“Dancing With the Stars” pro dancer Jenna Johnson has her eye on the season 33 prize with her partner Joey Graziadei.
During an appearance on Jason Tartick’s “Trading Secrets” podcast, Johnson said she thinks she and “The Bachelor” star will make it to the finals based on their dancing thus far. But she also noted three other strong couples will be stiff competition.
When asked to list her predicted Top 4 for season 33, Johnson based her answer on the most recent scores. “I’m gonna go Chandler [Kinney], Stephen [Nedoroscik]and Riley [Arnold], Dwight [Howard] and Dani [Karagach]. And I’m going to do myself and Joey,” she replied.
Jenna Johnson Had No Idea She Would Be Paired With ‘The Bachelor’
Elsewhere on the podcast, Johnson said she had no idea Graziadei was her partner until he walked through the door on their introduction day. “You never know who you’re doing to be paired with,” she said. “It’s not like they give you a heads up, so you’re really when your person opens the door that’s it. But it makes it exciting because it’s our job we were hired to teach somebody who doesn’t know how to dance to dance.”
She previously admitted she was a little bummed when she found out Graziadei was her partner because she had hoped for an NFL star.
“Joey knows this, I’ve been honest with him,” Johnson told the “Almost Famous” podcast in September. “I was a little sad because I’ve been promised — not promised — but I’ve never had a football player,” she said. “Through my time on the show I’ve never had a football player. So I kind of heard Danny [Amendola] was going to be involved, and I was like, ‘This is my year. I’m gonna get the NFL guy.’”
In May, Johnson told People magazine she wanted a football player for a partner because “they are not afraid to work hard.”
But Amendola was ultimately partnered with returning pro dancer Witney Carson and Johnson is happy to be with Graziadei. She called him “one of the most genuine humans” she’s ever met.
Jenna Johnson Hopes to Get a Halloween High Score
As of this writing, Johnson and Graziadei have performed two dances. Their Week 1 cha-cha earned them 21 out of 30 points. For Week 2, they danced a rumba for 22 points.
When Tartick asked her when she hopes to get a perfect score of 30 with Graziadei, the dancer replied, “You start seeing 10s about midway through [the season].”
“I always love a perfect score on Halloween night,” Johnson added. “I don’t know why. It’s just so fulfilling. I think those dances get really exciting because you can be like fun characters, so I’m going to say hopefully Halloween night, which might be week seven.”
Johnson said she doesn’t know what the theme for this season’s Halloween episode will be, but that the cast usually finds out about two weeks beforehand. Last season’s theme was Monster Night, but Johnson and her partner Tyson Beckford had already been eliminated from the competition by then.
Johnson told Tartick she thinks Graziadei will have the hardest time with frame dances such as the waltz, foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, tango, and quickstep this season. “Joey is a lot better when he can be loose and free with like his upper body and his legs and those ballroom dances are more restrictive,” she explained.
