SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the Tuesday, Nov. 11 episode of “Dancing With the Stars.”
It’s official: “Dancing With the Stars” is in its 20s. Tuesday’s episode of Season 34 celebrated the anniversary of the reality competition series with returning favorites — from longtime host Tom Bergeron joining as guest judge to both original pros and past winners taking on the ballroom floor for the first time in years. Plus, the episode received the most votes of all time.
The show opened with a routine, choreographed by Derek Hough and set to a reimagined live version of the “Dancing with the Stars Theme.” Six original professional dancers from Season 1 joined the troupe: Alec Mazo, Ashly DelGrosso, Louis van Amstel, Jonathan Roberts, Charlotte Jorgensen and Edyta Śliwińska.
The show also honored performers lost with an emotional number choreographed and performed by Ezra Sosa and Rylee Arnold, set to “Always Remember Us This Way” by Lady Gaga.
Amidst it all, the competition continued with two rounds. First, the couples danced a new style to a song inspired by a past iconic freestyle routine. Robert Irwin and Witney Carson earned the first perfect 40 of the season with a routine dedicated to his late father. Ahead of his routine, his video package revealed that Prince William FaceTimed him during rehearsal. At the end of his routine, a video played of him as a little boy with his father, causing him to fall to his knees and begin to cry.
Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach blew the judges away with his Argentine Tango; Carrie Ann Inaba mentioned that Giles Marini (who was in the audience) used to hold trophy for her favorite Argentine tango routine — but now that title goes to Dylan. He landed the second perfect score.
Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy also impressed the judges with a perfect 40, as did Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas.
The second round marked the return of the Relay Dance competition — with a twist. This time, instead of dancing with their professional dance partner, each celeb was partnered with a former mirrorball winner. For the challenge, one couple performed one half of a song and a different couple completed the second — the judges then chose the winner of the relay, which meant three teams received two bonus points each.
Jordan Chiles and Apolo Anton Ohno kicked off the relay, dancing against quickstep against Elaine Hendrix and Rashad Jennings. Jordan and Apolo won the round.
Andy Richter and Kaitlyn Bristowe danced the viennese waltz against Dylan and Rumer Willis — and Andy brought out the “sex appeal,” as Carrie Ann put it. Ultimately, Dylan won the extra points.
Lastly, Robert and Xochitl Gomez danced the jive against Alix and Joey Graziadei. Although Xochitl never had done a jive before and both teams had some hard falls in rehearsals, you’d never know from the performances. Val had trained both women, so it wasn’t a surprise that both dances were so strong. The judges gave the extra points to Robert.
In the end, Dylan, Robert and Whitney tied at the top of the leaderboard, with Andy at the bottom. After combining the judges’ scores with the audience votes, Andy was sent home.
Scroll down for all of the scores from the night.
