The Dancing With the Stars season 33 cast got spooky during Halloween Nightmares Week.
Getting feedback from the judges was even scarier than usual during the Tuesday, October 29, episode as skeletal bones and skulls lined the table. Derek Hough dressed as a vampire, Carrie Ann Inaba went all out with the face paint for her leopard costume and Bruno Tonioli looked sharp in a blazer emblazoned with a sparkly dragon.
While all the celebrity contestants and their pro partners performed routines that were nightmare fuel, only one duo had their mirrorball dreams shattered at the end of the Halloween special. Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold and Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten had the lowest scores of the night, but Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber were ultimately sent home after the votes were tallied.
Tran, 26, said she was “truly just so grateful” for her DWTS experience after the results were revealed, noting that she “can’t imagine life” without Farber, 40, now that they’ve been partners for the past seven weeks.
In honor of the nightmarish theme, the contestants shared some of their worst fears during the episode. Danny Amendola’s partner, Witney Carson, brought a giant snake to rehearsal to help the former NFL player face his phobia of the reptiles.
“They’re creepy, they’re slimy, I don’t like their fangs. One bite, you’re done,” Amendola, 38, told cameras of his fears before holding the snake around his neck. “I handled the snake. Now it’s time to handle the Argentine tango.”
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The judges praised Amendola’s performance, with Hough, 39, noting that he is a “great partner” to Carson, 31, as all his lifts are “so safe and supportive.”
Later in the night, The Bachelorette’s Tran hinted at her scary dating history ahead of her contemporary routine to “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo.
“I’ve dated a lot of vampires in my past, sucking the energy out of me,” Tran joked to Farber.
After feeling disappointed with getting eights again last week, Tran finally had a breakthrough.
“I know that you were just waiting for a nine, but you actually have to earn a nine, OK? And Guess what? You earned that!” Inaba, 56, told her. “This was athletic and it was emotional.”
However, Inaba didn’t just give Tran a 9; she gave her a perfect 10. Tran was overwhelmed by the score, and simply turned to Farber, 40, and said, “Thank you.”
Another triumphant moment of the evening came after Dwight Howard and Daniella Karagach’s contemporary routine to “Ring Around the Rosie” by District 78. Karagach, 31, told Howard, 38, that he had yet to perform a dance with zero mistakes, and warned that if they didn’t step it up, they were in danger of going home. Howard then proceeded to nail their creepy routine, prompting Karagach to burst into tears of pride.
“It means everything to me because we’ve been working so hard, and I’ve seen Dwight work hard every single week, but this week he was so beat up,” Karagach told cohost Julianne Hough after the dance. “He was working so hard, and I’m just so proud of him because he did exactly what we wanted to do.”
Tonioli, 68, said he had “never seen [Howard] more focused and determined than tonight” before praising Karagach’s choreography.
“You should be proud, my darling,” he told her. “I have to praise you.”
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Inaba gave Howard and Karagach the first 10 of the season while Hough gave them a standing ovation. Inaba gave a lot of 10s during Halloween Nightmares night, but she found one routine in particular just purr-fect.
After Nedoroscik, 26, and Arnold’s contemporary routine to “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Hidden Citizens,” Inaba got on top of the judges’ table, meowed and called it “hands down the best” performance of the night.
Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson, however, were the only pair to receive tens from both Inaba and Tonioli. (Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong were the only duo to receive 10s from both Tonioli and Hough.)
Graziadei, 29, and Johnson, 30, dressed as a puppeteer and a ventriloquist, respectively, for their Argentine tango, and Hough called the former Bachelor “the ultimate puppet master because you are always in control when you dance.”
Inaba’s streak of handing out 10s ended after Kinney, 24, and Bersten’s Viennese Waltz, which she gave a nine. As the audience booed, Inaba noted that she “wouldn’t call” the “really strong” dance “perfection,” due to the “criteria” of the Viennese Waltz.
Hough, however, told Kinney, “As [late DWTS judge] Len [Goodman] would say, ‘Hold my gaze,’” before applauding her. “The quality of movement that you did in that dance really truly was, in my opinion, absolute perfection.”
Hough then faked Kinney out by holding up an eight momentarily before giving her a 10.
In addition to the night’s impressive duets, there were also a series of dance-offs. Kinney and Armstrong, 30, were immune due to having the highest cumulative score of the season, and automatically earned three bonus points.
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During the dance-off rounds, Howard and Karagach beat Maher and Bersten, Sasha and Tran beat Nedoroscik and Arnold, and Graziadei and Johnson beat Amendola and Carson. The three bonus points awarded to the dance-off winners were added to their scores from their duet performances.
Keep scrolling to see all the DWTS performers’ scores from Halloween Nightmares Week:
Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten
Dance: Tango
Song: “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads
Score: 24
Dwight Howard and Daniella Karagach
Dance: Contemporary
Song: “Ring Around the Rosie” by District 78
Score: 31
Danny Amendola and Witney Carson
Dance: Argentine tango
Song: “Poison” by RAVN
Score: 28
Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber
Dance: Contemporary
Song: “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo
Score: 31
Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson
Dance: Argentine Tango
Song: “Ramalama (Bang Bang)” by Róisín Murphy
Score: 32
Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold
Dance: Contemporary
Song: “I Ran (So Far Away)” by Hidden Citizens
Score: 28
Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong
Dance: Viennese Waltz
Song: “Secret” by Denmark + Winter
Score: 32
