Danielle Fishel has an axe to grind about one aspect of her Dancing With the Stars elimination.
Taking to Instagram on Friday, November 7, Fishel, 44, claimed the show edited out the personal back story relating to the choreography that her dance partner Pasha Pashkov created for them to dance on the night.
Fishel explained that prior to their performance, Pashkov asked her what story she wanted to tell as part of the dance routine after Aerosmith’s song “Dream On” was cleared for them to use on the show.
“I wrote to Pasha, I said, ‘Okay, our story is about the impossible standards placed on women both from society and from ourselves. If we pursue work outside the home and have a family, we’re told that we should be with our kids more,” the Boy Meets World alum said.
How Danielle Fishel Avoids ‘Overthinking’ About Feedback From ‘DWTS’ Judges
She continued, “If we stay home, we’re told we don’t work and are uninteresting. If we’re too thin, we’re told to eat a burger and if we gain weight, we’re told to get off the couch. When we get Botox or fillers, we’re accused of not aging gracefully and when we age naturally, we’re called old and ugly.”
The podcast host explained that being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024 put things into perspective for her and she wanted to incorporate that experience into their dance.
“We are sometimes always too much and never enough at the same time and the only cure for it is to live life your way, living out your dreams because as my cancer diagnosis pointed out to me last year, life is short and we never know when we’re living our last day or dancing our last dance,” she added.
Although Pashkov loved the idea and worked up a dance routine to reflect Fishel’s poignant sentiments, the audience never got to hear the explanation.
“When we were on the ballroom floor, I was like, listening to my package and I was like… none of that was even mentioned, like none of my story was even in the package,” she said. “Those are just things that are completely out of our control.”
Doubling down in the comments section, Fishel went on to emphasize how upset she was that it was left on the cutting room floor.
Danielle Fishel Saw a Surgeon Before Performing Through Injury on ‘DWTS’
“That’s the part that bothers me the most,” she wrote. “Pasha’s entire choreography was built around the idea that he would represent the noise, the judgements, the criticism, and expectations and as the dance evolved I would learn to stop fighting it and instead learn to live with it and rise above it. Because you can’t stop or change it but you can adjust how you respond or react.”
Fishel and Pashkov were sent home on Tuesday, November 4 after scoring 34 out of 40 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough and guest judge Flavor Flav.
Following her exit, Fishel shared a clip from her “Danielle With Stars” podcast via Instagram.
“Tonight was my last night, it was my last dance. I was eliminated and I have such a wide range of emotions,” Fishel said in the post. “My day-to-day life is going to so drastically change now. It couldn’t have gone any better. I am so lucky. I was so lucky that Pasha was my partner.”
