, but I'm going to listen to it again
and see what speaks to me. And I listened to
it quite a few times, back to back to back,
and I wrote to Pasha. I said, Okay, our story
is about the impossible standards placed on women, both from
(06:01):
society and from ourselves. If we pursue work outside the
home and have a family, we're told that we should
be with our kids more. If we stay home, we're
told we don't work and are uninteresting. If we're too thin,
we're told to eat a burger, and if we gain weight,
we're told to get off the couch. When we get
botox or fillers, we're accused of not aging gracefully. And
when we age naturally, we're called old and ugly. We
(06:24):
are somehow always too much and never enough at the
same time. And the only cure for it is to
live life your way, living out your dreams, because, as
my cancer diagnosis pointed out to me last year, life
is short and we never know when we're living our
last day or dancing our last dance.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And he right.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Away like wrote, love it, that's it great, this is
going to help me choreograph the whole thing, and he did.
He went and choreographed it. And Pasha is a really
skilled dancer in all ballroom and Latin dances, he doesn't
feel as comfortable with contemporary dances in choreography, so he
(07:10):
worked with two people that he knows, loves and trusts,
that are absolute experts in contemporary and he worked with
them to put together the dance that spoke to exactly
what I wrote in my text, the societal pressure and
outside noise and judgments and all of that. And then tonight,
(07:33):
while we were on the ballroom floor. I was like
listening to my package and I was like, none of
that was even mentioned, Like none of my story was
even in the package. And we don't have any you know,
those are just things that are completely out of our control,
Like we don't have we don't get to see the package,
we don't get to have notes on the package, we
(07:54):
don't get to have we don't know, we don't know
what's in there.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
So, yeah, are there things that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I can look back on and say, like, maybe if
those things had been different, the outcome could be different.
But I have not one thing about this experience that
I look back on and think to myself, Oh, I
regret this moment because I gave it my all.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I really really did.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And no one gave it. I mean, Pasha gave it
his all plus some.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I mean Pasha is.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
He is just the hardest working person and he was
working all hours and just doing his absolute best. And
so there's nothing, there's nothing I would change about the
entire experience, not one thing. There's nothing I could There's
nothing I could do. And if this is where the
journey ends, and it is, really I'm really proud.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'm really proud. I look back on every week.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
As like a special, individual, unique little moment in time
that I'll remember forever. On top of having the contemporary
dance this week, it was also team dance week, and
if there was ever a time to have to be
(09:22):
eliminated in the competition, I think after that team dance is.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
The time to do it.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
You saw us all celebrating after the dance ended. Every
single second of that dance was hard earned. You know,
we only had a total of seven hours as a
group to put that together, and so our pros had
(09:53):
to choreograph it and teach it to us, and we
had to.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Nail it in seven hours.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And that's not seven hours even in one day. That's
seven hours broken up into two days. It was two
different rehearsal times, and then of course we had our
camera blocking, and then today we were able to kind
of like, all right, we've got ten minutes, let's try
to rehearse some moments. And yeah, I mean, it was
(10:23):
such a fun week watching the pros work and watching
them trust and respect each other and collaborate and truly
all week, best idea wins. Anyone who had an idea,
anyone who had a suggestion of the pros the celebs
were not necessarily lobbing suggestions, but we were comfortable to say, like,
(10:47):
this doesn't feel right, is there something else we could
do here, or just even just asking all the questions
like what are we supposed to be doing when we
do this? But it was such a great week and truly,
like right up until the last second, I was like,
there was like right before we started where I was like,
oh my gosh, my brain is like melting and I
couldn't get this one part, and I was like, we
(11:09):
need to start again, and we started again, and then
I really feel like we killed it. I mean, it
was just so much fun, and because we only had
seven hours, and because there were so many different moving parts,
and because then you're dealing with all the cameras and
where the camera's going to be and what are you
supposed to do? And we can't see each other, and
(11:30):
you know, Alfonso's having to run out. He's like off
on the side and then he has to run out,
and we had to you know, have our backs to
Alfonso for that part, the celeb part where the pros
aren't allowed to be on the floor with us and everyone,
all the pros asked Whitney. They were like, who's going
to count? I just someone needs to count so that
we can make sure we're all together, because nobody cares
(11:53):
if you're counting as long as you all look together. Like, yeah,
go ahead, it out so you know you're on the
right counts. And Whitney was like, I know the counts.
I will count. And so Whitney took it on herself
to be the leader there for all of us to
make sure we were all on and she.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Did that at the request of our pros. And you know,
Whitney is.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Gosh, I can say so many wonderful things about every
single person on this cast. Whitney is the first person.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
To say I can do this.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Do you want me to do this? Can I take
on this? Can I take this on? Can I how
can I help? What can I do?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And oh, I'm gonna start crying again.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And this past week that was really difficult for me
with the contemporary dance. Whitney was one of the first
people I reached out to. It was Mark. I texted
Whitney and I said, I'm having a really hard time
this week and she said, down, you know, talk to me,
And we ended up sending each other voice notes back
(13:12):
and forth, and she was really God, she's good people,
really good people. I'm going to miss her. I'm gonna
miss Jordan so much too. Of course, I'm gonna miss
my boy Dylan, my alliance partner from day one. I
(13:37):
almost feel as bad that I let Dylan down as
much as I did Pasha. It's funny like I apologize
to Pasha. I said, I'm sorry I didn't get us
to the finals, and he apologized. He said, no, I'm
sorry I didn't get us to the finals. I was like, no, no, no, no,
this is on me, not on you. I kind of
feel the same way about Dylan. I feel like I
let our alliance down. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And Robert. Robert and I both got super emotional saying
goodbye to each other.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
We all did. I'm gonna miss Alex, I'm gonna miss Andy,
I'm goin to miss Elane. I'm truly I'm gonna miss everybody,
such a good group. I didn't even name all the
pros because honestly, I'd just be sitting here saying I'm
gonna miss every single person. I'm gonna miss the troops
so much. They called me like a troop mom.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
This is what I felt like.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I felt like, I felt like their troop mom. I'm
so proud of them. I just cheer them on every
single week. I'm still gonna be doing that, just gonna
be cheering them on from home, which honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Kind of looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I'm also really looking forward to washing my feet because
I still haven't washed my feet from it. I was
barefoot all night, which is just disgusting. We will be
taping a live episode of Danielle with at Disney California
Adventure Park on December fourth, twenty twenty five. If you
live in the Southern California area or if you can
(15:06):
be in the Southern California area on December fourth, we
have an opportunity for you to join us. Between now
and November twenty fourth of twenty twenty five, you can
enter for your chance to win tickets to attend the
Coast one oh three point five Private Holiday Party at
Disney California Adventure Park on December fourth, twenty twenty five,
(15:28):
including an overnight stay at the Disneyland Resort Hotel for
a family of four and two day one park per
day tickets to Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park. Plus,
you will have the chance to meet us while we
are taping an episode of Danielle With inside Disney California
Adventure Park.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Visit Coast one oh.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Three five dot com forward slash Danielle With now to
enter for your chance to win. So one of the
reasons this was a really a hard week for me
is that, you know, we were dancing at contemporary, and
(16:10):
now that I'm not on the show anymore, I feel
really comfortable saying I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I don't like contemporary. I just no, just no, It's
it's a no from me, dog. I don't like it.
I don't like it at all.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I like being in a frame, which is weird. I
didn't think I was gonna like that when I first
joined the show. I thought I'm only gonna like Latin
dances and I'm probably gonna like this jazz number and
a contemporary.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And uh, you know what, it's really not for me.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I have realized that my neck is significantly longer than
I thought it was, now that I have learned how
to keep my shoulders down, and now that my shoulders
are down, I love being in a frame. It's so nice.
It's so comforting. And when you have a good part
like I did with Pasha, being in that frame and
(17:04):
having that connection is just really feels great. It feels
really nice, and it feels beautiful. And then Contemporary felt
very like the opposite of everything I had worked so
hard for. It was like, Okay, have a gut punch
and be like a rag doll and have loose fingers
and no broken wrists and you know, straight arms, but
(17:28):
still loosey, goosey fingers, And it just felt very opposite
of everything I had been doing. And also, I have
a very flexible spine. But I'm very flexible and my
spine like going back, like I could do a lot
of backbends. And that's why you saw Pasha and I
do a lot of dips and back bend style stuff
because he knew it was easy for me and looks good,
(17:49):
and so we capitalized on that as often as we could.
But the shortest part of my body, you know, five
to one, the shortest part of my body is my waist.
My torso is literally like two and a half inches long.
Like from my lowest rim to my hip bone is
like literally two inches. I have a very short waist,
and so a lot of the like breath expansion stuff
(18:14):
or even contraction is like I feel like, even if
I and I'm not saying I was doing it perfectly,
far far far from it, but even if I were
to work on it a lot, I still don't think
it would ever look super impressive. It's just not gonna
look super impressive as it does on Like you know,
I'm gonna use Haley and Anye as two examples from Troop,
(18:36):
like to watch them do a contemporary and with their
beautiful long torsos and their beautiful long bodies, it's like
I look at that and I'm like, oh my god, gorgeous.
Or Jenna doing a contemporary, I'm like, oh, look at that.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
It's stunning.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And then it's like, even if I really did my best,
best best, it's never gonna look like that. It's never
going to look that beautiful. I just don't have that shape.
So it was a tough week for me. It was
just a really tough week, and I was like really
hard on myself. I had a lot of negative self.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Talk, and I in order to then comfort.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Myself from all that negative self talk, I found myself
just like massively overeating, which then made me feel really
bad both physically and just mentally and emotionally, like I
was just really I was coming home and massively overeating
and then feeling sick, and I was like where is
this coming from? Like all of this is just really disordered,
(19:41):
disordered thinking, disordered eating, Like.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
What is going on?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And I really did realize just how much I was resisting,
like this stance was bringing up a lot of stuff
for me and bringing up a lot of old bad habits,
and uh, yeah, it was a rough week. And I
talked to Whitney about it. I obviously talked to Up
about it, and I also talked to Mark. I talked
to Mark Ballas about it, and he is another one
(20:08):
who's just so supportive. And so today when we were
about ready to do our group dance, and I literally
had like a meltdown right before it started. I like
all of this, like everything kind of left my brain.
And we started trying to do like a mini rehearsal,
and we were supposed to do these four claps and
(20:29):
I only did three and then I turned my hands
and then I was like eh, and I was like wait, wait,
we need to start again. And then we started rehearsal
again and then I did something else that was so weird,
and I literally just like looked out locked eyes with Mark,
and I was like, I'm having a meltdown, and like
everyone went to go say to me, like you've got this,
and Mark literally like grabbed me by the shoulders looked
at me and he was like, stop, don't pay attention
(20:49):
to anybody else, just look at me right now. And
he was like, Dangelle, take a deep breath. Tune out
all the noise, forget that there are all these people here.
Just lock in like you've got this, you know what
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Take a deep breath.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And I was like okay, and he gave me a
hug and I said, okay, I've got it, and I
walked back out and we did.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
One more rehearsal.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Rehearsal went fine, and then we did it and it
all went off without a hitch and it was incredible
and it was amazing, and our team dance got the
first perfect score of the season, a perfect forty, and the.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Confetti candons went off and it felt great.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I was so proud of my team and I was
so proud of everything we had done all week, and
that is for sure a massive core memory, not just
from dancing with the stars. For the rest of my life,
I will remember what it felt like to be a
part of that team all week, and then what it
felt like to go out there as a team and
(21:51):
really kill it and then be recognized for it with
a perfect score. I'll remember it forever. So anyway, Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame night, What an incredible night.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I was so happy with everybody's songs.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I was standing up in the skybox just listening to
the songs, watching the performances.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And I was like, man, there's a banger of a night.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Like first of all, Alex and Val living on a prayer.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That dance that Posso was.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Outstanding, just outstanding, brought the house down so great. I
couldn't have loved it anymore. I love their dances. I
love Alex, I love Val. I thought that was just
an absolutely killer dance. And overheard in the ballroom was Flavor,
(22:49):
Flav saying that him selecting a nine on the board
in front of him was a mistake, that he had
wanted to give them a ten, which which means that
was supposed to have been the first perfect score of
the season and that Alex and Vowem would have had
(23:09):
a forty had he not hit a nine instead. But
he went to go hold up his ten paddle and
was then told in his ear, you had selected a nine.
And I have not seen it yet because I haven't
had a chance to watch the show. But apparently he
kind of made a face when he had to hold
up the nine, and it was because he had intended
to select a ten and accidentally selected a nine. So
(23:33):
that is interesting. I thought Flavor Flav brought a lot
of really fun energy, if you.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. Do
you know what I'm saying. I thought it was really
good energy.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I am gonna say I the scoring on this show
does confuse me. It is a little confusing. I do
think that maybe they could benefit from halfs, you know,
like an eight point five and an eight and then
nine or a nine point five. But like, even when
(24:07):
I think about the team dance scores and I think
about like, you know, I think mainly my main question
would be, I guess for Derek when he gives a
critique to Team Cool about the dance, But then is
you know, says I think the I think the first
dance was better, but then gives us both the same score.
(24:29):
I'm like, hmm, okay, so some of that stuff is
a little confusing to me. I don't think that's out
of line to say it, just sometimes, you know, people
are entitled to do whatever they want and pick the
scores that they want, but it is a little confusing
as both a person on the ballroom floor and also
(24:51):
I think as a viewer, sometimes those things are a
little confusing. Going back to our team dance, I was
team captain, which I took very seriously, and I honestly,
if someone from the winning team was going to go home,
I'm so happy it was me, one hundred percent. If
(25:16):
I had been the team captain and anyone else went home,
I would have been furious with myself. So all week
they kept stressing to us, you know, well, typically someone
from the losing team goes home. Someone from the losing
team goes home. And I was like, okay, well, then
I really don't want us to lose because I don't
(25:37):
want our team to have somebody have to go home.
And then of course the winning team had somebody go home,
and I'm just so happy that it was me, because
if it had been anybody else, I really would have
beaten myself up about that, And now I don't have
to beat myself up about that.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
At least it was me.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
And even as a director, my overall feeling is always
that everything that happens on a set is my responsibility.
If something bad happens, even if I had nothing to
do with it, it's still my responsibility, and I say, I'm
the first person as the director to say.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That's on me.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And then when anything goes right, I always look for
someone to give the credit to anytime something goes right,
anytime something goes well, I'm always going to say that
couldn't have happened without the props department, That couldn't have
happened without the wardrobe department, That couldn't have happened without
so and so actor, that couldn't have happened without blink.
(26:34):
And I just feel like that's a really great way
of making your team know that they are valued and
also that they're protected that if something goes wrong, I'm
not gonna throw them under the bus. It's my responsibility.
I'm in charge. And that's exactly the attitude I brought
to this team Dance was like, Okay, I have to
set the tone, even though the pros are the ones
(26:55):
doing all the choreography and or definitely taking the lead
and definitely teaching us and doing all the time management.
As far as like setting the tone, that was what
I wanted to do. I just wanted to set a
really positive, lovely tone where everyone felt valued and respected
and safe, safe to speak up, safe to say what
(27:16):
they wanted and valued, that their energy and their their
genius that they bring to this is of worth. And
so I hope that I did that. Putting together this
(27:45):
team was not.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
By chance.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Funny story that I told also on the show, and
I guess they chose not to use in our package.
But since day one in New York at GMA, Dylan
and I formed an alliance. It feels and sounds kind
of like a joke because we shot it as a
TikTok where I said, you know, do you want to
form an alliance with me? It was from the office,
(28:13):
and he said, yes.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yes I do. But we took it very seriously. We
really can.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
We really told ourselves we're in an alliance, and our
plan was together the two of us let's make it
to the finals. And we have become really very much
best friends on this little ballroom competition show and on
(28:39):
the cup.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
On the Monday before.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We had to do the team picks, Dylan and I
were talking and we were like, who.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Becomes the team captains?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Because there's not a whole lot of them, Like, we
don't get a lot of early information. We will know like, oh,
team ances coming up, but they don't ever, they don't
really like sit us down a full week before and go, FYI,
here's how it works, and we'll determine who's the lowest,
you know, the lowest voted or the lowest rated couples,
(29:12):
and then those people will become team captains. We just
kind of have to like figure it out a little
bit on our own. And so we were like, wait,
who becomes team captains? How does this work for this
team dance? And we realized it was the two lowest
scored contestants. So Dylan and I went through and added
up all the points throughout the entire season and we
figured out that Andy was the lowest, and then the
next lowest was Jen, and then the third lowest was me,
(29:37):
and then Dylan, I think was a couple above me.
Maybe he was fourth, I don't remember, and I was like, wow, okay,
Jen and I were only separated by two points, And
so there were two ways I could end up being
the second lowest after Andy one that week last week.
(29:58):
If Jen did better than me in the scores for
only separated by two points, if she gets four nines
and I get two eights and two nines, we're now
at the very least tide.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Or if she just overall scores.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Better than me, more than two points better than me,
I now become the second lowest voted. The other way
I could end up being the second lowest is if
Jen went home. So the fact that there were two
ways that it could end up being that I was
no longer third on the list, that I was going
to be number two on the list meant that I
(30:36):
wanted to start thinking about who would I pick if
I end up being a team captain.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I want to be prepared.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I don't want to on the night, you know, all
of a sudden we find out I'm a team captain
and have not thought of this at all. So Dylan
and I started talking, what are we going to do?
What do we think the perfect strategy is, And of
course I wanted to be on a team with Dylan,
one because I love him, and two because he is
(31:01):
partnered with Danny, who I think is one of the
best choreographers. And I also just I just wanted to
be with them. So I texted Dylan and I was like,
what is our strategy here? And Dylan put together an
Excel spreadsheet. This is one of the benefits of being
in an alliance with someone who can win traders. He
(31:27):
put together an Excel spreadsheet with all the different possibilities
of well, let's see, depending on who goes home this,
you know, you might want to pick this person or
this person or that person or whatever. And by the
time we went through the spreadsheet, I had written to
him in one text dream team Whitney, you me Jordan,
(31:52):
and he was like, that's the team. And then the
next morning, which was Tuesday morning, the day of the
live show, last week's live show, he said, I was
up thinking about this all night and I said I
was too, and he said, if you pick Whitney first,
(32:15):
I really think you should make your second pick Jordan,
because there is no way Jordan is going to go
till the very end, and I think you gamble with
me as your third pick. He said, I don't care
about it looking like I'm last to be picked on
the schoolyard. He's like, just let's take a gamble. Of course,
(32:36):
there's a possibility that Andy ends up picking me and
I don't end up on your team, but I think
it's worth the gamble, and I think you need Jordan
and Whitney. And I was like, okay, I think you're right.
I think that's probably the smart move. And then we
get up there into the skybox and we're picking and
Andy gets to pick first, and I had suspected that
(32:59):
if Andy was going to pick first, he was going
to pick Robert first, and sure enough, Andy goes Robert,
I'm bringing Robert, and I go, okay, it's now my turn.
I go I'm taking Whitney, and Whitney comes to my side.
And then Andy gets to go with the second pick,
and Andy picked Alex and he takes Alex and I go, okay,
(33:24):
here's my second pick. I'm going to take Jordan, and
I get Jordan on my team, and now it's down
to Elane and Dylan as the last two. But Elaine
wasn't there because she had been injured, and so it
was Alan standing there. So it was Alan and Dylan
standing in front of us, and Andy goes, Dylan, and
(33:46):
my heart sinks. I'm like, my gamble, my gamble of
taking Dylan third is not going to pay off. And
then immediately after Andy says, I love you, but I've
got to go with the lane, and Alan goes walking
over to Andy and Dylan and I locked eyes and
(34:07):
Dylan goes, oh.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
My god, it worked.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
He mouthed it to me from across the skybox, and
I'm like, and Dylan comes walking over and yeah, I
just I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It was so special.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
And then the way the week went and the team
dance went, I really felt like, yeah, that was good.
That was good strategy. It really worked for us. It
was such a special week. And the fact that even I,
you know, the fact that I got eliminated tonight is
just not even it really can't bring down the immense
(34:47):
joy and pride and fun I had in these last
you know, eleven weeks of my life. It's been almost
three months, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Look
at my little beautiful picture here. I think this was
a gift just from things remembered, but I'm not sure
it could have actually been from someone but without a card.
(35:08):
But it's got a picture of Pasha and me in
it and at the bottom it says Dancing with the
Stars Season thirty four, and I love it. I have
so many great memories from this experience that I'll have
with me for the rest of my life, and including
doing this podcast for you guys. Thank you for humoring
me and letting me just have this experience. It's been
(35:32):
so fun. I'm not stopping. There are still three weeks
left in the competition, and I'm going to keep this
podcast going until the season ends. I'm still going to
bring you some great guests. I want to interview Kimmy,
my hairdresser. I want to interview Dan Yella, the costumer.
I want to interview Alfonso. I'd love to interview Julianne.
(35:55):
I have so many people I want to interview and
bring to you guys. So I'm still I'm still going
to do all that. I'm still going to make sure
that goes on. Even though I am no longer in
the competition, I still am a part of the Dancing
with the Stars family now and especially this twentieth year
and this thirty fourth season. I don't know if I'm
going to be in the ballroom next week for the
(36:16):
twentieth anniversary. There's a big party and I might go
for that, and then I will be in the finale.
Everybody comes back for the finale. I'll probably get to
do a little two eight counts or something with Pasha,
which will be really fun.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
And yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I've loved every moment of this journey and I thank
you for all of your votes. I thank you for
all of your comments. I thank you for all of
your support. It's really been the experience of a lifetime.
And also there's just so many people I have to
think that I will start crying. But thank you to
my husband, Jensen Karp, producer, husband of this podcast, who
(37:03):
I really wouldn't have been able to do this experience without.
He's just been He's been there every week, he's been
there every single day for our kids. He's made sure
they were taken care of. He's made sure the house
has functioned, he's made sure everything has gone off without
a hitch, so that I've really been able to just
give myself this gift for these last three months of
(37:25):
just really focusing on me and it was really really,
really really nice. It was quite a gift, So I
owe him a big gift. And also, of course thank
you to Pasha, who made this entire experience beautiful from
the first day we met, and I'm so glad that
(37:47):
we're neighbors and we're in each other's lives forever. And
thank you to Dina and to Conrad from the BBC
and from Dancing with the Stars. I love you the
entire crew. If I were to name everybody, it take
me forever. But some people I really specifically really love
(38:10):
the hair and makeup and wardrobe team, all of security.
I love the security guys, They're so great. Dave, Mike everyone,
I love you all, all the camera guys, all the producers,
everybody at Highland honestly, which reminds me. I have a
bunch of shirts I have to give out. I made
(38:33):
to Pasha air shirts with the logo of Pasha holding
me in that Argentine tango last final pose, and I
have them in my car and there. It was a
gift for everybody at Highland and now I have to
Now I have to give those out anyway, Thank you
all for listening to this episode of Danielle with I
will see you all next week. I might wear my
(38:56):
Dancing with the Stars robe, I won't be in hair
and makeup. You're gonna you're gonna see like back to normal,
normal Danielle. Not this like such a glamorous version of
Danielle that that I.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Get to experience.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
That's now gone until the finale. Anyway, Thank you all,
Talk to you next time.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Bye.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Danielle with the Stars produced and hosted by Danielle Fischell.
Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge
of production Danielle Romo, Producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbosch.
Theme song by Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram at
Danielle with Stars and vote for me
Hello from home once again.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I am Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director, mother of two,
and even at spelling Bees. I am topa NNGA from
the nineties family sitcom Boy Meets World. But in twenty
twenty five, I was a contestant on season thirty four
of Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I am just off the press.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Line for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night, despite
having no prior dance experience and the fact that the
last time I danced in public may have been at
my wedding, which was seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Tonight, by the way.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Here, I am back in my house after making it
to the final eight. Throughout this entire experience, I have
continued to record this here podcast, sharing every detail and
behind the scenes story with you as I fought my
way through a slayer like mosh pit of talented dancers
(01:19):
and explosive personalities, all in the hopes of winning Elen
Goodman Mirror Ball Trophy. As you are probably aware at
this point, I tonight was my last night, was my
last dance. I was eliminated, and.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I have such a wide range of emotions.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I'm obviously very sad to be leaving the competition. I'm
sad to have my day to day life is going
to so drastically change now. I have literally woken up
every single day and looked forward to rehearsal and looked
(02:11):
forward to what dance we were learning that week, and
to seeing Pasha and collaborating with him and hanging out
with him. Talking about not seeing him every day is
going to make me very sad. We had the most
(02:33):
dream like partnership you could possibly ask for. With someone
that you get thrown together with, you have no idea
what you're in for when you know, you throw yourself
into something so wholeheartedly and something that's going to be
so much a part of your life. And same for him,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
This is.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
This is his livelihood, this is something he's been, he's
you know, he's a professional dancer for his entire life,
and every year he puts himself out there and has
no idea who he's going to get and you never
know how you know, personalities, mesh, I think I am
(03:16):
comfortable speaking for both of us when I say it
couldn't have gone any better. I'm so lucky, just so
so so lucky that Pasha is my partner.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
He was truly the best.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And with him, of course came Danny, his wife, who
I just I'm completely obsessed with as well, and I love,
and their daughter Kiki, who I'm so lucky loves me
and wants to hang out with me and lets me
hold her, and just I just love their family so much,
so talking about him and not seeing him and them
(03:55):
every day is going to take some getting used to.
I really didn't want to cry this early on in
the podcast because overall, I feel so extremely positive about
everything we did, and it would be a lot harder
to be walking away from the show. If I could
(04:17):
look back and say, oh, you know, I think maybe
I got eliminated because I didn't put in the extra
work here, or because I didn't try hard here, or
because you know, some some reason, like there was something
I could point to, then maybe I would feel worse.
(04:39):
But we did every single thing we possibly could with
what we've had available to us. Where there're songs we
wanted that we didn't get that didn't clear. Sure were
their theme nights that you know, didn't necessarily speak to us,
but we had to give it our all anyway, of course,
(05:01):
all of those things, I mean, even for example, you know,
with tonight's dance the contemporary, which we were able to
do to dream On by Aerosmith, which was such a
dream come true for both of us, Like Pasha and I.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Just love that song and.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It was very very special to both of us, so
we were really excited about that. But we got the
song cleared and we knew we were going to be
able to do our contemporary to dream On right away.
Pasha was like, what's the story you want to tell?
What does this mean to you? You know, contemporary is
a very personal dance. It's usually about something, it's got
(05:41):
some emotion. And he said, what is it about? And
I said, I know the song like the back of
my hand, but I'm going to listen to it again
and see what speaks to me. And I listened to
it quite a few times, back to back to back,
and I wrote to Pasha. I said, Okay, our story
is about the impossible standards placed on women, both from
(06:01):
society and from ourselves. If we pursue work outside the
home and have a family, we're told that we should
be with our kids more. If we stay home, we're
told we don't work and are uninteresting. If we're too thin,
we're told to eat a burger, and if we gain weight,
we're told to get off the couch. When we get
botox or fillers, we're accused of not aging gracefully. And
when we age naturally, we're called old and ugly. We
(06:24):
are somehow always too much and never enough at the
same time. And the only cure for it is to
live life your way, living out your dreams, because, as
my cancer diagnosis pointed out to me last year, life
is short and we never know when we're living our
last day or dancing our last dance.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
And he right.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Away like wrote, love it, that's it great, this is
going to help me choreograph the whole thing, and he did.
He went and choreographed it. And Pasha is a really
skilled dancer in all ballroom and Latin dances, he doesn't
feel as comfortable with contemporary dances in choreography, so he
(07:10):
worked with two people that he knows, loves and trusts,
that are absolute experts in contemporary and he worked with
them to put together the dance that spoke to exactly
what I wrote in my text, the societal pressure and
outside noise and judgments and all of that. And then tonight,
(07:33):
while we were on the ballroom floor. I was like
listening to my package and I was like, none of
that was even mentioned, Like none of my story was
even in the package. And we don't have any you know,
those are just things that are completely out of our control,
Like we don't have we don't get to see the package,
we don't get to have notes on the package, we
(07:54):
don't get to have we don't know, we don't know
what's in there.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
So, yeah, are there things that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I can look back on and say, like, maybe if
those things had been different, the outcome could be different.
But I have not one thing about this experience that
I look back on and think to myself, Oh, I
regret this moment because I gave it my all.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
I really really did.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And no one gave it. I mean, Pasha gave it
his all plus some.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I mean Pasha is.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
He is just the hardest working person and he was
working all hours and just doing his absolute best. And
so there's nothing, there's nothing I would change about the
entire experience, not one thing. There's nothing I could There's
nothing I could do. And if this is where the
journey ends, and it is, really I'm really proud.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'm really proud. I look back on every week.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
As like a special, individual, unique little moment in time
that I'll remember forever. On top of having the contemporary
dance this week, it was also team dance week, and
if there was ever a time to have to be
(09:22):
eliminated in the competition, I think after that team dance is.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
The time to do it.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
You saw us all celebrating after the dance ended. Every
single second of that dance was hard earned. You know,
we only had a total of seven hours as a
group to put that together, and so our pros had
(09:53):
to choreograph it and teach it to us, and we
had to.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Nail it in seven hours.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
And that's not seven hours even in one day. That's
seven hours broken up into two days. It was two
different rehearsal times, and then of course we had our
camera blocking, and then today we were able to kind
of like, all right, we've got ten minutes, let's try
to rehearse some moments. And yeah, I mean, it was
(10:23):
such a fun week watching the pros work and watching
them trust and respect each other and collaborate and truly
all week, best idea wins. Anyone who had an idea,
anyone who had a suggestion of the pros the celebs
were not necessarily lobbing suggestions, but we were comfortable to say, like,
(10:47):
this doesn't feel right, is there something else we could
do here, or just even just asking all the questions
like what are we supposed to be doing when we
do this? But it was such a great week and truly,
like right up until the last second, I was like,
there was like right before we started where I was like,
oh my gosh, my brain is like melting and I
couldn't get this one part, and I was like, we
(11:09):
need to start again, and we started again, and then
I really feel like we killed it. I mean, it
was just so much fun, and because we only had
seven hours, and because there were so many different moving parts,
and because then you're dealing with all the cameras and
where the camera's going to be and what are you
supposed to do? And we can't see each other, and
(11:30):
you know, Alfonso's having to run out. He's like off
on the side and then he has to run out,
and we had to you know, have our backs to
Alfonso for that part, the celeb part where the pros
aren't allowed to be on the floor with us and everyone,
all the pros asked Whitney. They were like, who's going
to count? I just someone needs to count so that
we can make sure we're all together, because nobody cares
(11:53):
if you're counting as long as you all look together. Like, yeah,
go ahead, it out so you know you're on the
right counts. And Whitney was like, I know the counts.
I will count. And so Whitney took it on herself
to be the leader there for all of us to
make sure we were all on and she.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Did that at the request of our pros. And you know,
Whitney is.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Gosh, I can say so many wonderful things about every
single person on this cast. Whitney is the first person.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
To say I can do this.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Do you want me to do this? Can I take
on this? Can I take this on? Can I how
can I help? What can I do?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
And oh, I'm gonna start crying again.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And this past week that was really difficult for me
with the contemporary dance. Whitney was one of the first
people I reached out to. It was Mark. I texted
Whitney and I said, I'm having a really hard time
this week and she said, down, you know, talk to me,
And we ended up sending each other voice notes back
(13:12):
and forth, and she was really God, she's good people,
really good people. I'm going to miss her. I'm gonna
miss Jordan so much too. Of course, I'm gonna miss
my boy Dylan, my alliance partner from day one. I
(13:37):
almost feel as bad that I let Dylan down as
much as I did Pasha. It's funny like I apologize
to Pasha. I said, I'm sorry I didn't get us
to the finals, and he apologized. He said, no, I'm
sorry I didn't get us to the finals. I was like, no, no, no, no,
this is on me, not on you. I kind of
feel the same way about Dylan. I feel like I
let our alliance down. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
And Robert. Robert and I both got super emotional saying
goodbye to each other.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
We all did. I'm gonna miss Alex, I'm gonna miss Andy,
I'm goin to miss Elane. I'm truly I'm gonna miss everybody,
such a good group. I didn't even name all the
pros because honestly, I'd just be sitting here saying I'm
gonna miss every single person. I'm gonna miss the troops
so much. They called me like a troop mom.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
This is what I felt like.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I felt like, I felt like their troop mom. I'm
so proud of them. I just cheer them on every
single week. I'm still gonna be doing that, just gonna
be cheering them on from home, which honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Kind of looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I'm also really looking forward to washing my feet because
I still haven't washed my feet from it. I was
barefoot all night, which is just disgusting. We will be
taping a live episode of Danielle with at Disney California
Adventure Park on December fourth, twenty twenty five. If you
live in the Southern California area or if you can
(15:06):
be in the Southern California area on December fourth, we
have an opportunity for you to join us. Between now
and November twenty fourth of twenty twenty five, you can
enter for your chance to win tickets to attend the
Coast one oh three point five Private Holiday Party at
Disney California Adventure Park on December fourth, twenty twenty five,
(15:28):
including an overnight stay at the Disneyland Resort Hotel for
a family of four and two day one park per
day tickets to Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park. Plus,
you will have the chance to meet us while we
are taping an episode of Danielle With inside Disney California
Adventure Park.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Visit Coast one oh.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Three five dot com forward slash Danielle With now to
enter for your chance to win. So one of the
reasons this was a really a hard week for me
is that, you know, we were dancing at contemporary, and
(16:10):
now that I'm not on the show anymore, I feel
really comfortable saying I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I don't like contemporary. I just no, just no, It's
it's a no from me, dog. I don't like it.
I don't like it at all.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I like being in a frame, which is weird. I
didn't think I was gonna like that when I first
joined the show. I thought I'm only gonna like Latin
dances and I'm probably gonna like this jazz number and
a contemporary.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And uh, you know what, it's really not for me.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I have realized that my neck is significantly longer than
I thought it was, now that I have learned how
to keep my shoulders down, and now that my shoulders
are down, I love being in a frame. It's so nice.
It's so comforting. And when you have a good part
like I did with Pasha, being in that frame and
(17:04):
having that connection is just really feels great. It feels
really nice, and it feels beautiful. And then Contemporary felt
very like the opposite of everything I had worked so
hard for. It was like, Okay, have a gut punch
and be like a rag doll and have loose fingers
and no broken wrists and you know, straight arms, but
(17:28):
still loosey, goosey fingers, And it just felt very opposite
of everything I had been doing. And also, I have
a very flexible spine. But I'm very flexible and my
spine like going back, like I could do a lot
of backbends. And that's why you saw Pasha and I
do a lot of dips and back bend style stuff
because he knew it was easy for me and looks good,
(17:49):
and so we capitalized on that as often as we could.
But the shortest part of my body, you know, five
to one, the shortest part of my body is my waist.
My torso is literally like two and a half inches long.
Like from my lowest rim to my hip bone is
like literally two inches. I have a very short waist,
and so a lot of the like breath expansion stuff
(18:14):
or even contraction is like I feel like, even if
I and I'm not saying I was doing it perfectly,
far far far from it, but even if I were
to work on it a lot, I still don't think
it would ever look super impressive. It's just not gonna
look super impressive as it does on Like you know,
I'm gonna use Haley and Anye as two examples from Troop,
(18:36):
like to watch them do a contemporary and with their
beautiful long torsos and their beautiful long bodies, it's like
I look at that and I'm like, oh my god, gorgeous.
Or Jenna doing a contemporary, I'm like, oh, look at that.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
It's stunning.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
And then it's like, even if I really did my best,
best best, it's never gonna look like that. It's never
going to look that beautiful. I just don't have that shape.
So it was a tough week for me. It was
just a really tough week, and I was like really
hard on myself. I had a lot of negative self.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Talk, and I in order to then comfort.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Myself from all that negative self talk, I found myself
just like massively overeating, which then made me feel really
bad both physically and just mentally and emotionally, like I
was just really I was coming home and massively overeating
and then feeling sick, and I was like where is
this coming from? Like all of this is just really disordered,
(19:41):
disordered thinking, disordered eating, Like.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
What is going on?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
And I really did realize just how much I was resisting,
like this stance was bringing up a lot of stuff
for me and bringing up a lot of old bad habits,
and uh, yeah, it was a rough week. And I
talked to Whitney about it. I obviously talked to Up
about it, and I also talked to Mark. I talked
to Mark Ballas about it, and he is another one
(20:08):
who's just so supportive. And so today when we were
about ready to do our group dance, and I literally
had like a meltdown right before it started. I like
all of this, like everything kind of left my brain.
And we started trying to do like a mini rehearsal,
and we were supposed to do these four claps and
(20:29):
I only did three and then I turned my hands
and then I was like eh, and I was like wait, wait,
we need to start again. And then we started rehearsal
again and then I did something else that was so weird,
and I literally just like looked out locked eyes with Mark,
and I was like, I'm having a meltdown, and like
everyone went to go say to me, like you've got this,
and Mark literally like grabbed me by the shoulders looked
at me and he was like, stop, don't pay attention
(20:49):
to anybody else, just look at me right now. And
he was like, Dangelle, take a deep breath. Tune out
all the noise, forget that there are all these people here.
Just lock in like you've got this, you know what
you're doing.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Take a deep breath.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And I was like okay, and he gave me a
hug and I said, okay, I've got it, and I
walked back out and we did.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
One more rehearsal.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Rehearsal went fine, and then we did it and it
all went off without a hitch and it was incredible
and it was amazing, and our team dance got the
first perfect score of the season, a perfect forty, and the.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Confetti candons went off and it felt great.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I was so proud of my team and I was
so proud of everything we had done all week, and
that is for sure a massive core memory, not just
from dancing with the stars. For the rest of my life,
I will remember what it felt like to be a
part of that team all week, and then what it
felt like to go out there as a team and
(21:51):
really kill it and then be recognized for it with
a perfect score. I'll remember it forever. So anyway, Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame night, What an incredible night.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
I was so happy with everybody's songs.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
I was standing up in the skybox just listening to
the songs, watching the performances.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And I was like, man, there's a banger of a night.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Like first of all, Alex and Val living on a prayer.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
That dance that Posso was.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Outstanding, just outstanding, brought the house down so great. I
couldn't have loved it anymore. I love their dances. I
love Alex, I love Val. I thought that was just
an absolutely killer dance. And overheard in the ballroom was Flavor,
(22:49):
Flav saying that him selecting a nine on the board
in front of him was a mistake, that he had
wanted to give them a ten, which which means that
was supposed to have been the first perfect score of
the season and that Alex and Vowem would have had
(23:09):
a forty had he not hit a nine instead. But
he went to go hold up his ten paddle and
was then told in his ear, you had selected a nine.
And I have not seen it yet because I haven't
had a chance to watch the show. But apparently he
kind of made a face when he had to hold
up the nine, and it was because he had intended
to select a ten and accidentally selected a nine. So
(23:33):
that is interesting. I thought Flavor Flav brought a lot
of really fun energy, if you.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Know what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. Do
you know what I'm saying. I thought it was really
good energy.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I am gonna say I the scoring on this show
does confuse me. It is a little confusing. I do
think that maybe they could benefit from halfs, you know,
like an eight point five and an eight and then
nine or a nine point five. But like, even when
(24:07):
I think about the team dance scores and I think
about like, you know, I think mainly my main question
would be, I guess for Derek when he gives a
critique to Team Cool about the dance, But then is
you know, says I think the I think the first
dance was better, but then gives us both the same score.
(24:29):
I'm like, hmm, okay, so some of that stuff is
a little confusing to me. I don't think that's out
of line to say it, just sometimes, you know, people
are entitled to do whatever they want and pick the
scores that they want, but it is a little confusing
as both a person on the ballroom floor and also
(24:51):
I think as a viewer, sometimes those things are a
little confusing. Going back to our team dance, I was
team captain, which I took very seriously, and I honestly,
if someone from the winning team was going to go home,
I'm so happy it was me, one hundred percent. If
(25:16):
I had been the team captain and anyone else went home,
I would have been furious with myself. So all week
they kept stressing to us, you know, well, typically someone
from the losing team goes home. Someone from the losing
team goes home. And I was like, okay, well, then
I really don't want us to lose because I don't
(25:37):
want our team to have somebody have to go home.
And then of course the winning team had somebody go home,
and I'm just so happy that it was me, because
if it had been anybody else, I really would have
beaten myself up about that, And now I don't have
to beat myself up about that.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
At least it was me.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
And even as a director, my overall feeling is always
that everything that happens on a set is my responsibility.
If something bad happens, even if I had nothing to
do with it, it's still my responsibility, and I say, I'm
the first person as the director to say.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That's on me.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
And then when anything goes right, I always look for
someone to give the credit to anytime something goes right,
anytime something goes well, I'm always going to say that
couldn't have happened without the props department, That couldn't have
happened without the wardrobe department, That couldn't have happened without
so and so actor, that couldn't have happened without blink.
(26:34):
And I just feel like that's a really great way
of making your team know that they are valued and
also that they're protected that if something goes wrong, I'm
not gonna throw them under the bus. It's my responsibility.
I'm in charge. And that's exactly the attitude I brought
to this team Dance was like, Okay, I have to
set the tone, even though the pros are the ones
(26:55):
doing all the choreography and or definitely taking the lead
and definitely teaching us and doing all the time management.
As far as like setting the tone, that was what
I wanted to do. I just wanted to set a
really positive, lovely tone where everyone felt valued and respected
and safe, safe to speak up, safe to say what
(27:16):
they wanted and valued, that their energy and their their
genius that they bring to this is of worth. And
so I hope that I did that. Putting together this
(27:45):
team was not.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
By chance.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Funny story that I told also on the show, and
I guess they chose not to use in our package.
But since day one in New York at GMA, Dylan
and I formed an alliance. It feels and sounds kind
of like a joke because we shot it as a
TikTok where I said, you know, do you want to
form an alliance with me? It was from the office,
(28:13):
and he said, yes.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yes I do. But we took it very seriously. We
really can.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
We really told ourselves we're in an alliance, and our
plan was together the two of us let's make it
to the finals. And we have become really very much
best friends on this little ballroom competition show and on
(28:39):
the cup.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
On the Monday before.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We had to do the team picks, Dylan and I
were talking and we were like, who.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Becomes the team captains?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Because there's not a whole lot of them, Like, we
don't get a lot of early information. We will know like, oh,
team ances coming up, but they don't ever, they don't
really like sit us down a full week before and go, FYI,
here's how it works, and we'll determine who's the lowest,
you know, the lowest voted or the lowest rated couples,
(29:12):
and then those people will become team captains. We just
kind of have to like figure it out a little
bit on our own. And so we were like, wait,
who becomes team captains? How does this work for this
team dance? And we realized it was the two lowest
scored contestants. So Dylan and I went through and added
up all the points throughout the entire season and we
figured out that Andy was the lowest, and then the
next lowest was Jen, and then the third lowest was me,
(29:37):
and then Dylan, I think was a couple above me.
Maybe he was fourth, I don't remember, and I was like, wow, okay,
Jen and I were only separated by two points, And
so there were two ways I could end up being
the second lowest after Andy one that week last week.
(29:58):
If Jen did better than me in the scores for
only separated by two points, if she gets four nines
and I get two eights and two nines, we're now
at the very least tide.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Or if she just overall scores.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Better than me, more than two points better than me,
I now become the second lowest voted. The other way
I could end up being the second lowest is if
Jen went home. So the fact that there were two
ways that it could end up being that I was
no longer third on the list, that I was going
to be number two on the list meant that I
(30:36):
wanted to start thinking about who would I pick if
I end up being a team captain.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
I want to be prepared.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I don't want to on the night, you know, all
of a sudden we find out I'm a team captain
and have not thought of this at all. So Dylan
and I started talking, what are we going to do?
What do we think the perfect strategy is, And of
course I wanted to be on a team with Dylan,
one because I love him, and two because he is
(31:01):
partnered with Danny, who I think is one of the
best choreographers. And I also just I just wanted to
be with them. So I texted Dylan and I was like,
what is our strategy here? And Dylan put together an
Excel spreadsheet. This is one of the benefits of being
in an alliance with someone who can win traders. He
(31:27):
put together an Excel spreadsheet with all the different possibilities
of well, let's see, depending on who goes home this,
you know, you might want to pick this person or
this person or that person or whatever. And by the
time we went through the spreadsheet, I had written to
him in one text dream team Whitney, you me Jordan,
(31:52):
and he was like, that's the team. And then the
next morning, which was Tuesday morning, the day of the
live show, last week's live show, he said, I was
up thinking about this all night and I said I
was too, and he said, if you pick Whitney first,
(32:15):
I really think you should make your second pick Jordan,
because there is no way Jordan is going to go
till the very end, and I think you gamble with
me as your third pick. He said, I don't care
about it looking like I'm last to be picked on
the schoolyard. He's like, just let's take a gamble. Of course,
(32:36):
there's a possibility that Andy ends up picking me and
I don't end up on your team, but I think
it's worth the gamble, and I think you need Jordan
and Whitney. And I was like, okay, I think you're right.
I think that's probably the smart move. And then we
get up there into the skybox and we're picking and
Andy gets to pick first, and I had suspected that
(32:59):
if Andy was going to pick first, he was going
to pick Robert first, and sure enough, Andy goes Robert,
I'm bringing Robert, and I go, okay, it's now my turn.
I go I'm taking Whitney, and Whitney comes to my side.
And then Andy gets to go with the second pick,
and Andy picked Alex and he takes Alex and I go, okay,
(33:24):
here's my second pick. I'm going to take Jordan, and
I get Jordan on my team, and now it's down
to Elane and Dylan as the last two. But Elaine
wasn't there because she had been injured, and so it
was Alan standing there. So it was Alan and Dylan
standing in front of us, and Andy goes, Dylan, and
(33:46):
my heart sinks. I'm like, my gamble, my gamble of
taking Dylan third is not going to pay off. And
then immediately after Andy says, I love you, but I've
got to go with the lane, and Alan goes walking
over to Andy and Dylan and I locked eyes and
(34:07):
Dylan goes, oh.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
My god, it worked.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
He mouthed it to me from across the skybox, and
I'm like, and Dylan comes walking over and yeah, I
just I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
It was so special.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
And then the way the week went and the team
dance went, I really felt like, yeah, that was good.
That was good strategy. It really worked for us. It
was such a special week. And the fact that even I,
you know, the fact that I got eliminated tonight is
just not even it really can't bring down the immense
(34:47):
joy and pride and fun I had in these last
you know, eleven weeks of my life. It's been almost
three months, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Look
at my little beautiful picture here. I think this was
a gift just from things remembered, but I'm not sure
it could have actually been from someone but without a card.
(35:08):
But it's got a picture of Pasha and me in
it and at the bottom it says Dancing with the
Stars Season thirty four, and I love it. I have
so many great memories from this experience that I'll have
with me for the rest of my life, and including
doing this podcast for you guys. Thank you for humoring
me and letting me just have this experience. It's been
(35:32):
so fun. I'm not stopping. There are still three weeks
left in the competition, and I'm going to keep this
podcast going until the season ends. I'm still going to
bring you some great guests. I want to interview Kimmy,
my hairdresser. I want to interview Dan Yella, the costumer.
I want to interview Alfonso. I'd love to interview Julianne.
(35:55):
I have so many people I want to interview and
bring to you guys. So I'm still I'm still going
to do all that. I'm still going to make sure
that goes on. Even though I am no longer in
the competition, I still am a part of the Dancing
with the Stars family now and especially this twentieth year
and this thirty fourth season. I don't know if I'm
going to be in the ballroom next week for the
(36:16):
twentieth anniversary. There's a big party and I might go
for that, and then I will be in the finale.
Everybody comes back for the finale. I'll probably get to
do a little two eight counts or something with Pasha,
which will be really fun.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
And yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I've loved every moment of this journey and I thank
you for all of your votes. I thank you for
all of your comments. I thank you for all of
your support. It's really been the experience of a lifetime.
And also there's just so many people I have to
think that I will start crying. But thank you to
my husband, Jensen Karp, producer, husband of this podcast, who
(37:03):
I really wouldn't have been able to do this experience without.
He's just been He's been there every week, he's been
there every single day for our kids. He's made sure
they were taken care of. He's made sure the house
has functioned, he's made sure everything has gone off without
a hitch, so that I've really been able to just
give myself this gift for these last three months of
(37:25):
just really focusing on me and it was really really,
really really nice. It was quite a gift, So I
owe him a big gift. And also, of course thank
you to Pasha, who made this entire experience beautiful from
the first day we met, and I'm so glad that
(37:47):
we're neighbors and we're in each other's lives forever. And
thank you to Dina and to Conrad from the BBC
and from Dancing with the Stars. I love you the
entire crew. If I were to name everybody, it take
me forever. But some people I really specifically really love
(38:10):
the hair and makeup and wardrobe team, all of security.
I love the security guys, They're so great. Dave, Mike everyone,
I love you all, all the camera guys, all the producers,
everybody at Highland honestly, which reminds me. I have a
bunch of shirts I have to give out. I made
(38:33):
to Pasha air shirts with the logo of Pasha holding
me in that Argentine tango last final pose, and I
have them in my car and there. It was a
gift for everybody at Highland and now I have to
Now I have to give those out anyway, Thank you
all for listening to this episode of Danielle with I
will see you all next week. I might wear my
(38:56):
Dancing with the Stars robe, I won't be in hair
and makeup. You're gonna you're gonna see like back to normal,
normal Danielle. Not this like such a glamorous version of
Danielle that that I.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Get to experience.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
That's now gone until the finale. Anyway, Thank you all,
Talk to you next time.
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Bye.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Danielle with the Stars produced and hosted by Danielle Fischell.
Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman, Executive in charge
of production Danielle Romo, Producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbosch.
Theme song by Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram at
Danielle with Stars and vote for me
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