On November 12, we will reach Episode 8 of Dancing With The Stars Season 33, and we are officially down to our final six contenders for the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy: Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten, Dwight Howard and Daniella Karagach, Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold, Danny Amendola and Witney Carson, Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson and, most importantly, Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong.
For those who are unfamiliar, Chandler — an actress known for her role as Willa in Disney’s Zombies franchise —and her professional dance partner, Brandon, have been dominating the competition on Dancing With The Stars, topping the leaderboard on numerous occasions.
After all, Chandler is a natural when it comes to the ballroom.
Don’t just take it from us, though. Their scores from Dancing With The Stars Season 33 so far are as follows:
FYI: An asterisk means Chandler and Brandon topped the leaderboard that evening — how impressive is that?
Despite displaying some seemingly flawless routines, the Dancing With The Stars duo failed to receive a perfect score from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, coming as close as can be during “Halloween Nightmares Night” last week (October 29).
After receiving “tens” from every judge except Carrie Ann, Chandler and Brandon sat down with TheThings to discuss their near-perfect “Halloween Nightmares Night” score, as well as what really happens during rehearsals, what it would mean to win the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy, and more.
Keep scrolling for the exclusive interview.
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With a the season’s first 10s and a shocking elimination on Halloween Nightmares night, the competition for the Mirrorball Trophy heats up.
For those who need a refresher, besides Chandler and Ilona, Carrie Ann gave every couple a ten during “Halloween Nightmares Night,” stating that the women had “harder criteria” that resulted in lower scores.
With the 24-year-old wanting to get better and better with each routine, always asking the judges for advice on how to improve, this “harder criteria” comment from Carrie Ann irked Chandler, as she was hoping for some constructive feedback instead.
“I wish I could specify that. That’s why I was asking for specificity, because I don’t know,” she stated, before explaining further:
“I think people forget that we’re newbies too… That was the first week that I had ever done Viennese Waltz, so I don’t know what that meant, and I really wanted that clarification. I was asking for it, because as I move through this competition, I really do want to improve.
“I think it’s hard when you don’t know what to spend your time on to improve, so that’s something that I think is going to be a bit of a challenge for us this week.”
In terms of the judges’ comments as a whole, with Carrie Ann aside, Chandler and Brandon were pleased with the praise they got from Derek and Bruno, receiving tens from both judges.
In fact, the Dancing With The Stars duo earned Derek’s first perfect paddle of the season.
“It was really such a beautiful night. For Derek to stand up and give us his classic, iconic Derek clap was so sweet, and he said it was perfection,” Chandler reminisced.
“I look up to him so much as a performer and as a dancer, and for him to just lift us up like that was so sweet, and it was also the first and only ten that Derek gave that night.”
She concluded by stating that the tens “meant the world” to her and her professional dance partner, both of whom are eager to earn that perfect score during Dancing With The Stars’ 500th episode this week.
Performing an Argentine Tango to “Para Te” by Appart — inspired by a Season 16 routine by Kellie Pickler and DWTS pro-turned-judge Derek — the pair certainly have some big shoes to fill.
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What Happens During Rehearsals?
Performing such stellar routines week after week, Chandler and Brandon revealed what really happens during rehearsals, stating that while they have a great time together, they also take their practice time very seriously.
Brandon then joked about how other couples manage to post dozens and dozens of TikTok videos a day during rehearsals, which is something that he and his celebrity dance partner can hardly find time for.
“I don’t know how some of these other couples be cranking out about one TikTok per every square mile of Los Angeles,” Brandon joked.
He then explained what rehearsals look like for them instead:
“I have no idea how these folks be doing that, because 95 percent of the time when Chandler and I walk into that studio, we are dancing the dance that we’re about to do on Tuesday night.
“For us, that’s as far as we’re concerned… We walk in, we chit-chat for 20 minutes, we put our shoes on, and then we dance.
“Then, four hours later, it’s over and we’re exhausted. We get in the car and go home and go to sleep, and we criticize it and watch it and analyze it.”
He also went so far as to admit that he and Chandler are “weak” when it comes to their TikTok game, considering any time that they make content together to be quite an impressive feat.
“Yesterday, you should have seen us. We were giddy after rehearsal. We filmed three TikToks. You would have thought that we thought we were [Martin] Scorsese, like we had produced masterpieces,” the California native reflected.
“We were so proud of ourselves. We’re not the best at it. We’re trying, though.”
Chandler added that although they do not share as much social media content as some of the other pairs — notably Ilona and Alan, or recently-ousted couple Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber — it is not a reflection of the amount of fun she and Brandon have together behind-the-scenes.
“We wish that the packages that play in the show were longer, because we do have a whole lot of fun in rehearsals while we’re working. We just don’t set up our cameras and film it as much,” she clarified.
“Neither of us have that natural inclination. I wish we did, because I think we would be turning out good content every two seconds … Now, we set aside time specifically to film the TikToks, because we’re falling behind.”
She concluded the conversation with a chuckle, stating that the Dancing With The Stars Season 33 cast has “some master content creators.”
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Who Would Chandler And Brandon Choose For Switch-Up Week?
After discussing these exclusive details about rehearsals, the conversation transitioned to some fun, hypothetical questions, beginning with whom the pair would have liked to dance with if a “Switch-Up Week” were to have occurred during Dancing With The Stars Season 33.
For those who are unfamiliar, “Switch-Up Week” has been a feature in previous seasons of the reality television series, where couples are required to dance with a different partner, ultimately challenging their chemistry while performing with a partner that they have yet to build trust with.
According to Chandler and Brandon themselves, they would have wanted to switch with Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy — the couple that was unexpectedly eliminated during “Disney Night” — if a “Switch-Up Week” were to have occurred.
Chandler gushed:
“I would want to dance with Val. I just feel like he’s just such a wise man… I’ll just have a five-minute conversation with him, and he’s dropped like, 10 pearls of wisdom. I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you very much. I will pocket that.’
“I think he’s seen a lot. He’s been in the game a long time, so I think that would be a really rewarding experience.”
Eager to dance with Val’s celebrity dance partner, Brandon sang like a bird as well:
“It’s funny that you say that, because my pick was going to be Phaedra just for the vibes.
“They did a good job on her packages, but I wish everybody could spend five minutes with this woman. She has the fastest mouth I have ever seen in my life.
“She is so witty, nonstop. She’s incredible, confident, educated, knows herself.”
“I think I’d be laughing all week,” he concluded, with an ear-to-ear grin.
Similarly, when asked who they would have looped in if a “Trio Dance” were to have occurred, Chandler admitted that her Zombies co-star Milo Manheim — who was runner-up on Season 27 of the show — would have been a perfect pick.
In the end, she performed a Paso Doble to “We Own The Night” from Zombies 2 during “Disney Night,” where she had Milo come to rehearsals, the taping and more — he’s already a shoo-in!
“Milo was the plan, actually. When I first signed on to do the show — Milo and I have the texts — he was like, ‘If there’s a trio night, you know who to call,’” Chandler reminisced.
“That was always kind of in our back pocket, but unfortunately, I don’t think we’re doing ‘Trio Night.’ They should bring that back. It’s so much fun, but that would have been the guy for the job.”
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Brandon Shares What It Would Mean To Bring Home His First Mirrorball Trophy
Concluding our exclusive interview, Chandler and Brandon shared just how much they want to stay in the competition, with the DWTS pro admitting that he is hopeful to take home his first Mirrorball Trophy with the Disney star specifically.
With her stellar dancing skills, the 30-year-old went so far as to describe his partnership with Chandler as “a fast pass” to victory.
While Brandon recognizes that there are other DWTS pros who have been on the show for much longer, still waiting to take home their first Mirrorball Trophy — notably Sasha and Gleb Savchenko — he still feels as though he is overdue for a victory.
He also recognizes that “there’s so many things that have to fall into place to win a Mirrorball [Trophy],” but he thinks he has his best chance yet with Chandler as his celebrity dance partner.
“Val — who, in my opinion, is probably one of the best male pros to ever do the show — I think it’s him, Derek, Mark [Ballas], Maks [Chmerkovskiy]. Like we have these OGs that are incredible,” Brandon gushed.
“Maks has won one time, maybe twice. Mark has won what? Only three times? Val has won three times. Those people have been on the show for 20, 25 seasons, so everything just has to fall in line in order for you to win a Mirrorball [Trophy].”
He continued:
“I think people have to like you. You have to be able to dance. You have to have a good story. This, that, and the third.”
“The fan vote is so important now more than ever, so it would mean a lot not only for me, it would mean a lot to me for Chandler… I don’t think people appreciate the amount of work she puts in.”
“Yes, she comes in with dance experience. People will say like, ‘Oh, she makes it look easy.’ That’s because we worked long enough to make it look easy… That stuff comes after hours and hours and hours of work and frustration for one minute of easiness on the show.”
Naturally, the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy would mean a lot to Brandon, but he hopes to mainly “just repay Chandler for the work that she’s put in” — how sweet is that?
Now, just one burning question remains: will Chandler and Brandon emerge victorious?
All-new episodes of Dancing With The Stars Season 33 air Tuesdays on ABC or Disney Plus, with next-day streaming through Hulu.
To keep up with their behind-the-scenes content, fans can connect with Chandler and Brandon on social media — @chandlerlkinney and @brandonarmstrong — for behind-the-scenes content and additional updates to their Dancing With The Stars journey.
Dancing with the Stars is a popular dancing competition reality TV show airing on ABC and Disney+. The series features various celebrities who pair with professional dancers to compete in front of a panel of judges. The US version of the UK TV show Strictly Come Dancing premiered in 2005 and was originally hosted by Tom Bergeron for its first 28 seasons.
- Release Date
- June 1, 2005
- Main Genre
- Reality
- Cast
- Carrie Ann Inaba , Bruno Tonioli , Len Goodman , Tom Bergeron , Cheryl Burke , Tony Dovolani , Derek Hough , Mark Ballas , Karina Smirnoff , Maksim Chmerkovskiy , Kym Johnson , Sasha Farber , Val Chmerkovskiy , Emma Slater , Sharna Burgess
