Dancing With the Stars contestants revisited some of the most iconic moments in pop culture during Music Video Night.
The Tuesday, November 7, episode kicked off with guest judge Paula Abdul entering as her 1989 hit “Forever Your Girl” played. Cohost Julianne Hough pointed out that Abdul, 61, was the perfect person to help judge the theme night.
“You are one of the world’s biggest music video icons,” Hough, 35, told the “Straight Up” singer. One of the contestants who most impressed Abdul was Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix.
“You were a dazzling mix of finesse and fury and you channeled Britney Spears seamlessly,” Abdul told Madix, 38, after she and DWTS pro Pasha Pashkov performed a Cha Cha to Spears’ 2001 song “I’m a Slave 4 U.” Madix received nines from Bruno Tonioli, Derek Hough and Carrie Ann Inaba, but Abdul gave her a perfect 10.
Other contestants didn’t fare as well during the episode. Inaba, 55, told Harry Jowsey that his performance suffered after his backup dancers let him take center stage. “Once the boys were no longer in front of you, it was not as good,” she told Jowsey, 26, as the crowd booed.
Jowsey and his partner, Rylee Arnold, got a visit from Lance Bass himself during rehearsal before they danced to ’NSync’s “It’s Gonna Be Me.” However, Bass’ advice to Jowsey to “get out of your head and just perform” didn’t stop Jowsey and Arnold, 18, from being disappointed with their score: sixes from all four judges.
At the end of the night, Barry Williams and Peta Murgatroyd and Jowsey and Arnold had the lowest scores of the night. However, it was Lele Pons and her partner, Brandon Armstrong, who were ultimately eliminated. Pons, 27, gushed that she was “so, so grateful” for the experience while Armstrong, 29, said, “This one burns.”
The couple with the highest score of the night, Madix and Pashkov, 37, will not have to compete in next week’s dance-off.
While they may not have been at the top of the leaderboard, Alyson Hannigan and her partner, Sasha Farber, were perhaps the most improved duo of the night. Inaba told Hannigan, 49, that her Quickstep to Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman” was “by far [her] best dance” and said she was “like a whole new girl” during the performance.
Tonioli, 67, told the actress she “even had a little spring in her step,” which he said she previously lacked. “Problem solved!” Tonioli decreed. Hannigan also received her first nine of the competition from Abdul.
In addition to the evening’s partnered dances, the contestants also participated in a team dance-off. Jowsey, Pons, Xochitl Gomez, Charity Lawson and their pro partners danced to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by the Backstreet Boys while Hannigan, Jason Mraz, Madix, Williams, 69, and their partners performed to “Gangnam Style” by PSY.
After struggling during his jazz routine with Arnold, Jowsey redeemed himself during the group dance. Derek, 38, was so impressed by Jowsey’s performance during the group number that he got up and hugged him.
Derek then told Jowsey he’d “figured out” his strength. “You’re not a soloist, you’re a team player,” he said. Jowsey’s team received a perfect score of 40 from the judges while the opposite team received a 37.
Keep scrolling to see all the performers’ scores from Music Video Night:
