A first perfect score on a spooky night
Halloween arrived a few days early in the ballroom, with the couples performing routines built around horror films including Sinners, Black Swan and Joker. The second pair to dance, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson, delivered a contemporary number set to 2WEI's Toxic and inspired by Saw, and the judges rewarded it with 40 out of 40, the first perfect total of season 35. That left the Grey's Anatomy actor alone at the top of the Horror Movie Night leaderboard.[S1][S2][S3]
Close behind, two couples tied at 37 out of 40: Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy, and Connor Wood with Rylee Arnold. Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach posted 35, the same mark as Jackson Olson and Emma Slater. Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov reached 36, while Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas scored 32. At the bottom, Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa and Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess each finished on 26 out of 40.[S1][S5]
Guest judge Shirley Ballas sets a stern tone
Shirley Ballas sat in as a guest judge and quickly showed she would score strictly, handing Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa a four. She gave Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik the same mark even though the other judges each awarded them an eight. Tatyana and Jan closed the night on 28 out of 40.[S1]
Val Chmerkovskiy returns after suspension
The episode also brought Val Chmerkovskiy back to the ballroom following a one-week suspension. The penalty followed his reference to Will Smith's Oscars slap while he was critiquing Carrie Ann Inaba's assessment of his wife, Jenna Johnson. In a pretaped segment ahead of his Argentine tango with Jenna Dewan, inspired by zombie films, he apologized to her for the disruption and said he felt terrible about it; she told him she forgave him and the two embraced. Carrie Ann praised his choreography during the critiques.[S1]
Two couples eliminated as the field narrows
No pair was sent home at the close of the previous week's Dedication Night, so two couples departed after this episode. The results combined judges' scores with viewer votes from both Dedication Night and Horror Movie Night. Jackson Olson and Emma Slater finished on 67 out of 80 across the two weeks, and Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess totaled 58 out of 80; both were eliminated.[S1][S6][S8]
Still in contention are Tatyana Ali, Jenna Dewan, Ezra Frech, Amber Glenn, Maura Higgins, Harry Shum Jr., Julia Stiles and Connor Wood. Viewers may cast up to 10 votes per couple through each method, ABC's website and text, during the East Coast broadcast, with voting closing shortly after the final performance. Next week's Disney-themed episode will feature Cynthia Erivo as guest judge, a detail announced by Alfonso Ribeiro. Season 35 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC and Disney+ and streams the following day on Hulu.[S1][S4][S7]
