Disney/Eric McCandless
“Extra” caught up with Stephen Nedoroscik and his “Dancing with the Stars” partner Rylee Arnold during rehearsals after their week 2 paso doble that saw Stephen nod to those Clark Kent memes!
Stephen called it a “collective idea,” adding, “You couldn’t not do it. That’s kind of my virality moment, so we wanted to just run with it.”
Stephen and Rylee were able to get their first 8 of the season and he reflected, “It’s so rewarding to go out there and kind of just do the dance that you trained your butt of for the whole week. Our goal was to go out there and get an 8, and we were able to go out there and do it. So, showing improvement from week 1 to and hopefully we just keep that ball rolling.”
Of the judges’ feedback, she said, “I really like their feedback, and I thought it was very positive but also, like, very constructive, which is really good. They gave Stephen a lot of good pointers that we can definitely work on in rehearsal, so I was really happy with it. Honestly, just so glad that we’re making improvements with our scores and with our critiques.”
Nedoroscik agreed, saying, “Just soak it in. It’s just, like, motivation for me to go to that next week.”
Rylee raved about Stephen’s work ethic, saying, “He is doing so amazing. He comes into rehearsal and he studies the night before, he watches the videos, he comes in, he works so hard because he’s an athlete and he has so much athleticism and he understands that, like, you have to work hard for something to be good.”
Stephen also gushed about having his GF Tess’ support in the audience this week, saying, “Just like my gymnastics career, she’s always been, like, my biggest cheerleader, so having her in the ballroom cheering me on, and she brought the energy. It just means a lot to me and I love her very much and appreciate the support.”
When they aren’t rehearsing, Rylee, Stephen, and Tess are hanging out and having game nights. Rylee shared, “We just have a lot of fun.”
Stephen said he’s enjoyed getting to know fellow contestant Ilona Maher, who took home a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in rugby. He raved, “She’s just so funny and we’re so relatable to one another just coming off the Olympics as well. She’s just awesome.”
He added that the Olympic spotlight definitely helped prepare him for the pressure in the ballroom. “What I do with pommel horse isn’t dancing, not even really close to it at all,” he commented. “When you get to any elite level of any sport, you’re gonna learn work ethic, you’re gonna learn how to learn, and a lot of those things are just so easy to translate to dance.”
Rylee and Stephen also dished on which couples are their biggest competition, noting that Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong have topped the leaderboard both weeks. Rylee also said Jenna Johnson and Joey Graziadei are “probably the couple for us to look out for” since they’ve tied in the scoring.
Stephen added, “I always say I am my own competition. I need to just make sure I’m motivated, I’m coming in here doing all the numbers I can, taking care of myself. I think if I do all those things, things should go well.”
The two also teased their next dance for Soul Train Night on October 8. Rylee dished, “It’s just gonna be fun, upbeat happy, and it’s actually Steve’s parents’ favorite song. They helped him choose it, so it’s gonna be really fun.”