On Tuesday, November 21st, Dancing with the Stars held the anticipated celebration of Taylor Swift episode. For this week’s competition, each couple performed a ballroom-style dance to their favorite Taylor Swift song.
Guest judge Mandy Moore, choreographer of The Eras Tour, joined the panel along with veteran judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli.
The night started with a video message from Swift, giving her best wishes to the dancers and thanking the show for having this special celebration. Swift couldn’t attend since she is on her second leg of The Eras Tour.
The stars still in the competition were actress Xochitl Gomez, reality TV star Harry Jowsey, The Bachelorette star Charity Lawson, Ariana Madix from Vanderpump Rules, grammy awarded singer Jason Mraz, and actress Alyson Hannigan.
The celebration began with Hannigan and her partner, Sasha Farber, dancing the cha-cha to “You Belong With Me (Taylor’s Version)” from Swift’s Fearless album. Hannigan received a score of 29 out of 40.
Following Hannigan was Madix with her partner, Pasha Pashkov, dancing a rumba to “Cruel Summer” from Swift’s Lover album. Madix received high praise from the judges, who gave her a 37 out of 40.
Breaking loose from his recent scoring slump, Mraz danced an Argentine tango to “Don’t Blame Me” from Swift’s Reputation album with his partner, Daniella Karagach. Mraz performed perfectly, as indicated by receiving his first perfect score of the season.
After last week’s dance, Jowsey was accused of being a “tree trunk” by one of the judges. This week, Jowsey and his partner, Rylee Arnold, shocked the audience with their rumba to “August” from Swift’s Folklore album. Jowsey scored 30 out of 40, one of the highest scores he has received this season.
After Jowsey, Lawson and her partner, Artem Chigvintsev, danced the Argentine tango to “Look What You Made Me Do” from Swift’s Reputation album. Lawson’s technically magnificent dance received a score of 38 out of 40.
To complete the dance portion of the broadcast, Gomez and her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, performed a quickstep to “Paper Rings” from Swift’s Lover album. Gomez has consistently been at the top of the leaderboard throughout the season and didn’t disappoint with her high-energy dance receiving a 38 out of 40.
The stars also performed in a competitive relay dance, which awarded the winner of each round three extra bonus points to their overall score. Gomez defeated Madix in a Vietnamese waltz to Swift’s song “Lover.” Hannigan defeated Jowsey in a jive to Swift’s song “Shake It Off.” Finally, Mraz defeated Lawson in a cha-cha to Swift’s song “Lavender Haze.”
After the bonus points were tallied, the leaderboard was Mraz with a 43, Gomez with a 41, Lawson with a 38, Madix with a 37, Hannigan with a 32, and Jowsey with a 30.
Many excited “Swifties” were ready to hear Swift’s recordings all night. To their surprise and disappointment, Dancing with the Stars chose not to buy the rights to Swift’s music and used the cover band they have in most episodes instead. This left fans upset and confused because they were expecting Swift’s real recordings to be played rather than a cover since this was a Taylor Swift celebration night. Surprisingly, only Jowsey’s dance to “August” and Mraz and Lawson’s relay dance to “Lavender Haze” were real recordings of Swift herself.
Each episode ends with an elimination of a star and dancer duo. Tuesday’s episode concluded with fan favorites Jowsey and his partner Arnold eliminated. Their elimination left many fans visibly upset.
The celebration of Taylor Swift was exciting for both “Swifites” as well as dedicated Dancing with the Stars fans. The night celebrated all aspects of Swift’s music and created more anticipation for the semi-finals, which will take place on November 27.