Hello, Welcome to Danielle with the Stars.

I am Danielle Fischl, a TV director, a podcaster.

Forever to Panga, and a mom of two.

Currently, though I am learning how to ballroom dance one step.

At a time.

I'm training for Season thirty four of Dancing with the Stars, premiering September sixteenth on ABC and Disney Plus.

And I'm going to be recording this podcast chronicling my journey, giving you the inside story of one celebrities quest for a Mirror Ball Trophy.

And right now I am engulfed in rehearsals.

I'm practicing every single day, and I figured the best way for me to prep for a victory, because my goal is victory, is to talk to those who have competed before me, and today I am chatting to someone from within the pod meets World Extended Universe.

A celebrity dancer who participated in not just one season of Dancing with the Stars, but two.

She first competed in season five back in two thousand and seven with partner Mark Ballas and finished seventh place, a result often considered the most shocking and unfair in the show's history.

AOL users settled.

Down everyone remember it's the year two thousand and seven, even voted it as the most shocking TV moment of the year, and to right the wrong.

She would return for season fifteen in twenty twelve, the only all Star incarnation to date, now paired with Louis van Amstell, and she placed eighth eliminated exactly five years to the date she controversially exited back in two thousand and seven, and in between the two appearances, she even went on the road for Dancing with the Stars Live.

So if I am going to get advice from anyone, I think I'm starting in the right place.

Today on Danielle with the Stars, I am paired with the iconic Cheetah Girl and the co host of the magical rewind podcast.

It's Sabrina Brian.

Sabrina, I am so happy that you are here to talk with me and help me through this process.

I am gonna be honest, I feel.

In slightly over my head, So your expert advice is greatly appreciated.

I know the feeling.

It's it's a bit of an unknown, right, Like, I mean, you've done live TV, so that's not a thing, but it it's you're learning something New Right, and it's like it's really nerve racking.

But I will tell you that the pros on this show, they are they're just they're exactly that they're pros, and they will hold your hand and take you through this journey and it's just you.

You just have to get ready that.

This is gonna be one of the most exciting things you've ever done.

It's so different, and you're gonna be hooked like you're gonna always want to be in the audience.

You are gonna be obsessed with spray tnds.

It is like everything like you just will get hooked in this entire world.

Believe me, I swear you all.

Oh my gosh.

I mean you were very kind to give me credit that I have done live TV, which means I have held a microphone and spoken during live TV.

I have never really had to perform on live TV.

So that kind of brings me to my next question for you, and I might have a feeling I regret this, but what is your background in dance before you agreed to the show.

Okay, so I grew up dancing hip hop, tap okay, ballet jazz from the time you were a little girl.

I start or what's actually considered pretty late.

I started at seven, Oh, that wasn't too late, but it's it actually now that my daughter is in the world, It's like, if you don't have classes starting at two, with like those mommy and me classes, you're kind of like tested it out, and then if you're wanting to be like a competitive dancer, you really got to get your kids in like going hard around like four or five, which is wow.

That do you think forty four is too late?

Not at all okay, because I mean, listen, this show isn't I think what's great is you're entering it during a time where the show has seen all kinds of celebrities come on.

When I did my first season, there wasn't a lot of quote unquote dancers that would do it, and so I got actually a lot of flak for the dance background I had because I had been on The Cheetah Girls.

They knew already I could dance, and they that was actually a little bit of a backlash at that time during the show, because it was like, well, this isn't even fair.

She can dance, and it's like I can dance, but my habits.

First of all, I had never danced with like a partner like this, like learning for someone to lead me.

Oh yeah, are you kidding me?

I know the choreography?

Why am I gonna you know?

Why where are you doing anything?

Yeah?

Yeah, it's it's like it's one of those things where being hooked to somebody and having them steer you into the direction and waiting for them, because that's part of the technique of learning ballroom in Latin is being as a woman and being in the man's frame.

You're supposed to be led by them.

And that was really difficult for me to lean into because I just was used to being on my own.

I mean, yeah, I would maybe grab a hand, do a spin in something, but like never like this where the entire time you are locked like hand in hand, right, And that was really hard for me for timing.

I mean, I had Mark Ballast my first season, and what was awesome with Mark is it was his first season, so we were both kind of just lost.

I hardly know what in regards with the show, but he was so vibrant and so he had already like what he came from.

When he was in London.

He was teaching a lot, which I think makes a big difference because it gives you a bit of an understanding of somebody brand new and also giving the level of patients.

Yeah, how to communicate what he's trying to get out of you.

He's already had practice of that with kids too, which is great.

You're like, talk to me like I'm for There's.

Nothing that gives you more patience than handling kids.

Yes, So that was really amazing, and he was really good on teaching me the steps he saw that I needed to learn choreography, then timing, then how he wants to push me into being where I need to be on that timing.

So it was just it.

But you'll see everyone has their own journey.

But you'll see regardless, everyone's journey involves creating a relationship with your partner, learning to trust them.

And like I said, now where we're at with Dancing with the Stars forty five years after I've done it, it is like the pros have it locked in.

So all you gotta do is listen to your pro and you are going to be golden.

So you mentioned you were in one of the earlier seasons.

You were originally on the fifth season of the show back in two thousand and seven, So what season are we already four?

I know nothing will make you feel older than hearing that for sure.

Do you think having had experience with other styles of dance helped you or hurt you with learning the choreography?

I think for learning helped me.

I there's something I think this is what is great with athletes that joined the show as well as there's a way in your brain that is, it's a training process of learning to be able to see see movement, do movement, and have it sink into your body and then remembering it.

And that memory aspect is what I think people who don't come with any kind of training in that sense, whether it's you know, a football player, an ice hockey or what you know, a figure skater, that ability to remember movement is what helped me.

What didn't help me was my movement was like heavy and I was not elegant in any sense.

And when I say I trained in ballet, it was like I did the bitter minimum classes they made me do.

I didn't like being like this elegant ballerina.

That was kind of my cousin's role.

She was a dancer and she was bury into balleta so that elegance that happens within the ballroom side was probably the hardest for me to really lock in.

I could get into.

The fears cha cha and the fun you know, passo and all of that, but when it came to ballroom and I had to be this like elegant, like princess vibe.

That's just not man.

That is I'm so glad you said that.

That is my achilles heel too.

Like I have been watching videos of ballroom dancing just to like get just just visual.

Like you said, part of my training for myself is like I want to watch as much of it as I can so that I know what I'm trying to emulate.

Yes, I am gonna break my neck.

I'm gonna break my neck.

How do they leave?

Far back?

And now?

And I'm sore.

I'm just sore.

I've been practicing and okay, I'm akey.

It hurts, it all hurts.

Oh well, it's gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

But you're gonna love it because you're What's great too about the show and like doing something like this, you have video from the start to the end, and you're gonna see your.

Progression and you're really I think.

You know, there's only a few people that I think come off the show and aren't like proud, But I think ninety eight percent of the people.

No matter how far you make it in the competition, you look back at that first package they put together, when it's the first day, the first couple of weeks before the audience ever gets to see you, and then your first dance, and you're going, even in that short amount of time, look at me, I really, really, I really learned something like a whole routine.

You're not learning a couple of steps, you're learning a whole routine.

Yeah.

So I think you're going to really enjoy the process, and it's something so magical.

I would do it again in a heartbeat, even though it's so I know how much work it comes into.

I know the kind of criticism you get while you're on the show.

You know, the viewers now are professionals themselves, right so you know, I mean my parents are included.

They used to watch the show.

They're not as avid anymore.

But the reason why I did the show is for my mom.

I walked into their house one day.

I was living up in la and I came down to visit and it was on a Monday night and I walk in and they each have their own little tablets of paper and they're writing down notes and giving their own scores to see how they match up to the judges.

I mean these the audience.

You can't really ask for a better Dancing the Stars audience.

They are invested, right They they love it?

Yes, they do.

Oh.

I can't wait to get to know them too.

Yes.

So had you you said you did it for your mom?

Your mom was obviously a fan.

Had you watched the earlier seasons before you get on the show?

No, I it was this was back when the show did two seasons a year.

Yeah.

And it was around Mother's Day and it popped in my head, you know what would be really cool.

I'm going to call my agent and see if I can get my mom and I at the live show for Mother's Day like a Mother's Day present.

And I called my agent, Julie, and she.

Was like, are you being serious right now?

I'm like, yeah, I have watched the show, but my mom loves it, and she goes I literally just got off the phone with cast scene and they're interested in you coming in and we're gonna ask for you to come watch and see if you'd be interested.

And I was like, well tell them yes, I am.

Oh that's so great.

It's just kind of I mean, just one of those things that happened, like the timing couldn't have been perfect.

Oh that's so, that's so amazing, what a great feeling.

Okay, what was your rehearsal process?

Like I've heard it changed a little bit, and it changed from and I think it's just again the show progressing.

It changed from my season five to my All Star season.

So season five we had I think a max of eight hours a day to be in the rehearsal studio.

Okay, just a max.

Just a max of eight physical activity.

And I think a lot of that had to do with they had to schedule other celebrities within that studio.

Back then, we were sprinkled out throughout LA so there was you know one off of Ventura, one in in you know, North Hollywood.

There was all different dance studios that they were renting from, Okay, and so we had they had to kind of you know schedule all of everyone getting their time in to have room space.

Then I went back for my All Star season and they had built this Dancing with the Stars like complex where there's multiple rooms in this big building, which was really fun because the first season, the only time you really saw the other celebrities was if you maybe pass them they were coming into your room while you were leaving.

But the complex made it to where like you could be, you know, hitting up the water station and you know, you're hanging out with EMMITTT.

Smith.

Okay, you know.

I was always so like enamored with everyone I was on my season with, so it was really fun.

So that rehearsal process, I really didn't know anyone until that first show day and so that's when you kind of met everyone on the set.

I then though with I think more so my first season than the second season.

We did and I think it was maybe against the rules.

I don't know, but what can they do now?

I mean, if my Miraball trophy, i'd ever won one.

So we did, Mark and I did.

We would park like we both lived at the same like complex because I was I moved into like an apartment situation.

He had moved into one down the street, and we would be in the parking garage and going over.

I specifically remember my quick step because we needed a lot of space.

We were like going over or we'd be yeah, in the parking lot, like when no cars were there.

We were just going through our quick step, you know, and we were working on it outside because him and I both knew, I mean, I was a cheated girl, but that was not at all the demo of Dancing with the Stars.

So I knew I was going into this like I had to come full throttle to prove my you know, legitimacy, because I wasn't really like I mean, I was going to guesst like Wayne Newton, how do you?

How do you?

It's way noon?

Everyone knows him right and Melby a spice girl like you know.

So I we really took our rehearsal like as much as we can.

But what's on the opposite end and why you start burning the candle at both sticks?

And I think they're better at this this time with the rehearsal.

Amount of time you are all allotted is because you're doing so much press.

You are going to like every premiere, or you're doing you know, morning shows, or you know, you're doing so much all within your rehearsal, your fittings, your second fittings, your tapings of for just the crew so they can get their their schedule of like what they're going to do with the cameras, and then whatever you're working on.

I was working on the Cheetah Girls.

We had actually put out our own album, oh aside from the soundtrack, so you know, Mark was flying with me to New York to do Good Morning America.

And then straight from when I was done with that, we were in a studio rehearsing, you know.

And so you kind of also have to like Bob and weave with your own work schedule, right mate, as you I'm sure, no, you're so busy to make this job also make sense.

Oh my gosh, well, you definitely showed your legitimacy.

Let's jump into the season.

You scored a twenty six out of thirty in week one, which is the highest score from a contestant during week one in the show's history at the time, so still to this day, I don't know about to this day, at the time, it's still the highest.

I'm like, there's been so many people there's I know, but I don't know.

That is a good question, because I have seen several weak ones in part of my prep and process.

It's like, what do people look like during week one?

I haven't seen a twenty six.

I haven't seen that high.

But listen, that's anecdotally, that's not facts.

But you did a chat shop to the song Don't You by the Pussycat Dolls.

Yes, getting a twenty six out of thirty must have been an incredibly great feeling.

It really was.

I mean, I especially after we ended the routine.

You know, there's nothing like I mean, we're gonna get We're talking about live music.

Yeah, you see your package is the first time you see it is when you're sitting on the stage waiting for the package to be done in your oh my gosh, should be on.

And I just knew at that point, you know, it'd been a couple of weeks, I'd really started to feel like I got to know Mark, and I just knew how much he was really wanting to make such a big entrance into this.

This is gonna be so huge for his career, you know, and what he wanted to do with Dancing with the Stars.

So there was that, and then when I feel like I nailed every single footwork and as much of the technique as I could really like hold on to and just the explosion in the room was like, it's just a moment.

I don't think I'll ever forget.

When people ask, like, what was your favorite dance, I always say it was the Chacha because it just was a moment that just it was just so epic for me, you know, it just was and looking over at my mom and dad that were just like, you know again.

Probably tears streaming down my mom just bawling.

My dad just given his big woo woo, you know, the way you used to do when I was up on the stage or on the soccer field as he was coaching me.

It was like that was like it brought back just and to have them there on the floor with me was just so magical.

And then to look at Mark and for him to be so proud was just like it was just such a great moment.

And yeah, I have full body chills.

I truly I have full chills.

At that point.

Sometimes you know, when you get into the season, it doesn't matter to you.

But at that point the scores, because I really again I hadn't watched it a lot, so I didn't know what a good score was, you know, I mean I knew the max was thirty, but I didn't know what a good score would be for us, and so I mean when it was mainly what happened in the ballroom that you're just like I think I remember hearing some of the things that judges said, but really I was just in like a total bubble of like, yeah, it is amazing this show.

I never want to get off that.

I just remember saying that we have to make it to the end.

I mean the first episode, Are you kidding?

Nobody should ever have that expectation.

Just get to the next week.

Just just get to the next week.

As someone who then obviously did conquer those first week jitters, what is your advice for me when I feel them?

Okay, I will say, first, focus on what you're going to do, Focus on your dan scene, focus on your partner.

I think I think it's really good to stay close, continue to talk, looking at each other's eyes, try not to get distracted, and don't watch your package.

You just never know when they're gonna again, remember it's alive.

You know it's a reality show as well, and you never really know when they're gonna pull from something that happened in rehearsal that like you're not really so stoked about like, you know, we had I remember, see uh the third week mark and I had an argument about and when I say argument, it was just like we talked about it about something a disagreement about something you wanted me to do on our jive and I really just didn't feel comfortable for me.

He did.

He didn't come from where I came from, where it was Disney, and like for me, it wasn't like malicious, And I know that's why he felt a little bit like I was maybe thinking too hard into it, which I probably was, because I'm a Disney kid and everything I did at that point was looked at, you know, was it disney esque?

And it was a little bit of a jab at one of the other contestants, and I just kind of didn't feel right about it, and I voiced that opinion, and then you know, of course we kind of went back and forth because he was he's the creative, right and at the end of the day, he's the pro he's the one that's choreographing.

But you still have to advocate for like what feels good for you, of course, and that sort of in the magic of producing turned into a little bit more like we had this all out me disagreeing in it being this big thing, and that totally got in my head right before I'm trying to do a routine that I'd only done for less than you know, five days, and I just remember going, I'm not watching those packages ever again, and so I just needed to focus because it.

Could have it turned out fine.

Our jive looked.

Great, but it could have been it could have been a downfall, and why would I want that to be the reason why I have a misstep that maybe ends up taking me on off the show after you know, totally, well, that is really good advice, and.

There's also going to be emotional weeks too.

That one.

Really I don't know if you can get like earplugs or what, because that really gets you in the fields too.

There's a lot of things that they do and people don't.

I think contestants don't necessarily think about that part, you know, until it hits them and you're going, oh my gosh, now I'm like all like thinking about this this package and just thinking about my routine.

So it's good to and your pro I'm sure will walk you through that, right they'll just keep you close.

I've been to the taping since and you just see you know that that's why the pros really keep them in because it's like they're also used to competing, but you know, and all the craziness that happens in the Latin world, you know, on the right before they hit the floor.

So they're really good about keeping you guys close, keeping your chemistry good, keeping you focused to do what you you've worked so hard to do all week.

Okay, good?

When did you know that Mark was your partner?

When did you find that out?

On August?

I'm just kidding.

They want to be losing Dayton time.

I meant howling early in the process.

I think we worked.

I want to say it was three weeks before the premiere.

Okay, okay?

And they did they film you finding out Mark was your partner?

They did?

And again, I only this is gonna sound terrible.

The only partner I partners I knew of was more of the women partners.

Those are the ones I was watching, right, So Cheryl Burke, Juliana Off and then the only one that I knew of male wise was Max and Louis van Am Still.

Okay, I don't even know why I knew of them, but they must have had good partners the season before or something.

But those are the only two.

So he walked in and he was just like a brand new person.

I had never seen him before.

He could have walked right by me, right, So he was new.

But it was cool because he was young, and I liked that.

I wasn't gonna it wasn't gonna feel like too much of a like an age gap, you know, because again I didn't know how how old that any of the pros were, you know, right, So it was right there, you know, first meeting, and I wore everyone else in my season was like dressed ready to like start dancing.

I wore like an outfit.

And then I was like, oh, nice to meet you.

Oh I probably should go change because he started teaching you all.

I'm in like jeans and heels, and I'm.

Like, I'm gonna go get I did bring dance.

Clothes, so I'm gonna go change.

My gosh, dance clothes.

What even our dance clothes?

When I am gonna send you some with you to start your rehearsal process, you have a dance okay, yes, yes.

Some cute awesome stuff.

It feels good, it feels sexy.

So when you get into that, you need to get into that like gral part of the cha cha oh gosh, you know all of that.

It's gonna give you just that little bit of an umph.

So I'll get you some sobery apparel.

Absolutely, Okay, thank you.

I'm gonna send him, thank you.

Okay, looking back, now, what do you think made Mark?

Like, what are some specific qualities that made Mark such a good partner?

And what are some qualities you had that made you a good partner?

Oh, there's so many to talk about Marx creative.

I feel really lucky because it was his first season, so he was kind of just really staying in the realm of Latin dancing.

So when you on the floor that they do, I don't think it happens as often, but there's like in ballroom, you can only go through the outside perimeter of the ballroom and to cut through you have to hit the center and then can go to the side.

There's all these rules.

So he was so I mean, Mark's parents are very His mom specifically is like one of the most well known Latin ballroom instructors, like across the world, So he was just everything.

He was so detailed, and he even was teaching me where the chacha comes from started in Cuba, Like I was learning like everything, Like I was learning all this stuff that I probably didn't need, but it was great to know it.

So he was so informative.

He had so much energy and the desire to just make this the most epic season, you know, for me and for both of us.

And so he was really great with that.

And I loved his level of creativity.

And now since he's broken out of maybe the box of what he thought he had to be in the first couple seasons, he went on to do some of the most incredible routines on the show that I just think the show has ever seen.

So it was great and awesome to be like there on his first begins and then later on watch his journey just like explode.

So his creativity I think is one of the great.

And then there you'll notice, like if you ever dance with like forever whatever reason, maybe in a group dance or something, and you get paired with someone else, yeah, to do a couple of eight counts or whatever.

I really loved how he was able to lead me some dancers and I've danced I've had a chance because I did so much with dancing with the stars in Vegas, on cruise ships and everything that I've danced with a lot of them and some of them tend to like fling you, or some of them are are so strong that you feel like you're just being like grunted to a place.

He was just the perfect for me as far as getting me where I needed to go, having the power behind it, but it not ever feeling like it was overwhelming me.

Okay good, which I would have never known that hit the first season because he was the only one I danced with.

It's like you get you know, right, like having a first kid, you just kind of you would just go with it, yeah, and then the second time you're like, oh, I've been through this before.

Yeah yeah, and then oh I and then you start seeing the differences.

But those were my things for me.

I think the ability for me to really lock in during rehearsals, like I was not somebody that you'll see I've seen on the show partners that tend to you know, even though I had so much going on, I wasn't somebody who would get like distracted, like oh my phone, or or if I was tired, that wouldn't make me want to go like oh can I use the restroom and you're like you just did five minutes ago, or or water breaks or anything like I was.

I feel like for him, it was great that he had my full attention.

I was hitting him right at that halfway mark and ready to go as long as we had to do what we needed to do to get it right, and we really melded that way.

That was like good for him to not have someone who he was like pulling teeth, like can you please care about this exactly?

You don't have the choreography, Let's do it again.

He never had to do that with me.

I was like, he's like, you want to do it again?

And I was like yes, dood yeah.

It was always you know, and not just because I was trained, because I actually really really wanted to.

I also wanted it to be as perfect as possible.

Well, I want to jump ahead.

Speaking of perfect, I want to jump to week four.

You had been safe from elimination every week, never scoring below that twenty six, and then it happened.

It's pasa doblay you spin me right round.

You get the.

Shows first ever perfect thirty.

I'm sure you must have felt good rehearsing that one throughout the week, like you just knew.

Oh, I'm I'm locked in on this.

But did you ever think a perfect thirty was possible?

No, no, that it was.

At that point, I just was so scared if my again, because I didn't have the fan base that so many I mean Marie Osmond, think about how much it wouldn't have maybe mattered what she did out there.

Her fans are avid, they were going to keep her on the show as long as they could, right, So mine was just wanting it to be as good as possible so that my score would be high enough that no matter like hopefully that the votes that did come in would just keep me going.

I knew my fan base wasn't anywhere near pretty much the majority of the team like the cast I was on, if not everyone, if I was not actually the lowest fan base on the on the show, but we actually funny story, I don't think I've ever told this, There was a point where I think passa dobly might have been that week I had to go to New York because I do remember rehearsing that Dad in New York.

And I remember at one point, because you know Mark would film or whatever, he came in and was like, yeah, I'm scratching like that, and I'm like, like, would what does that mean?

He was like from this point like I like the beginning and I like the end, but like all this in the middle, we're gonna we're gonna rework it.

And I was like, oh my gosh, you're out of town, you're working on something else, and now you have to relearn brand new choreography for the middle of a dance.

And the thing is, I do know he wouldn't have done that if I was a partner that he didn't think couldn't take that on.

So I do.

It's not that he didn't trust.

It was like, and that's that's what I was gonna say, is is I fully trusted him.

If he knew if he thought I could do it, then I was pretty convinced I could.

At this point, we had known each other for like almost two months, and he knew my work ethic, he knew the abilities of things that I could and couldn't do.

So if he felt like he could do this, and it was at the end of the day, gonna make it better.

I was like, I, let's do it.

I'm exhausted, but let's go, you know.

And so it was pretty awesome, I you know, the whole.

I loved that song.

It was a song that I don't know if anyone really knows.

And I have you put yours in?

You get to put in like song requests, Yes, yeah, a list, right, I put in maybe forty songs.

I then find out Joey Fatone, who's you know, I got to know him later on through the Dancing with the Stars world, he put in like two hundred and fifty songs.

I put in like forty songs, just forty of my favorite songs, forty songs that I thought were great.

Knowing absolutely nothing about Latin ballroom, knowing that a chacha has to have a certain kind of thing, a mambo, a salsa, all of those dances have to have certain like specifics within their their musicality.

So but I put in and this happened to be one of the songs that I put in.

It's been a song, a favorite song of mine.

So I loved it, and it was awesome to learn choreography to it.

But yeah, that week, actually during the rehearsal.

They used to let you do what Latin and ballroom dancers do at a real competition, where your walkout isn't just walk walk walk, and you get in your first position, you do like a spin and a drop and this and that and at this and that and that and then it's like this whole thing you do, Like it was like a two eight count thing that we would learn to walk out, and it wasn't ever filmed.

They never showed on the camera, but uh, it was something that we would do.

He wanted to do for the audience, and so him and Derek both did these things.

Like I remember Jenny going, why do.

I have to learn extra stuff that I'm not gonna No one's gonna see.

What's even gonna saw?

The audience is gonna see the ballroom.

This is how we're set in the stage for what we're about to do.

Okay.

So I loved it because it was so dramatic and totally what I love.

But there was one part and I don't remember if it was in that that thing or if it was at the end, but I like, did this thing and I, oh it's at the end.

I slide through.

His legs and I'm like like literally like wrapping around and I'm like it's like a little snake going through his legs and then I landed on the ground.

Well in the rehearsal, you know, you do the whole show, the the what is it dressed camera blocking?

Yeah, the camera blocking, and I like, my, I mean to the point where my whole face mad because I had gobs and gobs of makeup like you do on the show, was on his leg like he I hit it so hard and I remember being so mad at him because him and Derek could not stop laughing.

And meanwhile, my eyes are watering.

I I might have a broken nose, but they are cracking up because I'm like, you know, not so much pain.

I knew it wasn't broken, but it, yeah, like not comfortable.

It knocked me silly a little bit.

And him and Derek are just just laughing so hard, and I'm like, this is it funny?

I was like totally like a toddler, like my toddler, now, like my, it's not funny, And he just could not get him sell together and him and Derek together have this ridiculous laugh that just they keep themselves laughing, and I remember that.

So I'm thinking I'm not all I'm worried about pretty much that whole routine is not smacking my face on his inner thigh.

Have that happen on live TV?

Please?

God, don't let that happen, please please.

So I think at the end of it, I was just happy that I made it through and I didn't get my face mask put on his inner thigh at that point?

What would the like rumors be at that point?

So that was during a camera blocking.

Did you ever have during a life taping any sort of wardrobe malfunction or the music stopped playing, any sort of thing that maybe the audience wouldn't notice, but that you noticed.

I did my second time on this show.

I had during the all Stone, I could feel I had to stop wearing.

They put these pads in your top, yeah, and your cleavage and you it's on the side right, okay, so, which looks really nice, but when you have if you're more busty than the average actress, which you and I both are, I had to ask them to stop putting those in because, you know, the it was just it was too scary.

It felt like they were out.

But then I feel like there's one.

It was actually my passo the second time, which is funny.

We're talking about where I had a spaghetti strap and my my strap went down and I could feel like I had to like quickly get it, and you can't really see it from the camera angles.

But I came back and I was pretty sure I was gonna I had a nip slip.

And I came back to Tom Bergern and I was like, whoop, uh, Yeah, that was really fun, Like, oh my gosh, I felt so exposed because it's not just the people in the room, it's millions wive TV and I, you know, so that I think from then on there, I was like, again, guys, I think we put these, you know, because a lot of times your Mike packs in there too.

Yeah.

Right.

It also feels like maybe we could just also double stick everything so that if a strap does break.

At least you are double stickware.

And it doesn't matter if strap breaks.

You're moving and grooving.

You're going so fast, it's like, you know, and and the girls sometimes just do what they want.

Yeah, there's no controlling them, but what we're gonna do, you know, come on, they wanted their moment in the spotlight.

What are we gonna say, I guess so they're like, you didn't show us first season, so here we go.

I want to ask you, because there's always been just such a buzz around Dancing with the Stars and relationships people I know, were there any relationships during your first season or your second season for that matter, that you were away?

No?

Okay, no, if anything.

Honestly, again, season five, everyone was really kind of cessing out.

So I'm not saying that there wasn't things happening, but like an actual, full blown, blown relationship.

No, but it was definitely a cast that was very young.

We were not after we were done rehearsing than going to whatever, you know, industry party or whatever.

We were all hitting up the same club, we were all going back to the same house, and we were just literally having the time of our lives, knowing like this was such a cool experience.

So we were all hanging out and it was just fun everything about it.

I mean for me to be able to say, for however many weeks straight, I hung out at Melby, a spice girl's house, after we went to hide and had fun and hung I mean, it was match the time of your life.

I was twenty three.

Yeah, there was no better time, Like that was just the best, most exciting to you.

What that is how I feel now at forty four when I'm in bed by nine pm and I'd taken a melatonin and I know I don't have to wake up until five am.

Oh I can't wait.

Yeah.

But again, different climate.

I mean, I think the show has just become so much different now, and I think, you know, not that not that everyone's not having fun.

I just oh, yeah, it's just like evolved into so much of a different situation, totally totally.

You were also, like you said, you were twenty three at the time.

You were probably single at the time.

It's a little different when you're a forty four year old married mother.

Of two, you know, joining the show.

So it's it's all just I think back to that time for you, and I think I remember what it was like to be twenty three and just gosh, to have that experience at that age, what a time will be alive.

Five years later.

Even me just having like in a relationship my boyfriend and he was up there living with me while I was on this show, that was a different experience.

Now being married and having two kids like that would have been on the show now would be a totally different for me.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, I want to get to the elimination heard around the world.

It's week six and you get your lowest score, which is a twenty five.

Damn that twenty five, and boom you're gone.

Can I before I ask you what your thoughts are on why it happened, can I tell you.

My theory here?

Sure?

So.

My theory is that people watching had seen you kill it week after week and just totally assumed there was no reason they had to vote for you because you were gonna be safe for sure.

I know you probably also feel like because you feel like you had maybe a smaller fan base than the Wayne Newton's and the Marie Osmond's and maybe everybody else on the show.

I just think it's the fact that you were so darn good they figured you were safe no matter what.

Yeah, I think that that would.

I mean, that's kind of the mindset that that I have, that they were, you know, because at that point of the show, you know, as always, someone's got to go, and so there I feel like their votes were going towards somebody they were a little bit more worried about with a lower score that they were more worried about, you know, saving versus thinking they had to for me.

But that just goes to show like that's how the show works.

You have to vote for who you want to see that next week, right, not necessarily vote for who you're trying to save.

Right, don't don't try to outsmart the system.

Just vote for who you want to see the next week.

Yes, and and you know and again too.

I mean that again, that was why my mindset was I had to have those high scores to hopefully help me, because even if I had everyone voting for me, how big was my vote level compared to everyone else.

But I will say, I mean what I was told by my publicists at the time was like listen because you know, she let me have my I mean.

Mark and I were devastated.

I was gonna say, you had to have been crushed.

I was devastated for Mark because I felt like I let him down.

You know, this was a season that he could have come in and made it to the finals his first season as a pro, and how big would that be?

You know, I think Juliane Huff had just done it the season before with Apollo and they actually won, and so I felt really bad for him.

I obviously really wanted it, but for me it was like I was leaving there and then in a couple of months going to India to do to do Cheetah Girls three.

I had my my career was moving, you know, and I felt bad because this was the start of his and I knew he needed to really make a big splash to get all the things that his music and everything, and our time coming to an end, like thinking like, oh my gosh, like this is this is done.

I loved being on the show.

I loved my rehearsal schedule.

I am a person that loves being busy, psychotically busy.

I love that, you know.

And so it was just like, wow, I had other stuff to do with the Cheeta Girls.

Like I said, we had just released our album, so there was lots to do.

But I was getting to dance and I really fell in love with ballroom and Latin dancing.

I just did.

And so it was like we were working our next routine.

That week was when we were going to start doing two of them, and I had already picked out my costume for the next week, not because Okay, let me give a prep.

Guys, don't come at me.

Not because I thought I was gonna make it.

That's just what you do while you're working on one routine.

As you're entering the end of that week and you're getting to the the taping and the actual show, they start having you look at material, start designing your costumes.

The crew has a lot of work to do to get everything.

This wasn't me being like, oh, I decided no because I because I'll make it.

It wasn't that.

It was that's the course of the scheduling, and so I had already picked out my costume.

I had already known what the design was going to be.

I remember it was going to be like, uh, was it Christian do or it was some kind of like designer material that they were getting me, And it was beautiful.

I knew my dance song, Mark was my dance song.

It was for a mambo.

I was going to do a mambo, which I really wanted to do because I wanted to learn botchakata is so bad and I still am obsessed with them.

You don't know what.

I don't know what about chakata is.

I can't explain it because I don't really hundred percent know it, but I really wanted to learn those and the like where you like they go like they circle in and then they move out, and then you circle in and then you move out, like that whole thing.

I wanted to learn all of that.

I was really excited about the mombo choreography, and then we also had an Argentine tango coming up, so those were two styles I was dying to learn.

And so that was a disappointment.

You know, just your whole life is like swept up in this just big, awesome experience and then when you realize and it's and trying to hold it together on camera too, which luckily I've got the Disney training of like keeping it like just because I want.

If I could have, I would have just instantly cried, but I just kind of held it together and tried to be as gracious as possible for the for the journey and the experience that I did have.

You know what, it felt like, what a once in a lifetime opportunity.

And so it was.

It was sad, and we, I mean Mark and I bawled.

We were the last to leave the trailers that night.

On week six, tom berdrown when he was hosting, would do this big party where everyone he invites all the cast members to come to this big mid season party.

We pulled our together.

To that party and then you get, you know, to be embraced by Melby and Max and you know, Elio and everyone that was on the show and all the pros, Cheryl Burke, everyone being embraced.

Being like I, they were just as shocked as I think the rest of who was watching was that was.

A that was a really hard day.

And then you go, you know, on a red eye to Good Morning America and you gotta just like save face and feel, you know, do the interview and that's your exit interview and then it's done, and you know, but then luckily I had this.

The fans created a petition.

They try these fans they were called at that point, they had they were nicknamed Team Sabrina had caught petitioned a whole They had a whole thing going around getting signatures and they got tons of them to get me back on the show.

They thought they could like convince ABC, Oh no, just just just put her back, shout it, just put her back in and know.

But what was great was we had already had talks about Mark and I joining the tour.

So that was nice to know that, like, this wasn't one hundred percent the end of our Dancing with the Stars journey.

Okay, that at least is a little bit of a consolation.

Yes, Yeah, and we.

Then we got to go back and do a routine with Avril Levine to promote the we did.

We performed with Avril Levine, who I was a giant fan of.

Of course it was Mark.

She was singing while we were dancing, and it was all to promote the tour.

I ended up getting a really great, you know, all around awesome thing.

And I honestly think I got more press out of that elimination than I would have than anyone would have ever cared if I actually got to the finals and or won, Like, no one really cared as much as my elimination bothered them, Your negativity was better.

Yeah, Well, Team Sabrina may not have been able to get their way and get you reinstated on the show the following week, but they did bring you back for season fifteen, the only All Star season they've ever done with some of their favorites returning.

Was that an immediate yes from you well.

It was yes.

I mean I was doing Dancing with the Stars live in Las Vegas with Joey Fatone, Kyle Massey, and Carson Kresley.

We were doing a show at the Tropicana, which I feel so honored now because it's gone, I know, And we did a whole ninety minute Dancing with the Stars show with a ton of amazing pros, and you know they would have like Kim Johnson, some people would come in and out and do like little stays for like a week, and so we were all there together.

Joey gets the call to do All Star seasons.

So then now I'm waiting by my phone, not praying more than I probably ever had for any other job for my phone call to happen.

And then as we're like like kind of finishing up our stay, I get a call from the talent coordinator there and she says, how would you feel about joining the All Star team?

And I was like, yes, yes, I've been waiting for this call.

Yes, absolutely, and she goes, well, hold on, this is this is what we're doing that's going to be special.

We're going to put three of.

Our Dancing with the Stars faves up.

And the audience and the our fans are going to be able to vote in which of the three of you they want to compete.

Oh my gosh, it's not even a guaranteed.

Yes, you're not back to being voted on.

It's against my three people that haven't gotten the call in Vegas.

It's against Kyle Massey and Carson Kresley and me.

So then they come up.

We do this whole different kind of video campaign.

Mine looked very presidential.

I had my glasses on and we did like a whole fun campaign to get votes to happen, and they were commercials and everything on the website and just it was kind of fun to do.

Is an extra thing.

And then she called me when I got home, so we didn't know.

After we left, we finished our time out in Vegas, and then when I got home, like that first week, she called me and they had a film crew there filming me.

They never showed it, but they had a film crew there filming me, you know, getting the call, and I'm going, I gotta like be super excited or you know, I understand congratulations, that a whole respectful and luckily she said, you you know, the votes were they were in and they were.

We were not expecting them to be this overwhelm.

It was so great for us to know that the fan base is still dying for you to be back on the show.

Will you do it?

And I was like one hundred times, yes, I will be there today is rehearsal today.

Wow.

Wow.

Well you had a new partner, you were with Louis van Amstell that time, and yet again you got a perfect thirty during week six and you were atop the leaderboard for two weeks.

Did it feel like you were finally getting a fair shake this time or not so much?

Well, I mean, first of all, everyone on the cast pretty much had made at least the final, if not won their season.

There wasn't very many of us that went out like I did.

But it was just exciting, Like it was just again, it was different.

I was now in a relationship.

I was five years older.

I was, you know, twenty seven at this time, and I feel like I just really took in everything so much more.

I took I was a much sure way of looking at it.

It was I had Louie, who again is an extreme I mean in the world of ballroom he is like the top notch Louie was just I've just felt so lucky I got.

I mean, all of the pros are so good, but you know, when you get to really look into the background of your own pro you just have so much respect for them.

And I will say his teaching methods were different than than Mark.

They were equally amazing, but they were different.

So it was cool, yeah, to be.

Taught by someone different who comes from a different like background of how he trains.

But our last routine, our rumba, was actually his routine that he competed his last season of competing with his partner.

It was like his last goodbye dance type thing, that rumba.

And when he told me he wanted me to do it, I just was like, are you that seems like a really big deal.

Are you sure?

And He's like, I wouldn't trust this routine with anyone else besides you and my other partner.

And it was like I remember crying and being so you know, and it just that made that dance a lot more special.

The package was its own kind of emotional situation.

But this for Louie, for me to him to give this and trust me with that was crazy for me, and I even my dress was even very similar to what she wore when she would compete, So it's kind of like a like an homage to her from him.

So it was very cool, beautiful.

Yeah.

Well, finally, Sabrina, you have already given me so much amazing advice so that I am so happy that I now have.

But now that I am just weeks away from ballroom dancing for the first time in front of millions of people, if you could just tell me one thing doesn't have to be deep or meaningful, If you could just tell me one thing that, like you think is the most important thing to take into going into the season of Dancing with the Stars.

What would it be?

Oh?

Man, I think soak it in, you know, because the unknown is so huge.

I don't and you I don't even know if you know how the show's gonna work out as far as the first week.

Sometimes everyone goes through the second week.

Sometimes they have eliminations first week, right, You just really it's a show that you really don't know what the next week is.

Take it from me.

At that point, I was feeling pretty good that we were gonna have a chance, a bigger chance than than the week.

That next week, and then I got eliminated.

And it's like, don't let yourself get comfortable every time you step out on that stage.

Stay focused with your partner, but take a minute to scan that that vision, that full blown just like mental picture of what that's like, because it just when it is done, whether you go through vinyls and you win it, it's still just something you cannot recreate, you know, So just take it in and enjoy it and the like, Listen, the bumps are gonna go.

You're gonna possibly, you know, disagree or just have a bad day.

I mean listen, you're a mom.

That could happen, and that could happen on the car ride there, you know, so you're gonna have give yourself grace because that is you're human and that's what happens.

But take it in because it was really such an incredible experience and it's something you're gonna look back and like I said, you're gonna have video of it.

You're gonna have so much well I don't know how much they let you take, but it looks like on Instagram you can really have your phone freely taking video and doing fun stuff.

Do all of it.

Whatever the do all of the fun stuff.

Get into I know you're not as big like well, I know, I guess I'm thinking will but like get into the tiktoks with the kids, like with the young, the young and thes.

Yes, if I were to go on it now, if they asked me to do anything, Sabrina slide down the band's fair Okay, ok here, like do it all because it's just so fun and like I said, they have and make it the best experience.

And take hot baths that night.

Okay hot, Okay, thank you?

I like that one too insulted and all the things.

And you know, I mean, those dancers know how to take care of their body.

So if your pro has like a a tip, take it.

Take it will give you the longevity you need and I'll see you at the finals.

I love it.

I have to come watch you.

This is I'm begging you.

Please please come anyway.

I have to any week, and do it earlier than later, because you never know how long I'm going to be there, so please please come.

Well, the first week I probably won't because there's every single contestant has like eight people in the audience, so there's like no place but hotfully By like week two or three, I can hop in and and come see you, and oh, I'm just so excited for you, girl.

This is gonna be so magical, it really is.

And just thank you.

Lean in and enjoy it.

It's gonna be so fun.

Thank you.

I want everyone to know you are a dance coach.

Now, So if I ever have a last minute question or a concern about where I'm supposed to put my hands, if I call.

You, will you please pick up the phone.

Absolutely.

We've now are able to do sessions over zoom, so I could even honestly, if you're having a hard time memory, which I think is one of the hardest things, I will sit there and I've got patients like crazy of We'll do it four counts at a time.

We'll do it four counts, and we'll add and add and add, and we can just drill it that way, so you know, next time you see your partner, you've got your actual steps in.

I love this.

Okay, I might be hiring you as my my pro beyond the pro I really.

Like to know.

I'm not a pro.

I just could I have memory.

I have a good aspect of memory, not necessarily technique.

That will be your pro, but I can help you remember just get it like muscle memory.

I love that.

And where how can people find your dance clothing line as well?

It's at sobriofficial dot com s A b r I right, s A b r I, and we're on Instagram that there you can kind of see everything, and that's at sobre Dance Underscore Official.

Well Sabrina, I am so grateful and so appreciative that you came on and just thank you so much.

I feel better after talking to you, and I'm going to embrace all the aspects of it, all the craziness, and just do my best to soak it in.

So thank you.

Yes, absolutely, and best of luck.

Break a lash girl, break a lash and I'll see you in the audience in a couple of weeks.

Absolutely say yeah, by bye.