Heavy/ABC Ariana Madix and Pasha Pashkov.
Ariana Madix took another page from her past on “Dancing With the Stars.”
After making her debut on the ABC dancing show wearing a version of her famous “reunion” dress, the “Vanderpump Rules” star channeled her Disney past with a new dance on October 17, 2023.
For the show’s Disney100 Night, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company, Madix danced a Frozen-timed contemporary — and it brought to mind her past as a real-life Disney princess.
Madix and her pro dance partner Pasha Pashkov performed a contemporary to the Idina Menzel song “Into the Unknown” from the Disney film “Frozen II.” The dance earned the couple a score of 25 points, with DWTS judge Bruno Tonioli telling them, “There was nothing frozen about that!”
But while she had the chance to dance as Elsa, it wasn’t Madix’s first go-around as a princess.
Here’s what you need to know:
Ariana Madix Revealed That She Worked as a Disney Princess When She Lived in Florida
In a pre-show interview with Entertainment Weekly, Madix, a Florida native, revealed she used to portray Disney princess “friends” when she worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando while she was in college as a theater major.
“I used to hang out with Disney princesses, as we say in the biz,” she told the outlet. “My closest friend was Sleeping Beauty. I hung out with her the most. Then Cinderella and Ariel.”
Madix noted that she had “Ariel” arms from her past as a park princess, but teased, “Our dance … is going to be quite the departure from the princess stuff.”
Madix previously spoke about her Disney job in a 2015 episode of the “Vanderpump Rules After Show,” according to BravoTV.com. The former SUR bartender dished that she dressed as Cinderella, Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” and “Sleeping Beauty” princess Aurora when she worked for Disney.
“As we say at Disney, I was very good friends with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and the Little Mermaid,” she said.
According to Bloomberg, Disney employees don’t technically play the princess but instead are referred to as a “friend of” the characters to keep princess magic alive.
“Yeah, it was the best job ever, It really was,” Madix said on the aftershow. “I grew up going to Disney all the time, and I still love those kinds of movies and that kind of G-rated level of fun, and I think I’ll always like that.”
Ariana Madix Hoped to Make It to Disney Week for a Big Reason
Disney is an annual theme on “Dancing With the Stars.” For season 32, it fell on the fourth week of competition. And while Madix and Pashkov have consistently landed near the top of the judges’ leaderboard, no contestant is a shoo-in to move on to the next week.
Early on, Madix revealed why she wanted to at least make it to Disney Night in the competition.
In a September 2023 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Madix said she was looking forward to having her “girls come support.”
While she was likely referring to her “girls” from “Vanderpump Rules,” Madix also teased that she wanted Scheana Shay and Lala Kent’s daughters to see her Disney dance.
“I really hope I can make it to Disney Week, because I really want Summer and Ocean to be able to come watch and see all the Disney dancers,” she said. “I would love to see what Summer thinks, I know she’s a big ‘Moana’ fan, a big ‘Frozen’ fan,” Madix said, adding that she just wants to make the 2-year-old “proud.” “She’s my little bestie, because she’s my bestie’s baby. She is so cute,” the “Vandeprump Rules” star said.
Shay was in the audience for DWTS Disney Night along with her mom, Cortney, and sister, Erika van Olphen.
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Ariana Madix’s Disney Princess Past Paves the Way for Dazzling DWTS Contemporary