Not bothered. Vinny Guadagnino has heard his share of commentary on Dancing With the Stars, but this week, he agreed with the judges.
“I didn’t really mind their criticism this week,” the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation star, 34, exclusively told Us Weekly after the Monday, October 3, episode. “They can, like, really tell the journey that I’m going on.”
During critiques, Carrie Ann Inaba told the reality star that he should “maybe train a few more hours,” but the Staten Island native wasn’t offended by her comments.
“Carrie Ann actually said like, ‘Look, you’re in this competition. It’s time you have to really start working on those technical things,'” the MTV personality told Us. “And she’s right. Like, my charm and wit and all that stuff, I dunno how far it’s gonna take me. You have to do the technical stuff, which I struggle with, I’m not gonna lie.”
The Keto Guido Cookbook author has modest dance experience, having competed on The Masked Dancer and worked as a Chippendales guest host, but DWTS requires an entirely new set of skills.
“The world is seeing us go through it,” he told Us of his time working with partner Koko Iwasaki. “We’re going through it together, and we’re going through it with the judges and with the fans, and here we are.”
Though Guadagnino said he was worried he would be eliminated during Monday’s episode, he missed landing in the bottom two, scoring a 23 on his rumba to “Thunderball” by Tom Jones. “You just managed to survive the rumba,” Bruno Tonioli told him after his performance. “It was a bit stumbly and blocky but good effort.”
Cheryl Ladd and Louis van Amstel ultimately went home after finishing in the bottom alongside Sam Champion and Cheryl Burke.
Guadagnino, for his part, has been safe all season, but during the premiere episode, the judges weren’t super impressed by his efforts. “I’m not gonna say anything — you can go read the comments though,” he told Us of the panel’s critiques after his debut on the show. “I’m definitely not a technical dancer. So, if they’re gonna look at all the technique, technical things, like, I definitely have room for improvement, but the fans came out to vote and that’s what’s most important. I’ve really felt the love this week more than like a lot of times ever in my career doing this.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on Disney+ Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
