2024 Olympic double bronze medalist Stephen Nedoroscik and his professional dance partner Rylee glided close to perfection in their Viennese waltz that scored two 10s and a 9 on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” on Tuesday.
“It makes me feel amazing,” said Nedoroscik of his and Arnold’s performance, the first of two dances in the episode that ultimately advanced them to next week’s semifinals. “I worked so hard for this dance, and I wanted to dedicate this dance to the process of learning it. I’m in love with dance, and that was my performance for dance.”
Nedoroscik and Arnold’s waltz in the show’s 500th episode earned 10s from judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough, and 9 from judge Bruno Tonioli. All three judges praised the pair’s captivating passion.
“For me the dance always has to elicit some sort of reaction,” Inaba said. “If I saw a mistake, that takes me out of the dance. This one, I never lost track of watching this beautiful celebration of life and partnership. The world needed that at this moment.”
Hough admired Nedoroscik’s newly revealed sentimental dance quality.
“We’ve seen bubbly Stephen, we’ve seen dramatic Stephen and we’ve even seen scary Stephen,” Hough said. “Tonight we saw emotional, and I love this tone on you. You made me feel something really beautiful.”
Tonioli observed that Nedoroscik is “growing up in front of our eyes,” and described his performance as polished, elegant and smart.
“I love you finally understand what lyricism means, how to use the music,” Tonioli said.
Nedoroscik and Arnold scored 25 for their jive in the instant dance challenge later in the episode, and their two-dance total of 54 points ranked them third on the leaderboard for the evening. Actress Chandler Kinney and her professional dance partner Brandon Armstrong led the field after scoring a perfect 30 for both of their dances.
Following tabulation of the judges’ scores and viewer votes, NBA star Dwight Howard and his professional dance partner Daniella Karagach were eliminated.
Nedoroscik, a Worcester, Massachusetts, native who turned 26 on October 28, won the 2021 world title and four consecutive U.S. national titles on pommel horse from 2021-24. In 2020 he earned a degree electrical engineering at The Pennsylvania State University, where he won the NCAA pommel horse title in 2017 and 2018. He claimed bronze medals on pommel horse and in the team final at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.
