Kelsey Anderson was honored for Joey Graziadei to dedicate a dance to her on Dancing With the Stars — but last night’s performance wasn’t the first time she saw the dance.
“I messed up,” Graziadei, 29, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Tuesday, October 15, episode of the ABC competition series. “Every week, as soon as I get home, and I have a good version of our dance — sometimes it takes some time — but as soon as I’m like, ‘Oh, this is a [dance] that I feel good about,’ I show Kelsey.”
The former Bachelor said he “didn’t even think twice” about showing Anderson, 26, his and partner Jenna Johnson’s Dedication Night routine. “As soon as I got home, I was like, ‘Oh, we crushed it at practice today. I want to show it to her.’ And then, Jenna told me, ‘Why did you show it? I can’t be a surprise anymore.’ I was like, ‘Oh.’ … I love keeping [Kelsey] a part of the process. But if there was ever a week I should have had it hidden, it was definitely this one.”
Johnson, 30, argued: “I’m glad [Kelsey] got to see it multiple times and enjoy it.”
Graziadei and Johnson performed a Viennese waltz to Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” on Tuesday, tying with Danny Amendola and Witney Carson for the night’s top spot with a score of 36 out of 40 points. Brooks Nader and her partner, Gleb Savchenko, were sent home at the end of the episode.
While the pros didn’t make any dedications, Johnson told Us she would pay tribute to her husband, fellow DWTS pro Val Chmerkovskiy, and their 21-month-old son, Rome. “They mean everything to me,” she gushed. “I’d probably do, like, John Legend, ‘All of Me,’ because they’re my whole world.”
Maintaining a strong connection with their partners is something important to both Johnson and Graziadei, the latter of whom made headlines for revealing he requested a DWTS partner who was “in a successful and healthy relationship” on the “Almost Famous” podcast last month.
“Jenna is someone I’ve trusted from the beginning,” Graziadei told Us of working with Johnson. “We talk about every week about embodying a character and not being afraid to commit to how you feel and what the dance is. So, nothing’s changed from the beginning. We’ve always felt super comfortable with each other, and I’ve trusted her fully with the choreography and what we’re doing.”
In fact, the dancing duo even have a group chat with Anderson. “A lot of times, [Kelsey is] sending Instagram or TikTok ideas, and then we both respond to them,” he shared.
In addition to being “really excited” for next week’s Disney Night on DWTS, Graziadei said he “loved” getting some stricter feedback from judge Carrie Ann Inaba this week. Following their routine, she noted that he had a “glitchiness” in the smaller steps of their dance.
“We loved hearing that because we talked about that actually a lot of times during our practice — I tend to stay a lot more engaged in the bigger steps and the bigger moments because that’s what you’re focusing on,” the Bachelor Nation star stated. “But sometimes the small details are so important. If she saw something, she saw something. That’s what her job is. So, we welcome criticism because we’re trying to get better.”
Johnson added: “For the past couple of weeks, they’ve been so positive that this gives us something to actually work on and implement in our rehearsals for the upcoming week.”
Anderson previously told Us that Graziadei’s Dedication Night routine would be “extra special” for her. “I get more nervous than him for sure, but it’s so exciting,” she exclusively said at the Us Weekly + Pluto TV Reality Stars of the Year Party at the Dream Hotel in Los Angeles on Thursday, October 10. “It’s so amazing to see all the work that he puts in and how everyone is just rooting him on. He’s doing amazing and he’s crushing it.”
