“Dancing With the Stars” is sending five dance couples into the finale for the second season in a row!
At the end of Tuesday night’s live “Semi-Finals,” co-hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro shocked viewers when they prepared to send one pair home — only to announce just moments later that there would be no elimination after all.
Therefore, the couples advancing to the Season 33 “Finals” next week are Danny Amendola and Witney Carson, Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong, Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson, Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten and Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold.
“We were all just so grateful [that no one went home] because we’ve really enjoyed the group that’s still left,” Graziadei exclusively told Page Six in the ballroom after the show. “And now we all get to go dance again! We get to put our best out there next week.”
Johnson said she, too, is “excited” about the opportunity, calling the elimination twist “the cherry on top” of the whole season.
“I feel like this cast, in general, is so special,” she gushed. “So the fact that five of us [couples] get to go show off a freestyle in the finale is going to be really epic.”
During next Tuesday’s “Finals,” the five remaining couples will each perform a “freestyle” dance, in which they have complete creative freedom to do whatever they want — including everything from their dance moves to costumes, stage props and more.
The challenge will mark one last effort for the finalists to impress judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli — and, of course, viewers at home — before the Season 33 winner is declared.
Johnson told us the choreography she has prepared for her “Bachelor” alum partner will “pay tribute to his roots,” while Carson described NFL star Amendola’s routine in three words: “iconic, memorable and fun.”
Bersten teased that his choreography will bring out “every side” of his professional rugby player partner.
“Her personality is something that is unmatched,” he shared. “So we want to bring out the personality, the power, the sexiness, but also her vulnerability and her softness.”
Meanwhile, Kinney and Armstrong plan to pay tribute to their history-making season as they are the first Black dance duo to make it into the “Finals.”
“It’s a first for a lot of things that are important to us and people that are important to us, so we are going to be dedicating it to that cause and culture,” Armstrong explained to Page Six.
“For us, it’s way more than what the judges are going to score us or what people at home will vote on or any of that. We’re doing it for something bigger than all of that.”
Kinney added, “It totally, I think, transcends beyond this ballroom and is a moment that I think we’re really, really proud to be a part of.”
Following the sure-to-be-epic “freestyle” routines, one dance duo will be crowned the Season 33 winners of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Who will take home the coveted Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy has yet to be revealed — but the finalists already have some ideas on where they may keep the shiny prize if they win.
“I’m going to put it right next to my Lombardi [trophies],” said two-time Super Bowl champion Amendola, with Maher declaring, “On, like, a shelf, maybe?”
Graziadei said he “needs to see it first,” while Armstrong — who has never won a mirrorball in all his seasons as a pro — will bring it to his “mama’s house” if he and Kinney are victorious.
“I don’t where [I’d place mine]. Somewhere I can look at it,” the “Pretty Little Liars” actress added. “Just because I know what it will represent.”
The three-hour Season 33 finale of “Dancing With the Stars” kicks off Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and Disney+.
NOTE: Nedoroscik and Arnold were pulled early from Tuesday night’s press line and were therefore unable to answer the questions we asked their fellow contestants.
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