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Season 15 “Dancing With the Stars” All-Star champ, Melissa Rycroft, has opened up about her time on the show.
On the December 18, 2023, episode of the “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast, Rycroft discussed her partnership with pro Tony Dovolani.
She recalled one time that she and Dovolani were so frustrated with one another that they didn’t talk “all week” ahead of their performance on season 8. “The one critique we got from every judge that week was ‘something’s off,'” Rycroft recalled.
The two met one another when Rycroft was first cast on the dance competition show back in 2009.
“First time around, I would say, total brother sister. Drove each other nuts,” Rycroft told podcast host, Cheryl Burke, when asked how she got along with Dovolani. “He would always call me his little brat. Like, we just bumped heads because I didn’t understand the process, right? I’m coming from my cubicle experience on ‘The Bachelor,’ which you can’t even say is real reality TV,” she explained.
“I mean, can you say that Tony was one of the most serious instructors that y’all had?” Rycroft asked Burke. She went on to say that their first go around together was tough, even though they did work well together — but after their week of not speaking, they had a talk and figured out that they really needed to work together in order to make it to the finals — and beyond.
Rycroft and Dovolani finished in third place on season 8, but came back for redemption on season 15 — and they won. The win marked Dovolani’s first-ever Mirrorball Trophy.
Here’s what you need to know:
Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani Competed Together on All Stars
When Rycroft was brought back as part of redemption season (known as All Stars), she was partnered with Dovolani once more — but this time it was very different.
“I adored the crap out of Tony,” Rycroft said of her All-Stars season back in 2012. “I had 100 percent respect for Tony and what he had to do,” she continued. “I saw the show, I knew what the show was about. I think he had respect for me in that I brought a lot of ideas to the table, too,” she added. She explained that Dovolani was more open and his attitude seemed to shift some.
“It was a complete magical season,” Rycroft told Burke. “I had fun every time and I have nothing but great memories from that All Star season,” she added.
Melissa Rycroft Previously Called Her Partnership With Tony Dovolani an ‘Arranged Marriage’
Rycroft has described her time with Dovolani as an “arranged marriage.”
“This season I’ve started posting, like, flashback videos every time that Dancing With the Stars is on and I tag him and then we’ll just start talking, like, ‘Oh man, we were good,'” Rycroft told Us Weekly in 2020.
“I forgot how much fun we had. I mean, I love — it’s an arranged marriage for Tony and I. It was seven months ‘cause we did it twice,” she added.
Burke asked Rycroft to expand on that on her podcast.
“You are forced to be with this person eight plus hours a day — you have to get along,” she said. Rycroft went on to explain how important it is for a pro and partner to get along and have that chemistry because the audience “can tell.”
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