Dancing With the Stars Week 1 Recap

Laurie Hernandez performing with partner Val Chmerkovskiy (www.usatoday.com)

Laurie Hernandez performing with partner Val Chmerkovskiy (www.usatoday.com)

The 23rd season of Dancing With the Stars kicked off on September 12; surely it will be a great season to watch.  The cast is filled with many recognizable faces, from gold medalists Laurie Hernandez and Ryan Lochte, to model Amber Rose and rapper Vanilla Ice.  It’s only been one week, and there have already been several buzz worthy moments.

First, Laurie Hernandez tied for the lead with her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.  They danced the cha cha and were given a score of 31 amongst the four judges: Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Julianne Hough.  After seeing her effervescent personality and amazing stamina at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, it makes perfect sense that her charisma would carry well into a dancing competition.  

Fellow Olympian Ryan Lochte had a nice performance as well.  However, what happened after his performance attracted much more media attention: he was ambushed by several protesters, who allowed themselves onto the stage in an attempt to ambush the swimmer.  Their reasoning was for Lochte’s urination and vandalization of a gas station while competing Rio.  Luckily, security was there to swiftly arrest and remove the protesters from the stage.

High brow magazines such as People and US Weekly, reported that country singer and former One Tree Hill star Jana Kramer sprained her rib muscles while preparing for week two of the competition.  She took to her Instagram page to announce that she would do what she needed to do to remain in the competition.  Tune in on Monday, September 19 to see Kramer dance to the One Tree Hill theme song with her partner Gleb Savchenko.
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Monday nights at 8pm.