Ryan Seacrest (0:00)

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Doug (0:30)

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Danielle Fishel (0:47)

Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

Doug (0:50)

Cut the camera. They see us.

Danielle Fishel (0:52)

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Doug (1:27)

They evolve.

Danielle Fishel (1:29)

Rush.

Scott Hanson (1:31)

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Danielle Fishel (2:14)

Hello, it's Danielle Fischl checking in. Podcaster, TV director, and mom of two most commonly recognized on these streets as Topanga. But right now, I am appearing on your television sets, where once again, as part of Dancing with The Stars Season 34, immersed as a competitor in the world of ballroom dance. I've gone from not even having one minute of dance experience, unless you count dancing at a wedding, to now abandoning my family, essentially to practice for what feels like 24 hours a day, seven days a week, alongside my assigned pro partner, Pasha Pashkov. And throughout the journey, I'm keeping you up to date with everything that is going on behind the scenes in the form of this here podcast, Danielle with the Stars. All in the hopes of being able to add the title of Len Goodman mirrorball trophy winner to my Wikipedia, right behind Chef, which I never was. That may not be on my Wikipedia anymore, but it used to be one of my favorite little tidbits. Guys, you won't believe this. We are making an exclusive announcement about week five dedication night. You are not going to want to miss this. Who will I be dedicating my dance to? What song am I dancing to? It's going to be very special, and you will find out in just a little bit. First, though, I am hot off the press line for week four, marking one month of competition, and tonight, I was Disney night. So you may notice I'm not in my wardrobe tonight. In the past, I've come off the press line, I've run in here, and I have started this here podcast. And then it occurred to us, we are making other people in other departments wait while I wait to take off my costume, wait to cut. They sometimes sew my hair into itself. So, like today for Disney Night, I was blue from the Jungle Book, and we put my hair in the shape of cute little bear ears in order to make sure they don't go anywhere, that they're super secure. They literally take a needle and thread and they sew your hair into itself. And then at the end of the night, I can't take that down. I'm not trusting Jensen with a pair of scissors by my hair. I insane. Absolutely not. So the hair and makeup department stays to help me get out of my wardrobe and hair and makeup stuff. Not just me, all of the competitors, but. So anyway, I have changed. I have done the press line. Disney Night was amazing. I thought all the performances were spectacular. The opening number, choreographed by the one and only Mandy Moore, guest of this podcast that you guys absolutely love. I've heard so much great feedback about her episode. She is a true gem of a human and an absolute talent. The pros all love working with her. There's just such a difference working with her than there is with working with other choreographers. So she is spectacular. Opening number was amazing. It's one of the. Maybe the best Disney night I've ever seen as a fan of the show. So I don't know what your thoughts were, but I think it was top tier. I danced a quick step with Pasha to I want to be like you, the monkey song from the Jungle Book. I've always loved the Jungle Book. I love this song. It's got those iconic little moments. I want to walk like you, talk like you, be like you. From the moment pasha and I started talking about disney night, what did we want to do? The jungle book was right up there at the top of my list for possibilities. And the minute I said it, pasha was like, oh, my gosh. I want to be like you is a perfect quick step. And I said, great. Let's do it. I don't know anything about the quick step, but let's do it. Turns out the quick step is quick. It's also ballroomy. That's not a word, but I'm saying it anyway, which means lots of frame, you know, like, pasha describes it as looking like bananas. So much banana talk this week between pasha being king louis the ape and me being blue the bear, and our frame being like opposing bananas. So pasha likes to take two bananas and put them back to back, and that's what our frame should look like. I have a bit of a janky neck. I don't have a great neck. For one thing, it's very short and squatty. For another thing, it cracks very easily, and it gets very stiff. Stiff. And, like, I don't have a long, graceful giraffe neck. And yet you have to for a lot of these dances, so I'm really still working on that. And this dance is a bit of a challenge because you go from bouncing around very quickly to with very little time, having to be long, graceful, and elegant and like a banana. So anyway, I didn't think I was gonna love this dance. I freaking love it. It's by far my favorite dance we've done thus far. We've done a tango, a foxtrot, the cha cha, and now the quick step. The quick step is by far my favorite. I don't feel like cha cha. I've given a good shot to because I was injured that week, and I couldn't feel my kneecap floating around in all the fluid. And so I feel like I would have enjoyed that dance more if I wasn't so worried about whether or not my leg was going to hold up my body. But no matter what, the quick step is definitely my favorite. It's bubbly and fun, and pasha and I got to show a really fun, super playful side of our personalities, which is just kind of the dominating factor of our personalities. We have so much fun together. Every day, although we're working really hard, is spent just, like, laughing and telling each other backstories for what's going on in this dance. And, you know, like, I remember week one with the tango, There was a little bit of a feeling of, like, trying to contain Some of my smiling, joyful nature, because a tango is supposed to be a little intense. And I didn't do a great job of containing that in week one, but in this week, week four, quick step, I didn't have to contain it at all. And that just felt really nice. I just got to smile the whole time and look at my friend who is my choreographer and dance partner, and we just got to have fun. So it was a really great week. I'm a little disappointed that our scores didn't improve. Obviously, I'm thrilled that our scores didn't go down. I feel like that would have been really disappointing, But I was really hoping that tonight was going to be the night that I saw my first eight, and it didn't happen yet. So the good news is I still have that to look forward to. We were told for this night, Disney night that we could pick any song from the Disney catalog and that specifically, they were hoping for a focus on Disneyland because tonight's Disney night was in celebration of Disneyland Resorts 70th Celebration. Disneyland has been around for 70 years. The Jungle Cruise opened at Disneyland on day one. So the Jungle Cruise has been around for all 70 years, which is another reason we thought it was a perfect movie and song to choose for tonight. We got to go to Disneyland to shoot some of our packages, and the car picked us up super early in the morning. We got down to Disneyland. We got to ride the jungle cruise. We got to eat a dole whip. So Pasha, you guys have heard me joke about how much pasha likes rice cakes. Pasha also loves more than anything if, like, for his number one favorite sweet food is ice cream. He loves ice cream. Specifically ice cream, not gelato, Although there are some gelatos he likes, but he really likes ice cream. His favorite milkshake is a pineapple milkshake. Pasha has never had a dole whip. He has. He's been to Disneyland a bunch of times. For some reason, he's never tried a dole whip. He didn't even know they existed. So I was thrilled because I love me some food and I love me some Disney park food. So I was thrilled to introduce him to a dole whip. They had, I think it's fairly new, something called the pineapple upside down sundae. And it is a pineapple upside down cake with dole whip soft serve and a caramel drizzle. And he said he was gonna order that. He was like, yeah, that's definitely what I'm getting. And I was like, oh, just why don't you just be A purist. And get the little, like, classic one like, I'm gonna get. And he was like, no, I want this one. And I was like, okay. He ordered. He ordered, right? It was really good. The cake was a nice little texture. It was great. Anyway, I'm talking too much about food. Obvious. You can tell I'm probably hungry. So that was really fun. I got to introduce him to that. Now that's going to be a staple of every time Danny and Pasha take Kiki to Disneyland. They're going to have to get the pineapple upside down. Sunday, we got to ride the Jungle Cruise, which was super fun. We also got to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which was really, really fun. Those are two of my favorite rides there. That was great. And then when we left, we had to go after Disneyland. So the car picked us up at 5:45 in the morning. We got down there around 7:45 in the morning. We wrapped around 10:45. And then we had rehearsal at 1 from 1 to 5. Pasha and I were starving because the only thing we had eaten was dole whip and a banana. We eat lots of bananas on this show. And so on the way home, we grabbed turkey legs and french fries, and Pasha and I sat in the back of the car and devoured turkey legs. We had grease all over our face and all over our fingers. And at the end of our rehearsal, we went to go record the dance, and I got real close to the mirror for the first time and realized I still had turkey grease on the edge of my nose. It had been there for four hours. And not only did he not notice, he. He didn't tell me, and he didn't notice. So I wore an incredible dress that day. I've been following this fantastic, talented woman named Kelsey. Her Instagram handle is Ropedrop Design, and she takes vintage, officially licensed Disney wares, sheets, comforters, you name it. And then she upcycles them, which is a term to say that she takes something old and vintage and turns it into something new and modern. And she took a Jungle Book children's bed sheet, and she turned it into a fabulous, adorable puff sleeve dress. Like, the puff sleeve is like making all my aerial dreams come true. And the Jungle Book print is so cute. It was the perfect length. It fit me perfectly. She asked for my measurements, sent them to her, and she made it in rapid time, sent it to me, and it was so cute. And then as a little homage to Boy Meets World and to Topanga, I paired it with a pair of red cowboy boots. And if you're a fan of boy meets world, you know that topanga wore red cowboy boots in the disney world episode of boy meets world? Kind of that famous photo of me in the white shorts and the red and white striped mock turtleneck crop top with the red cowboy boots. And so I wanted to give a little nod to topanga and to boy meets world with that outfit. And. Yeah, then we went to rehearsal and rehearsed the rest of the day, and you guys got to see the dance tonight. It was so great. It was our first real fast dance all week long. So when we normally do something kind of fast, like the cha cha, we slowed it down. Like, we would rehearse it. And pasha has an app that he can play the song and then slow it down and play it at 80% speed. And so to make sure that my brain computes all the steps that I need to do, we start at, like, 80, and then we jump up to 85, and then we go to 90, and then eventually, I get to 100% speed. This dance, we never had to do that with, which is really great. I was able to do it from at 100%, kind of from the beginning, and rehearsals were really fun. I was nervous that I wasn't going to have the stamina. It's so much jumping and so much hopping. And on day one, pasha had no idea what he was in for. Was I going to be a natural at this dance? Was I going to be terrible at this dance? And on the first day, he was like, okay, let's practice this move. And then he, like, walked me through them. And it's the part. It's the lindy hop part, which is where in the middle of the dance, we, like, I step back on my foot. It's called a rock step. And then a kick step. And he was like, the combination is a rock step, a kick step, a kick step, a rock step. And then it's kick step, kick step, kick step, rock step. And he shows it to me, and I'm like, okay. And then he takes my hand, and I do it, and I do it pretty well, like, kind of right off the bat. And you should have seen the relief on pasha's face and his whole body. Like, okay, okay. All right. Okay, you. You can do this. And I was like, yeah, I think I can do this. He was like, no, you have no idea. This is real make or break. Like, this is a real make or break thing. If you can't do this, you're just not gonna have a good quick step. And I picked it up pretty fast. It is interesting to me that that is the part that then tonight the judges said, I made a mistake, and Bruno said, no, you know. You know, he's like, you know. You know the mistake that you made. And I wanted to. I thought to myself, like, do I know the mistake that I made? Because I definitely know when I'm off. Anytime we've rehearsed the dance, I am the first person to be like, oops, missed a step. And if I don't know exactly what the step is, I still. I'll know the area where I'm off. I'm like, yeah, it was something over there near the rock step or the kickstep. Like, did I gather? Did I not rock step? Like, what did I do? And I didn't feel like anything was off. But we went back and watched it. So somebody recorded it on the monitor for us, and we went back and watched it. And although I'm not technically off, There is a moment in the rock step kick step where Pasha and I are not perfectly synced, which means I was probably half a beat late on one of my kicks. I didn't even miss the kick. It wasn't like I missed a step. It's just that the timing wasn't perfect. So that's what I think is the mistake that they're talking about during the lindy hop. And on the one hand, I'm bummed that that kind of. What feels like a kind of a minor mistake was something that. That they all really noticed and felt like was kind of a big deal. And on the other hand, I'm really happy that with a, like, difficult dance with all kinds of frame and all the stuff about my shoulders we've talked about and all of that, that, like, that's the thing they commented on. That means everything else was really great. And I'm trying to find all the silver linings where I can so that I continue to stay motivated to just learn and become better week after week. So that's kind of where I'm at. We got three sevens, which is the same score we had last week. I'm still really looking forward to getting an 8. Maybe next week will be that week. Today's camera blocking started with not a good performance for me from the beginning. I know how important counting is while I go through the dance. It helps me stay directly on beat. It helps me know exactly what my steps are. If you hear me counting out loud in my rehearsal videos, you'd be. You'd be like, what? What even is she Saying, and I can give you an example. Like, the dance starts. You hear the four clicks. There's like, click, click, click, click. And at the top of the dance, it's one beat per move because I'm doing my feet. So it goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4,. 5. And then Pasha pops up, and then from there, we just count odds. So it's 5, 7, 1, 3, 5, 7, 1, 3,. 5, 7. Then we run down the stairs, and then I'm no longer counting. And after we run down the stairs, we go to slow, quick and quick, slow, quick and quick. Step, pop, step, pop, gather. And then you go, rock, kick, kick, rock. I. That's what I'm saying in my head as I go. Not only does it tell me what I'm doing, but it helps keep me on beat. This morning, for my first camera blocking, even though I know how important counting is, I was like, I'm going to try this one without counting it and just see, like, what kind of performance I get out of it. And then I learned, you know what happens when you don't count it in your head. You get not so great performance. And there were a couple of places that I was off. Then we did it a second time. Significantly better the second time. And then we did a dress rehearsal. And in the dress rehearsal, I definitely messed up the lindy hop. I did step pops, step hop, gather, gathered my feet, and then I skipped my rock step, and I went from gathering my feet directly into kickstep, which meant that I was completely off time with pasha, and he, like, grabbed my hand in a way that let me know I was off. And by the time we got to the next kickstep, I was back on with him. But I definitely made a mistake during my dress rehearsal, which is a little bit of a bummer, because that's your last and true opportunity. It's your first and only time you're doing your dance and in your costume with your hair and makeup completely done. So it's the closest you're gonna have to doing it for the show. And, yeah, you really want that one to go well. So it did go well. Everything else was great, and it was overall fine. But I did screw up the lindy hop there for sure. Pasha was so happy with the way tonight's dance went. And honestly, like, every week, everyone's super supportive. This week, the amount of people who came up to us and said, oh, my gosh, this is by far your best performance. This is your best dance. This is like, everyone was saying it. It was very sweet. And after the performance, everybody came up to me and was like, that was so great. Pasha was really happy. And Pasha said the same thing. Pasha was like, I know when you're off, I didn't think you were off. But then when we watched the tape, like I said, we were able to see what the judges saw, what they were talking about, that there was a moment where we weren't perfectly in sync, which I say we were not. That means I was not. I. Pasha, of course, is always perfect. I was off by half a beat. And so, okay, I have room to grow next week.