[This story contains spoilers from episode nine of Dancing With the Stars season 34.]
Happy Birthday to Dancing With the Stars!
This week’s episode paid homage to the show itself, with a special 20th Birthday Party. At the end of the night, Andy Richter and Emma Slater were eliminated from the competition.
The ballroom was jam packed with legends of the show, as the opening number featured six pros from season one as the one and only Tom Bergeron made his guest judge debut, returning him to the ballroom for the first time since his controversial firing in 2020.
To celebrate his DWTS homecoming, Bergeron chatted with The Hollywood Reporter, where he admitted he was “thrilled” to be back on DWTS and teased that his judging style would be “pretty much the same as the way I hosted it.” (Read Bergeron’s full profile here.)
Season 34 is almost over, although viewers wouldn’t be able to notice given the plethora of couples remaining in the competition. The celebrity cast includes Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Whitney Leavitt, social media star Alix Earle, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles, The Traitors season three winner (and Zac Efron’s brother) Dylan Efron, actress Elaine Hendrix, conservationist (and son of Steve Irwin) Robert Irwin and comedian-actor Andy Richter, who was kicked off at the episode.
The 20th Birthday Party celebration featured two unique rounds of dance. First, couples performed numbers set to the songs of freestyle routines from DWTS past. Next, each celebrity danced with a former mirrorball champion in the relay dance round.
During the relay dances, two couples competed head to head, with one duo performing during the first half of the song while the second pairing followed. The judges selected the winner from each round, who was awarded two bonus points to their score.
Whitney and Mark did not partake in the relay dance round as they were granted immunity last week, which earned them an additional two points to their overall score for the night.
Ahead of the relay round, Robert and Witney earned the first perfect individual score of the season, dancing to the tune of his elder sister Bindi Irwin’s freestyle song as a tribute to their father. Before Tuesday’s episode, the pro dancer told THR being partnered with the conservationist has been “a once in a lifetime opportunity,” and if they won season 34, it “would just mean everything to me.”
Following quickly behind them were Dylan, Alix and Whitney, who each scored a respective 40/40.
After the 20th Birthday Party episode, only two weeks of competition remain, including next week’s Prince Night (which will serve as the semi finals) and Nov. 25’s three-hour finale.
The couple with the lowest combined total of judges’ scores and viewer votes is eliminated at the end of each episode. Live voting takes place during the East Coast airing of each show and ends shortly after the final performance is completed.
See the full list of scores for week eight of DWTS season 34 (aka the 20th Birthday Party episode) below.
Individual Dances
Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten: 36/40
Robert Irwin and Witney Carson: 40/40
Andy Richter and Emma Slater: 29/40
Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach: 40/40
Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa: 37/40
Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy: 40/40
Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas: 40/40 (+2 bonus points from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night)
Relay Dances
Jordan Chiles and Apolo Anton Ohno (season four champ) (WINNER, +2 bonus points)
Elaine Hendrix and Rashad Jennings (season 24 champ)
Dylan Efron and Rumer Willis (season 20 champ) (WINNER, +2 bonus points)
Andy Richter and Kaitlyn Bristowe (season 29 champ)
Alix Earle and Joey Graziadei (season 33 champ)
Robert Irwin and Xochitl Gomez (season 32 champ) (WINNER, +2 bonus points)
Final Leaderboard
Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas: 42
Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach: 42
Robert Irwin and Witney Carson: 42
Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy: 40
Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa: 39
Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten: 36
Andy Richter and Emma Slater: 29 (ELIMINATED)
Season 34 of DWTS airs and streams simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ on Tuesdays, with new episodes available to stream on Wednesdays on Hulu.
