DWTS’ Rylee Arnold Reacts to Carrie Ann’s Wobbly Criticism of Stephen

Despite the fan reaction, Rylee Arnold understands judge Carrie Ann Inaba’s criticism of partner Stephen Nedoroscik on Dancing With the Stars.

“I mean, I totally get what she’s saying, because I think sometimes when we go and do our dance, we put so much energy into it, and it’s not necessarily grounded,” Arnold, 19, exclusively told Us Weekly following the Tuesday, October 15, episode of DWTS.

After Arnold and Nedoroscik, 25, performed an Argentine tango to The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” — and showed off his iconic pommel horse moves — Inaba, 56, called the Olympian “a tiny bit wobbly.” Inaba quickly got booed by the audience for her comment.

Arnold, however, appreciated the feedback. “I definitely think that’s something we can take into our next weeks to just really get grounded in all of our dances so we can feel in the floor, and it’ll help us a lot,” Arnold told Us. “So, I’m glad she said it.”

Arnold and Nedoroscik ultimately earned a 33 out of 40 for their dance dedicated to men’s gymnastics, and they were awarded their first nine of the season by judge Derek Hough. With their judges’ scores and fan votes, they were safe for another week of the competition. (Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko were eliminated after their salsa to “Mi Gente” by J Balvin and Willy William.)

“I mean, we worked so hard this week,” Arnold said of receiving a nine. “I think it really did help having a pommel horse in our routine because Stephen kind of gets in this mode when he goes and does his pommel horse routines. It works perfect for the Argentine Tango because he was in that serious, like, game face mode.”

Arnold said it “was really helpful” to incorporate the pommel horse into the performance. “I think that was kind of how we honed in on that character he had today,” she explained.

Nedoroscik agreed with his partner’s take. “A hundred percent,” he said. “I mean, like, I literally was able to just hold my same composure for doing pommel horse and then just hold that as I did the rest of the dance. So, that part was lovely.”

Hough, for his part, walked over to add to Us, “I need to be on that pommel horse.”

Dancing With the Stars airs simultaneously on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ the next day.

With reporting by Carly Konsker