November 12, 2025 • 45 mins
Danielle may have been eliminated last week, but nothing could stop her from sitting in the ballroom for the 20th anniversary of DWTS!
Hear all about the star studded audience and the bitter sweet feeling of having a brand new POV of the action.
Plus, Danielle gets emotional talking about the dance evolution of her peers and even gives you a behind the scenes look at the exclusive after party!
It’s all on a brand new, anniversary edition of Danielle With…
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello, it is that time again. I am Danielle Fischl,
TV director, podcaster, mother of two, and unless you commonly
pass a very specific off ramp on the one oh
one freeway in the San Fernando Valley, I'm probably the
first thing you think of when you hear the word
to panga. But if you are one of the millions
(00:38):
and millions of people who have kept up with Dancing
with the Stars over the past twenty years of its
reality show Supremacy, you may recognize me as a contestant
on season thirty four of the program, recently eliminated with
just three shows left, and one of those shows, a
very special anniversary event took place tonight, and I was
(01:00):
lucky enough to be seated in the ballroom for all
of the festivities, and I am so excited to tell
you about what I saw, which is the reason for
this year podcast. It is my hope that I could
bring listeners along for my journey from no prior dance
experience to some dance experience, to the Elite eight to
(01:24):
a pair of impressive seats Tonight. Like I said, tonight
was the twenty year extravaganza, with just seven couples left,
each celebrity was tasked with creating a dance inspired by
a former standout freestyle from the show's history, and then
they would be paired with a former celebrity champion for
(01:45):
a relay dance. All assignments that sound very overwhelming having
been a part of the schedule, So I am home.
I just had the most amazing night at the twentieth
anniversary party of Dance with the Stars, and I wore
a really beautiful yellow dress. I was completely obsessed with
(02:08):
this dress. I will say it was more body hugging
than I'm used to wearing, and so I was kind
of like adjusting my dress all night anyway, As any
woman knows if you have been I also had to
wear a strapless bra. If you have ever worn a
strapless bra, if you have ever worn a bra, you
know that the very first thing you do, the very
(02:30):
first thing you do when you get home, is take
that sucker off. Just sometimes you don't even wait till
you're all the way in the door. Sometimes I open
up my car door, and if my kids are not
with me, and I don't have to deal with getting
them out of their car seats, if I just fly
open my door, the very first thing I'm doing is
reaching my hand under my shirt and unclasping that bra,
and I'm getting that bad boy off. So I got
home and immediately ripped off my dress and my undergarments
(02:54):
and I put on my pajamas and I am wearing
the in my jam collaboration that Jenna Johnson did where
she for all boy Moms, we know that one of
the hardest parts of only having boys and not having
a daughter is that they don't make many matching clothes
for moms and sons. And Jenna having a son Rome,
(03:18):
I figured out that that is something that you could
fix pretty easily and doing it really well with pajamas. Anyway,
she gifted me these pajamas a pair for my youngest son, Keaton,
because I think they only go to four te and
this that I'm wearing now, and these are so comfortable.
But I'm realizing as I'm starting to talk to you
that the tag is still on it. It's just aggressively hanging. Anyway,
(03:45):
I before we get into the details of tonight, I
want to talk to you about what it was like
for me. So selfish, that's my podcast. It's okay, I'm
allowed to I'm allowed to talk about myself. First. I
want to talk about what it was like for me
to be back in the ballroom my first week not competing.
(04:07):
I was really excited to go, and I was nervous
that I was going to feel very sad that I
wasn't competing. And there's definitely I'm not gonna lie and
say that there's no sadness that I was that I'm
not still part of the competition, or that I didn't
get there tonight and think, oh man, I wish I
(04:27):
wish I had this feeling of like it's show night
and you're in wardrobe and you know you've gone through
here and makeup, and you've got a theme and you're
you know, there was there certainly was. I got there
and there was a part of me that was like,
oh man, I wish I wish this was still my
home for this but it does still feel like my home.
(04:48):
But you know, like I wish I was I had
been here all day. And on the other hand, man,
is it ever fun to like see all these people
I love so so much? And I'm not just talking
about the cast and the pros. I'm actually specifically this
time not talking about them. I'm talking about the crew security,
(05:14):
the PA's chuck my guy, I'm talking about the wardrobe assistance.
I'm talking about the social media team. I'm talking about
all the people that really like make the show, the
stand ins, all the people who make this show from
(05:36):
behind the scenes that you guys never get to see.
Seeing all of them and not having it be a
rushed I'm on my way here, or you need me
to do a social media thing real quick, or or hey,
can you ZiT me into my dress? Or like to
really like see them and give them a hug and
to not feel like I was rushing into the next thing,
(05:58):
or to be paying attention to what time it was,
to just really be living in it, and to still
feel like such a part of it because it is
still season thirty four and I'm still a cast member
of this season. It was so fun, It was really nice.
It was a really good feeling. This crowd too, was
(06:21):
pros and celebs, going all the way back to the
very first season thirty four seasons ago. And I know
for some of you that are newer fans to watching
the show, that's confusing. You're like, how are we only
at twenty years but there's thirty four seasons. They used
to do two seasons a year. They would do a
spring season and they would do a fall season, and
(06:45):
I kind of miss those days. I kind of miss
those days of two seasons. But of course it's obviously
the show is very expensive, and you know, it's a
big old production. It also used to be two nights.
The show itself would be on Monday nights, and then
on Tuesday it would be the results. So if you
(07:06):
watched the show tonight, you may have seen Tom bergeron
who came back just an absolute legend of hosting, came
back tonight as a guest judge, and he in I
wonder if they it was live, I'm assuming so they
couldn't really edit it out. But he made the request
(07:28):
to go back to the days of having a results show,
which I thought was really interesting. Before I went into
the ballroom tonight, I made sure I went and saw
my boy Dylan. I went and met him at his trailer,
and he looked incredible. They were doing an Argentine tango
(07:52):
Dylan and Danny, and I could just tell that he
had had such a good week. We have been in
community every day and I knew he was having a
good week, but I knew he also was feeling the pressure.
This was a week he really wanted and needed to
have a breakout week. He really wanted to rise to
(08:16):
the occasion, rise above the pack, and have a standout,
spectacular dance. And I knew he was feeling the pressure.
And I said, how are you feeling and he said,
I'm feeling good. He said, our rehearsals have all gone
really well. And he said, but you know, sometimes you
have like some really good rehearsals and you have really
good camera blocking, and then you just get super nervous
(08:37):
before the show and you don't know, you don't know
what's going to happen. And I was like, you've got this.
You've definitely got this. And he was paired with Rumor
Willis for the relay race. And you know, anybody who
watches this show and has watched this show knows that
(09:01):
Danny cannot hide what she's feeling. It is on her face.
And she came out from her trailer and I said,
how's it going this week? How's it going with Rumor?
And she said they are incredible. She's like, honestly, they
(09:22):
should like compete together, like it's unbelievable, and I just
instantly my heart was just so full, and I was
so happy because I knew that if there was if
any of that wasn't true, it wouldn't it wouldn't be
coming out of Danny's mouth like and I just knew, Okay,
he's he's got this relay and he has got this
(09:45):
great dance, and my proud bestie heart can relax. And
then we went into the ballroom and it was packed
with friends and former pros and celebs. I finally got
(10:05):
to meet Louie van Amstell, who you guys know I
interviewed the week that I ended up being eliminated. He
was the first person I got to share what my
contemporary dance was about. And I'm so grateful that I
got to have that conversation with him and that we
did that podcast before the show even aired, because I
(10:27):
always would have wondered if any of you would have
thought that I was making it up, that that's what
my dance was about, and that it wasn't in my
package if I hadn't talked about it with Louie before
that episode even aired. Anyway, Louie and I had never
met face to face, and we have communicated since the
podcast that we did together, and I was so excited
to meet him tonight. We didn't get to talk for
(10:48):
very long because he came up to give me a
hug while I was in the middle of my conversation
with Danny and Dylan, and so we didn't get to
talk for as long as I wanted to. But boy,
it was so nice to meet him face to face
and to give him a hug. He is such a warm, thoughtful,
lovely man, and I hope that it's not the last
(11:10):
time I see him. I want to see him again.
He was just really great. Some other friends and people
that you may know and that I know that we're
in the audience. I saw Candice Cameron Beret was there.
Danica mckeller was there. I saw a sign that Jaliel
White was gonna be there. His name was on his chair.
(11:31):
I did not see him, and I don't know if
that means he wasn't there. I'm sure he was. I
need to text him. I will ask him if he
was there, but I wish I had seen him. Sharna
Burgess of course was there. I saw Peta was there.
Sean Johnson was there, Christi Yamaguchi was there, Donald Driver
(11:51):
was there. Rashad Jennings was there. He was obviously in
the show. He was competing with Elaine. It was us.
It was just a star studded, fantastic night. Apollo Ono
was there. He competed with Jordan. That was pretty amazing.
We'll get into all the relay race stuff. One of
(12:14):
the things they did tonight to celebrate the anniversary is
they had lots of archival footage over the last twenty
years of the show, former pros as kids, basically from
when they started on the show, Tom Bergrown, lots of
Len Goodman. They did a beautiful in memoriam package and
(12:36):
had a beautiful dance that Riley and Ezra performed to
the in memoriam section of the show. Just a really
beautiful celebration. Also, I'd love to talk about that opening
number choreographed by Derek huff Boy, was it beautiful? Started
(12:59):
off with the six original pros from the show, and
they did a beautiful job, so gorgeous, and then it
continued down onto the ballroom floor with all the current pros.
Really fast paced, I mean fast, fast, fast, fast fast,
and Alan had to he was in the opening number,
(13:22):
and then he was also the first performer of the
night with Elaine and they were doing as alsa, so
he also, like that was super fast. So I'm not
even sure how he caught his breath to open the
show like that, but opening number was just absolutely beautiful.
And then, of course I've mentioned it a few times,
(13:43):
there was the reveal of Tom Berger, on which everyone
knew he was going to be there, but it was
so fun and so great, and I know Julianne got
emotional introducing him. I don't even know all the details,
but I know that he was fired after a certain
period of time, and I know that he was heartbroken,
and I don't remember what the situation was, but I
(14:05):
do know that there was not always good blood there
after that happened. And since that time, it's water under
the bridge and they have made up and hands have changed,
you know, people who used who were in charge at
that time are no longer in charge. And it was
a really nice homecoming for everybody to have Tom back
in the ballroom. I thought he did a really great
(14:31):
job judging, I really did, and I didn't know what
to expect because as a host, you know, he's not
a dance expert, and so you know, I thought he
did the perfect thing, which was he didn't offer any
critiques about the dancing. He didn't say anything like about,
you know, putting energy in your fingertips or something where
(14:54):
it's like, sir, is that your area of expertise? He
didn't do any of that. He just said what he
connected with. He gave them compliments, He talked about how
something made him feel. He talked about their shared history,
if they had shared history. I thought he did a
really nice job and blended in very well with our
(15:18):
other fantastic judges. I really do. I think he did
a great job. I really enjoyed him. I also, before
they went out onto the floor, I got to see Whitney.
I also got to see Robert. My Robert. I am
another one. I just you know, love so very much,
(15:40):
and every time we see each other, we just have
so much to say. And I hope that I feel
oh am I getting emotional. I always hope with my
friends that I feel like a safe space to open
(16:01):
up and share things with. I want that for all
my friends. But there are sometimes there are some people
who seemingly have just everything going for them, but they're young,
and I know how overwhelming it can be to have
(16:26):
so much pressure on your shoulders and to have so
much going on and to be, you know, to be
such a positive force like Robert is, and for people
to want you to maintain that, and he has. He
(16:47):
has never once complained about a single thing ever. But
I hope he knows that I'm always there for him.
And I feel like when I see him and I'm
able to say how are you, and we actually really
get to connect and I get to hear about the
highs of the week, the lows of the week, what
(17:09):
he's looking forward to, what his anxieties are about that
night or whatever. It's just every single time I see him,
I walk away feeling better, and I hope he feels
the same way. I just every time I see him,
I get so bright inside. And it was great to
see him, and I did say I was like, Robert,
(17:30):
I don't think I have a single picture with you.
So we took a picture tonight and it's very cute.
I love it so much. I also took a great
picture with Dylan because I realized, like, how is it
possible I don't have pictures with my friends like I
have so few pictures with these people, but I'm not
good about remembering to take pictures. We will be taping
(17:54):
a live episode of Danielle With at Disney California Adventure
Park on December fourth. If you live in the Southern
California area or if you can 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
(18:16):
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, 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
(18:40):
the chance to meet us while we are taping an
episode of Danielle With inside Disney California Adventure Park. Visit
Coast one oh three five dot com forward slash Danielle
With now to enter for your chance to win. Let's
(19:02):
jump into the individual dances. Alex and Val did a
foxtrot to sing into the rain, and it was unbelievable.
I mean, the judges absolutely loved it. It was an
absolute ten ten, ten, ten, a perfect forty, truly beautiful.
(19:24):
I I'm gonna go out on a limb. I don't
even know if it's a limb. I'm going to say
I think Alex is the best dancer on the show
right now. I just do. I think she's the best
dancer on the show. I previously, I don't know. She
(19:45):
has grown so much, and I thought she started as
a great dancer. I like week one was like, Wow,
she's really talented. She has grown leaps and bounds, and
she's also really to see her personality develop and to
(20:07):
see her become more comfortable being on television. I don't
think she had ever even really been on television before
Dancing with the Stars, certainly not live television. I mean,
of course she's a world renowned social media maven, but
like to watch her grow and develop like this has
(20:28):
been just spectacular to witness, and I'm so proud of her,
so proud of her to watch her go out there
and kill it with val tonight, and you know, she
just keeps building, She just keeps building. She's stunning, she's graceful,
she's moving across the floor. She's really I don't know.
(20:51):
I think she's I think she's the top dancer right now.
Robert and Whitney did Footprints in the Sand. They did
a fox trot, which was inspired by Bindy's freestyle. It
was a dedication dance to their dad. Really, another beautiful,
fantastic foxtrot. Ten's across the board again. It was actually
(21:15):
the first full forty for an individual dance. Team Chicago
had the first full forty the week I got eliminated,
but that was a team dance. Robert's dance tonight was
the first perfect ten dance across the board and the
gold confetti cannons went off, and I was sitting on
(21:37):
the ballroom floor and I was watching everybody celebrate, watching
everybody celebrate in the skybox, and I was sitting there,
and then they went to commercial, and I realized, like, oh,
because we're at commercial, there's still like two and a
half minutes. And I thought I literally might get tackled.
I don't know, but I'm going to run up to
(22:00):
the skybox and grab him and give him a hug.
And I did. I just jumped up from my seat
and I ran across the floor and a woman in
a red shirt said to me, like hi, and I
was like, Hi, I have to go doctor Robert. And
she was like okay. I have no idea if she
knew who I was or if she was just like
I'm not gonna stop this lady who's running. But I
(22:23):
ran upstairs into the skybox and I grabbed him and
I told him how proud of him I was. Oh
my gosh, I was just so excited for him, just
so proud and so excited. I wish I could stop
crying because I feel a little like a crazy lady
who just keeps crying over a dancing show. But I'm
(22:46):
just so proud of everybody. Okay, I'm gonna move on.
Whitney and Mark did an Argentine tango to sell Block Tango.
I think it's from Chicago, if I'm not mistaken. I
thought this dance was just spectacular. I mean, I know
I've said that now about every single dance, but I mean,
(23:07):
I guess that's to be expected when you're in week
nine out of eleven. It was remarkable, the lifts that
they did, the tricks that they did Whitney split the
just every single thing about it. It was intense, it
was sultry, it was it was filled with personality. It
(23:33):
was just beautiful. And I saw in the package that
Whitney had said that she was having a hard time
getting the quick flicks and kicks, and man, you would
never know it because she looked phenomenal. And I know
that Mark really pushes her, which is exactly what she wants,
(23:57):
and it pays off every single week. I look forward
to their dances every single week. I thought she looked amazing.
I thought Mark looked amazing. I thought this was spectacularly done.
And then Dylan and Daniella Ain't No Sunshine they did
an Argentine tango. I was nervous when I heard that
(24:21):
they were doing an Argentine tango Ain't No Sunshine. I
was like, I can't picture how this song is going
to work with an Argentine tango. I loved the song. Oh,
I forgot to tell you. Whitney and Mark also perfect
tense forty across the board. And then because they had
(24:43):
immunity from the relay race, which means they didn't need
to do the relay race, they were automatically given two points,
so she ended up with she had forty two points
before the relay even started because she was just given
the two points. Another perfect dance, just absolutely nothing, no notes,
no notes, perfect dance. Uh, Dylan and Daniella this They're
(25:07):
Argentine Tango. I think this Argentine Tango. I'm not just biased.
I think Danny and Dylan's Argentine Tango is the dance
of the night for me. And there were so many
great dances tonight it's hard for me to pick. I
freaking loved h this Argentine Tango. I loved every single
(25:30):
aspect of it. I thought Dylan was such a star,
such a star. He knew he needed to have a
breakout night. He was not thrilled with the way last
week went. He really wanted to step up his game tonight,
and boy did he. He was so in character, he
(25:54):
was so strong, he was leading so well. The lifts just,
I mean, truly, just unbelievable. This dance from beginning to
end was perfect. And I cried, which will not surprise
those of you who are listening to this podcast, where
(26:17):
I've already cried like six times. I cried the minute
it was over because I from the conversation I had
with him before the night started, through the conversations I
had with him this week, I knew how important this
night was to him, and I knew how important this
breakthrough feeling was. And boy, oh boy, watching him just
(26:41):
kill it. I was through the roof, just through the roof.
And when he went up there and then they got
their perfect scores, I wanted to do the same thing
I had done for Robert, and I wanted to run
up there into the skybox, but there was only one
minute before Jordan and Ezra were performing, and I knew
(27:03):
I wouldn't have time to run up to the skybox,
give him a hug, and get back into my seat,
so I stayed in my seat. But man, gosh, what
a what a night. Then there was Andy and Emma,
who did a quick step to putting on the ritz.
And you know, spoiler alert if you haven't heard, if
(27:26):
you are listening to this before you watch the show,
first of all, what are you doing? But if you
are listening to this before you've watched the show, Andy
and Emma, Andy went home tonight. And the interesting thing
is that of all the nights, I thought tonight was
(27:49):
the most impressive night Andy had had since he held
the camera in his hand. When everybody fell in love
with him that night, I thought, I, you know, when
I heard they were doing a quick step, me along
with the rest of the world, was probably like, h
how's a quick step gonna go? I know Andy struggles
(28:11):
with his knees. I know he recently had just posted
he had a bunch of fluid drained from his knees.
It was a hot, hot post. And I thought, Wow,
how's he gonna know? What's he gonna do a quick step?
And then I thought, well, it's probably not going to
be that quick and there's probably not going to be
that many steps, and it's just gonna they're gonna call
(28:32):
it a quick step. But how quick and how many
steps can it be? I thought it had significantly more
content than I thought it was going to and I
he there were times that he really moved. I was impressed.
I was like, Wow, that was more than I that
(28:54):
that was more than I thought it was going to be.
And so I was then kind of surprised. And then
with the relay dance, which I'll get into. The relay dance,
Emma is such a marketing genius. And you know, she's
starting a marketing company after the season ends, and I
(29:15):
will probably be the very first person to hire her
because she's literally a genius. She's a marketing genius. It's incredible.
And what she did with the relay, you know, she
was like, Okay, I mean, I don't even know I'm
putting words in her mouth because I have not had
(29:35):
this conversation with her, but I imagine that some of
what she was thinking was, Okay, we're up against Dylan
and rumor willis they're going to be able to dance
circles around us. We are going to have to lean
into the entertainment value and him Andy's you know, Caitlin
(29:57):
Bristow ripping open his shirt and having that those abs
under there, that T shirt. I thought, wow, if if
there were, however many people voting for Andy before, they
are having an influx of phone calls, of votes and texts.
I don't know why I'm saying phone calls. What year
is this? Nineteen eighty five? Like they are getting text
(30:21):
votes up the wazoo. Okay, I am eighty five before
Andy tonight, and so I was I was really I mean,
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was somehow
surprised that Andy went home tonight. I I don't know how. Yeah,
(30:43):
and then we have Elaine and Alan it takes two.
They did a salsa, which I thought the salsa was
was really great. Elaine in that green. I don't know
that I would have ever thought that anybody could look
good in that kind of uh. I don't even know
what you would call it, neon lime green, but boy,
that is a great color for her. I saw her
(31:05):
backstage in the breezeway before she went out there, and
I was like, oh my gosh, you look spectacular. They
kicked off the show, Like I said, I do not
know how Alan even had the breath to do a
salsa right after doing that opening number. He had to
do a real quick change, but you know, they kicked
(31:26):
off the show on a real high note. She got
four nines. And then we had Jordan and Ezra. They
did a cha cha to get up and she got
three nines and a ten. And I thought that last
move they did in the dance with Ezra, they were
(31:49):
like kind of stacked on top of each other. It
was like a thrust move where they were stacked on
top of each other. It was so great. And to
see Jordan be real spice see and fun. I thought
it was super sexy. I thought they absolutely knocked it
out of the park. Overall, tonight was just, you know,
(32:10):
I guess I should not be surprised. It's week nine.
Everybody had to step up their game, and the performances
tonight showed it. It was just it was really fun.
And then there was a relay race. The relay races
were set up so there were seven couples tonight, but
as I mentioned, Whitney did not have to compete in
(32:31):
the relay, so Whitney was safe from that, which means
there were six couples competing in the relay. They were
then paired up and the two couples would compete to
one song, so someone would have forty the first forty
five seconds of a song and somebody else had the
next forty five seconds of a song. Jordan and Ezra
were paired with Apollo Ono, which means Jordan was dancing
(32:55):
with Apollo Ono and Ezra was not on the floor.
And then Dylan and Danny with Rumor Willis. Dylan was
with Rumor Andy and Emma had Caitlin Bristow. Caitlin was
with Andy. Robert and Whitney had Sochi Gomez, which means
Robert dance with Sochi. Elaine and Alan had Rashad Jennings.
Rashad danced with Elaine and Alex and Val had Joey
(33:19):
Gratzia Day and so yeah, Alex got to dance with Joey,
and I thought their package at the beginning, showing that
Alex ended up with a bloody nose because Joey kept
hitting Alex's nose in their dance. Alex is she for
(33:40):
look She may look like that, she may look like
a princess and look like a just beautiful barbie, but
she is not afraid to get her hands dirty. She
is not afraid to get thrown to the ground trying
to do a double cartwheel with Val or doing a
trick with Joey. Like she is all in and I
(34:03):
so just love that about her. Rashad Jennings came over
to me last week when I was in the audience
for something else, and he came over to me and
he was very sweet introduced himself to me. It was
so nice to meet him. I got to spend a
little bit of time tonight with him and his wife.
We took a picture together. Really nice to hang out
(34:24):
with him. So Chi Gomez is so sweet. I'm such
a fan. I introduced myself to her a couple of
weeks ago and then got to spend a little bit
of time with her tonight. I think she had an
incredible week with Robert, the two of them being, you know,
so young and energetic and just vivacious, and I can
(34:44):
only imagine how how bubbly this week was around them.
It makes me wonder what it was like to be
Whitney in this situation. When you're a little older and
you're around you know, nineteen and twenty one year old
lots of energy. You're like, did I ever have that
much energy? Did I? Or did I? Did I not?
(35:06):
Caitlin Bristow I did her podcast last week. It's just
she's so fun, so wonderful. It was so great to
see her really leaning into working with Andy and talking
about wanting to see some sex appeal from Andy. I
thought that was really funny. And Andy saying that Emma
won't let him and Caitlyn saying I'll let you. I
(35:28):
just I thought that was really cute rumor Willis and Dylan.
I mean truly looks like they have been dancing together
for years. I can't believe they only met this week,
and I think only had like two days of practice,
maybe three. Really fun to watch them together. I thought
(35:49):
they did an incredible job. Jordan and Apollo Ono. This
dance with the two of them was beautiful. I knew
immediately the fact that they are both in world class athletes.
I was like, man, this is gonna be beautiful. This
(36:11):
is going to be precise, it's going to be crisp,
it's going to be clean, and it was. It was
all of those things, and it was elegant. And to
see Jordan paired with somebody a little more her height
was also really nice. Love my boy Ezra, love their partnership,
love their friendship. Wouldn't change a thing, but you know,
(36:32):
when you're dealing with that big of a height difference,
it's really nice to actually see her have to work
a little less and for Apollo to not have to
work as hard as Ezra has to work to get
down to be more Jordan's height. I just thought it
was really nice and they did such a beautiful job.
I thought that was. I thought it was just a beautiful,
beautiful dance. So of the relay dances, Jordan and Apollo one,
(37:10):
Dylan and Rumor one, and Robert and Sochi one, which
means Robert ended up with forty two points for the night,
Dylan and Danny ended up with forty two points for
the night, Jordan and Ezra ended up with thirty nine
points for the night, and then it was time to
go into the elimination. I was actually shocked that they
(37:36):
did an elimination tonight. It feeling like such a massive
party and celebrating twenty years. I thought, what are the
odds they're going to eliminate anybody tonight, and maybe they'll
just do a double elimination next week. So I was
really surprised. I kept waiting for them to be like,
you were all safe, and then it was like, oh,
we're actually really doing an elimination. So yeah, like I said,
(38:01):
I was actually surprised that it was andy tonight. I thought,
of all the nights, tonight was a night that there
was actually a significant amount of Ammo to quote unquote
justify voting for him, not just because you love him,
not just because you think he's entertaining, not just because
(38:23):
he brings you joy, but because you actually look at
the dance and say, I thought this dance was good,
and I want to see a dance from this person
again next week again, not just because of the joy,
not just because of the fandom, not because of that,
but because of dance ability, Like I actually thought, of
all nights, tonight was one of his best dance performances.
(38:47):
So Andy and Emma made it through week nine. Congratulations
to them on a killer season, and now there are
only six remaining as we go into the semifinals. Next week,
Semifinals week Prince Night, all of the couples will be
(39:09):
dancing to dances too, Prince songs, and gosh, I can't
believe it. After that, there will be I'm assuming it
will be a five couple finale unless they decide to
do a double elimination next week just for the purpose
(39:31):
of having a four person finale. I'm gonna assume it
will be a five person finale. So it's anybody's guess
who's gonna be in the finals. I don't know. It's hard.
I was going to tell you my predictions, but I
(39:51):
don't know. After the show wrapped, After the elimination, Andy
and Emma were told well that it was their last
last performance. Uh. There was a huge twentieth anniversary party
on the stage next door. It was spectacular. They had
(40:13):
Deadline was there doing a not just a photo booth
like real beautiful portrait studios. I got to take some
pictures there. They had a DJ, they had of course
Dancing with the Stars, had a huge dance floor, and
then there was food galore. King's Hawaiian was there and
(40:33):
I ate a lobster roll with on King's Hawaiian bread,
which if you have not had a lobster roll on
King's Hawaiian bread, you really need to, you really need
to experience that. I also had a slice of Margarita
pizza from Casamigos because there was a Casamigos little booth
and they were they had Margarita's and Margarita pizza and
(40:54):
I don't drink, so I skipped the margarita, but I
did have a slice of the Margarita pizza, which was
very good. And then CPK was there and they also
had pizza, and you know, you know your girl loves
her some CPK. I've never turned down CPK ever once
in my life, and so I had that too, and
(41:16):
then I don't know what else it was that was
over there, but it was a bunch of like little
small bites and I had a bunch of little small
bites that were not that memorable. I don't even know
what they were. That was not from CPK, that was
from some other place. I literally don't even remember the
name of it. But there were just little tiny bites
and they were not memorable. The King's Hawaiian place. They
(41:36):
also had brownie bites, and I had brownie bites. And
then Van Lewin was there, Van luin ice cream. I
don't even know that I'm saying that right, but they
were there and they had a peanut butter brownie honeycomb
ice cream. What what is this? So I had two
scoops of that, and then also Randy's famous doughnuts were there,
(41:59):
so I grabbed a dome to go. Also Voss water.
Voss water is the official water of the car household.
I don't know if you guys, I don't know how
you would know that, but this is the water I
keep stocked in our house, Foss water, and I you
know what, it's fancy, and I don't even try to
(42:19):
hide it. Yeah, I'm a fancy water person in our house.
This is the water we have. Look at this one.
Look at this Voss water. It's be dazzled. It's be dazzled.
They only had a handful of them, and I took
a picture of them because they're so beautiful. And the
guy behind the counter said, Danielle, would you like one?
(42:42):
I said, red, really, I can have one, and he
said yes, you're a part of the cast. I don't
know if if that was always their intention, that they
were going to give out these be dazzled, sparkling beauties
to cast members, but I told him, listen, I didn't
win a mirror ball, but now this Voss water is
going to be my mirror ball. I'm really just stacking
(43:04):
up the stuff on my table back here. I just
keep compiling things. But anyway, party was really fun. As
you heard, I basically just ate my way through it.
I did do a workout today. I worked out with
a trainer for the first time and forever, because I
am not going to let this momentum that I have
of being physical and working out of every day just
(43:27):
go to waste. So I have hired a personal trainer.
I worked out with my trainer today and then I
ruined it all by eating multiple pieces of pizza, a
lobster roll, ice cream, a doughnut which I ate on
the way home, and a very rich chocolate brownie. But
you know what I say, I ruined it. I didn't
(43:49):
ruin anything. It was the highlight of my day was
eating all of that delicious food. Okay, maybe not the
highlight of my day. The highlight of my day was
cheering on my friends and watching them all absolutely crushing
on the ballroom floor. But a very very close second
was all that food I ate. Anyway, thank you guys
for listening to this episode. I will talk to you
all again soon. I'm very excited later this week to
(44:12):
be sitting down with Whitney Lovitt. Whitney and I have
a lot to chat about, and I'm very excited to
introduce you all to the Whitney I know and now
love and have gotten to know over the last three months.
I'm looking forward to sharing that person with you all.
(44:36):
So thank you all for listening. This is thank you
for letting me do this every week and talk soon. Bye.
Danielle with the Stars produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.
Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge
of production Danielle Romo, producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbosch.
(44:59):
Theme song by j Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram
at Danielle Woodstars and vote for me
Hello, it is that time again. I am Danielle Fischl,
TV director, podcaster, mother of two, and unless you commonly
pass a very specific off ramp on the one oh
one freeway in the San Fernando Valley, I'm probably the
first thing you think of when you hear the word
to panga. But if you are one of the millions
(00:38):
and millions of people who have kept up with Dancing
with the Stars over the past twenty years of its
reality show Supremacy, you may recognize me as a contestant
on season thirty four of the program, recently eliminated with
just three shows left, and one of those shows, a
very special anniversary event took place tonight, and I was
(01:00):
lucky enough to be seated in the ballroom for all
of the festivities, and I am so excited to tell
you about what I saw, which is the reason for
this year podcast. It is my hope that I could
bring listeners along for my journey from no prior dance
experience to some dance experience, to the Elite eight to
(01:24):
a pair of impressive seats Tonight. Like I said, tonight
was the twenty year extravaganza, with just seven couples left,
each celebrity was tasked with creating a dance inspired by
a former standout freestyle from the show's history, and then
they would be paired with a former celebrity champion for
(01:45):
a relay dance. All assignments that sound very overwhelming having
been a part of the schedule, So I am home.
I just had the most amazing night at the twentieth
anniversary party of Dance with the Stars, and I wore
a really beautiful yellow dress. I was completely obsessed with
(02:08):
this dress. I will say it was more body hugging
than I'm used to wearing, and so I was kind
of like adjusting my dress all night anyway, As any
woman knows if you have been I also had to
wear a strapless bra. If you have ever worn a
strapless bra, if you have ever worn a bra, you
know that the very first thing you do, the very
(02:30):
first thing you do when you get home, is take
that sucker off. Just sometimes you don't even wait till
you're all the way in the door. Sometimes I open
up my car door, and if my kids are not
with me, and I don't have to deal with getting
them out of their car seats, if I just fly
open my door, the very first thing I'm doing is
reaching my hand under my shirt and unclasping that bra,
and I'm getting that bad boy off. So I got
home and immediately ripped off my dress and my undergarments
(02:54):
and I put on my pajamas and I am wearing
the in my jam collaboration that Jenna Johnson did where
she for all boy Moms, we know that one of
the hardest parts of only having boys and not having
a daughter is that they don't make many matching clothes
for moms and sons. And Jenna having a son Rome,
(03:18):
I figured out that that is something that you could
fix pretty easily and doing it really well with pajamas. Anyway,
she gifted me these pajamas a pair for my youngest son, Keaton,
because I think they only go to four te and
this that I'm wearing now, and these are so comfortable.
But I'm realizing as I'm starting to talk to you
that the tag is still on it. It's just aggressively hanging. Anyway,
(03:45):
I before we get into the details of tonight, I
want to talk to you about what it was like
for me. So selfish, that's my podcast. It's okay, I'm
allowed to I'm allowed to talk about myself. First. I
want to talk about what it was like for me
to be back in the ballroom my first week not competing.
(04:07):
I was really excited to go, and I was nervous
that I was going to feel very sad that I
wasn't competing. And there's definitely I'm not gonna lie and
say that there's no sadness that I was that I'm
not still part of the competition, or that I didn't
get there tonight and think, oh man, I wish I
(04:27):
wish I had this feeling of like it's show night
and you're in wardrobe and you know you've gone through
here and makeup, and you've got a theme and you're
you know, there was there certainly was. I got there
and there was a part of me that was like,
oh man, I wish I wish this was still my
home for this but it does still feel like my home.
(04:48):
But you know, like I wish I was I had
been here all day. And on the other hand, man,
is it ever fun to like see all these people
I love so so much? And I'm not just talking
about the cast and the pros. I'm actually specifically this
time not talking about them. I'm talking about the crew security,
(05:14):
the PA's chuck my guy, I'm talking about the wardrobe assistance.
I'm talking about the social media team. I'm talking about
all the people that really like make the show, the
stand ins, all the people who make this show from
(05:36):
behind the scenes that you guys never get to see.
Seeing all of them and not having it be a
rushed I'm on my way here, or you need me
to do a social media thing real quick, or or hey,
can you ZiT me into my dress? Or like to
really like see them and give them a hug and
to not feel like I was rushing into the next thing,
(05:58):
or to be paying attention to what time it was,
to just really be living in it, and to still
feel like such a part of it because it is
still season thirty four and I'm still a cast member
of this season. It was so fun, It was really nice.
It was a really good feeling. This crowd too, was
(06:21):
pros and celebs, going all the way back to the
very first season thirty four seasons ago. And I know
for some of you that are newer fans to watching
the show, that's confusing. You're like, how are we only
at twenty years but there's thirty four seasons. They used
to do two seasons a year. They would do a
spring season and they would do a fall season, and
(06:45):
I kind of miss those days. I kind of miss
those days of two seasons. But of course it's obviously
the show is very expensive, and you know, it's a
big old production. It also used to be two nights.
The show itself would be on Monday nights, and then
on Tuesday it would be the results. So if you
(07:06):
watched the show tonight, you may have seen Tom bergeron
who came back just an absolute legend of hosting, came
back tonight as a guest judge, and he in I
wonder if they it was live, I'm assuming so they
couldn't really edit it out. But he made the request
(07:28):
to go back to the days of having a results show,
which I thought was really interesting. Before I went into
the ballroom tonight, I made sure I went and saw
my boy Dylan. I went and met him at his trailer,
and he looked incredible. They were doing an Argentine tango
(07:52):
Dylan and Danny, and I could just tell that he
had had such a good week. We have been in
community every day and I knew he was having a
good week, but I knew he also was feeling the pressure.
This was a week he really wanted and needed to
have a breakout week. He really wanted to rise to
(08:16):
the occasion, rise above the pack, and have a standout,
spectacular dance. And I knew he was feeling the pressure.
And I said, how are you feeling and he said,
I'm feeling good. He said, our rehearsals have all gone
really well. And he said, but you know, sometimes you
have like some really good rehearsals and you have really
good camera blocking, and then you just get super nervous
(08:37):
before the show and you don't know, you don't know
what's going to happen. And I was like, you've got this.
You've definitely got this. And he was paired with Rumor
Willis for the relay race. And you know, anybody who
watches this show and has watched this show knows that
(09:01):
Danny cannot hide what she's feeling. It is on her face.
And she came out from her trailer and I said,
how's it going this week? How's it going with Rumor?
And she said they are incredible. She's like, honestly, they
(09:22):
should like compete together, like it's unbelievable, and I just
instantly my heart was just so full, and I was
so happy because I knew that if there was if
any of that wasn't true, it wouldn't it wouldn't be
coming out of Danny's mouth like and I just knew, Okay,
he's he's got this relay and he has got this
(09:45):
great dance, and my proud bestie heart can relax. And
then we went into the ballroom and it was packed
with friends and former pros and celebs. I finally got
(10:05):
to meet Louie van Amstell, who you guys know I
interviewed the week that I ended up being eliminated. He
was the first person I got to share what my
contemporary dance was about. And I'm so grateful that I
got to have that conversation with him and that we
did that podcast before the show even aired, because I
(10:27):
always would have wondered if any of you would have
thought that I was making it up, that that's what
my dance was about, and that it wasn't in my
package if I hadn't talked about it with Louie before
that episode even aired. Anyway, Louie and I had never
met face to face, and we have communicated since the
podcast that we did together, and I was so excited
to meet him tonight. We didn't get to talk for
(10:48):
very long because he came up to give me a
hug while I was in the middle of my conversation
with Danny and Dylan, and so we didn't get to
talk for as long as I wanted to. But boy,
it was so nice to meet him face to face
and to give him a hug. He is such a warm, thoughtful,
lovely man, and I hope that it's not the last
(11:10):
time I see him. I want to see him again.
He was just really great. Some other friends and people
that you may know and that I know that we're
in the audience. I saw Candice Cameron Beret was there.
Danica mckeller was there. I saw a sign that Jaliel
White was gonna be there. His name was on his chair.
(11:31):
I did not see him, and I don't know if
that means he wasn't there. I'm sure he was. I
need to text him. I will ask him if he
was there, but I wish I had seen him. Sharna
Burgess of course was there. I saw Peta was there.
Sean Johnson was there, Christi Yamaguchi was there, Donald Driver
(11:51):
was there. Rashad Jennings was there. He was obviously in
the show. He was competing with Elaine. It was us.
It was just a star studded, fantastic night. Apollo Ono
was there. He competed with Jordan. That was pretty amazing.
We'll get into all the relay race stuff. One of
(12:14):
the things they did tonight to celebrate the anniversary is
they had lots of archival footage over the last twenty
years of the show, former pros as kids, basically from
when they started on the show, Tom Bergrown, lots of
Len Goodman. They did a beautiful in memoriam package and
(12:36):
had a beautiful dance that Riley and Ezra performed to
the in memoriam section of the show. Just a really
beautiful celebration. Also, I'd love to talk about that opening
number choreographed by Derek huff Boy, was it beautiful? Started
(12:59):
off with the six original pros from the show, and
they did a beautiful job, so gorgeous, and then it
continued down onto the ballroom floor with all the current pros.
Really fast paced, I mean fast, fast, fast, fast fast,
and Alan had to he was in the opening number,
(13:22):
and then he was also the first performer of the
night with Elaine and they were doing as alsa, so
he also, like that was super fast. So I'm not
even sure how he caught his breath to open the
show like that, but opening number was just absolutely beautiful.
And then, of course I've mentioned it a few times,
(13:43):
there was the reveal of Tom Berger, on which everyone
knew he was going to be there, but it was
so fun and so great, and I know Julianne got
emotional introducing him. I don't even know all the details,
but I know that he was fired after a certain
period of time, and I know that he was heartbroken,
and I don't remember what the situation was, but I
(14:05):
do know that there was not always good blood there
after that happened. And since that time, it's water under
the bridge and they have made up and hands have changed,
you know, people who used who were in charge at
that time are no longer in charge. And it was
a really nice homecoming for everybody to have Tom back
in the ballroom. I thought he did a really great
(14:31):
job judging, I really did, and I didn't know what
to expect because as a host, you know, he's not
a dance expert, and so you know, I thought he
did the perfect thing, which was he didn't offer any
critiques about the dancing. He didn't say anything like about,
you know, putting energy in your fingertips or something where
(14:54):
it's like, sir, is that your area of expertise? He
didn't do any of that. He just said what he
connected with. He gave them compliments, He talked about how
something made him feel. He talked about their shared history,
if they had shared history. I thought he did a
really nice job and blended in very well with our
(15:18):
other fantastic judges. I really do. I think he did
a great job. I really enjoyed him. I also, before
they went out onto the floor, I got to see Whitney.
I also got to see Robert. My Robert. I am
another one. I just you know, love so very much,
(15:40):
and every time we see each other, we just have
so much to say. And I hope that I feel
oh am I getting emotional. I always hope with my
friends that I feel like a safe space to open
(16:01):
up and share things with. I want that for all
my friends. But there are sometimes there are some people
who seemingly have just everything going for them, but they're young,
and I know how overwhelming it can be to have
(16:26):
so much pressure on your shoulders and to have so
much going on and to be, you know, to be
such a positive force like Robert is, and for people
to want you to maintain that, and he has. He
(16:47):
has never once complained about a single thing ever. But
I hope he knows that I'm always there for him.
And I feel like when I see him and I'm
able to say how are you, and we actually really
get to connect and I get to hear about the
highs of the week, the lows of the week, what
(17:09):
he's looking forward to, what his anxieties are about that
night or whatever. It's just every single time I see him,
I walk away feeling better, and I hope he feels
the same way. I just every time I see him,
I get so bright inside. And it was great to
see him, and I did say I was like, Robert,
(17:30):
I don't think I have a single picture with you.
So we took a picture tonight and it's very cute.
I love it so much. I also took a great
picture with Dylan because I realized, like, how is it
possible I don't have pictures with my friends like I
have so few pictures with these people, but I'm not
good about remembering to take pictures. We will be taping
(17:54):
a live episode of Danielle With at Disney California Adventure
Park on December fourth. If you live in the Southern
California area or if you can 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
(18:16):
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, 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
(18:40):
the chance to meet us while we are taping an
episode of Danielle With inside Disney California Adventure Park. Visit
Coast one oh three five dot com forward slash Danielle
With now to enter for your chance to win. Let's
(19:02):
jump into the individual dances. Alex and Val did a
foxtrot to sing into the rain, and it was unbelievable.
I mean, the judges absolutely loved it. It was an
absolute ten ten, ten, ten, a perfect forty, truly beautiful.
(19:24):
I I'm gonna go out on a limb. I don't
even know if it's a limb. I'm going to say
I think Alex is the best dancer on the show
right now. I just do. I think she's the best
dancer on the show. I previously, I don't know. She
(19:45):
has grown so much, and I thought she started as
a great dancer. I like week one was like, Wow,
she's really talented. She has grown leaps and bounds, and
she's also really to see her personality develop and to
(20:07):
see her become more comfortable being on television. I don't
think she had ever even really been on television before
Dancing with the Stars, certainly not live television. I mean,
of course she's a world renowned social media maven, but
like to watch her grow and develop like this has
(20:28):
been just spectacular to witness, and I'm so proud of her,
so proud of her to watch her go out there
and kill it with val tonight, and you know, she
just keeps building, She just keeps building. She's stunning, she's graceful,
she's moving across the floor. She's really I don't know.
(20:51):
I think she's I think she's the top dancer right now.
Robert and Whitney did Footprints in the Sand. They did
a fox trot, which was inspired by Bindy's freestyle. It
was a dedication dance to their dad. Really, another beautiful,
fantastic foxtrot. Ten's across the board again. It was actually
(21:15):
the first full forty for an individual dance. Team Chicago
had the first full forty the week I got eliminated,
but that was a team dance. Robert's dance tonight was
the first perfect ten dance across the board and the
gold confetti cannons went off, and I was sitting on
(21:37):
the ballroom floor and I was watching everybody celebrate, watching
everybody celebrate in the skybox, and I was sitting there,
and then they went to commercial, and I realized, like, oh,
because we're at commercial, there's still like two and a
half minutes. And I thought I literally might get tackled.
I don't know, but I'm going to run up to
(22:00):
the skybox and grab him and give him a hug.
And I did. I just jumped up from my seat
and I ran across the floor and a woman in
a red shirt said to me, like hi, and I
was like, Hi, I have to go doctor Robert. And
she was like okay. I have no idea if she
knew who I was or if she was just like
I'm not gonna stop this lady who's running. But I
(22:23):
ran upstairs into the skybox and I grabbed him and
I told him how proud of him I was. Oh
my gosh, I was just so excited for him, just
so proud and so excited. I wish I could stop
crying because I feel a little like a crazy lady
who just keeps crying over a dancing show. But I'm
(22:46):
just so proud of everybody. Okay, I'm gonna move on.
Whitney and Mark did an Argentine tango to sell Block Tango.
I think it's from Chicago, if I'm not mistaken. I
thought this dance was just spectacular. I mean, I know
I've said that now about every single dance, but I mean,
(23:07):
I guess that's to be expected when you're in week
nine out of eleven. It was remarkable, the lifts that
they did, the tricks that they did Whitney split the
just every single thing about it. It was intense, it
was sultry, it was it was filled with personality. It
(23:33):
was just beautiful. And I saw in the package that
Whitney had said that she was having a hard time
getting the quick flicks and kicks, and man, you would
never know it because she looked phenomenal. And I know
that Mark really pushes her, which is exactly what she wants,
(23:57):
and it pays off every single week. I look forward
to their dances every single week. I thought she looked amazing.
I thought Mark looked amazing. I thought this was spectacularly done.
And then Dylan and Daniella Ain't No Sunshine they did
an Argentine tango. I was nervous when I heard that
(24:21):
they were doing an Argentine tango Ain't No Sunshine. I
was like, I can't picture how this song is going
to work with an Argentine tango. I loved the song. Oh,
I forgot to tell you. Whitney and Mark also perfect
tense forty across the board. And then because they had
(24:43):
immunity from the relay race, which means they didn't need
to do the relay race, they were automatically given two points,
so she ended up with she had forty two points
before the relay even started because she was just given
the two points. Another perfect dance, just absolutely nothing, no notes,
no notes, perfect dance. Uh, Dylan and Daniella this They're
(25:07):
Argentine Tango. I think this Argentine Tango. I'm not just biased.
I think Danny and Dylan's Argentine Tango is the dance
of the night for me. And there were so many
great dances tonight it's hard for me to pick. I
freaking loved h this Argentine Tango. I loved every single
(25:30):
aspect of it. I thought Dylan was such a star,
such a star. He knew he needed to have a
breakout night. He was not thrilled with the way last
week went. He really wanted to step up his game tonight,
and boy did he. He was so in character, he
(25:54):
was so strong, he was leading so well. The lifts just,
I mean, truly, just unbelievable. This dance from beginning to
end was perfect. And I cried, which will not surprise
those of you who are listening to this podcast, where
(26:17):
I've already cried like six times. I cried the minute
it was over because I from the conversation I had
with him before the night started, through the conversations I
had with him this week, I knew how important this
night was to him, and I knew how important this
breakthrough feeling was. And boy, oh boy, watching him just
(26:41):
kill it. I was through the roof, just through the roof.
And when he went up there and then they got
their perfect scores, I wanted to do the same thing
I had done for Robert, and I wanted to run
up there into the skybox, but there was only one
minute before Jordan and Ezra were performing, and I knew
(27:03):
I wouldn't have time to run up to the skybox,
give him a hug, and get back into my seat,
so I stayed in my seat. But man, gosh, what
a what a night. Then there was Andy and Emma,
who did a quick step to putting on the ritz.
And you know, spoiler alert if you haven't heard, if
(27:26):
you are listening to this before you watch the show,
first of all, what are you doing? But if you
are listening to this before you've watched the show, Andy
and Emma, Andy went home tonight. And the interesting thing
is that of all the nights, I thought tonight was
(27:49):
the most impressive night Andy had had since he held
the camera in his hand. When everybody fell in love
with him that night, I thought, I, you know, when
I heard they were doing a quick step, me along
with the rest of the world, was probably like, h
how's a quick step gonna go? I know Andy struggles
(28:11):
with his knees. I know he recently had just posted
he had a bunch of fluid drained from his knees.
It was a hot, hot post. And I thought, Wow,
how's he gonna know? What's he gonna do a quick step?
And then I thought, well, it's probably not going to
be that quick and there's probably not going to be
that many steps, and it's just gonna they're gonna call
(28:32):
it a quick step. But how quick and how many
steps can it be? I thought it had significantly more
content than I thought it was going to and I
he there were times that he really moved. I was impressed.
I was like, Wow, that was more than I that
(28:54):
that was more than I thought it was going to be.
And so I was then kind of surprised. And then
with the relay dance, which I'll get into. The relay dance,
Emma is such a marketing genius. And you know, she's
starting a marketing company after the season ends, and I
(29:15):
will probably be the very first person to hire her
because she's literally a genius. She's a marketing genius. It's incredible.
And what she did with the relay, you know, she
was like, Okay, I mean, I don't even know I'm
putting words in her mouth because I have not had
(29:35):
this conversation with her, but I imagine that some of
what she was thinking was, Okay, we're up against Dylan
and rumor willis they're going to be able to dance
circles around us. We are going to have to lean
into the entertainment value and him Andy's you know, Caitlin
(29:57):
Bristow ripping open his shirt and having that those abs
under there, that T shirt. I thought, wow, if if
there were, however many people voting for Andy before, they
are having an influx of phone calls, of votes and texts.
I don't know why I'm saying phone calls. What year
is this? Nineteen eighty five? Like they are getting text
(30:21):
votes up the wazoo. Okay, I am eighty five before
Andy tonight, and so I was I was really I mean,
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I was somehow
surprised that Andy went home tonight. I I don't know how. Yeah,
(30:43):
and then we have Elaine and Alan it takes two.
They did a salsa, which I thought the salsa was
was really great. Elaine in that green. I don't know
that I would have ever thought that anybody could look
good in that kind of uh. I don't even know
what you would call it, neon lime green, but boy,
that is a great color for her. I saw her
(31:05):
backstage in the breezeway before she went out there, and
I was like, oh my gosh, you look spectacular. They
kicked off the show, Like I said, I do not
know how Alan even had the breath to do a
salsa right after doing that opening number. He had to
do a real quick change, but you know, they kicked
(31:26):
off the show on a real high note. She got
four nines. And then we had Jordan and Ezra. They
did a cha cha to get up and she got
three nines and a ten. And I thought that last
move they did in the dance with Ezra, they were
(31:49):
like kind of stacked on top of each other. It
was like a thrust move where they were stacked on
top of each other. It was so great. And to
see Jordan be real spice see and fun. I thought
it was super sexy. I thought they absolutely knocked it
out of the park. Overall, tonight was just, you know,
(32:10):
I guess I should not be surprised. It's week nine.
Everybody had to step up their game, and the performances
tonight showed it. It was just it was really fun.
And then there was a relay race. The relay races
were set up so there were seven couples tonight, but
as I mentioned, Whitney did not have to compete in
(32:31):
the relay, so Whitney was safe from that, which means
there were six couples competing in the relay. They were
then paired up and the two couples would compete to
one song, so someone would have forty the first forty
five seconds of a song and somebody else had the
next forty five seconds of a song. Jordan and Ezra
were paired with Apollo Ono, which means Jordan was dancing
(32:55):
with Apollo Ono and Ezra was not on the floor.
And then Dylan and Danny with Rumor Willis. Dylan was
with Rumor Andy and Emma had Caitlin Bristow. Caitlin was
with Andy. Robert and Whitney had Sochi Gomez, which means
Robert dance with Sochi. Elaine and Alan had Rashad Jennings.
Rashad danced with Elaine and Alex and Val had Joey
(33:19):
Gratzia Day and so yeah, Alex got to dance with Joey,
and I thought their package at the beginning, showing that
Alex ended up with a bloody nose because Joey kept
hitting Alex's nose in their dance. Alex is she for
(33:40):
look She may look like that, she may look like
a princess and look like a just beautiful barbie, but
she is not afraid to get her hands dirty. She
is not afraid to get thrown to the ground trying
to do a double cartwheel with Val or doing a
trick with Joey. Like she is all in and I
(34:03):
so just love that about her. Rashad Jennings came over
to me last week when I was in the audience
for something else, and he came over to me and
he was very sweet introduced himself to me. It was
so nice to meet him. I got to spend a
little bit of time tonight with him and his wife.
We took a picture together. Really nice to hang out
(34:24):
with him. So Chi Gomez is so sweet. I'm such
a fan. I introduced myself to her a couple of
weeks ago and then got to spend a little bit
of time with her tonight. I think she had an
incredible week with Robert, the two of them being, you know,
so young and energetic and just vivacious, and I can
(34:44):
only imagine how how bubbly this week was around them.
It makes me wonder what it was like to be
Whitney in this situation. When you're a little older and
you're around you know, nineteen and twenty one year old
lots of energy. You're like, did I ever have that
much energy? Did I? Or did I? Did I not?
(35:06):
Caitlin Bristow I did her podcast last week. It's just
she's so fun, so wonderful. It was so great to
see her really leaning into working with Andy and talking
about wanting to see some sex appeal from Andy. I
thought that was really funny. And Andy saying that Emma
won't let him and Caitlyn saying I'll let you. I
(35:28):
just I thought that was really cute rumor Willis and Dylan.
I mean truly looks like they have been dancing together
for years. I can't believe they only met this week,
and I think only had like two days of practice,
maybe three. Really fun to watch them together. I thought
(35:49):
they did an incredible job. Jordan and Apollo Ono. This
dance with the two of them was beautiful. I knew
immediately the fact that they are both in world class athletes.
I was like, man, this is gonna be beautiful. This
(36:11):
is going to be precise, it's going to be crisp,
it's going to be clean, and it was. It was
all of those things, and it was elegant. And to
see Jordan paired with somebody a little more her height
was also really nice. Love my boy Ezra, love their partnership,
love their friendship. Wouldn't change a thing, but you know,
(36:32):
when you're dealing with that big of a height difference,
it's really nice to actually see her have to work
a little less and for Apollo to not have to
work as hard as Ezra has to work to get
down to be more Jordan's height. I just thought it
was really nice and they did such a beautiful job.
I thought that was. I thought it was just a beautiful,
beautiful dance. So of the relay dances, Jordan and Apollo one,
(37:10):
Dylan and Rumor one, and Robert and Sochi one, which
means Robert ended up with forty two points for the night,
Dylan and Danny ended up with forty two points for
the night, Jordan and Ezra ended up with thirty nine
points for the night, and then it was time to
go into the elimination. I was actually shocked that they
(37:36):
did an elimination tonight. It feeling like such a massive
party and celebrating twenty years. I thought, what are the
odds they're going to eliminate anybody tonight, and maybe they'll
just do a double elimination next week. So I was
really surprised. I kept waiting for them to be like,
you were all safe, and then it was like, oh,
we're actually really doing an elimination. So yeah, like I said,
(38:01):
I was actually surprised that it was andy tonight. I thought,
of all the nights, tonight was a night that there
was actually a significant amount of Ammo to quote unquote
justify voting for him, not just because you love him,
not just because you think he's entertaining, not just because
(38:23):
he brings you joy, but because you actually look at
the dance and say, I thought this dance was good,
and I want to see a dance from this person
again next week again, not just because of the joy,
not just because of the fandom, not because of that,
but because of dance ability, Like I actually thought, of
all nights, tonight was one of his best dance performances.
(38:47):
So Andy and Emma made it through week nine. Congratulations
to them on a killer season, and now there are
only six remaining as we go into the semifinals. Next week,
Semifinals week Prince Night, all of the couples will be
(39:09):
dancing to dances too, Prince songs, and gosh, I can't
believe it. After that, there will be I'm assuming it
will be a five couple finale unless they decide to
do a double elimination next week just for the purpose
(39:31):
of having a four person finale. I'm gonna assume it
will be a five person finale. So it's anybody's guess
who's gonna be in the finals. I don't know. It's hard.
I was going to tell you my predictions, but I
(39:51):
don't know. After the show wrapped, After the elimination, Andy
and Emma were told well that it was their last
last performance. Uh. There was a huge twentieth anniversary party
on the stage next door. It was spectacular. They had
(40:13):
Deadline was there doing a not just a photo booth
like real beautiful portrait studios. I got to take some
pictures there. They had a DJ, they had of course
Dancing with the Stars, had a huge dance floor, and
then there was food galore. King's Hawaiian was there and
(40:33):
I ate a lobster roll with on King's Hawaiian bread,
which if you have not had a lobster roll on
King's Hawaiian bread, you really need to, you really need
to experience that. I also had a slice of Margarita
pizza from Casamigos because there was a Casamigos little booth
and they were they had Margarita's and Margarita pizza and
(40:54):
I don't drink, so I skipped the margarita, but I
did have a slice of the Margarita pizza, which was
very good. And then CPK was there and they also
had pizza, and you know, you know your girl loves
her some CPK. I've never turned down CPK ever once
in my life, and so I had that too, and
(41:16):
then I don't know what else it was that was
over there, but it was a bunch of like little
small bites and I had a bunch of little small
bites that were not that memorable. I don't even know
what they were. That was not from CPK, that was
from some other place. I literally don't even remember the
name of it. But there were just little tiny bites
and they were not memorable. The King's Hawaiian place. They
(41:36):
also had brownie bites, and I had brownie bites. And
then Van Lewin was there, Van luin ice cream. I
don't even know that I'm saying that right, but they
were there and they had a peanut butter brownie honeycomb
ice cream. What what is this? So I had two
scoops of that, and then also Randy's famous doughnuts were there,
(41:59):
so I grabbed a dome to go. Also Voss water.
Voss water is the official water of the car household.
I don't know if you guys, I don't know how
you would know that, but this is the water I
keep stocked in our house, Foss water, and I you
know what, it's fancy, and I don't even try to
(42:19):
hide it. Yeah, I'm a fancy water person in our house.
This is the water we have. Look at this one.
Look at this Voss water. It's be dazzled. It's be dazzled.
They only had a handful of them, and I took
a picture of them because they're so beautiful. And the
guy behind the counter said, Danielle, would you like one?
(42:42):
I said, red, really, I can have one, and he
said yes, you're a part of the cast. I don't
know if if that was always their intention, that they
were going to give out these be dazzled, sparkling beauties
to cast members, but I told him, listen, I didn't
win a mirror ball, but now this Voss water is
going to be my mirror ball. I'm really just stacking
(43:04):
up the stuff on my table back here. I just
keep compiling things. But anyway, party was really fun. As
you heard, I basically just ate my way through it.
I did do a workout today. I worked out with
a trainer for the first time and forever, because I
am not going to let this momentum that I have
of being physical and working out of every day just
(43:27):
go to waste. So I have hired a personal trainer.
I worked out with my trainer today and then I
ruined it all by eating multiple pieces of pizza, a
lobster roll, ice cream, a doughnut which I ate on
the way home, and a very rich chocolate brownie. But
you know what I say, I ruined it. I didn't
(43:49):
ruin anything. It was the highlight of my day was
eating all of that delicious food. Okay, maybe not the
highlight of my day. The highlight of my day was
cheering on my friends and watching them all absolutely crushing
on the ballroom floor. But a very very close second
was all that food I ate. Anyway, thank you guys
for listening to this episode. I will talk to you
all again soon. I'm very excited later this week to
(44:12):
be sitting down with Whitney Lovitt. Whitney and I have
a lot to chat about, and I'm very excited to
introduce you all to the Whitney I know and now
love and have gotten to know over the last three months.
I'm looking forward to sharing that person with you all.
(44:36):
So thank you all for listening. This is thank you
for letting me do this every week and talk soon. Bye.
Danielle with the Stars produced and hosted by Danielle Fischel.
Executive producers Jensen Carp and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge
of production Danielle Romo, producer, editor and engineer Tara Sudbosch.
(44:59):
Theme song by j Justin Siegel. Follow us on Instagram
at Danielle Woodstars and vote for me
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Danielle Fishel
Rider Strong
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