“And the first tens of the season!” added Arnold. “To be completely honest after finishing that routine in my mind I didn’t care what happened. It was such a special moment we got to share. Then the icing of those tens… It really took it to whole new level.”
Fisher agreed. “The tens were just the cherry on top of an incredible night,” he said. “It was a sundae from heaven.” Fisher also revealed that it was the first time he’d shared his story of adoption, as he really never felt the need before. “My parents are here tonight, and while I’m grateful to the woman who gave birth to me, she provided a template of what not to do in life and that story is what makes me who I am today.”
Another tearjerker performance came courtesy of Lindsey Stirling and her partner Mark Ballas. The couple’s touching Viennese Waltz, dedicated to her father who passed from cancer in 2016, saw Ballas actually donning her dad’s signature hat and scarf. “This has been a really heavy week,” admitted a still-emotional Stirling after the show. “Mark has seen me cry a lot this week and I didn’t know it would be this hard to talk about.
“The lead-up was hard but I feel at peace and like my dad was here with me helping,” she continued. “It was emotional as my mom was there and even admitted that Mark kind of looked like [my dad] with the hat and scarf. The hat was so him and it did feel like dancing with him again.”
“It was a huge honor doing this for Lindsey,” added Ballas. “We spent a lot of time ironing out details and it all started with the relationship, talking about who her dad was, what he wore and trying to incorporate that into the choreography.”
It was a doubly hard night for Nick Lachey, who not only had to overcome the emotion of his own personal story (marrying his soul mate and fellow contestant Vanessa Lachey) but his wife’s own personal story of the premature birth of their son Phoenix. His contemporary dance with partner Peta Murgatroyd received the lowest score of the night, yet was fraught with emotion. “When you go through something like a premature birth and you start confiding in people that our baby spent six weeks in an incubator, you then start hearing peoples’ stories of similar experiences.
“I’ve found there is strength in sharing those stories and letting people know it’s scary,” he continued. “But you can come out on the other side and thank God, our little boy is healthy and fine. There is strength when you are going through it and then sharing it. I was petrified. I’m not going to lie; it’s one of the hardest things I’ve gone through, but it was important to share it.”