Heat up! Emma SlaterAnd Trevor Donovan took the dance floor to perform a tango on this week’s Dancing With the Stars — and they impressed judge Carrie Ann InabaTheir connection.
“What was really most impressive to me [was] the focus you had on Emma,” Inaba, 54, told the duo during the Monday, October 3, episode. “I could have dove, [or] rolled in between you and you wouldn’t have even noticed. I think that’s so powerful and what’s creating something so special between you guys. There’s incredible chemistry between you, obviously, but well danced.”
Donovan, 43, and Slater, 33, literally brought the heat on Monday when they tangoed to “You Know My Name” by Chris CornellThe backdrop was flaming. The pro wore a sparkling silver dress with a high-slit, but the 90210 alum kept it simple in an all black suit.
After sharing a hug, you can become a cohost Tyra Banks declared the dance “was working” for the partners before they made their way over to the judges to receive their final score — a 27/40 in total.
While Inaba was impressed by the pair’s chemistry, Bruno Tonioli, meanwhile, said the twosome were “firing on all cylinders” before telling the Hallmark star he was “overdressed.”
Len GoodmanHe was, for his part the most critical. While the Strictly Come Dancing alum, 78, corrected Donovan’s frame, judge Derek Hough — who agreed with Goodman — declared the actor this season’s “dark horse.”
The interview took place after the show. USS ChristmasThe actor and the choreographer talked about their recent surfing expedition together.
“How cool was it to bring her into your world?” cohost Alfonso Ribeiro asked the California native about teaching Slater to ride waves, to which Donovan replied, “She did a fantastic job. She can do anything … she’s Emma.”
The partners initially made headlines after the Monday, September 26, episode of the dance competition when they danced the rumba to “Always On My Mind” for Elvis week.
“I gotta know — are those your acting skills or was that real?” Ribeiro, 51, asked a shocked Slater and Donovan at the time.
“If you’re really doing a good job acting, it all comes from the truth so there’s something real in every performance,” the Love, Fall & OrderBefore the judges revealed that the pair had earned a 30/40, star responded on the Disney+ program.
The only thing the native of Australia shared with us was their post-show interview Us Weekly that she was “so glad” the NCISThe answer was given by an alum.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘That question! Like, wow, just out the blue.’ But I think Trevor’s right, like, and we’ve spoken about this too — and by the way, we genuinely get on really well, like, rehearsals go so quick,” she explained. “We really do get on and have great chemistry, which made this dance so much easier. But then when Alfonso asked that question, I was so glad you answered because I was like, ‘I can’t.’”
The actor added that his answer was “100 percent truthful,” noting that a lot of his films require him to be the “romantic lead” where you have to “create” intimacy.
Donovan is notoriously private about his personal life. Slater was married to a fellow DWTS pro Sasha Farber2018 Use broke the news in August that they called it quits after four years of marriage.
