November 26, 2025 • 49 mins
All good things must come to an end…even if you’re too busy foxtrotting to notice. Dancing with the Stars has crowned its new champion, but before the votes were counted, Danielle found herself back in the ballroom for one last dance!
Learn all about last week’s group rehearsals, when every eliminated contestant returned for the season finale. And also - did Dylan somehow find a way to strategize again?
Plus, hear what Danielle thinks about the new champ AND her upcoming participation in the DWTS Live Tour! Will she be in your city?
Get ready for a new, finale-sized episode 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 (00:16):
And just like that, Season thirty four of Dancing with
the Stars has come to a close. The winner has
been crowned, the freestyles have been performed, the confetti canons
have exploded, and I am Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director,
(00:37):
mother of two, and soon to be vagabond, traveling city
to city in the Dancing with the Stars Live Tour.
In the end, it seems I did, indeed become a
professional dancer. I am home now. I am just back
(00:58):
from one of ther's biggest TV moments, the closure for
one of the most memorable few months of my life. Tonight,
I was lucky enough to perform one last time on
the show. But the real news here is that Robert
(01:20):
Irwin is our King of the ballroom. More on that
in just a bit. Because I continue to record this
podcast even through the final musical note, chronicling my own
journey through the show, learning dance from scratch and living
(01:41):
to talk about it, and I continue to fulfill my
professional duty. Please to report back as your eyes and
ears from the season finale. So, oh my gosh, what
a day, What a week, what a few months. The
(02:01):
finale has obviously been in full swing for at least
the last week, but the prep starts for it weeks ago.
You know, the pros are all anybody who's still in
the competition is already having the conversations about finale week.
As a matter of fact, the week I was eliminated,
(02:22):
which was week eight, we had our first creative meeting
about a finale, about a freestyle. What are we going
to do if we if we, you know, get to
the freestyle. So for weeks the couples have been talking
about their plans and what are they going to do
if they are fortunate enough to make it to the finale,
(02:43):
and the pros have been thinking about the choreography, and
the songs have been cleared and the ideas are happening.
So it's been weeks in the making, but it has
really been full swing obviously since last week. I got
to do two little performances on the show. I was
a part of the opening number, which is the returning
(03:07):
Returning Contestants number. Everyone who was a part of the
season this year had a part in the opening number.
Mine part was with of course Pasha and Jen and Johan.
We started in the garage. It was a kind of
(03:27):
a cha cha salsa number. You know, like a little
salsa bit, which was really fun. Our dresses were not
exactly salsa style dresses. They were more, you know, traditional
ballroom style dresses. But they wanted everybody in. They wanted
(03:49):
us in purple, and the dresses they had that were
in purple were like that. But it was a beautiful dress.
I loved mine. I love purple, and I loved the
opening number. I thought the opening number was really fun.
It was great to be back in rehearsal with everybody.
We only had one true rehearsal day. We all got
together on Saturday, and Lauren wasn't able to be there,
(04:15):
and Scott wasn't able to be there, and Whitney and
Mark were not there either. Everybody those people were all
out of town and so then we got to Scott
did not come into town until today, So today was
the first day I got to see Scott and his
husband Mark. Always so great to see them. I did
(04:37):
not have enough time with them today. When I saw them,
I said, one day, it's just not enough with you.
But the rehearsal was really fun. We had a really
wonderful choreographer for the opening number. He was spectacular to
work with. And so fun and and you know, you
can tell when there's somebody who's really good at what
they do, and everything just goes super seamlessly. So our
(04:59):
rehearsal day for the opening number was only two hours,
and nope, I take it back, it was four hours.
I forgot our little bumper rehearsal that we had. The
bumper is the bit that I got to do with
Whitney and with Andy where Andy ripped open his shirt
and had a hairy chest. We had two hours for
(05:22):
that one, and then we had four hours for the
opening number. And of course everybody works in their own
individual groups with their pros, so we were put in
our positions by the choreographer, and then our pros had
been taught our choreography, and then the pros teach their
celebs and so we all kind of go off into
our own little corner learn the choreography and then put
(05:44):
it all together. And it was just a fun days.
It was so good to see everybody again. It was
great to see Corey again. Obviously I haven't seen Corey
since the very first two weeks. It was so good
to see my boy Baron again. Barren and I have
been close since day one, so it was really great
to see him. I didn't get to see Lauren on
(06:05):
that day. She wasn't in town, so I got to
see her yesterday for camera blocking or gosh, I was like,
yesterday may have been Sunday. We did camera blocking on Sunday.
It is great to see her too. She looked spectacular.
I don't know if you guys have heard her new song.
By the way, Lauren Hareggie's new song. It's been out
now for maybe a little over a month. I am
(06:27):
such a fan. It's so good. You guys really need
to go check it out. So check out Lauren Hereki's
new song. It was just fun. It was just fun
to be back with everybody, and you know, doing the
bumper with Whitney and Andy was just also so fun.
You know, like what's not to have fun with this?
(06:48):
With this cast, it's just everything everything you think it
is it is is just amazing. My husband would like
me to say that I.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Am the only eliminated contestant to have been at every show,
which makes me sound like the loser that I am,
But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I'm gonna accept that. Yes, I went to every show.
I got eliminated. In week eight. Week nine was the
twentieth anniversary, and everybody was invited to the twentieth Anniversary,
and I did not want to miss that celebration. And
then Week ten was Prince Knight, and I really I
(07:36):
wanted to be there too. I didn't want to miss that.
Tonight was the finale, and of course I got to
dance in it. So there were two dances or two
weeks that I technically shouldn't have been there, but I
went anyway, And I honestly, I don't even feel that
embarrassed about it, because I just love it so much.
(08:00):
I love the people, I love the environment, I love
the music, I love watching the dances. It's just it's
the greatest place on Earth. Sorry, Disneyland, you may be
the happiest place on Earth, but the Dancing with the
Stars Ballroom is the greatest place on Earth. So during
(08:29):
the week, while we were practicing our opening number and
then our bumpers, we didn't really interact much or see
the finalists there at they were rehearsing at our main
Dancing with the Stars rehearsal space, which is on Highland.
They were rehearsing there and they sent the rest of
(08:51):
us to a different rehearsal studio because there were so
many of us, and so I didn't really get to
see a lot of the finalists throughout the week. I
did get to see them a little bit on camera
blocking day, and even then I really tried to give
everybody their space because you could tell that everyone had
(09:12):
been working really hard and everyone was a little stressed.
They had to know six dances this week. They had
to do their freestyle, they had to learn a new dance,
and then they had to have choreography for four instant dances.
(09:35):
And because they didn't know the song. You know, they
can have choreography planned, but you know, it changes when
you know the song and when you haven't done it before.
So anyway, they had to know six dances. They had
to have six dances in their muscle memory and on
their brain. And I really just obviously lent my support
(09:56):
and said hello and would give a hug, but also
gave everybody their space to just be in the moment.
The overall feeling today for the finale was really celebratory.
Leading up to this week, there were moments where you
could tell people were stressed and there was a lot
(10:18):
to think about and then when the actual day arrived today,
everyone I talked to all the finalists, I said, how
are you feeling? What's going through your head? Like, how
are you feeling right now? And all of them said,
I am just having the best time. It just feels
like a party. And they said, all the work's been done,
(10:41):
there's nothing else I can do, Like, even as far
as the performances go, they knew they were going to
get judged, but the judging wasn't then going to carry
over into like is someone going home tonight? And you'd think, oh, well, no,
no one's going home tonight. But even worse than that,
one person's gonna win and everyone else is going to
find their their place. But nobody was stressed about that part.
(11:03):
Everyone was like, it's out of my hands. All the
work of the season is behind me at this point,
other than the dances I need to perform tonight and
I can just go out there and have the time
of my life and like, whatever happens happens. And so
everyone I spoke to just said it felt like a
really joyous celebration and like a party. It didn't have
(11:25):
its normal maybe the anxiety that normally surrounds a live
show night. For the finale, each couple was selected by
a judge, and the judge then got to choose what
dance they wanted to see from them. So I loved this.
(11:48):
I thought this was really fun. I'm not sure how
or why the judges necessarily picked the songs that they
or the styles that they picked, or if they even
really did was it really I mean, there's really only
so many dances left that they haven't done, so I'm
not really sure. I'm not really sure about this whole, like,
(12:09):
you know, picking the songs, like there's really not that
many left. But I still I thought it was great.
I I don't think you can go wrong with any
of the judges. I have a real soft spot in
my heart for Bruno. I just think he's I just
think he's truly wonderful and he makes me laugh, and
I also think he gives very thoughtful critiques. And yeah,
(12:34):
so I probably if I, if I had my drothers,
I probably would have ended up with Bruno the way
my boy Dylan and my girl Danny did so. Alex
Earl and Val did a samba to hip hip Chin Chin,
and boy did I think that was stellar. I thought
(12:56):
her samba was so good. I loved her colorful frilly
pants and her just unbelievable six pack. What a what
a song. And then Derek picked a quick step for
Robert and Whitney to do and they did it too.
(13:17):
Are You Going to Be My Girl? By Jet and
I thought that was so fun. I was it's so
great to see Robert do a quick step. His energy,
his enthusiasm, his just he's he's so cut out for that.
So that was a really good choice by Derek. And
(13:37):
then Bruno picked a passa Doble to Stampede by Alexander
Jean featuring Lindsay Sterling for Dylan and Danny oh Man.
That that was something else, something else. First of all,
(13:59):
to watch how far Dylan has come over the season,
to see where he started week one and then to
see where he ended up tonight is just gosh, It's
such an incredible journey. So proud of him, so so
proud of him. And then also on like a shallow note,
(14:22):
he is so unbelievably ripped. He's so ripped. I was like,
where are you finding the time, sir to work out
like this? It probably has more to do with what
he's eating than the workouts, but my goodness, I felt
like I could see tendons, like I could see individual
tendons inside his body. And for Elaine and Alan, Derek
(14:48):
picked a rumba to take My Breath Away by Jay
hall Boy. I thought that was beautiful too. The performances tonight,
as you would expect for a finale, were real wonderful.
I didn't get to be in the skybox for Elaine's
dance because shortly after her dance was something I had
(15:09):
to do with one of my dances, so I had
been pulled out, so I was watching it on the
monitor off and on, but really just incredible, beautiful, graceful, gorgeous.
And then Carrie Ann and Aba picked Apasa Do Blay
to Break in Dishes by Rihanna for Jordan and Ezra,
(15:32):
And first of all, is there a better song than
Breaking Dishes? I love that song so much. It's such
a vibe. I can't help but just dance and move
every time I hear that song. And Ezra's so cute.
(15:52):
He was telling me that during the week he just
kept serving face all through their Pasa Do and Jordan
had to be like, sir, you are supposed to look intense,
stop stop giving looks, and oh my god, I just
I loved it. I loved it so much. I thought
(16:14):
it was unbelievable. Jordan another one who her journey from
where she started to seeing her tonight in the finale
just really she just has grown so much and her
confidence is through the roof now as it should be.
And to see the risks that they have taken through
(16:38):
the season have been some of my favorites. I just
think some of the decisions they have made, even if
they didn't necessarily pay off the way they were hoping
they would like, they ended up being you know, whether
or not everything landed perfectly, You can't. You're never going
to do that if you're going to be willing to
take risks. Part of that is that some of them
(17:01):
aren't going to land perfectly every time, but when they do,
when they do land, man is it special. And I
think if I had to pick riskiest partnership, riskiest choreography,
most willing to take risks of this season, it would
(17:23):
be Jordan and Ezra. And I will tell you it
made it thrilling. I love that about them and it
made it exciting to watch every single week and you
just couldn't help but root for them every single week
just to see what they came up with next. It
was definitely they were definitely maybe the most exciting couple
(17:46):
for me to watch because of those risks. So kudos
to Ezra on his first ever finale and wow, wow,
pretty pretty exciting, and congratulations to Jordan for just absolutely
killing it and for both of them for holding each
other down. You know it. Really it really felt like
(18:07):
a partnership where even though Ezra was the pro, he
recognized that performance wise, you're not gonna get a partner
that's more confident in front of people than a gold medalist,
you know, like that Olympian mentality as he mentioned, And
so he knew when it was time to like, I'm
(18:29):
gonna let her hold me down, and vice versa. She
knew when to say, like I need to lean into
you and to trust you and to let you take
you take, let you take lead, and uh yeah, it's
just a really that was a beautiful partnership. Another amazing
(18:57):
thing about this finale was the dance. And I gotta
tell you behind the scenes, the instant dance. So they
started talking to us about the instant dance weeks ago.
They wouldn't tell us when the instant dance was going
to happen, and they but they did tell us there's
(19:18):
going to be something called an instant dance. Here's how
it's going to work, and you don't know exactly when
it's coming up. But if I were you, guys, I
would start prepping those things now. And they said it
can be any one of your first four dances and
you're not going to know the song. And I remember
being like, I'm sorry, what we have to do?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
What?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
And I then was out of the competition, and I
was even thinking, like as far as watching the show,
I was like, this feels very stressful and like it
doesn't really seem fair. And I thought, also, it's how
good could they possibly be when they are only hearing
their song? And I mean, I guess what I'm trying
(20:02):
to say is, in my mind, I was mentally pooh poohing.
I was pooh poohing the instant dance. I was like,
we don't need this, we don't need this. Maybe if
it were only two to choose from or something like,
maybe that would make it better. I was wrong. I'm
just gonna come right out and say it I was
wrong as a viewer, as someone sitting up in the
(20:24):
skybox watching it, not having to be one of the
pros and not having to be one of the celebs,
it was the most exciting part of the night. It
was even more exciting than the freestyles because we knew,
like none of us had seen them, none of us
(20:45):
had seen them during rehearsal, none of us had seen
us during camera blocking, because there wasn't anything to camera block,
there wasn't anything to see. So it had this buzz
and this feeling of anything can happen, and the fact
that it is less produced and less perfect, and you
(21:07):
get to see your celeb, your fave, possibly make a
mistake where there's not a whole lot of mistakes going
on at this stage of the game, and you got
to just see them a little out of their element,
a little thrown off and a little less polished. It
was wonderful to watch. So I'd just like to say,
(21:29):
not that many people know that I was pooh pooing
the instant dance, but I'm here to tell you I was,
and I was wrong. I thought it was actually really exciting.
So I don't know if they plan on doing it
every year, but it was as a viewer, I thoroughly
enjoyed it, and you know, they didn't. They didn't. Nobody
scored so drastically different than anyone else that it made
(21:54):
it like, oh gosh, it's really could end up hurting somebody.
It's not like they gave fours for the Instant Dance
and somebody else got tens. It was like, you know,
nines and tens, and I thought it was I thought
it was really great. I do want to share a
little story about my boy Dylan, and I'm probably gonna
start crying telling it. I'm get some I'm going to
(22:16):
try to keep it together. So the day that we
all had to pick our paddles up and pick the
Instant Dance, Dylan and I also had to do it.
I'm telling you this. The prep for these things goes
way back. And so Dylan and I were talking on
the day that we had to pick our paddles and
(22:39):
I said, what are you hoping to get? And he said, oh, man,
I just really want to get a foxtrot. I really,
I just want a foxtrot. I feel like I loved it.
I loved that dance, and he's like, so I just
really just started trying to manifest it. Like I just
started thinking, like, think foxtrot, think fox trot, thing foxtrot.
(23:01):
And he's like, and you know the table they have
in front of you, like the way the panel the
paddles are. He's like, I really started thinking, like where
if I were a producer, where would I have put foxtrot?
Like I told them I wanted foxtrot. And so he's like,
I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, like they probably
think I'm going for a paddle that's right in front
of me. So I'm not gonna pick one of those.
I'm gonna pick one of these. And he's like, and
(23:22):
I just started like sending energy of like foxtrot, foxtrot, foxtrot,
And he's like and I don't know, Like I just gosh,
I hope I picked foxtrot. And I was like, you
did you pick picked foxtrott. Of course, I don't know.
No one knows. We were fully blindfolded. They had one
of the lawyers from the show who had to be
(23:43):
in the room with us to make sure no one
could cheat. Like they were taking this serious, and so
I don't know, but I'm just you know, this is
my friend and he wants foxtrot, and so I'm gonna
tell him, yeah, you did that, you got foxtrot. I
know it. We're manifesting that for you. You got foxtrot. So I,
(24:04):
you know, see him a couple days later, maybe at
this point, it's a couple of weeks later, and somehow
instant dances come up again and I go, well, you know,
you know, you manifested foxtrot for yourself, and he goes, oh,
I told Danny that I really wanted foxtrot, and and
Danny said that she didn't think foxtrot would have been
the best for us. So now I'm really worried about it,
because what if I did pick foxtrot and then it's
(24:26):
not and it's not good, Like what if it's not
the right one? And so then he kind of got
in his head and he convinced himself that he didn't
want foxtrot. And then when he pulled the battle and
he saw that he got foxtrot tonight, he was bummed.
(24:48):
His first feeling was that he was bummed, and he
was worried that it wasn't going to be, that he
wasn't going to be as prepared for it as he
would have been had it been something else. And then
just to watch him go out there and absolutely just
put on the performance of a lifetime with that fox drop.
(25:09):
It was so beautiful. And when you know, you talk
about the journey of dancing with the stars and all
the different types of journeys, you can have Dylan's journey
of coming in there exactly like he said to Julian tonight,
coming in there and thinking I'm not good at this.
(25:34):
I'm gonna have to put on kind of a shtick.
I'm gonna have to put something on. I'm gonna have
to be a comedian. I'm gonna have to go for
production value. I'm gonna have to go for comedy because
quote unquote, I can't dance. I'm not good at this.
And then to see him just ten weeks later get
(25:59):
the own into a situation like an instant dance and
to truly be able to dance from his heart and
to do it so beautifully. I spend a lot of
my time as a director encouraging young people and actors
(26:24):
to trust their instincts, to believe in themselves, and that
when their guts tell them something and they feel something,
to follow it, and to always stay in touch with
what your instincts are telling you, and to see that
moment tonight for Dylan where I got to pull him
(26:45):
aside and say, your instincts, your instincts were exactly right.
You manifested that for yourself. You wanted a fox trot,
you picked a fox trot, and then you came out
there and you killed it. I never, in my forty
(27:07):
four years of life thought I would be crying about
a foxtrot. I'm just gonna say that gives it's what
what is happening to me? But I am just so
so so proud of him, and I thought it was
truly beautiful. So I wanted to I got permission to
share that story because really that's that's what started my
(27:32):
crying tonight was his instant dance. And then and then
after all the instant dances were over, then we got
into the freestyles, and you know, of course I had
to sob through Dylan's freestyle as well, So I want
to go into the freestyles. Alex and Val performed a
(27:53):
freestyle to man Eater by Nelly Furtado and sports Car
by Tate McCrae. Again just these freestyles were spectacular. Val
and Alex. I've said it before on the show, and
I stand by it that Alex's transformation on this show
(28:16):
might just be my favorite. I think it's so obvious
to anybody who watches the show that we have seen
her blossom in front of our eyes. If you go
back to week one and you watch the packages and
you watch her interviews and her otfs, you don't see
(28:40):
the same woman that you see in the finale. This
woman that was in the finale, this woman that did
this freestyle, has a quiet confidence about her, a real
just ownership of who she is. And some of that
(29:05):
anxiety or nervousness or insecurity that you see at the
beginning of the season has thankfully just really faded away.
And if it's still there, it's so it's so deep
down that it's not coming through anymore. And what you're
seeing is this bright, brilliant, beautiful performer. And her partnership
(29:37):
with Val is really special. I know Val pushes her,
and he's a wonderful choreographer, he's a wonderful partner, and
I also know how much they both benefited from Jenna.
(29:57):
Jenna is I mean, she is an asset beyond assets,
she is spectacular, and the fact that they were able
to lean on her. I know, Vow absolutely relied on
her for just helping him, keeping him grounded, helping him
(30:22):
with choreography, and Alex felt really safe being able to
go to her and being like, can you do this
move for me so I can see what it looks
like when you do it? Can you know, can you
help me make this look great? And She's the perfect
person to do that. So watching this performance tonight really
felt great and I was thrilled for them. Robert and
(30:44):
Whitney did a freestyle to Black and Gold by Sam's
Barrow and the Nights by A Vichy. I thought this
was so smart. I love that their freestyle started off
very jazz but still upbeat and really fun, a little sexy,
(31:08):
and then it made this transition where the song changed
and the lyrics were, you know, involving a dad and
a message from a dad, and I thought, oh, is
it going to become very sentimental and slow and emotional?
Are we going to get are we going to get
(31:29):
more tears? I had no idea, and then it was
still just upbeat and amazing. And when I saw it
for the first time during camera blocking. I thought that
was the right choice. That was the right choice. You know,
Robert is such a dynamic performer and a dynamic individual,
(31:56):
and he he could do anything he wanted. He could
go be a movie star, he could go perform on Broadway.
He could if he could sing, he could probably be
a pop star. Like he is. He's a star. He
is a He's just a star. There's no other way
of saying it. He's got it and he could do
(32:19):
anything he wants in the entertainment industry and it would
be good and people would go and see it. And
with that said, his family legacy is no longer needs
to be his legacy. He can now really pave the
(32:41):
way for what Robert Irwin is going the kind of
legacy that Robert Irwin is going to leave and the
trail he's going to blaze. And so I was happy
that Tonight's freestyle felt inspired and fun and youthful and
(33:05):
didn't actually make the turn into anything that felt like
it was leaning too heavily into someone else's legacy. I
just want to see him shine for who he is,
because he's he's got it. He's got it. And then
Dylan and Danny did a freestyle to Something in the
(33:28):
Heavens by Lewis Capaldi. Oh I love this song. Start
crying again. Stop it, Danielle, stop it right now. This
was really really, really beautiful. Oh gosh, it was a contemporary.
(33:54):
I thought it was so well done to see Dylan,
with his height and his manliness perform this really touching,
just beautiful, soft emotional contemporary was amazing. The choreography was
(34:21):
so good. Where it ended in the water, oh my god. Also,
I don't know what happened in the moment, but where
Dylan kind of has to where Dylan like had to
chuck Danny, and thank goodness, Pasha was the one catching her.
I don't know what happened, but after the dance, while
(34:44):
we were all up in the skybox, Dylan was like, sorry, Danny,
I really had to chuck you. And Danny was like
you really did? You like fully threw me and she
was like, thank god it was Pasha who was catching me.
So I don't know what happened that made her need
to be thrown so much, but I thought that was
(35:06):
a really I thought that was an interesting moment. I
loved the I loved the lifts in it. Seeing Dylan
do his handstand, I thought, was great. But nothing's going
to top finishing in that water. I thought the water.
I always think water's cool in a freestyle. I think
anytime i've seen water incorporated, I'm like, oh my gosh,
(35:26):
that just adds such a cool element. And I thought
the way they used it was I had never seen
it before. It doesn't mean it's never been done. I
don't know, but I had never seen it before. It
felt very unique, it felt very special, and I just
I thought it was amazing. Couldn't couldn't love it anymore absolutely,
(35:47):
sobbed my way through it, watched it from the staircase
so that nothing could block my way because they had
these balloons. I'm sure you guys saw up in the
skybox they had these balloons. And then like anywhere I
was standing, the balloons were basically my view. I'm like, guys,
I am not very tall unless I have the exact
spot in the middle where there are no balloons. I
was like trying to peeking up over balloons. So I
(36:12):
went down the stairs. I watched halfway down the staircase
because I didn't want anything blocking my view. And then
Elaine and Alan did a freestyle too. I hope I
get it from a chorus line by District seventy eight.
I thought this was the cutest, Like it was like
it was a mini movie. I thought it was so cute.
(36:35):
I love that they incorporated her, you know, actor performance.
Everything about it was great. Using Andy as the director
in the middle of it was so fun. Her quick
change of having that beautiful dress on underneath her other
beautiful dress. I thought that was really fun. I thought
(36:56):
seeing her act and perform as this actress hoping to
get a role, all of it just felt so fun.
And she's so graceful and so beautiful and so fun
to watch. I was really proud of them through this
whole experience, and I was really proud of Alan's choreography
(37:18):
and the whole thing you put together. And I told
him that, I said, that was really fun. It was
really fun. Felt it felt like the most whole production.
It just it had everything. It had colors and rolling
sets and people coming in and out, and you know,
I don't know, I just I loved it. I thought
(37:39):
it was so well done, and I was really really
proud of them. And then Jordan and Ezra did a
freestyle to Motivation by Normany featuring Normany in the freestyle.
(38:00):
This is going to go down in history as one
of my favorite freestyles I have ever seen. I thought
it was incredible. I loved every single second of it.
I loved her grill, I loved her I loved Jordan's outfit.
(38:23):
I loved the steel the fence that they brought in.
I loved the reveal of Normani. I loved the two
of them doing a no handed cartwheel whatever those beautiful
things are called. I thought that was unbelievable. I thought
the hip hop ness of it all was just amazing.
(38:46):
I can't say enough wonderful things about it. I think
it's easily one of the best freestyles I've ever seen.
Just absolutely blew me away. And I was, you know,
I keep saying I'm proud, I'm proud of everybody, like
a team mom, but boy, I really am. I'm just
(39:06):
so proud of them, and it was. It was amazing.
And kudos to Normani for coming out there, supporting your
friend and just slaying it. I was just what a night.
(39:28):
What a night. I can't say enough incredible things. There
was a part of me tonight, of course that was
so so excited and honored and thrilled to be back
in the ballroom dancing. And on the other hand, I
(39:50):
wanted to just sit there and watch this incredible show
and cheer on my friends. And I did get to watch.
I got to watch it from the skybox and I
had a front row seat, and I'll never forget it.
It was a night I will never forget. And then
(40:13):
it was time to find out who was gonna win
this whole thing. And I remember I was like squatting down,
and I had my phone out and I was recording video,
and I thought, I can't believe it's really happening. I
can't believe it's really happening right now. For months we've
been talking about Dancing with the Stars, and like, that's
it here, it is. The moment is now. We're gonna
(40:36):
find out who wins. And then they, you know, went
down the line coming in fifth, Elaine and Allen coming
in fourth, Dylan and Danny coming in third, Jordan and Ezra,
and then they went to a commercial break, and during
(41:00):
that commercial break, everybody just they moved all of us,
all of the former say, former slebs, all of sure whatever,
former clubs, former contestants. We had to move to the
other side because there were the big confetti cannons that
were about ready to go off and they didn't want
our ears right next to it. They moved us to
the other side, and everybody just gathered around, and we
(41:24):
knew at this point it was either going to be
Alex and Val or it was going to be Robert
and Whitney. And I don't think anyone is surprised that
that's the final two. It really felt right up until
the last second, that you know, this could be anyone's.
(41:49):
I had a feeling it was going to be Robert.
I've had a feeling it was going to be Robert
since you know, day one. I mean, it's hard to
argue with the star making quality that is Robert Irwin
and the fact that he is not only such an
(42:09):
amazing person but is also an amazing performer. You know,
I sing on the cake at this point, but so
spoiler alert, it's Robert Irwin is the winner. And I
would like to say that when I interviewed Jenna on
(42:32):
this Yere podcast, she said that the hardest place to
come in is second because they don't even say your name,
you know, when you're in fifth. They said Elaine and
Allen's name, they said Dylan and Danny's names, they said
Jordan Ezra's names, and then they just announced the winner,
(42:53):
and you know, confetti cannons go off and everyone cheers
and everyone celebrates, and it must have been really hard.
I just would like to think for a minute, it
must have been really hard to be Alex there. And
I know she wanted to win this very badly, and
(43:16):
it was a spectacular season for her. I feel like
I use that word a lot, but I don't know
that there's many other words to describe this season of
Dancing with the Stars. But congratulations to Robert and Whitney. Uh.
You know, I don't think Robert would mind me saying this,
but especially to Whitney. You know, Whitney is a mom.
(43:41):
She's she moved her children out here for the season.
Her husband. They they're staying in a house nearby. And
this show requires a lot of you, especially as a pro,
where you are choreographing and you're listening to music and
you're kind of working around the clock, and you're in
(44:03):
these long rehearsals and you've got interviews and all that stuff.
It's like this show requires a massive sacrifice to be
a part of. Don't get me wrong, it's worth it.
But everyone has to sacrifice. And I know Whitney. Whitney
felt it. You know, Whitney felt the sacrifice as we
(44:23):
all did. And just to have it culminate in having
a mirror ball trophy above your head, sitting on the
shoulders of your fellow prose and being congratulated by everyone.
I hope that tonight and every night moving forward she feels,
(44:50):
and that Robert feels like it was all worth it.
And I know even for everyone else who I didn't win,
it was worth it. It was worth it. It was
worth every rib injury, it was worth every hamstring tear,
(45:13):
it was worth every stressful moment. It was worth all
the lack of sleep. The show is very, very special,
and those of us who have had the good fortune
of being a part of it know what it's like.
And I can't wait to watch it again next year.
(45:37):
I can't believe it's over. So thank you all for
letting me bring you on this journey. We are not
done yet. We are just not done yet. We are
going to continue to interview some of the folks from
Dancing with the Stars and soon, Please le stay tuned
(46:01):
to this feed because we have a big announcement coming soon.
I don't want you to miss it. And in the meantime,
next year, I'll see you on tour. I can't believe it.
I'm so excited. I told you guys, I wanted to
be a professional dancer, and guess what I am now
(46:26):
a professional dancer. I'm going on tour. I'm going to
open the Dancing with the Stars tour. I am going
to be a co host with Emma Slater. I'm opening
the tour on January twenty second in Akron, Ohio, and
I am concluding my first run on February fifteenth at
(46:46):
Radio City Musical. So I will be going from the
twenty second to the fifteenth, twenty second of January to
February fifteenth, and then I've got a couple of days
in April and may eventually do a few more in
April and maybe May as well, But for right now,
that's where I'm going to be. And then Andy is
(47:07):
taking over for me in the middle of February, and
then Elaine is popping in. So those are your three
co hosts. Always with Emma Slater, and then there are
going to be other people joining us. Jordan's going to
join for a while, Dylan is going to join for
a while, Alex is coming for a bit, Robert is
(47:30):
coming for a bit, and Whitney is coming with Robert.
So just it'll be an unbelievable tour. If you haven't
already get your tickets, we can't wait to see you
out there. It's going to be so much fun. So yeah,
that's it. I have really enjoyed doing this, and like
(47:51):
I said, it's not quite over yet. I have a
few more interviews, a few more things I'm excited to
bring you, So stay tuned for more Danielle with and
stay tuned for some big announcements coming up soon. Thanks
for letting me cry, Thank you for all of your support,
Thank you for allowing me to go on this journey
(48:13):
where I learned so much about myself. I think one
of the things I learned about myself is just how
much I love cheering for people who are working hard.
I just cheering people on who are really doing something
(48:38):
vulnerable and really giving it. They're all. There's not a
better feeling than supporting and supporting other people doing that
so thank you for doing that with me, and see
you all next time. Bye. Danielle with the Stars Produced
and hosted by Danielle Fischl. Executive Producers Jensen Carpenemy Sugarman
(48:59):
Executive in charge of Production, Danielle Romo, producer, editor and
engineer Tara Sudbasch. Theme song by Justin Siegel. Follow us
on Instagram at Danielle with Stars and vote for me
And just like that, Season thirty four of Dancing with
the Stars has come to a close. The winner has
been crowned, the freestyles have been performed, the confetti canons
have exploded, and I am Danielle Fischel, podcaster, TV director,
(00:37):
mother of two, and soon to be vagabond, traveling city
to city in the Dancing with the Stars Live Tour.
In the end, it seems I did, indeed become a
professional dancer. I am home now. I am just back
(00:58):
from one of ther's biggest TV moments, the closure for
one of the most memorable few months of my life. Tonight,
I was lucky enough to perform one last time on
the show. But the real news here is that Robert
(01:20):
Irwin is our King of the ballroom. More on that
in just a bit. Because I continue to record this
podcast even through the final musical note, chronicling my own
journey through the show, learning dance from scratch and living
(01:41):
to talk about it, and I continue to fulfill my
professional duty. Please to report back as your eyes and
ears from the season finale. So, oh my gosh, what
a day, What a week, what a few months. The
(02:01):
finale has obviously been in full swing for at least
the last week, but the prep starts for it weeks ago.
You know, the pros are all anybody who's still in
the competition is already having the conversations about finale week.
As a matter of fact, the week I was eliminated,
(02:22):
which was week eight, we had our first creative meeting
about a finale, about a freestyle. What are we going
to do if we if we, you know, get to
the freestyle. So for weeks the couples have been talking
about their plans and what are they going to do
if they are fortunate enough to make it to the finale,
(02:43):
and the pros have been thinking about the choreography, and
the songs have been cleared and the ideas are happening.
So it's been weeks in the making, but it has
really been full swing obviously since last week. I got
to do two little performances on the show. I was
a part of the opening number, which is the returning
(03:07):
Returning Contestants number. Everyone who was a part of the
season this year had a part in the opening number.
Mine part was with of course Pasha and Jen and Johan.
We started in the garage. It was a kind of
(03:27):
a cha cha salsa number. You know, like a little
salsa bit, which was really fun. Our dresses were not
exactly salsa style dresses. They were more, you know, traditional
ballroom style dresses. But they wanted everybody in. They wanted
(03:49):
us in purple, and the dresses they had that were
in purple were like that. But it was a beautiful dress.
I loved mine. I love purple, and I loved the
opening number. I thought the opening number was really fun.
It was great to be back in rehearsal with everybody.
We only had one true rehearsal day. We all got
together on Saturday, and Lauren wasn't able to be there,
(04:15):
and Scott wasn't able to be there, and Whitney and
Mark were not there either. Everybody those people were all
out of town and so then we got to Scott
did not come into town until today, So today was
the first day I got to see Scott and his
husband Mark. Always so great to see them. I did
(04:37):
not have enough time with them today. When I saw them,
I said, one day, it's just not enough with you.
But the rehearsal was really fun. We had a really
wonderful choreographer for the opening number. He was spectacular to
work with. And so fun and and you know, you
can tell when there's somebody who's really good at what
they do, and everything just goes super seamlessly. So our
(04:59):
rehearsal day for the opening number was only two hours,
and nope, I take it back, it was four hours.
I forgot our little bumper rehearsal that we had. The
bumper is the bit that I got to do with
Whitney and with Andy where Andy ripped open his shirt
and had a hairy chest. We had two hours for
(05:22):
that one, and then we had four hours for the
opening number. And of course everybody works in their own
individual groups with their pros, so we were put in
our positions by the choreographer, and then our pros had
been taught our choreography, and then the pros teach their
celebs and so we all kind of go off into
our own little corner learn the choreography and then put
(05:44):
it all together. And it was just a fun days.
It was so good to see everybody again. It was
great to see Corey again. Obviously I haven't seen Corey
since the very first two weeks. It was so good
to see my boy Baron again. Barren and I have
been close since day one, so it was really great
to see him. I didn't get to see Lauren on
(06:05):
that day. She wasn't in town, so I got to
see her yesterday for camera blocking or gosh, I was like,
yesterday may have been Sunday. We did camera blocking on Sunday.
It is great to see her too. She looked spectacular.
I don't know if you guys have heard her new song.
By the way, Lauren Hareggie's new song. It's been out
now for maybe a little over a month. I am
(06:27):
such a fan. It's so good. You guys really need
to go check it out. So check out Lauren Hereki's
new song. It was just fun. It was just fun
to be back with everybody, and you know, doing the
bumper with Whitney and Andy was just also so fun.
You know, like what's not to have fun with this?
(06:48):
With this cast, it's just everything everything you think it
is it is is just amazing. My husband would like
me to say that I.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Am the only eliminated contestant to have been at every show,
which makes me sound like the loser that I am,
But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I'm gonna accept that. Yes, I went to every show.
I got eliminated. In week eight. Week nine was the
twentieth anniversary, and everybody was invited to the twentieth Anniversary,
and I did not want to miss that celebration. And
then Week ten was Prince Knight, and I really I
(07:36):
wanted to be there too. I didn't want to miss that.
Tonight was the finale, and of course I got to
dance in it. So there were two dances or two
weeks that I technically shouldn't have been there, but I
went anyway, And I honestly, I don't even feel that
embarrassed about it, because I just love it so much.
(08:00):
I love the people, I love the environment, I love
the music, I love watching the dances. It's just it's
the greatest place on Earth. Sorry, Disneyland, you may be
the happiest place on Earth, but the Dancing with the
Stars Ballroom is the greatest place on Earth. So during
(08:29):
the week, while we were practicing our opening number and
then our bumpers, we didn't really interact much or see
the finalists there at they were rehearsing at our main
Dancing with the Stars rehearsal space, which is on Highland.
They were rehearsing there and they sent the rest of
(08:51):
us to a different rehearsal studio because there were so
many of us, and so I didn't really get to
see a lot of the finalists throughout the week. I
did get to see them a little bit on camera
blocking day, and even then I really tried to give
everybody their space because you could tell that everyone had
(09:12):
been working really hard and everyone was a little stressed.
They had to know six dances this week. They had
to do their freestyle, they had to learn a new dance,
and then they had to have choreography for four instant dances.
(09:35):
And because they didn't know the song. You know, they
can have choreography planned, but you know, it changes when
you know the song and when you haven't done it before.
So anyway, they had to know six dances. They had
to have six dances in their muscle memory and on
their brain. And I really just obviously lent my support
(09:56):
and said hello and would give a hug, but also
gave everybody their space to just be in the moment.
The overall feeling today for the finale was really celebratory.
Leading up to this week, there were moments where you
could tell people were stressed and there was a lot
(10:18):
to think about and then when the actual day arrived today,
everyone I talked to all the finalists, I said, how
are you feeling? What's going through your head? Like, how
are you feeling right now? And all of them said,
I am just having the best time. It just feels
like a party. And they said, all the work's been done,
(10:41):
there's nothing else I can do, Like, even as far
as the performances go, they knew they were going to
get judged, but the judging wasn't then going to carry
over into like is someone going home tonight? And you'd think, oh, well, no,
no one's going home tonight. But even worse than that,
one person's gonna win and everyone else is going to
find their their place. But nobody was stressed about that part.
(11:03):
Everyone was like, it's out of my hands. All the
work of the season is behind me at this point,
other than the dances I need to perform tonight and
I can just go out there and have the time
of my life and like, whatever happens happens. And so
everyone I spoke to just said it felt like a
really joyous celebration and like a party. It didn't have
(11:25):
its normal maybe the anxiety that normally surrounds a live
show night. For the finale, each couple was selected by
a judge, and the judge then got to choose what
dance they wanted to see from them. So I loved this.
(11:48):
I thought this was really fun. I'm not sure how
or why the judges necessarily picked the songs that they
or the styles that they picked, or if they even
really did was it really I mean, there's really only
so many dances left that they haven't done, so I'm
not really sure. I'm not really sure about this whole, like,
(12:09):
you know, picking the songs, like there's really not that
many left. But I still I thought it was great.
I I don't think you can go wrong with any
of the judges. I have a real soft spot in
my heart for Bruno. I just think he's I just
think he's truly wonderful and he makes me laugh, and
I also think he gives very thoughtful critiques. And yeah,
(12:34):
so I probably if I, if I had my drothers,
I probably would have ended up with Bruno the way
my boy Dylan and my girl Danny did so. Alex
Earl and Val did a samba to hip hip Chin Chin,
and boy did I think that was stellar. I thought
(12:56):
her samba was so good. I loved her colorful frilly
pants and her just unbelievable six pack. What a what
a song. And then Derek picked a quick step for
Robert and Whitney to do and they did it too.
(13:17):
Are You Going to Be My Girl? By Jet and
I thought that was so fun. I was it's so
great to see Robert do a quick step. His energy,
his enthusiasm, his just he's he's so cut out for that.
So that was a really good choice by Derek. And
(13:37):
then Bruno picked a passa Doble to Stampede by Alexander
Jean featuring Lindsay Sterling for Dylan and Danny oh Man.
That that was something else, something else. First of all,
(13:59):
to watch how far Dylan has come over the season,
to see where he started week one and then to
see where he ended up tonight is just gosh, It's
such an incredible journey. So proud of him, so so
proud of him. And then also on like a shallow note,
(14:22):
he is so unbelievably ripped. He's so ripped. I was like,
where are you finding the time, sir to work out
like this? It probably has more to do with what
he's eating than the workouts, but my goodness, I felt
like I could see tendons, like I could see individual
tendons inside his body. And for Elaine and Alan, Derek
(14:48):
picked a rumba to take My Breath Away by Jay
hall Boy. I thought that was beautiful too. The performances tonight,
as you would expect for a finale, were real wonderful.
I didn't get to be in the skybox for Elaine's
dance because shortly after her dance was something I had
(15:09):
to do with one of my dances, so I had
been pulled out, so I was watching it on the
monitor off and on, but really just incredible, beautiful, graceful, gorgeous.
And then Carrie Ann and Aba picked Apasa Do Blay
to Break in Dishes by Rihanna for Jordan and Ezra,
(15:32):
And first of all, is there a better song than
Breaking Dishes? I love that song so much. It's such
a vibe. I can't help but just dance and move
every time I hear that song. And Ezra's so cute.
(15:52):
He was telling me that during the week he just
kept serving face all through their Pasa Do and Jordan
had to be like, sir, you are supposed to look intense,
stop stop giving looks, and oh my god, I just
I loved it. I loved it so much. I thought
(16:14):
it was unbelievable. Jordan another one who her journey from
where she started to seeing her tonight in the finale
just really she just has grown so much and her
confidence is through the roof now as it should be.
And to see the risks that they have taken through
(16:38):
the season have been some of my favorites. I just
think some of the decisions they have made, even if
they didn't necessarily pay off the way they were hoping
they would like, they ended up being you know, whether
or not everything landed perfectly, You can't. You're never going
to do that if you're going to be willing to
take risks. Part of that is that some of them
(17:01):
aren't going to land perfectly every time, but when they do,
when they do land, man is it special. And I
think if I had to pick riskiest partnership, riskiest choreography,
most willing to take risks of this season, it would
(17:23):
be Jordan and Ezra. And I will tell you it
made it thrilling. I love that about them and it
made it exciting to watch every single week and you
just couldn't help but root for them every single week
just to see what they came up with next. It
was definitely they were definitely maybe the most exciting couple
(17:46):
for me to watch because of those risks. So kudos
to Ezra on his first ever finale and wow, wow,
pretty pretty exciting, and congratulations to Jordan for just absolutely
killing it and for both of them for holding each
other down. You know it. Really it really felt like
(18:07):
a partnership where even though Ezra was the pro, he
recognized that performance wise, you're not gonna get a partner
that's more confident in front of people than a gold medalist,
you know, like that Olympian mentality as he mentioned, And
so he knew when it was time to like, I'm
(18:29):
gonna let her hold me down, and vice versa. She
knew when to say, like I need to lean into
you and to trust you and to let you take
you take, let you take lead, and uh yeah, it's
just a really that was a beautiful partnership. Another amazing
(18:57):
thing about this finale was the dance. And I gotta
tell you behind the scenes, the instant dance. So they
started talking to us about the instant dance weeks ago.
They wouldn't tell us when the instant dance was going
to happen, and they but they did tell us there's
(19:18):
going to be something called an instant dance. Here's how
it's going to work, and you don't know exactly when
it's coming up. But if I were you, guys, I
would start prepping those things now. And they said it
can be any one of your first four dances and
you're not going to know the song. And I remember
being like, I'm sorry, what we have to do?
Speaker 2 (19:38):
What?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
And I then was out of the competition, and I
was even thinking, like as far as watching the show,
I was like, this feels very stressful and like it
doesn't really seem fair. And I thought, also, it's how
good could they possibly be when they are only hearing
their song? And I mean, I guess what I'm trying
(20:02):
to say is, in my mind, I was mentally pooh poohing.
I was pooh poohing the instant dance. I was like,
we don't need this, we don't need this. Maybe if
it were only two to choose from or something like,
maybe that would make it better. I was wrong. I'm
just gonna come right out and say it I was
wrong as a viewer, as someone sitting up in the
(20:24):
skybox watching it, not having to be one of the
pros and not having to be one of the celebs,
it was the most exciting part of the night. It
was even more exciting than the freestyles because we knew,
like none of us had seen them, none of us
(20:45):
had seen them during rehearsal, none of us had seen
us during camera blocking, because there wasn't anything to camera block,
there wasn't anything to see. So it had this buzz
and this feeling of anything can happen, and the fact
that it is less produced and less perfect, and you
(21:07):
get to see your celeb, your fave, possibly make a
mistake where there's not a whole lot of mistakes going
on at this stage of the game, and you got
to just see them a little out of their element,
a little thrown off and a little less polished. It
was wonderful to watch. So I'd just like to say,
(21:29):
not that many people know that I was pooh pooing
the instant dance, but I'm here to tell you I was,
and I was wrong. I thought it was actually really exciting.
So I don't know if they plan on doing it
every year, but it was as a viewer, I thoroughly
enjoyed it, and you know, they didn't. They didn't. Nobody
scored so drastically different than anyone else that it made
(21:54):
it like, oh gosh, it's really could end up hurting somebody.
It's not like they gave fours for the Instant Dance
and somebody else got tens. It was like, you know,
nines and tens, and I thought it was I thought
it was really great. I do want to share a
little story about my boy Dylan, and I'm probably gonna
start crying telling it. I'm get some I'm going to
(22:16):
try to keep it together. So the day that we
all had to pick our paddles up and pick the
Instant Dance, Dylan and I also had to do it.
I'm telling you this. The prep for these things goes
way back. And so Dylan and I were talking on
the day that we had to pick our paddles and
(22:39):
I said, what are you hoping to get? And he said, oh, man,
I just really want to get a foxtrot. I really,
I just want a foxtrot. I feel like I loved it.
I loved that dance, and he's like, so I just
really just started trying to manifest it. Like I just
started thinking, like, think foxtrot, think fox trot, thing foxtrot.
(23:01):
And he's like, and you know the table they have
in front of you, like the way the panel the
paddles are. He's like, I really started thinking, like where
if I were a producer, where would I have put foxtrot?
Like I told them I wanted foxtrot. And so he's like,
I'm looking at him and I'm thinking, like they probably
think I'm going for a paddle that's right in front
of me. So I'm not gonna pick one of those.
I'm gonna pick one of these. And he's like, and
(23:22):
I just started like sending energy of like foxtrot, foxtrot, foxtrot,
And he's like and I don't know, Like I just gosh,
I hope I picked foxtrot. And I was like, you
did you pick picked foxtrott. Of course, I don't know.
No one knows. We were fully blindfolded. They had one
of the lawyers from the show who had to be
(23:43):
in the room with us to make sure no one
could cheat. Like they were taking this serious, and so
I don't know, but I'm just you know, this is
my friend and he wants foxtrot, and so I'm gonna
tell him, yeah, you did that, you got foxtrot. I
know it. We're manifesting that for you. You got foxtrot. So I,
(24:04):
you know, see him a couple days later, maybe at
this point, it's a couple of weeks later, and somehow
instant dances come up again and I go, well, you know,
you know, you manifested foxtrot for yourself, and he goes, oh,
I told Danny that I really wanted foxtrot, and and
Danny said that she didn't think foxtrot would have been
the best for us. So now I'm really worried about it,
because what if I did pick foxtrot and then it's
(24:26):
not and it's not good, Like what if it's not
the right one? And so then he kind of got
in his head and he convinced himself that he didn't
want foxtrot. And then when he pulled the battle and
he saw that he got foxtrot tonight, he was bummed.
(24:48):
His first feeling was that he was bummed, and he
was worried that it wasn't going to be, that he
wasn't going to be as prepared for it as he
would have been had it been something else. And then
just to watch him go out there and absolutely just
put on the performance of a lifetime with that fox drop.
(25:09):
It was so beautiful. And when you know, you talk
about the journey of dancing with the stars and all
the different types of journeys, you can have Dylan's journey
of coming in there exactly like he said to Julian tonight,
coming in there and thinking I'm not good at this.
(25:34):
I'm gonna have to put on kind of a shtick.
I'm gonna have to put something on. I'm gonna have
to be a comedian. I'm gonna have to go for
production value. I'm gonna have to go for comedy because
quote unquote, I can't dance. I'm not good at this.
And then to see him just ten weeks later get
(25:59):
the own into a situation like an instant dance and
to truly be able to dance from his heart and
to do it so beautifully. I spend a lot of
my time as a director encouraging young people and actors
(26:24):
to trust their instincts, to believe in themselves, and that
when their guts tell them something and they feel something,
to follow it, and to always stay in touch with
what your instincts are telling you, and to see that
moment tonight for Dylan where I got to pull him
(26:45):
aside and say, your instincts, your instincts were exactly right.
You manifested that for yourself. You wanted a fox trot,
you picked a fox trot, and then you came out
there and you killed it. I never, in my forty
(27:07):
four years of life thought I would be crying about
a foxtrot. I'm just gonna say that gives it's what
what is happening to me? But I am just so
so so proud of him, and I thought it was
truly beautiful. So I wanted to I got permission to
share that story because really that's that's what started my
(27:32):
crying tonight was his instant dance. And then and then
after all the instant dances were over, then we got
into the freestyles, and you know, of course I had
to sob through Dylan's freestyle as well, So I want
to go into the freestyles. Alex and Val performed a
(27:53):
freestyle to man Eater by Nelly Furtado and sports Car
by Tate McCrae. Again just these freestyles were spectacular. Val
and Alex. I've said it before on the show, and
I stand by it that Alex's transformation on this show
(28:16):
might just be my favorite. I think it's so obvious
to anybody who watches the show that we have seen
her blossom in front of our eyes. If you go
back to week one and you watch the packages and
you watch her interviews and her otfs, you don't see
(28:40):
the same woman that you see in the finale. This
woman that was in the finale, this woman that did
this freestyle, has a quiet confidence about her, a real
just ownership of who she is. And some of that
(29:05):
anxiety or nervousness or insecurity that you see at the
beginning of the season has thankfully just really faded away.
And if it's still there, it's so it's so deep
down that it's not coming through anymore. And what you're
seeing is this bright, brilliant, beautiful performer. And her partnership
(29:37):
with Val is really special. I know Val pushes her,
and he's a wonderful choreographer, he's a wonderful partner, and
I also know how much they both benefited from Jenna.
(29:57):
Jenna is I mean, she is an asset beyond assets,
she is spectacular, and the fact that they were able
to lean on her. I know, Vow absolutely relied on
her for just helping him, keeping him grounded, helping him
(30:22):
with choreography, and Alex felt really safe being able to
go to her and being like, can you do this
move for me so I can see what it looks
like when you do it? Can you know, can you
help me make this look great? And She's the perfect
person to do that. So watching this performance tonight really
felt great and I was thrilled for them. Robert and
(30:44):
Whitney did a freestyle to Black and Gold by Sam's
Barrow and the Nights by A Vichy. I thought this
was so smart. I love that their freestyle started off
very jazz but still upbeat and really fun, a little sexy,
(31:08):
and then it made this transition where the song changed
and the lyrics were, you know, involving a dad and
a message from a dad, and I thought, oh, is
it going to become very sentimental and slow and emotional?
Are we going to get are we going to get
(31:29):
more tears? I had no idea, and then it was
still just upbeat and amazing. And when I saw it
for the first time during camera blocking. I thought that
was the right choice. That was the right choice. You know,
Robert is such a dynamic performer and a dynamic individual,
(31:56):
and he he could do anything he wanted. He could
go be a movie star, he could go perform on Broadway.
He could if he could sing, he could probably be
a pop star. Like he is. He's a star. He
is a He's just a star. There's no other way
of saying it. He's got it and he could do
(32:19):
anything he wants in the entertainment industry and it would
be good and people would go and see it. And
with that said, his family legacy is no longer needs
to be his legacy. He can now really pave the
(32:41):
way for what Robert Irwin is going the kind of
legacy that Robert Irwin is going to leave and the
trail he's going to blaze. And so I was happy
that Tonight's freestyle felt inspired and fun and youthful and
(33:05):
didn't actually make the turn into anything that felt like
it was leaning too heavily into someone else's legacy. I
just want to see him shine for who he is,
because he's he's got it. He's got it. And then
Dylan and Danny did a freestyle to Something in the
(33:28):
Heavens by Lewis Capaldi. Oh I love this song. Start
crying again. Stop it, Danielle, stop it right now. This
was really really, really beautiful. Oh gosh, it was a contemporary.
(33:54):
I thought it was so well done to see Dylan,
with his height and his manliness perform this really touching,
just beautiful, soft emotional contemporary was amazing. The choreography was
(34:21):
so good. Where it ended in the water, oh my god. Also,
I don't know what happened in the moment, but where
Dylan kind of has to where Dylan like had to
chuck Danny, and thank goodness, Pasha was the one catching her.
I don't know what happened, but after the dance, while
(34:44):
we were all up in the skybox, Dylan was like, sorry, Danny,
I really had to chuck you. And Danny was like
you really did? You like fully threw me and she
was like, thank god it was Pasha who was catching me.
So I don't know what happened that made her need
to be thrown so much, but I thought that was
(35:06):
a really I thought that was an interesting moment. I
loved the I loved the lifts in it. Seeing Dylan
do his handstand, I thought, was great. But nothing's going
to top finishing in that water. I thought the water.
I always think water's cool in a freestyle. I think
anytime i've seen water incorporated, I'm like, oh my gosh,
(35:26):
that just adds such a cool element. And I thought
the way they used it was I had never seen
it before. It doesn't mean it's never been done. I
don't know, but I had never seen it before. It
felt very unique, it felt very special, and I just
I thought it was amazing. Couldn't couldn't love it anymore absolutely,
(35:47):
sobbed my way through it, watched it from the staircase
so that nothing could block my way because they had
these balloons. I'm sure you guys saw up in the
skybox they had these balloons. And then like anywhere I
was standing, the balloons were basically my view. I'm like, guys,
I am not very tall unless I have the exact
spot in the middle where there are no balloons. I
was like trying to peeking up over balloons. So I
(36:12):
went down the stairs. I watched halfway down the staircase
because I didn't want anything blocking my view. And then
Elaine and Alan did a freestyle too. I hope I
get it from a chorus line by District seventy eight.
I thought this was the cutest, Like it was like
it was a mini movie. I thought it was so cute.
(36:35):
I love that they incorporated her, you know, actor performance.
Everything about it was great. Using Andy as the director
in the middle of it was so fun. Her quick
change of having that beautiful dress on underneath her other
beautiful dress. I thought that was really fun. I thought
(36:56):
seeing her act and perform as this actress hoping to
get a role, all of it just felt so fun.
And she's so graceful and so beautiful and so fun
to watch. I was really proud of them through this
whole experience, and I was really proud of Alan's choreography
(37:18):
and the whole thing you put together. And I told
him that, I said, that was really fun. It was
really fun. Felt it felt like the most whole production.
It just it had everything. It had colors and rolling
sets and people coming in and out, and you know,
I don't know, I just I loved it. I thought
(37:39):
it was so well done, and I was really really
proud of them. And then Jordan and Ezra did a
freestyle to Motivation by Normany featuring Normany in the freestyle.
(38:00):
This is going to go down in history as one
of my favorite freestyles I have ever seen. I thought
it was incredible. I loved every single second of it.
I loved her grill, I loved her I loved Jordan's outfit.
(38:23):
I loved the steel the fence that they brought in.
I loved the reveal of Normani. I loved the two
of them doing a no handed cartwheel whatever those beautiful
things are called. I thought that was unbelievable. I thought
the hip hop ness of it all was just amazing.
(38:46):
I can't say enough wonderful things about it. I think
it's easily one of the best freestyles I've ever seen.
Just absolutely blew me away. And I was, you know,
I keep saying I'm proud, I'm proud of everybody, like
a team mom, but boy, I really am. I'm just
(39:06):
so proud of them, and it was. It was amazing.
And kudos to Normani for coming out there, supporting your
friend and just slaying it. I was just what a night.
(39:28):
What a night. I can't say enough incredible things. There
was a part of me tonight, of course that was
so so excited and honored and thrilled to be back
in the ballroom dancing. And on the other hand, I
(39:50):
wanted to just sit there and watch this incredible show
and cheer on my friends. And I did get to watch.
I got to watch it from the skybox and I
had a front row seat, and I'll never forget it.
It was a night I will never forget. And then
(40:13):
it was time to find out who was gonna win
this whole thing. And I remember I was like squatting down,
and I had my phone out and I was recording video,
and I thought, I can't believe it's really happening. I
can't believe it's really happening right now. For months we've
been talking about Dancing with the Stars, and like, that's
it here, it is. The moment is now. We're gonna
(40:36):
find out who wins. And then they, you know, went
down the line coming in fifth, Elaine and Allen coming
in fourth, Dylan and Danny coming in third, Jordan and Ezra,
and then they went to a commercial break, and during
(41:00):
that commercial break, everybody just they moved all of us,
all of the former say, former slebs, all of sure whatever,
former clubs, former contestants. We had to move to the
other side because there were the big confetti cannons that
were about ready to go off and they didn't want
our ears right next to it. They moved us to
the other side, and everybody just gathered around, and we
(41:24):
knew at this point it was either going to be
Alex and Val or it was going to be Robert
and Whitney. And I don't think anyone is surprised that
that's the final two. It really felt right up until
the last second, that you know, this could be anyone's.
(41:49):
I had a feeling it was going to be Robert.
I've had a feeling it was going to be Robert
since you know, day one. I mean, it's hard to
argue with the star making quality that is Robert Irwin
and the fact that he is not only such an
(42:09):
amazing person but is also an amazing performer. You know,
I sing on the cake at this point, but so
spoiler alert, it's Robert Irwin is the winner. And I
would like to say that when I interviewed Jenna on
(42:32):
this Yere podcast, she said that the hardest place to
come in is second because they don't even say your name,
you know, when you're in fifth. They said Elaine and
Allen's name, they said Dylan and Danny's names, they said
Jordan Ezra's names, and then they just announced the winner,
(42:53):
and you know, confetti cannons go off and everyone cheers
and everyone celebrates, and it must have been really hard.
I just would like to think for a minute, it
must have been really hard to be Alex there. And
I know she wanted to win this very badly, and
(43:16):
it was a spectacular season for her. I feel like
I use that word a lot, but I don't know
that there's many other words to describe this season of
Dancing with the Stars. But congratulations to Robert and Whitney. Uh.
You know, I don't think Robert would mind me saying this,
but especially to Whitney. You know, Whitney is a mom.
(43:41):
She's she moved her children out here for the season.
Her husband. They they're staying in a house nearby. And
this show requires a lot of you, especially as a pro,
where you are choreographing and you're listening to music and
you're kind of working around the clock, and you're in
(44:03):
these long rehearsals and you've got interviews and all that stuff.
It's like this show requires a massive sacrifice to be
a part of. Don't get me wrong, it's worth it.
But everyone has to sacrifice. And I know Whitney. Whitney
felt it. You know, Whitney felt the sacrifice as we
(44:23):
all did. And just to have it culminate in having
a mirror ball trophy above your head, sitting on the
shoulders of your fellow prose and being congratulated by everyone.
I hope that tonight and every night moving forward she feels,
(44:50):
and that Robert feels like it was all worth it.
And I know even for everyone else who I didn't win,
it was worth it. It was worth it. It was
worth every rib injury, it was worth every hamstring tear,
(45:13):
it was worth every stressful moment. It was worth all
the lack of sleep. The show is very, very special,
and those of us who have had the good fortune
of being a part of it know what it's like.
And I can't wait to watch it again next year.
(45:37):
I can't believe it's over. So thank you all for
letting me bring you on this journey. We are not
done yet. We are just not done yet. We are
going to continue to interview some of the folks from
Dancing with the Stars and soon, Please le stay tuned
(46:01):
to this feed because we have a big announcement coming soon.
I don't want you to miss it. And in the meantime,
next year, I'll see you on tour. I can't believe it.
I'm so excited. I told you guys, I wanted to
be a professional dancer, and guess what I am now
(46:26):
a professional dancer. I'm going on tour. I'm going to
open the Dancing with the Stars tour. I am going
to be a co host with Emma Slater. I'm opening
the tour on January twenty second in Akron, Ohio, and
I am concluding my first run on February fifteenth at
(46:46):
Radio City Musical. So I will be going from the
twenty second to the fifteenth, twenty second of January to
February fifteenth, and then I've got a couple of days
in April and may eventually do a few more in
April and maybe May as well, But for right now,
that's where I'm going to be. And then Andy is
(47:07):
taking over for me in the middle of February, and
then Elaine is popping in. So those are your three
co hosts. Always with Emma Slater, and then there are
going to be other people joining us. Jordan's going to
join for a while, Dylan is going to join for
a while, Alex is coming for a bit, Robert is
(47:30):
coming for a bit, and Whitney is coming with Robert.
So just it'll be an unbelievable tour. If you haven't
already get your tickets, we can't wait to see you
out there. It's going to be so much fun. So yeah,
that's it. I have really enjoyed doing this, and like
(47:51):
I said, it's not quite over yet. I have a
few more interviews, a few more things I'm excited to
bring you, So stay tuned for more Danielle with and
stay tuned for some big announcements coming up soon. Thanks
for letting me cry, Thank you for all of your support,
Thank you for allowing me to go on this journey
(48:13):
where I learned so much about myself. I think one
of the things I learned about myself is just how
much I love cheering for people who are working hard.
I just cheering people on who are really doing something
(48:38):
vulnerable and really giving it. They're all. There's not a
better feeling than supporting and supporting other people doing that
so thank you for doing that with me, and see
you all next time. Bye. Danielle with the Stars Produced
and hosted by Danielle Fischl. Executive Producers Jensen Carpenemy Sugarman
(48:59):
Executive in charge of Production, Danielle Romo, producer, editor and
engineer Tara Sudbasch. Theme song by Justin Siegel. Follow us
on Instagram at Danielle with Stars and vote for me
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Danielle Fishel
Rider Strong
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