Spoilers ahead for Motown Night of Dancing with the Stars Season 32.
Dancing with the Stars moved on from Latin Night with some classic tunes for Motown Night, which included everything from The Temptations to The Contours to The Jackson 5. It was also the end of the DWTS journey for model Tyson Beckford and partner Jenna Johnson, who were eliminated after earning a score of 20 from regular judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli as well as guest judge Michael Strahan. The judges in fact got a lot of boos during Motown Night, but I kept thinking back to what some of the celebrity dancers have said about their partners.
The judges weren’t handing out top scores to every pair, with only Grammy-winner Jason Mraz (who came into DWTS with low expectations) with pro Daniella Karagach and Vanderpump Rules alum Ariana Madix with pro Pasha Pashkov earning 9s on Motown Night. Like earlier episodes of Season 32, the audience watching live in the theater would loudly boo whenever the judges dropped some particularly negative feedback, with Derek Hough and Carrie Ann Inaba getting the most heat.
I’m not the only one who has noticed, as fans on social media were buzzing about the boos, and not necessarily to agree with the audience drowning out the criticism. Many of the celeb contestants have spoken about taking the comments from the judges to heart and using them to improve from week to week, with Alyson Hannigan crediting the notes for helping her approach to Latin Week… and shouting out Bruno Tonioli for calling her a “drama queen.”
Of course, who stays and who leaves on Dancing with the Stars isn’t entirely up to the judges, and viewers voting from home can also determine the star who remains in the running for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy. Plus, even if the judges aren’t always overflowing with compliments to get cheers from the audience, there has been lots of love between the celebrities and their pro partners.
When I spoke with Jason Mraz earlier in Season 32 after his reveal about his reptilian extra vertebra, he credited partner Daniella Karagach as “an amazing teacher” and a “great choreographer” who “is definitely a superwoman.” He also shared the piece of advice that he got from his partner before their first dance that helped him tie for second place in the premiere:
I couldn’t see anything but Daniella. I would look for the camera, as I was instructed. She said whenever I’m looking forward, just play to the camera. And whenever I’m in frame, I’m locked in with her and that’s it. Honestly, everything was such a blur.
Xochitl Gomez came to DWTS after joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness cast, and she was partnered with two-time winner Val Chmerkovskiy. When I spoke with the 17-year-old actress ahead of Latin Night about her “Little Marvelette” nickname courtesy of Bruno Tonioli, she had plenty of praise for her partner and how he handled dancing with Zendaya years earlier:
I loved how much he had to go and think out of the box, because I think that’s really hard when you get assigned with a partner that’s definitely so different than you and you’re barely starting out and stuff. I feel like that can be kind of tricky, and he handled it really well. I admire him for that, and I hope that this week we get to do really well. He did a really good job of choreography.
Gomez also had some insight on Chmerkovskiy early on beyond what he accomplished as Zendaya’s partner. She shared:
I actually read Val’s book, because I wanted to do more research on the show. I knew that he would talk about stuff in there and just his experience on the show. I wanted to find out what it’s like as a pro dancer.
How I Met Your Mother star Alyson Hannigan was actually sick on the morning of Motown Night, to the point that it wasn’t guaranteed that she’d feel up to performing at her best with Sasha Farber to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” She only had good things to say about working with him after their big improvement in scores from the first night. On top of sharing her dream for a Taylor Swift Night, Hannigan said about her partner:
Oh, he’s so great. He’s just got so much energy and he’s so supportive and he’s super patient and he doesn’t get frustrated at my frustration, or at least he hides it really well. He’s just amazing. He’s wonderful… It’s fun because obviously, he has to teach me everything, but then I can teach him the character stuff. It’s good to have those few little moments that we can connect and make it sort of make sense to me in my world.
While it remains to be seen if the crowd will stop booing the judges while they give their feedback to the performers as Season 32 continues, it’s nice to know that partnerships are going so well. The next episode is going to be Disney 100 in celebration of Disney hitting its 100th anniversary, and it should mean plenty of fun and nostalgia for Disney fans, even if it will also mean the end of the DWTS journey for one celebrity.
Tune in to ABC on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET for new episodes of Dancing with the Stars in the 2023 TV schedule, or watch streaming via a Disney+ subscription.