Heavy/ABC Rylee Arnold and Harry Jowsey.
“Dancing With the Stars” fans think pro dancer Rylee Arnold is in over her head – and holding back her partner’s chances to showcase his dance moves.
Arnold is partnered with “Too Hot to Handle” star Harry Jowsey on the 32nd season of the celebrity ballroom competition. The 18-year-old is the younger sister of veteran DWTS pro Lindsay Arnold. She joined DWTS just four months after her high school graduation.
Jowsey, 26, has struggled this season and has been criticized for not moving enough on the dance floor. During the Music Video theme night, he landed well below everyone and was at the bottom of the judges’ leaderboard. Jowsey scored straight 6s while his competitors scored 8s, 9s, and 10s.
But a group dance not choreographed solely by Arnold offered a bright spot for Jowsey.
Fans Reacted After Harry Jowsey’s Dancing Improved During a Group Dance
On the November 7, 2023, episode of “Dancing With the Stars,” Arnold and Jowsey had a second chance to earn points following their low-scoring jazz. The duo performed in a team dance alongside Charity Lawson and Artem Chigvintsev, Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy, and Lele Pons and Brandon Armstrong. Their team, Team Young’n Style, performed to the PSY song “Gangnam Style,” with Jowsey as the team captain.
Jowsey really moved during the dance, which scored perfect 10s from all of the judges. Some fans thought Jowsey’s dance moves were boosted thanks to Val Chmerkovskiy training with him during rehearsals.
“This team dance definitely allowed him to bring the energy he’s been needing to bring all along!!” one fan wrote in a YouTube comment.
In a Reddit thread titled “Maybe the problem is Rylee,” one fan wrote, “I think Rylee needs to create more choreo that forces him to have to move. The reason why Harry is moving here is because the choreo has him moving.”
“Harry isn’t a dancer. But we saw something in the group dance that has been lacking for weeks,” another wrote. “He can move. He can learn. Is it just Rylee doesn’t have the teaching ability/creativity for her choreography? …I wish they’d do a pro switch up week because I think we could truly see a different side of Harry.”
“Rylee’s definitely spending more time flirting with Harry than teaching him. I just rewatched the dance and Harry actually killed it thanks to Val’s teaching. Just a few sessions with Val helped him deliver a performance that we should’ve seen from him during week 3 of this competition,” another wrote.
While others noted that “Rylee is a trained Latin dancer” who has been dancing ballroom for a decade, others suggested she needs to spend some time in the DWTS troupe.
“They need to do what they did for Lindsay. Lindsay started in season 16 then went back to troupe until season 21 because she wasn’t ready. Rylee needs a few years of troupe,” one fan wrote.
Rylee Arnold Said She’s ‘Confident’ About Her Choreography
Arnold addressed criticism that she’s not seasoned enough to be a “Dancing With the Stars” pro. In a September 2023 interview with “Good Morning America,” Arnold revealed that she has been working toward being a DWTS dancer since her older sister joined the show.
“I remember when I was like 8 or 9, after a show one time, I was trying to choreograph a dance for Lindsay. Because I just literally wanted to be on the show so bad,” she said. “It’s really helpful to me that I got to experience that. I’m not just coming from not knowing anything about the show or not knowing how things work.”
Arnold also said she’s “very confident” of her skills in the ballroom. “I feel like I’ve prepared for the choreography of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ aspect and I feel like I’m really ready for that,” she told the “Lightweights” podcast in a September 2023 interview.
“I’ve really prepared for this my whole life, and I don’t know if people understand that,” the teen added.
READ NEXT: DWTS Runner-Up Reveals the Only Way He’d Return to the Ballroom