Unpacking The Ballroom

Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast

Brooke and Connor dive into Connor's debut on Dancing with the Stars, reflecting on his cha-cha performance, rehearsal struggles, and the pr

Key takeaways

• Being a 'wild card' with zero expectations allowed Connor to exceed them without fear of failure.
• Rehearsals were physically grueling, with extreme heat and constant pressure despite lack of prior dance experience.

Main topics

• Connor's Dancing with the Stars debut
• Rehearsal challenges and physical strain

Notable quotes

"I had only gain. Yeah, you could only meet or exceed."

"They made me wear a hoodie covered in sweat every day."

Conclusion

Connor's journey on Dancing with the Stars continues to unfold with humor,

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:24) you Speaker 1 (0:24) ready this is gonna be a good one are you ready yeah i'm Speaker 2 (0:29) like Speaker 1 (0:30) i'm like oh sorry i Speaker 2 (0:32) can't like to me this is like the start of something new because like now i'm podcasting with like a cast member of my favorite show and i feel like crazy hi Speaker 1 (0:47) guys welcome back to brook and connor make a podcast Speaker 1 (0:51) Yeah, we're in a different studio today because we had to schedule. The scheduling has been just. Speaker 2 (0:58) Well, we had to recap nights one and two of the ballroom and we couldn't do that with our regularly scheduled programming. So we are recording on a different day, which brings us to a different studio. Right. Totally fine. Right. Anything, literally anything, anything for DWTS. Speaker 1 (1:18) That's so fun. Speaker 2 (1:19) Genuinely. Speaker 1 (1:20) Yeah, not to accidentally shift gears into a Dancing with the Stars podcast. That is what Speaker 2 (1:24) it is. That's what it's going to be for the time being. Sometimes Speaker 1 (1:27) things are out of your control. This is a Speaker 2 (1:28) Dancing with the Stars recap podcast. We have tried. Welcome to the Dancing with the Stars recap podcast starring Connor Wood and his co-host. Speaker 1 (1:38) My partner. Speaker 2 (1:39) And his partner in double tennis. Speaker 2 (1:45) Which we'll get into all that. We're going to Speaker 1 (1:47) unpack all of that. Yeah. Speaker 2 (1:49) Things you can look forward to in this episode. Shit like that. Yeah. We're going to. Yeah. Speaker 1 (1:53) You think we're going to leave it in the box? No, we're unpacking it. I Speaker 2 (1:56) want to. But I want to take us back way before that. Speaker 1 (1:59) Sure. I Speaker 2 (2:00) guess I kind of want to take us back to just. I mean, you freaking made your national TV. Well, I guess you were on Good Morning America. When Speaker 1 (2:10) did we do this? We did this. Speaker 2 (2:12) When was Speaker 1 (2:13) the last time we recorded this podcast? Speaker 2 (2:15) Last week. Here, Speaker 1 (2:16) right? Speaker 2 (2:17) Yeah. Speaker 2 (2:19) Yeah. But I'm just saying you made. Oh, Speaker 1 (2:21) on TV. Speaker 2 (2:22) Yes. Since we recorded this podcast, you've made your debut. Speaker 1 (2:26) Sure. Speaker 2 (2:27) On a massive platform on national television. Speaker 1 (2:31) Yeah. Speaker 2 (2:31) Excluding your appearance on Good Morning America. Speaker 1 (2:34) Yeah. You're Speaker 2 (2:34) a TV star. Beloved by the nation. Speaker 1 (2:38) It is sweeping the young nation. Speaker 2 (2:40) You've completely swept inside of the hearts of the young nation since we last spoke. How does it tell me how that feels? Speaker 1 (2:50) What did you say last year? Flicking the beans of the young nation. Wait, you, you can, I don't Speaker 2 (2:54) want you to police yourself just because you flick the beans of the young nation. Speaker 1 (2:58) All right. Screw it. Yeah. Yeah. I did it. Yeah, I did it. And I don't care who knows it. Like, Speaker 2 (3:06) okay. How, just like very quickly. Like, how are you feeling? Speaker 1 (3:11) There's no time to talk. You'll have to email me. Speaker 2 (3:15) I feel like you haven't even been on your phone. You've been on your phone a lot. Speaker 1 (3:21) Oh, I Speaker 2 (3:21) just feel like you've been viewing my Instagram stories. Speaker 1 (3:24) No, we're probably having one of those things where it's just like... It's not coming up. It's not coming across my desk first. Speaker 2 (3:30) Like I'm already shadow banned to the guy. Speaker 1 (3:32) Wait, wait. I'm completely Speaker 2 (3:34) like Speaker 1 (3:35) first Speaker 2 (3:36) double tennis now shadow banned. Speaker 1 (3:38) No, that was out of my control. Do you want to just, should we just do that first, that part first? Speaker 2 (3:42) Double tennis? Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:43) Stop doing it. Double tennis. Okay. So number one. Yeah, no. So. Tell Speaker 2 (3:50) them what happened. Speaker 1 (3:50) Well, should we? Speaker 2 (3:51) They Speaker 1 (3:51) don't know. Let's just do the whole, we'll just start when that comes. Chronologically, we could do that. I Speaker 2 (3:56) feel horrible for the people that are tuning in for the first time for like an organized chronological recap. Speaker 1 (4:01) Yeah. Okay. If you're tuning in for the first time, first of all, welcome. Wear shoes off household. Yeah. No, we're Speaker 2 (4:09) not. Speaker 1 (4:10) Leave your shoes on. Do whatever Speaker 2 (4:11) you want. We're a do whatever you want household. But like some people might take off their shoes sometimes and they might fiddle with their toes if they want. Speaker 1 (4:19) Connor is doing Speaker 2 (4:20) Javianas. Connor is doing Javianas. Speaker 1 (4:23) Yeah, I have flip flops on today. You got to put yourself first. Also, people like Javianas are coming back in. I do want to say I was on the forefront of the Javianas renaissance and the flip flops are coming back in. It may be uncomfortable for you, but that has nothing to do with me. Completely. Speaker 2 (4:40) I totally agree. Speaker 1 (4:41) I think you can wear jeans and Javianas now or maybe even pants. I think Speaker 2 (4:46) so too. And I also think you have, you. have nice feet in terms of like the kind of feet that men have. Yeah. So I think you have some leeway. Speaker 1 (4:55) Thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah. Like for so long I had been in foot jail because I wouldn't allow myself to be out in public because truly since college, actually, since I busted my toe. Oh yeah. Speaker 2 (5:09) Remember Speaker 1 (5:09) when I busted my toe? Yeah. And then I go to class, I could only wear Javiana's flip flops on my left foot. Speaker 1 (5:18) my left foot and they had wrapped up almost in like a cartoonish way my my bloody toe because i busted it open and i remember getting on yik yak if you know you know and this girl that was definitely in my class and he was like this is there's this disgusting guy like that only wears one flip-flop and his toe is bleeding every day Speaker 2 (5:40) which he can do and it was like Speaker 1 (5:42) baby you think i'm putting my bloody toe into A slip-on checkerboard van? No, I'm unable. Speaker 2 (5:49) I'm willing, Speaker 1 (5:50) but I'm unable. Speaker 2 (5:51) Completely. Speaker 1 (5:51) And so I had this big, like, genuinely, it looked like when Tom would drop, like, an anvil on Jerry's toe, and it would go, ba-boom, ba-boom. I mean, I'm sure you're Speaker 2 (6:00) going to Speaker 1 (6:00) get Speaker 2 (6:01) some more busted toes as the season goes on. Speaker 1 (6:03) Yeah. Such as, in addition to, when I, the night before the premiere. I Speaker 2 (6:09) think we should start chronologically. Okay. Speaker 1 (6:11) All right. Take Speaker 2 (6:12) us back to the night. Before the premiere, how you were feeling during rehearsals, etc. And shit like that. Okay. Speaker 1 (6:19) I'll just say, like, we've been in, even when we were, like, not announced yet. That's when we were going to the studio. Right. Every single day. And I had to wear this freaking Addison Rae Speaker 2 (6:30) visor Speaker 1 (6:31) mask every day driving in. And I do want to also really quickly say, like, everyone's like, oh, they leaked. Like, why did they even do that? I was undercover. I don't know who. the whisperings of like me being on it was definitely someone in the industry it Speaker 2 (6:46) was Speaker 1 (6:46) not Speaker 2 (6:46) me I Speaker 1 (6:47) mean yeah you were good and you were like the first to know um but I was so good because I was mostly because I was like I know people are gonna be like and who is that you know like wild card it's okay to have a wild card it's fun Speaker 2 (7:00) it's okay to be the wild it's okay to Speaker 1 (7:02) be the wild card and I want to touch on being the wild card having zero expectations is a beautiful place to live yeah Not an athlete. Never claimed to be one. No dance experience. Never said I did. You can Speaker 2 (7:16) only exceed expectations. Speaker 1 (7:18) This is what I said last week, I think. They had a lot to lose by having me on. I had only gain. Yeah, you could Speaker 2 (7:25) only meet or exceed. Speaker 1 (7:26) Yeah, and I wanted to like... Because I knew people were gonna be like well And why did we do that with this young man and I want to be like I'm gonna show you yeah Speaker 2 (7:34) And show us all you I'm gonna Speaker 1 (7:36) prove to you that I'm in there every day working my took us off But anyways we were showing up every day. It was a hundred and fifteen degrees I didn't get into my hot car and they made me wear a hoodie Covered my face and then the visor and it was and sweats so I was just like drenched in sweat pulling in finally do moi leaks Connor would leaked and I was kind of like, you know part of you is like I'm on do moi. Yeah, I'm on do moi Speaker 2 (7:58) And it Speaker 1 (7:59) was like this 100 % Connor would my name Connor would I look at it closer? Everyone's like, how do you know this Connor would his hand his hand the hand in question? Completely couldn't be more of a woman's hand. It Speaker 2 (8:09) had French tips. It didn't have French tips Speaker 1 (8:14) But it Speaker 2 (8:15) wasn't your hand. French Speaker 1 (8:15) ass tips. Anyways, it was a woman's hand. It couldn't be more of a feminine hand. Speaker 2 (8:20) Do we know whose hand it was? Speaker 1 (8:21) I think Tatiana's. But 100 % Are Speaker 2 (8:27) you being furious? Speaker 1 (8:28) Yeah. That one was me. This one was me. Because I wore I wore a different color hoodie every day because I didn't get the like The box with all the gear to be hidden the whole time. I was bringing my own hoodie to work. I didn't know that everyone else was given a free hoodie. But I brought my own. And I appreciate Dumois has always been here since the beginning days. They have Speaker 2 (8:53) always been there for you. Speaker 1 (8:54) And they called me comedian, which I appreciate. Because I know that I'm the influencer on the season, which I take pride in. There's nothing wrong with being an influencer. Speaker 2 (9:03) I feel like... Speaker 2 (9:08) Sarah. Speaker 1 (9:09) Sierra? No, no, no. Oh. Speaker 2 (9:12) Never mind. Sarah Jane? Sarah Jane, yeah. Speaker 1 (9:16) She's a reality star and model. Okay. I feel like Speaker 2 (9:20) there's no true influencer this season. There's no Alex Earl. Speaker 1 (9:26) Yeah. You're the comedian. You're Speaker 2 (9:28) the comedian. Speaker 1 (9:29) Well, yeah. So that happened. And then what was I, what were we talking about? How did this end up? I Speaker 2 (9:34) was just asking you about like what rehearsals were like, what you were feeling the night before, like how you felt like you were doing, how was dress rehearsal? I think you should tell us about what happened during dress rehearsal. Yeah. And I, Speaker 1 (9:46) and I, I'm glad to because of where we're at now. Speaker 2 (9:49) Yeah. Tell us what happened. So we Speaker 1 (9:50) practiced this dance so much that like Riley made this video right before that was just like. Day one rehearsal versus now. And you see this day one version of us practicing this dance, which is like no dance experience. I don't know how Riley got up the following day and was like, time to go to work. Only Riley could because I was a lost cause, truly. Like I was stepping on my feet. Speaker 2 (10:11) But when I saw your footage of very early practices, I didn't think you were bad at all. But seeing them compared to where you landed was insane. Speaker 1 (10:23) I know. It was bizarre to see that. Speaker 2 (10:26) Yeah. Speaker 1 (10:27) She posted that. We had been working on this dance for like two and a half weeks. And that's the most lead up you get for a dance. It's the first dance you get two and a half weeks. And we had it nailed. Genuinely, I sent you a rehearsal video. I was like, this is like... Nuts. I can't wait to do this on the stage. Right. Now, when we're practicing in the studio, we don't have, the mechanical bull was a late add. Sure. We don't have the mechanical bull in the studio, you know? So that adds, if you think about the song that we've been practicing to, nailing it to the beats. Now we've got an additional four seconds added to the top of the song. So now it's like. And Speaker 2 (11:01) every second matters. Speaker 1 (11:02) And then, so what you don't hear on the TV is, it goes click, click, click, click. And it's like, I'm getting off the bull. I have to. think of where I have to be per click. And it's at the beginning of the song. We've only got two days on the bowl. And then the stairs, which we don't have stairs in the studio. And then the hat. We weren't practicing with the hat. So Speaker 2 (11:22) it was like four Speaker 1 (11:22) things before the dance started. And then you have to hit that first beat on the floor, on the flow, on the way to the lick of stow. So it was like all new stuff. So we go in. for camera blocking is what it is and that's when like what you guys see on TV it's like there's 12 I don't know how many there's gotta be 12 cameras and so when you look you cut and you look and they're close on your face this way and then you cut this way and this is a far out do Speaker 2 (11:49) they tell you to look at the cameras while you're dancing it's Speaker 1 (11:52) it's it's I think it's I'm making this up by the way that I didn't ask any questions but like I think it's a twofer they don't want to show bad dancing on TV that would just be like a nothing burger you know, TV, like no one wants to watch bad dancing. I Speaker 2 (12:04) feel like Speaker 1 (12:04) they Speaker 2 (12:04) would want to show someone mess up if they mess up pretty badly, you know? I don't really, Speaker 1 (12:09) I don't think that that would benefit them at all. People would be like, I'm not, you know, like this is not, this person's Speaker 2 (12:13) not Speaker 1 (12:13) taking it seriously. Speaker 2 (12:14) No, like people. If Speaker 1 (12:15) someone falls or something, that's good TV. That's like, that's what I'm saying. It's Speaker 2 (12:18) a Speaker 1 (12:18) replay. That is good Speaker 2 (12:19) TV, unfortunately. Speaker 1 (12:20) Yeah. But like, just messing up, flopping a whole dance, like, which is, I'll just get there. So you get three tries on the Saturday leading up to it was Saturday this week. I don't know when it's gonna be but Moving forward because it was a twofer to two night special but the camera blocking One you get to be like okay for this. This is a close-up on my face I really want to look because that's everyone watching and voting is like, you know if I'm going I like it I want to go I like it. You know, I Speaker 2 (12:50) like it boom Speaker 1 (12:52) And then two, I like it here. I love it here. And then what if I want some more of it? Agreed. So that would be like kind of a push out. And then they're also like spinning around you. So there was that. I, you guys, we got three tries. There is not a chance on the planet I could have messed these up more. By the way, these, like I'm missing the first beat. I'm skipping like, I don't know how many sections of the dance there were. Probably 15. I was missing like seven. Speaker 2 (13:30) Of Speaker 1 (13:30) this dance that we have nailed to perfection 100 times. You Speaker 2 (13:35) got the yips. I got the Speaker 1 (13:36) yips. You Speaker 2 (13:36) got the yips badly for dress rehearsal, etc. And Speaker 1 (13:39) like I don't have performance anxiety. Like I've never had that in my life. There was not even that many people in the room when I did this. I mess it up and that gets sent out to everyone. And I'm just like, oh, they're all going to get this and they're going to be like, we made a pretty massive mistake. And then we come in day of the show. After practicing, I'm like, okay, that was like, that was it. It was the day after my, it was the day after my birthday. So we had done karaoke and stuff. And like, I'm like, maybe it was a sleep thing. Speaker 1 (14:13) I don't really know because that wasn't until late afternoon. It definitely wasn't like an early morning wake up. It was late afternoon. So it wasn't like a... I was just trying to make up an excuse of why that could have happened. And then the day of the show, we go in and we had a couple tries not in our costume and I nailed it. I was like, oh my God, it was the... It was... The yips. And where was, Speaker 2 (14:35) where were you practicing? This Speaker 1 (14:36) is Speaker 2 (14:36) in the ballroom. This is in the ballroom. Oh, Speaker 1 (14:38) you're Speaker 2 (14:38) practicing the ballroom. It's day of the show. Okay, you nailed it in the ballroom? Nailed it. With the stairs, with the bowl, with the Speaker 1 (14:42) hat. And then we put our costume on. Speaker 2 (14:49) Where did you go wrong? Speaker 1 (14:50) 10 second, Tom. Like genuine 50 first dates, Drew Barrymore. Hi, where am I? Hi, Connor. Riley's like, why are you introducing yourself? 100 % brand new to me. Dress rehearsal. So we do it. I'm like. I mean, there's when you get up, there's always like we have one more rehearsal. Like, I'll just get it that time and then I'll feel good. It's making me sweat again, even thinking about it. There was no more one more try. The next try was five TV. You're in the crowd. My parents are in the crowd. I was like, oh, my God, like I blew it. You know, like. Speaker 2 (15:30) He had texted me this that like he completely messed up. I couldn't. I was so sick to my stomach. I'm sorry to say this for the new listeners, but like I was I was I couldn't get off the toilet all day. I was sick to my stomach. We started leaving to go to the ballroom. Connor, we had to turn around as I was extremely sick. Speaker 1 (15:50) No. Speaker 2 (15:51) I was sick in my chair at the ballroom. You came out. You couldn't look at me. I couldn't look at you. Like it was like I was sick. sick i Speaker 1 (15:59) mean i was just like this isn't even funny you know like it wasn't funny you know like a lot of times you're like oh if i mess up it's like oh you know that one time i blew it round you know round one of dancing with the stars but it wasn't funny i was like i don't think i Speaker 2 (16:14) don't truly Speaker 1 (16:15) like i've never been to war totally Speaker 1 (16:20) I was on the line of fire. Like I was genuine. Like I feel like everyone I meet lately is trying to be smarter with money, myself included. Cash back here, coupons and points there. But why does it take so much effort? We all just want to make our money work a little harder. I Speaker 2 (16:36) totally agree, Connor. I love a good deal. But if I actually have to hunt for one or go out of my way to activate a coupon, I've already checked out. Speaker 1 (16:45) Yeah. Well, Brooke, I think I found one you'll actually like. Prime for young adults. It's actually pretty genius. It's a Prime membership for 18 to 24-year-olds that actually makes Prime feel like it's built for you. All Speaker 2 (16:55) right, you've got my attention, Connor. But what's the catch? What Speaker 1 (16:59) if I told you there isn't one? I'm talking about 5 % cash back on eligible purchases in categories like beauty, apparel, electronics, PCs, and health and personal care. Speaker 2 (17:09) You're telling me this whole time I could have been getting rewarded for the purchases I already make? And with no catch? Speaker 1 (17:15) Exactly. You're not changing your shopping habits. You just get rewarded for them. And the best part, the cashback is automatic. No coupons, no activation, no extra steps. 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