Heavy/ABC Rylee Arnold got advice from a former DWTS pro.
Rylee Arnold got some sound advice from former “Dancing With the Stars” pro, Lacey Schwimmer.
Schwimmer was a guest on the October 30, 2023, episode of Cheryl Burke’s “Sex, Lies, and Spray Tans” podcast. During the interview, Burke asked Schwimmer what advice she had for female dancers branching out into the business. In her response, Schwimmer said that she had a chat with Arnold before season 32 began.
“My biggest fear, especially for this next generation of dancers coming into television, especially like little Rylee Arnold,” Schwimmer began. “She started out as one of my assistants on my convention that I own. Turned into a teacher, which, I’m so excited for her. But she is so young,” she continued.
“I looked at her when she told me she got [the job at ‘Dancing With the Stars’]. First, I said ‘congratulations.’ Of course, all the things. But I also kind of sat her down and gave her a come to Jesus moment of like, this is what you need to expect,” Schwimmer said. “Expect people to hate on you. Expect relationship rumors. Expect all of this stuff because that’s what this show does. It is not just about the dance,” she added.
Here’s what you need to know:
Rylee Arnold Is the Youngest Pro on the DWTS Cast
Following weeks of speculation, ABC confirmed that Arnold would join the season 32 cast in September 2023. She is the youngest sister of former DWTS pro, Lindsay Arnold.
“I have dreamt about this moment for my entire life,” Rylee Arnold said in an interview with “Good Morning America” ahead of the cast reveal. “Watching Lindsay on the show was such a fun experience and made me want to do the show even more. I loved watching her perform,” she continued.
“It’s really helpful to me that I got to experience that because I’m not just coming from not knowing anything about the show or not knowing how things work. All the people on the show already are like big sisters and brothers to me,” she added.
Arnold took to the dance floor with Harry Jowsey of Netflix’s “Too Hot to Handle.” Before kicking off the season, Rylee Arnold’s older sister shared some words of wisdom.
“Every day she just talked to me about things you might face and things you might do, but one of her biggest things was always be yoursel. Because people want you to be yourself and it’s OK to be yourself. You don’t want to have to be somebody else,” Rylee Arnold told GMA.
Critics Have Been Tough on Rylee Arnold This Season
Rylee Arnold is having a really good first season a pro on “Dancing With the Stars.” She and Jowsey have already made it through about halfway and seem to be improving week over week, despite finding themselves consistently at the bottom of the leaderboard.
It seems as though Rylee Arnold needed Schwimmer’s advice because criticism has been high.
For example, after Disney Week, fans took to social media to react to Rylee Arnold reusing some of the choreography from one of her sister’s dances on a past season. There have also been plenty of Reddit threads of Rylee Arnold’s choreography and many have expressed that she’s not playing to Jowsey’s strengths.
Things got so bad, in fact, that Jowsey actually spoke out.
“I just want to say: Today has been extremely difficult. Poor Rylee is really upset. I’m really upset. I think we’re both equally devastated and upset about last night, ’cause it wasn’t our night, wasn’t our best dance,” he said on his Instagram Story on October 25, 2023 (via Us Weekly).
“I just want to say a couple things: If you don’t have anything nice to say, please don’t say it,” he continued. “This is Rylee’s first season, I’ve never danced before. We’re learning, we’re figuring it out. That’s the point of this show — to have someone who’s never danced before, put ‘em on the world stage and tell them to try and figure it out,” he added.
Moreover, there have been plenty of rumors that Rylee Arnold and Jowsey are more than friends. Turns out, Schwimmer’s advice was on point.
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