“I’m doing ‘Dancing with the Stars’ because I love a challenge. I’m a pretty competitive person by nature, and hopefully we can leave with a Mirror Ball,” said celebrity contestant Jordan Fisher about joining this season’s cast. And there’s a lot riding on it for his professional partner Lindsay Arnold: she hasn’t won a Mirror Ball Trophy yet, but she keeps getting closer and closer, finishing fourth in season 22 (with Wanya Morris), third in season 23 (with Calvin Johnson), and second in season 24 (with David Ross). So “first place has got to be next,” she said.
Their partnership was also exciting to Arnold for another reason. Both she and Fisher are 23-years-old, and “I have not had a partner that was my age in a very long time.” They seemed to form an immediate bond while training for the season premiere, which paid off with a tango that earned the highest judges’ score of the night, tied with Lindsey Stirling. Watch their performance above.
Due to the time constraints of 13 couples dancing during the two-hour show, we only heard detailed critiques from one judge for their performance, but it was full of gushing praise. Carrie Ann Inaba actually said “wowza” about their performance, exclaiming that the routine was so good so early in the competition that they “shouldn’t be dancing like that yet.” It was full of “swagger,” and they are “a partnership to watch.”
Inaba scored them an 8 out of 10, the highest score she gave to any performance. Her fellow judges Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli were more conservative, giving them 7s. Do you agree with Inaba that it was the best routine of the night? Vote in our poll below.
Be sure to make your predictions so that the contestants can see how they’re faring in our racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs every Monday on ABC. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
