Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for the Tuesday, Nov. 11 episode of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Officially, “Dancing with the Stars” is in the ’20s. Tuesday’s episode of Season 34 saw the return of some of our favorites, from longtime host Tom Bergeron as a guest judge to both original pros and past winners who took to the ballroom floor for the first time in years to celebrate the reality competition series’ anniversary. Additionally, this episode received the most votes in history.
The show opened with a routine choreographed by Derek Hough, and a reimagined live version of the “Dancing with the Stars Theme” was performed. Six original professional dancers from Season 1 have joined the troupe: Alec Mazo, Ashley DelGrosso, Louis Van Amstel, Jonathan Roberts, Charlotte Jorgensen, and Edita Silivinska.
The show also honored lost performers with an emotional number choreographed and performed by Ezra Sosa and Riley Arnold to Lady Gaga’s “Always Remember Us This Way.”
Meanwhile, the competition continued until the second round. First, the couple danced in a new style to songs inspired by iconic freestyle routines from the past. Robert Irwin and Whitney Carson earned their first perfect 40 of the season with a routine dedicated to their late father. Ahead of his routine, his video package revealed that Prince William FaceTimed him during rehearsals. At the end of the routine, a video of him and his father as a child was played, and he fell to his knees and started crying.
Dylan Efron and Daniela Caragazzi wowed the judges with their Argentine tango. Carrie Ann Inaba said that Giles Marini (who was in the audience) once held her favorite Argentine tango trophy, but now that title belongs to Dylan. He received a perfect score for the second time.
Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy also impressed the judges with a perfect score of 40, as did Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas.
The second round saw the return of the relay dance competition with a twist. This time, instead of dancing with professional dance partners, each celebrity was partnered with a former Mirror Ball winner. In this challenge, one couple performed one half of a song and another couple completed the second song. The judges then selected the relay winners. That means three teams each earned two bonus points.
Jordan Chiles and Apolo Anton Ohno started the relay, dancing to Quickstep against Elaine Hendricks and Rashad Jennings. Jordan and Apollo won the round.
Andy Richter and Kaitlyn Bristowe danced a Viennese waltz with Dylan and Rumer Willis, and Andy brought out, in Carrie Ann’s words, “sex appeal.” In the end, Dylan got the extra point.
At the end, Robert and Xochitl Gomez danced a jive to Alix and Joey Graziadei. Xochitl had never done a jive before, and although both teams suffered several hard falls during rehearsals, you wouldn’t know it from the performance. Val had trained both women, so it was no surprise that both dances were so powerful. The judges awarded Robert an extra point.
In the end, Dylan, Robert, and Whitney were tied at the top of the leaderboard, with Andy in last place. After combining the judges’ scores and audience votes, Andy was sent home.
Scroll down to see all the scores for the night.
