Julia Stiles’ time in the ballroom is over. The actress and her pro partner, Ezra Sosa, were sent home from Dancing With the Stars on Monday’s Disney Night, finishing Season 35 in eighth place.
From Frontrunner to Farewell
Stiles was seen as one of the early favourites this season, but the pair landed near the bottom of the leaderboard this week. Their paso doble to “Satisfied” from Hamilton wasn’t enough to keep them in the competition.
The 10 Things I Hate About You star took the exit in good spirits. According to Page Six, she said the show had been “an incredible experience” and that she had pulled things out of herself she “didn’t realize were there.” Sosa called it “an absolute honor” to dance with her.
The partnership hadn’t always been smooth. The pair had a heated rehearsal session last week, Page Six reports.
A Night of Disney Magic
The eight remaining couples all danced to songs from Disney’s Broadway shows. Wicked star Cynthia Erivo joined Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli as guest judge, and team dances returned, with the cast split between co-hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough.
Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson stole the show with a jazz routine to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins, earning a perfect 40 out of 40. Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy also scored a perfect 40. Because Shum Jr. and Johnson are one point ahead across the whole season, they earned immunity from next week’s dance-off.
Other highlights included Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov’s Hercules quickstep (34), Paralympian Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach’s “Under the Sea” samba (37), Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik’s contemporary routine from Aida (33), and Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas’ Peter Pan jive (32).
What’s Next
With Stiles out, seven couples remain in the race for the Mirrorball Trophy. Fans will be watching to see whether anyone can match Shum Jr. and Dewan’s perfect scores next week.
Source: Page Six
