“Dancing With The Stars” Continues into Week 6 with a Night Dedicated to the Musical, “Wicked”

Twirling into week six of Dancing with the Stars, the theme of the evening was based on the hit Broadway musical “Wicked”.

The night was dedicated to the iconic musical, with each dance performed to a song from its score and the dancers portraying the characters. Jon M. Chu, director of the two movie musical adaptations of the Broadway show, surprised audiences with an appearance as a guest judge on the panel.

With no one eliminated last week, the scores and votes are carried over and will be added to this week’s scores.

The show opened with a prerecorded segment from Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, with a short message introducing the show.

“We can’t wait to share with you the songs and magic of Wicked and Wicked: For Good,” said Grande. Viewers were then launched into a spectacular opening number with the professional dancers of the show, choreographed by “Wicked” choreographer Chris Scott. The number was a medley containing bits from a handful of songs and featured some of the viral dances from the movie.

This week, two couples were able to get 10s from the judges for the first time this season. Whitney Leavitt (“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives”) and partner Mark Ballas, along with Jordan Chiles (Olympic gymnast) and partner Ezra Sosa, tied at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 39/40 points for this week.

Leavitt and Ballas performed a quickstep to “Popular”. Chiles and Sosa performed a rumba to “For Good”. 

During the episode, they previewed an unreleased clip from “Wicked: For Good” of the characters Glinda (Ariana Grande), Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), and The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) performing the song “Wonderful”.

After all the performances, viewers voted for their favorite dance by texting the celebrity’s name to the DWTS number or voting on their website before the end of the episode.

Cohost Alfonso Ribeiro announces that this is the sixth consecutive week audiences have broken voting records. 

Once the votes are counted, it is revealed that Scott Hoying (“Pentatonix” member) and Rylee Arnold are eliminated from the competition.

The next morning, Hoying posted on his TikTok raving about his experience, “I will treasure this experience forever.”

Hoying continued with giving praise to his dance partner, “You are such a star. You are just a wonderful person and deserve the world.”

Next week is their annual Halloween night, with each couple performing to songs with a darker theme. Long-time fans will be happy to learn that former DWTS pro and two-time winner Cheryl Burke is joining the panel as a guest judge who will help decide which duo will be eliminated.