I remember as a young girl watching Dancing with the Stars with my grandma. We would devote hours of our day preparing snacks and researching our favorite couples, counting down the minutes until our favorite couples would take over the dance floor. I fondly remember my grandma calling in a vote every time I mentioned I liked a couple, even if it was her least favorite couple. This past season was, dare I say perfect, the revival that I needed from Dancing with the Stars. I was absolutely obsessed with everyone on the cast and all the work they were putting into their dances. I was not shy about sharing my opinions about this season and here are some of the most iconic moments from season 33.Â
- Anna Delvey
One of the first truly iconic moments from this season came from the elimination of Anna Delvey on the second episode “Oscars Night”. In her short time on the show, Delvey turned heads with the help of her partner Ezra including fun dances, gorgeous outfits and a bedazzled ankle monitor. But, her most influential moment came when Julianna Hough asked what she would take away from her experience on the show and Delvey responded with, “Nothing.”Â
- Danny’s dedication night dance
Danny Amendola and Witney Carson were a truly amazing couple and I was constantly amazed just how much Danny grew over the course of the season. But, one of his greatest performances was during “Dedication Night” where he delivered an emotional contemporary in honor of his football coach. This was the first of many dances when we got to see the pure emotion and love that Danny had for the show and just how hard he was working. This dance truthfully solidified Danny’s place in DWTS history.Â
- Joey’s Disney Night
Joey Graziadei was a force to be reckoned with this season. From a truthfully stunning first performance to one of my favorite tennis themed final dances. One of my favorite performances from Joey was his Disney themed samba to the song “Trashin’ The Camp”. It was a really powerful performance that inspired many Tik Tok challenges and I find myself thinking about him quite often.
- Daniella and Dwight Halloween Nightmares Contemporary
While it is quite a hot take, I am aware please don’t be mad at me, I was not the biggest Dwight fan. But, my opinion was in fact changed the night DWTS took on a nightmare atmosphere. Daniella is truthfully one of the greatest choreographers on the show and she was working her hardest to adapt with their large height difference and it really paid off with their Halloween performance. It truthfully gave me goosebumps and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.
- Opening dance for 500th episode
As I’ve mentioned, Daniella is one of the greatest choreographers on the show. When she and her husband Pasha, another professional on the show, worked to choreograph the opening number of the 500th episode of the show it created magic. There were so many influential moments among the dancers and this was such an amazing performance. Every moment is pure magic and I will always hit replay on this performance.Â
- Ilona’s passion and power
The real phenomenon of this season of DWTS was everything about Ilona Maher. I truthfully believe that the reason that this season was so powerful was because of Ilona and her pure dedication and love. She was always so happy to be on show whether it was performing or practicing with her partner Alan. She never failed to bring a smile to my face and let’s be real the friendship that she formed with Alan was so inspiring. Ilona should be incredibly proud because she became one of the most powerful influential individuals in the world solely being herself. Â
- Stephen’s final dance
I will not tolerate any Stephen slander ever in my life. Not only was he my favorite on the show, he happened to be partnered with my favorite professional on the show, the fabulous Rylee Arnold. Their friendship and chemistry was so strong throughout the whole show and they always brought pure joy whenever they danced. Stephen’s final freestyle brought actual tears to my eyes and I couldn’t help but feel like I was standing in the same room as I could feel the power of his performance through the screen. I love Stephen. Everyone should love Stephen.
- Joey and Jenna win the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy
Your season 33 DWTS winners are Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson. It is so deserved. Joey was such a passionate dancer from the moment he stepped onto the dance floor. While originally I didn’t really connect to him, as the season went on I found myself loving him because of his commitment to Jenna and improving himself. One of the most powerful moments from their win was that past seasons winners, Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy, got to present Joey and Jenna with the trophy. If you didn’t already know, Jenna and Val have been married since 2019 and are one of the cutest couples I’ve ever seen. It was so heartwarming to watch Val honor and celebrate his wife.
- Honorary Mention: Everything about Jenn and Sasha
Whatever the outcome with DWTS, the real winner is me because my Instagram feed has become videos upon videos of Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber, the greatest couple I’ve ever seen. I am obsessed with Jenn and Sasha. I could write essays on this couple and just how important their relationship is to them, to me, to the future of the world. I am not trying to be dramatic when I say I might care more about their relationship than anything else in my life. There are so many beautiful invisible strings that lead them to each other and I will never get over how meant to be they are.