And when her impressive Halloween routine faced further criticism last week, Danielle’s former Boy Meets World costars and best friends, Will Friedle and Rider Strong, accused the judges of having a “personal vendetta” against her.
For reference, Danielle and her professional partner, Pasha Pashkov, performed the Viennese Waltz to “Die With A Smile” by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. They got 33 points from the judges in total — just one point more than actor Elaine Hendrix, who was judged on her taped dress rehearsal after she suffered an injury and had to go to the hospital.
Giving Danielle feedback after her performance, guest judge Cheryl Burke said that she would like to see bigger emotion and a more “raw and authentic” performance going forward. Carrie Ann Inaba echoed this, saying: “I have mixed emotions about [the dance]. I love that you always take feedback with an open heart and grow from it. There are moments that I really see this progress — it’s elevated and beautiful, and sometimes, these moments get small.”
Derek Hough added that Danielle is “lacking the movement from the torso,” and said that she needed to work on her “fluidity.” Bruno Tonioli, on the other hand, simply said that he “loved it.” Bruno gave Danielle a 9 out of 10, and the rest of the judges scored her at an 8.
However, Danielle’s friends have accused the judges of treating Danielle unfairly as they leaped to her defense on their podcast Pod Meets Twirl’d, where they share their thoughts on each week’s episode of Dancing With The Stars as two people who’d never watched the show before.
Rider kick-started Saturday’s episode by asking Will how he was, to which Will replied: “In my general life or after watching whatever the fuck that was?”
“I’m with you, bud,” Rider agreed, with both actors expressing how “angry” they were after last week’s show.
“Carrie Ann has her favorites, and she’ll have two or three that no matter what they do, they could walk on the stage, trip, hit their face, and she’d be like: ‘You tried so hard, 9!’” Will added. “Danielle could do the best thing where she’s doing triple flips and she’s like: ‘You’ve got to hold your shoulders different too,’ and it’s like: What the fuck?”
“To me, it was like: ‘Oh, 9s across the board, maybe a 10,’” Rider said, and Will added: “I thought she was gonna get her first 10 of the night from Bruno, I thought he was gonna give a 10 because he was being very generous all night long. I was like: ‘Oh my god, they’re gonna do it, they’re gonna get a 10, she’s gonna freak out, this is an absolutely breakout from the pack!’”
“I think they’re holding her to a higher standard,” Rider then theorized. “Because: A) She looks young, so I think they’re treating her like she’s in the same category as the 30-somethings, or even 20-somethings, and it’s just not the case. This is a mother, this is somebody who is 45 years old, and I think that because she looks so young and they still associate her as Topanga, they think of her as like a young American sweetheart, and that’s not really fair.”
“I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of who she is as a person and how hard she’s working physically to keep up,” he continued. “So that’s, I think, part of it. And then I think she’s very popular, and I think that because she’s so popular, there’s a little bit of like: ‘You can take a little harsher from the judges’ in a way that I just don’t think… They’re just not on her side, they’re not rooting for her in the same way.”
“Why?!” Will asked. “I don’t get it. Carrie Ann, last night, it felt personal. I can’t explain it. I’m sure it’s not, I don’t know, but it felt personal, like she does not like Danielle. And I don’t know what the hell Danielle did; did she take her parking spot? Is there something we don’t know? Because how can you watch that after watching a rehearsal tape and give it the same score? Because Carrie Ann gave it the same damn score as the one before, are you kidding?!”
“I don’t know, I mean, she’s got a chip on her shoulder; I think Carrie Ann’s got a chip on her shoulder,” Rider said. “I think there’s a sense of Danielle being maybe…” to which Will finished: “Too good at everything?”
“Yeah,” Rider agreed. “She’s just, like, the popular girl, you know? Knowing her, she’s the most loving, kind, like, non-exclusive… Danielle never gives off the vibe that she deserves anything; she works hard and enjoys herself… There’s a little bit of like, you know: ‘You’ve been a star all your life, you’ve been the center of attention for a long time,’ and I think that’s working against her.”
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s like I don’t know what else she can do,” Will said. “That’s the thing, you’re setting an impossible standard when you have that kind of dance and… I went back and I was like: ‘Alright, maybe I’m wrong, maybe she screwed up,’ I watched this thing, like, three times, and I was like: ‘Nope, great dance.’”
At this point, Rider suggested that it was time for Danielle to switch up her strategy, pointing out that she hasn’t really discussed her personal life or struggles — including being a mom, her experience as a child star, or her recent breast cancer journey — on Dancing With The Stars.
“But I also think there’s a strength to what she’s doing, too,” Will countered. “I mean, this woman was dealing with cancer, and she hasn’t mentioned that since the very, very first episode, because she’s like: ‘I don’t want to, I want to dance, I don’t want to go out and mention that.’”
Click here to watch Danielle’s Halloween performance for yourself — and be sure to let me know your thoughts on Rider and Will’s comments down below!