Tatyana Ali is explaining her thought process behind selecting her group dance members on Dancing With the Stars’ Disney Night.
“Tatyana… as the lowest scored person why wouldn’t you choose at least ONE of the stars with a dance background for your team ? 😭,” one user wrote via Threads, while another added, “Maybe I’m reading too much into it but she strikes me as someone who is very intentional about who she shares space with. And I think who she picked was a reflection of that 🤷🏽♀️.”
The former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star, 47, then chimed in to agree with the user’s assessment, writing, “Very much so.”
Ali and fellow season 35 contestant Connor Wood were crowned the team captains of the two group dances for the Monday, November 2, episode due to having the lowest combined total of judges scores.
Ali first selected Maura Higgins before then picking Amber Glenn and Julia Stiles to join her team. The group then performed a freestyle to Zootopia 2’s “Zoo” with cohost Alfonso Ribeiro.
Wood, meanwhile, chose Ezra Frech, Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Dewan for his group dance freestyle to High School Musical’s “We Are All In This Together” with cohost Julianne Hough. Team Wildcats earned a perfect 40 out of 40 from the judges.
“This is the most amazing team,” Ali said in the package of the Monday episode, adding in a confessional, “Being captain is a lot of responsibility.”
In keeping with their “Slaytopia” team name, Ali and her group ultimately slayed their performance and earned a 36 out of 40 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and guest judge Cynthia Erivo.
The score was then added to each pair’s individual tally from the first round of the episode. Ali and partner Jan Ravnik had previously performed a contemporary to “Easy As Life” from Aida and earned a 33 out of 40.
“Jan had me do things that when I first came here I couldn’t have done. And I just wanted to do his work justice because it’s so beautiful,” Ali said in the skybox after the performance, to which Ravnik replied, “And she did.”
The pair were ultimately safe from elimination, with Stiles and partner Ezra Sosa saying goodbye to the ballroom. Ali and Ravnik’s dance style and song have yet to be revealed for next week’s Grammy Night.
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
