Recreation week isn’t so easy for Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson, who are taking on the iconic number that Julianne Hough and Apolo Ohno did in 2007. In the exclusive sneak peek of the Monday, November 13, episode of Dancing With the Stars, the couple struggle on a specific element of the dance that may surprise everyone.
“Because this is such an iconic dance I want to get the same choreography,” Carson, 24, reveals to her partner in the sneak peek. “There’s definitely things in there that we would leave out if we weren’t trying to recreate this dance,” Muniz adds.
One of those things being the skirt choreography. In the original routine, Ohno takes off Hough’s skirt, then later puts it back on her as a cape — something 31-year-old Muniz cannot seem to get down.
“This is the week of crazy challenges for me,” he says. ”Not only do I have to take off her cape, but then I have to reattach it. Like, never mind the moves, I can’t even get the cape on. The simplest thing in the history of life: attach velcro together. You don’t even have to tie it, just put the velcro together … and I can’t do it!”
Currently, Muniz and Carson are in third place on the leaderboard; Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold are in first, and Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas are in second. This week, their first dance will be a salsa to “Shake” by the Yin Yang Twins and Pitbull, followed by the recreation dance, a paso doblé to “Carnival De Paris” by Dario G.
Muniz told Us after last week’s live show that he never thought he’d make it to the semi-finals and he plans on just continuing to work hard.
“It’s crazy to think to think that we got here, but also it’s kind of sad because we’re almost done, no matter what. I love it,” he said. “I’m going to really try hard this last week, hopefully we make it to the final. She’s been an awesome, it’s been such an amazing experience. This is exceeding my expectations by a trillion, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done and I’m so glad I was a part of this.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET.
