“Having the perfect score now sets a new bar for us, and it adds a lot of pressure,” said Jordan Fisher leading into his “Movie Night” performance on “Dancing with the Stars.” “I won’t do something unless I can put 110-percent into that thing.” That level of pressure and commitment took their toll on Fisher while he trained for his dramatic rumba, and he was also concerned about injuries, which he experienced a lot of while training for gymnastics as a child. His perfectionism “takes a toll” on him, but he needn’t have worried. His rumba was nearly perfect — except of course for his “twiddly fiddlies.”
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba struggled for words at first, describing Fisher’s movements like “taffy” — which she meant as a compliment: “When you move you stretch, elongate, contract, and everything is one movement from the moment you start … It was one continuous motion, like a wave of gorgeousness.” Len Goodman loved it too, but “little things get on my nerves a bit.” Namely, Goodman was annoyed by a specific wavy hand movement Fisher made in the middle of the routine. It’s hard to explain that movement in writing, but I think we can all agree that Goodman’s description of them as “twiddly fiddlies” is the best phrase Merriam-Webster could ask for. “I’ll tone the twiddly fiddlies down,” Fisher promised.
That was as close to controversial as the dance got, though. Guest judge Shania Twain “thought [the hand movement] was all part of the elegance.” And Bruno Tonioli concluded, “You stretch every movement to the maximum extent, and yet it feels effortless.” Fisher’s rumba received 10s from Tonioli, Twain, and Inaba, but those damn fiddlies cost him a perfect score — Goodman gave him a 9, for a total of 39 out of 40, placing him second on the leaderboard right behind Lindsey Stirling.
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