Dancing With the Stars pro Brandon Armstrong and his partner, Chandler Kinney, are setting the record straight about his Gen Z knowledge after fans thought he didn’t know the viral Charli XCX “Apple” dance.
“So I would actually like to clear Brandon Armstrong’s name right now because I know everybody’s trying to cancel this man for being uncultured,” Chandler, 24, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Tuesday, November 12, episode of DWTS, to which Brandon, 30, replied, “Yeah, get off me!”
Chandler explained that she did teach Brandon the dance, and they even filmed it — but it’s still in her drafts. To prove Brandon knew the routine, he and Chandler broke into a performance while talking with Us.
“I look like a boomer,” Brandon quipped. “You exposed all of me. Like a boomer. It’s in her drafts somewhere on TikTok, so you’ll get it tomorrow morning. I’m never going to live it down.”
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Chandler added that it was one of their first TikToks they did together, calling it a “cute little foreshadowing.” Brandon added, “I’m trying my best on the TikTok.”
After paying homage to Derek Hough and Kellie Picker’s season 16 Argentine tango with a spin of their own, Chandler and Brandon were tasked with performing an instant cha cha. After cohost Alfonso Ribeiro told the pair they were dancing to “Apple,” Chandler erupted into laughter while Brando seemed perplexed. He seemingly mouthed, “What is that?” before running to change into his costume.
“Uh oh, Brandon did not feel comfortable about that one,” Alfonso, 53, joked. “He looked real scared.”
After the twosome performed the number, cohost Julianne Hough told Brandon that it seemed as if he didn’t know the song.
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“I still don’t know the song,” Brandon said. “With all due respect, I turned 30 this summer and it’s been downhill for my TikTok game.”
The pair earned a combined judges’ score of 60 for their two performances and were not eliminated from the ABC reality show. (Dwight Howard and his partner, Daniella Karagach, were sent home.)
While reflecting back on receiving two perfect scores, Brandon gushed that he felt “amazing.”
“It’s like you envision a moment for a long time, and you almost assign a thing to it, like how you’re going to react, how you’re going to feel. I always thought I would just be stoked and keep it moving, but I did,” he told Us. “I got all sorts of, like, worked up because it’s, I don’t know, it’s just there’s a certain amount of validation, but outside of the validation, it’s gorgeous. There’s so much effort that we really do put into it, and so it’s just nice to see it get reflected publicly.”
Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Carly Konsker
