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[This story contains spoilers for episode six of Dancing With the Stars season 35.]
The Super Bowl was celebrated early this season on Dancing With the Stars!
For DWTS‘ first-ever Super Bowl Night, couples performed to musical numbers from past halftime performances. J Balvin, Shakira, Nelly, Bad Bunny, Usher, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and the Black Eyed Peas were among the former Super Bowl performers who the contestants paid homage to.
At the end of Super Bowl Night, Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson were eliminated from DWTS season 35.
After his elimination, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! star said, “I had a lot of fun, it was great. Witney, thank you for teaching me how to dance!” Earlier in the night, Guillermo and Witney danced a salsa to Bad Bunny’s “Tití Me Preguntó,” falling to the bottom of the leaderboard with a 22/40.
Joe Buck, host of ABC‘s Monday Night Football, served as the first guest judge of season 35. He was also joined by a few NFL stars of DWTS past, including Emmitt Smith (season three winner), Donald Driver (season 14 winner), DeMarcus Ware and Danny Amendola.
Celebrities still competing on season 35 include Tatyana Ali, Tyler Cameron, Jenna Dewan, Ezra Frech, Amber Glenn, Maura Higgins, Jackson Olson, Harry Shum Jr., Julia Stiles and Connor Wood.
With Buck in the ballroom, that meant another opportunity for the couples to earn additional points. Maura and Mark Ballas hit the stage first, earning an early high score of 33/40 (they received three eights from the main judges, and one nine from Bucks). They danced a tango to “Only Girl (In the World).”
However, Amber and Pasha Pashkov swiftly bested their early lead with a 34/40 for their samba to J Balvin and Willy William’s “Mi Gente.” The dance marked the first time Amber received a nine, earning two on Super Bowl Night and boosting her total score.
Julia and Ezra Sosa went on to match Maura and Mark with a 33/40 for their jazz to JLo’s “Jenny From the Block,” as did Harry and Jenna Johnson following their samba to Usher’s “Yeah!”
Harry and Jenna’s dance was met with some criticism from Carrie Ann Inaba, who argued their numbers need more content. The judge, a stickler for lifts, also alleged they had a lift in their dance, which left pro dancer Jenna confused, creating a contentious moment on-air. (Harry was lifted by two male troupe members in the night, but Jenna noted afterwards in the skybox she thought the rule applied while dancing with a partner in hold.)
But it was Jenna and Val Chmerkovskiy who earned all nines, marking the first time a DWTS season 35 couple earned the high mark from the judges. They received a 36/40 after dancing a Paso Doble to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”
They weren’t left alone at the top of the leaderboard for long, as Ezra and Daniella Karagach also earned a 36/40 for their salsa to Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” who was notably Daniella’s first celebrity partner on DWTS season 29.
Towards the end of Super Bowl Night, Alfonso Ribeiro announced that former pro dancer Kym Johnson would be joining the judges panel for next week’s Dedication Night episode.
During last week’s Mariah Carey Night, Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong were surprisingly eliminated from DWTS. Also during the episode, Maura and Mark earned the first nine score, resulting in the highest score of season 35 at that point (25/30).
The couple with the lowest combined total of judges’ scores and viewer votes is eliminated at the end of each DWTS episode. Each viewer is allowed up to 10 votes per couple, per voting method (via ABC’s website and by text).
Live voting takes place during the East Coast airing of each show and ends shortly after the final performance; that means if you’re a West Coast viewer and want to vote, you must do so between 5 p.m. PT and roughly 6:45 p.m. PT, as voting ends after the final performance.
See the full list of scores for DWTS Super Bowl Night below.
Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas: 33/40 Jackson Olson and Emma Slater: 31/40 Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov: 34/40 Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess: 30/40 Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold: 25/40 Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa: 33/40 Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik: 29/40 Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson: 22/40 (ELIMINATED) Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy: 36/40 Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson: 33/40 Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach: 36/40
Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m., simulcasting across ABC and Disney+ and streaming the next day on Hulu. Check out all of The Hollywood Reporter‘s DWTS coverage here.
Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt
