Week six of “Dancing with the Stars” brought spooky tricks and thrills to the ballroom for “Halloween Nightmares Night.” The night was packed with performances as stars competed in “dance-offs” and performed themed dances about their nightmares. Many stars earned their first tens of the night, but one couple unfortunately saw themselves out.
Ilona Maher kicked off the night with a Tango to “Psycho Killer” inspired by her true fear of serial killers. The star earned three eights from the judges, but the dance lacked star power and excitement despite being well done. High expectations preceded her as Dwight Howard was next to perform.
Howard and his partner Daniella Karagach performed a creepy contemporary to “Ring Around the Rosie” that blew audiences and judges away. Fans’ expectations were high for the pair especially since Karagach received an Emmy nominationfor her Halloween Night choreography in Season 30 with Iman Shumpert. The pair not only met high expectations but also exceeded them.
Howard and Karagach earned the first ten of the season from Judge Carrie Ann Inaba and two nines from the following judges. Tears were shed as they expressed how grateful they were for their scores. The trend of tens from Inaba only continued from there.
NFL player Danny Amendola and partner Witney Carson earned a ten from Inaba and two nines for their Argentine tango, for a score of 28 out of 30. After detailing how badly she wanted a nine in her video package, “The Bachelorette” star Jenn Tran also earned a 28 for her contemporary to “Vampire.”
Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik and partner Rylee Arnold also received a 28 for their contemporary dance. Inaba gave tens to all three stars, even jumping on the table to share how she felt about Nedoroscik’s performance.
She felt very generous with the ten-scoring paddle during Halloween night but not toward everyone. “Zombies 2” star Chandler Kinney received a nine from Inaba after she told Kinney her Viennese waltzhad too many criteria and was not perfect. However, Kinney was awarded a standing ovation from Judge Derek Hough and given his first ten of the night along with a ten from Judge Bruno Tanioli.
Inaba’s scoring in this episode sparked outrage among fans, with many taking to social media to share their distaste for her poor scoring. A few fans even called for her to be replaced.
Since the airing of week six’s Halloween episode, there is now a petitionto replace Inaba. The petition is similar to one started in 2015. Fans claimed Inaba has been a sexist and unfair judge for years, with no change seen on the show.
Despite controversial judges' scores, the couples finished with their partner dances. Maher was at the bottom of the leaderboard heading into dance-offs, and Joey Graziadei and Kinney tied at the top. The winner of each dance-off received three bonus points added to their total scores.
Howard and Maher competedin the first dance-off, performing two variations of a cha-cha simultaneously. Howard won the dance-off according to the judge’s votes. Tran and Nedoroscik faced off performing salsas and presented two very unique styles to the judges, with Tran ultimately securing the win.
Stand-out stars Graziadei and Amendola were in the last dance-off. The battle was hard fought with both male professionals giving it their all Graziadei had a standout performance with his partner Jenna Johnson earlier in the night and earned two tens from judges. His success only continued as he ultimately earned the three bonus points as the dance-off winner.
Week six saw another elimination and sadly “The Bachelorette” star Tran and her partner Sasha Farber were eliminated. During post-elimination remarks, Tran saidshe could not imagine a life without her partner Farber. The couple shared palpable chemistry during this season and have dodged dating rumors since the first week.
With the show now over for the two, they have gone to TikTokto share videos of them hanging out and cooking. Due to this, dating rumors are once again sparking. Whether or not they will date is a mystery, but fans will miss Tran’s hard work and their connection on screen.
“Dancing With the Stars” will take a week off due to Election Day but will return Nov. 12 for more competition and another elimination.
