DWTS’ Maks Chmerkovskiy Thinks Rylee Arnold Is ‘Still Learning’ After Exit
Former Dancing With the Stars pro Maks Chmerkovskiy has notes for Rylee Arnold after her elimination from season 34 alongside partner Scott Hoying.
“He was completely undertaught,” Chmerkovskiy, 45, said on the Friday, October 24, episode of the “Penthouse With Peta” podcast, referring to the Pentatonix singer. “This is not a dig at Rylee.”
Chmerkovskiy pointed to one moment in the pair’s Wicked Night contempo
rary routine — which earned all 7s from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and guest judge
“This particular moment, I’m not digging at Rylee,” Chmerkovskiy continued. “I believe that this is a matter of experience for Rylee to understand that, in this case, he needed her to be facing him looking at him and making him learn and making him repeat and place his hands. Who but Rylee and where she comes from knows what cleaning means. So, they didn’t have time to clean, then you spend too much time on over choreographing the situation.”
When podcast host Peta Murgatroyd asked whether he thought it was “cleaning” or whether Hoying “brainfarted,” Chmerkovskiy replied, “The rest of the routine when he didn’t forget looked just the same.”
“His arms were down, he wasn’t clear with his movement. It wasn’t polished, it wasn’t finished. It wasn’t Scott that we expected because he’s better than this,” Chmerkovskiy said. “This was not his best dance and it was the last dance he did.”
Chmerkovskiy alleged that viewers could “see it in the room” that the performance “wasn’t spectacular,” while noting that Arnold’s movement was “spectacular.”
“She looked fantastic. This dress was incredible,” Chmerkovskiy said. “She looked amazing from the first moment. Bang, look I’m getting goosebumps. It was awesome. But Rylee, sweetheart, it’s not your job to be that. Your job is to make sure he is that. And I didn’t see it in her.”
Murgatroyd noted that she thinks DWTS had “higher hopes” for Hoying.
“High high hopes, like finals for him. And we all thought when they were paired together, ‘Oh god, they’re definitely gonna be in the finals,’” she said.
However, Murgatroyd claimed that moments of Hoying’s routine during Wicked Night were “really great,” pointing to his “side by side choreography” with Arnold.
“I thought that he matched her,” Murgatroyd said, while Chmerkovskiy interjected, “It looked casual. … But who’s looking at him and says, ‘Your arm is down. Let’s do it again. You have to extend. You have to present. You have to show up.’”
While Chmerkovskiy noted that he doesn’t know “what goes on in the room” during rehearsals, he explained that he’s “speculating.”
“I don’t know if Rylee did 80 percent of coaching and 20 percent of running the routine. I don’t know,” Chmerkovskiy said. “Scott may be the worst person to be in the room with. [But] he seems like a sweetheart to me, honestly. And I think they have a great relationship.”
He continued, “I believe that Scott was undertrained and underrehearsed. That’s what that dance looked like. Whoever it came from. Maybe Rylee is still young, she’s still learning. She’s still taking on responsibilities the way she can put her foot down and say, ‘This is what we have to do.’ I don’t know.”
As Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd recalled their past experiences being pros on DWTS, she admitted to making her celebrity partners do “too harder stuff that they can’t handle.”
“I would see sometimes they would handle [the move], but it wasn’t a definite — they have it every single time. I learned that as I went along,” Murgatroyd said. “I was like, ‘If it doesn’t work by day three, then it’s out.’ And you gotta learn that.”
Jeff Lewis Calls Out RHOC Cast for ‘Inappropriate’ Outfits in Amsterdam as Shannon Responds, Plus Fans React
Season 19 of The Real Housewives of Orange County is coming to an end with what has been teased as a dramatic finale. Now, ahead of that episode and the subsequent reunion,
The RHOC cast’s trip to Amsterdam has been widely discussed since before the show premiered. One of the reasons for that was that it was reported, and later confirmed, that
Shannon Beador was on a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Jeff Lewis Live. While on the show, they discussed The Real Housewives of Orange County, and Jeff had a bit of criticism for the ladies. He started, “How do we get the message across to your castmates that they need to start dressing more appropriately?”
“The Amsterdam outfits were unbelievable,” said Jeff.
Shannon then chimed in to offer insight, saying, “They said wear sexy, so I put leather leggings on and knee-high over-the-knee boots, thinking that’s about as sexy as I’m getting.”
Jeff then said, “I just think a lot of your castmates dress very inappropriately. I feel like — dress your age. It’s time to start covering up.”
Shannon added, “Well, they had arranged that we had some windows in the Red Light District. So, they wanted us to dress for a little show.”
As Shannon and Jeff talked, pictures of the ladies from the trip were shown. Jennifer Pedranti wore what looks to be a black two-piece outfit with lace covering her arms, legs, and midsection.
Emily Simpson wore a black dress with several cutouts, while Tamra Judge wore leather shorts, a white and black shirt, and almost knee-high boots. Shannon wore the outfit she described, which included boots, leather leggings, and a black sweater.
Many of the comments under the post seemed to agree with Jeff. One person said, “I agree, Jeff! I was embarrassed for them!” Another RHOC fan replied, “Jeff, you are 100% correct. The outfits were so cringy.”
Someone else wrote, “He is 100 percent right. Such bad taste.”
However, some people questioned his commentary. One person said, “Dress your age? If you can wear the outfits and look fabulous in them, then I approve.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Thursday nights.
