Danielle Fishel, best known to TV fans for her role as Topanga on Boy Meets World, and her pro partner Pasha Pashkov were eliminated on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night on Dancing With the Stars this week.
Last week, judge Carrie Ann Inaba had encouraged Fishel to use more space because she’s a “tiny little woman.” So, Pashkov choreographed a Contemporary dance to Aerosmith‘s “Dream On” that had Fishel literally filling up more space. The duo accomplished this by Fishel extending her limbs when Pashkov had her up in the air, filling the space around her up as much as she could.
“It was a great feeling,” Fishel told TV Insider on the post-show press line, which takes place right on the ballroom floor. “It was a great lift. We had such an emotional week. To just finish the dance actually felt good. ‘Wow! We did it!’ It was a proud moment.”
“She’s a champ,” Pashkov said of his celebrity partner. “She’s a champ. She takes criticism like a champ. She works hard. She shows up. She never backs down. She pushes through no matter how hard it is.”
Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov — ‘Dancing With the Stars’ “Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night”
Disney/Christopher Willard
The comments from the judges indicated that Fishel wasn’t having her best week “Something went wrong,” Bruno Tonioli said. “There was a tiny mix-up in the dance. It did happen. But you should be proud of yourself.”
“You’re somebody that we all root for,” Derek Hough said. “Tonight, it felt little disjointed here and there, but overall, something [about which] you should feel very proud.”
Hough and Tonioli held up their “8” paddles for the couple, but Inaba scored them a point higher. (Guest judge Flavor Flav also gave the duo a “9.”)
“Contemporary is all about the emotion,” Inaba noted. “It’s all about the storytelling. You told that story. I felt the chills. There’s that magic thing that happens in the air that we could all feel that takes us into a place that’s not here right now. Thank you for the transport.”
Fishel and Pashkov’s exit was surprising in that she was the group dance captain for “Team Chicago,” which earned a perfect score. “Oh, my gosh,” she marveled of the group dance. “What a high note to go out on. It was also not just the performance went well. It was that we got to rehearse it. We actually only had about seven hours, but every moment in rehearsal was just fun. As we were doing it, we were aware that we were making great memories and putting together a great dance. When it landed and we finished, it was excitement like I’d never felt before.”
The remaining couples will miss seeing Fishel and Pashkov in the rehearsal studios and in the skybox.
“Danielle is great,” raved pro dancer Mark Balls. “I love her.”
“Danielle set the tone,” said Whitney Leavitt (The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives), Ballas’s celebrity partner. “She was our team captain [for “Team Chicago”], and she set the tone of all of us. I’ve gotten really close with her. It sucks to see her go. I’m so grateful I got to experience the first ‘10s’ of the season with her [in our group dance].”
“Danielle is the greatest,” said Robert Irwin, who is partnered with pro dance Witney Carson. “I am so gutted she is gone. Her light, energy, and authenticity are second to none.”
Irwin’s a bit young to have seen Fishel on first-run episodes of Boy Meets World (as he wasn’t born yet), but he does know Fishel from her other work. “She’s a fantastic director,” Irwin said. “They say, ‘Never meet your heroes,’ but [Danielle] is a true, genuine human being.”
Can Fishel predict who’s going to win the coveted Len Goodman Memorial Mirrorball trophy? “I have seven winners in my mind of the seven people remaining,” she said. “And they’re all for different reasons. There are different levels of athleticism, different levels of dance skills, and different levels of personalities. I can’t say any one is more deserving or carries more weight than the other.”
As for the future, Pashkov will likely join other ejected dance pros to take part in opening numbers and perform in the show when needed. Fishel said she’s excited about “making my kids’ lunches, possibly taking them to school for the first time in 11 weeks, and then I’m going to take a nap!”
Dancing With the Stars, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC
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