After a week off for the election, Stephen Nedoroscik and “Dancing with the Stars” returned to screens for the show’s 500th episode Tuesday night.
In the last episode, Nedoroscik and his partner Rylee Arnold survived another elimination and finished in fifth place for “Halloween Night.” The pair danced a contemporary and received their first 10 of the season, reaching 28 points out of 30. They lost their dance-off against bachelorette Jenn Tran, not adding any more points, but fan votes kept them in the running and Tran left at the end of the episode.
This week’s episode consisted of two parts again, with an instant dance challenge in the second hour.
To celebrate the milestone, this week’s theme was reimagining iconic dances from the past. Nedoroscik and Arnold chose to perform a Viennese waltz inspired by Charli D’Amelio and Mark Ballas’ performance in Season 31 to “Glimpse of Us” by Joji.
In the rehearsal video, the pair also known as Arnold-Pommel, emphasized the importance of tonight’s dance.
“I remember watching this dance from Season 31, it was Charli D’Amelio and Mark’s Viennese waltz, beautiful dance. Mark was such a good leading man. Since Mark gave me some corrections for my frame, I’d love to show him I’m putting in the work,” Nedoroscik said.
And he did get to show him. Ballas came to help the pair perfect their choreography and to help Nedoroscik correct his frame and move slowly, staying in time.
“Mastering this Viennese waltz is make or break,” Nedoroscik said. “But, thanks to Mark, I’m pumped to get out there and grab even more 10s.”
The pair started on the floor in a spotlight, swaying around each other before Arnold spun out and Nedoroscik stood in front. They reunited, rushing out on the floor as Nedoroscik reached out and Arnold looked over his shoulder before he twirled back to her. The pair glided across the floor, rising and falling together.
Arnold spun away and the pair both reached for the air, mirroring each other as they turned and she found herself in front of the gymnast as she spun her leg in front of her face, turning back into him. They continued their glide across the floor, this time filled with spins and arm movements.
As the song wound down, the pair became more separated, moving apart from spins while reaching out for each other. Nedoroscik held on as they spun around each other, this time with Arnold’s arms high in the air before she brought them back down to his. The pair stayed connected while hitting half splits on the floor, coming up to twirl again as confetti started to fall. Arnold reached out to Nedoroscik but couldn’t reach him to connect again, stepping back to watch as Nedoroscik stepped back into the spotlight alone to end the song.
“Growing up in front of our eyes!” judge Bruno Tonioli exclaimed. “Look at this young man. Polished, elegant, smart, and I love you finally understand the lyrics, how to use the music, and expand it. You gave us an arabesque there, which is really, really wonderful. You should be proud.”
“For me, the dance always has to elicit some sort of reaction, like if I see a mistake, that takes me out of the dance. This one, I never lost track, just watching this beautiful celebration of life and partnership. Thank you so much for this, the world needed that at this moment,” judge Carrie Ann Inaba said.
Judge Derek Hough was last to comment, sharing the many different sides of Nedoroscik so far this season.
“You know, Stephen, we’ve seen bubbly Stephen, we’ve seen dramatic Stephen, even scary Stephen,” Hough said. “But today we saw emotional, and I love this tone on you. And I really just appreciate you. I can see the hard work you put into your timing, into the care, and this dance. Sometimes we talk about, ‘How do we score certain things?’ Sometimes it’s just a technique, It’s also sometimes the way we feel, and you made me feel something really beautiful tonight.”
Heading to the sky box, host Julianne Hough asked the pair about how they were feeling in the highly emotional moment as Arnold had tears in her eyes.
“I mean, it makes you feel amazing. I worked so hard for this dance and like, I wanted to dedicate this dance to, like, the process of learning it itself. I’m in love with dance, and that was my performance for dance,” the Olympian said.
Arnold-Pommel received two 10s from Inaba and Derek Hough and a nine from Tonioli to score a 29 out of 30, their highest score thus far.
For the second half of the episode, the pairs had to prepare for an instant dance challenge. They all practiced four dances they had done over previous weeks, before being assigned one on stage and having mere minutes to perfect the routine and learn the tempo.
For their instant dance challenge, Arnold-Pommel was called to the stage in black robes to hear what they were assigned. In a blindfolded video recorded earlier, Nedoroscik chose the jive, much to the joy of the couple. Host Alfonso Ribeiro then opened the envelope, revealing their song to be “love is embarrassing” by Olivia Rodrigo. They sprinted off stage and immediately grabbed costumes off the rack to change to make the most of the limited time they got to prepare.
“I’m terrified,” Nedoroscik said in the rehearsal video. “We don’t know the tempo, so it’s going to be really tricky for a guy like me who struggled with musicality in the past.”
The pair practiced all of its dances in different tempos to cover all their bases, but both were secretly hoping for the jive all along, as shown by Arnold’s scream of joy when it was revealed.
“This instant dance is super intimidating. So I am hoping to get the jive because it was fast-paced and hopefully can disguise my problem with rushing. I really hope I can nail musicality, getting it right would surely help me get where I want in the semifinals,” Nedoroscik said.
Going back to the stage, the pair was ready in matching silver outfits, wasting no time to bring the energy, both sharing kicks. They spun around each other before mirroring kicks and leaps as Arnold ducked down and Nedoroscik kicked his leg over her.
The pair lined up next to each other and hit some footwork, moving around the floor before channeling a bit of a hand jive. They joined hands again, kicking out side to side before doing a quick handshake as Nedoroscik leaned back before flipping back up.
Arnold-Pommel reconnected to glide across the stage quickly, spinning around together before Arnold spun out of her own as Nedoroscik ran up behind and leap-frogged over her, hitting a split as he landed to end the song.
Tonioli started the remarks as normal, saying that it was only a slight improvement from the jive in week one.
“I have to say, stylistically, technically was better, but you were drunk, and you know that. And we are here, we have to know this situation, we have to pick on it. But your timing was better, you were rushing a bit at the beginning, but then you steadied into it, and then there was a mistake,” Tonioli said as Arnold claimed responsibility for the mistake.
“That was really impressive. Like what Bruno said, you do have tempo issues, what you have learned, and I’ve seen the growth, what you have learned is to calm yourself down and bring yourself back into the dance. The happy feet made me happy, so I was happy with that jive,” Inaba said.
“I mean, I’m just echoing what they said already,” Derek Hough said. “But listen, man, watching you is so joyful it’s hard not to smile. I’m just like, ‘Yeah, Stephen go! I see you!’ But then a few timing things yes, like she said, you took a breath and you got right back on time, it was so impressive. Well done guys.”
At the skybox, Julianne Hough asked about the pair’s excitement being assigned the jive, especially because of how happy-go-lucky Nedoroscik always appears.
“Absolutely, I love the jive, I was so happy that I got to do it again,” the Penn State alum shared.
Arnold shared she was in no rush to do the instant dance again, simply saying “No.”
“No, I’m OK,” the pro laughed. “I think I would dread the fox trot, that one’s really hard to find the timing.”
Arnold-Pommel received a nine from Inaba and eight from Derek Hough and Tonioli for 25 points in the second half. This brought them up to 54 total for the night and third on the leaderboard.
With only five couples left, it was announced one would be going home and the rest would move on to the semifinals. Arnold-Pommel was revealed to be the second couple safe, surviving another week and coming one week closer to the Mirrorball trophy.
