The actress broke down in a rehearsal clip over a lousy Tango score, then popped a rib prepping her Yacht Rock Salsa days later.
Julia Stiles had a rough week on Dancing With the Stars, and she didn't hide it.
A rehearsal package aired before Tuesday's episode showed the actress in tears, talking through last week's Tango to Teddy Swims' "The Door" with pro partner Ezra Sosa. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli hadn't been kind, handing the pair two 5s and a 6 for a total of 16 out of 30.
"I'm actually just really disappointed in myself," Stiles said in the clip, according to Page Six. "That was not my best dance."
She went further in a confessional, admitting the judges' notes stung precisely because she rates them. "It's all fun and games until you get a 5," she said. "And I respect those judges a lot, so I take what they say seriously. So, yeah, here I am — in tears on TV. Sorry!"
Stiles also drew a line between her day job and this one. Acting, she said, comes with a safety net. "I'm an actress. I'm used to having a script. The director and the editor protect you, and your performance is done before people see it. But this is just me, live. Very vulnerable." Sosa's response was to tell her he was proud she'd opened up, and that they'd push through together.
They needed to. While rehearsing a Salsa to Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" for Yacht Rock Night, Stiles hurt her rib mid-routine. "My rib really hurts and we kind of popped it," she told cameras, clearly in pain, adding that a week full of lifts and tricks was the worst possible time for it. She wasn't backing out though. "I also know I'm a tough cookie, and I'm not going to let it stop me," she said.
The grit paid off. The judges liked what they saw on the night, with Tonioli noting the routine came off clean and Inaba praising Stiles for finally letting go on the floor. "Julia is back, baby," Hough said. The scores followed the mood, two 6s and a 7, for 19 out of 30, a jump from the week before.
Stiles told co-host Julianne Hough afterward she was feeling good, crediting Sosa for pulling her off what she called the struggle bus. The pair had also gone quiet on social media through the week, which was enough for TikTok to spin up theories about a rift, or worse, that Stiles had quit the show altogether. Neither was true, per the show's own account. They'd just been heads down in the ballroom.
New episodes air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, with the following day's stream on Hulu. Whether that rib holds up for the next round is the open question.
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