Spoilers ahead for the “Most Memorable Year” episode of Dancing with the Stars Season 32.
Dancing with the Stars moved on from Disney Night to deliver an episode that honored a year in the celebrities’ lives that was particularly challenging, heartwarming, or just plain memorable. The result was a number of performances that were far more emotional than in earlier weeks, with plenty of tears being shed. Former Bachelor contestant and Bachelorette leading lady Charity Lawson became the first Season 32 celeb to earn a score of 10 from one of the judges. Her contemporary dance with pro partner Artem Chigvintsev left me not only ready to vote for her, but ready to tell every Bachelor Nation fan I can find that they need to watch her on DWTS.
Even before she and her partner took the floor with their dance, Charity Lawson was emotional as she explained why 2022 was her most memorable year. Some of her reveals wouldn’t have been news to anybody who watched her on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but she also spoke candidly about the “toxic” relationship she’d been in before arriving on reality TV to continue her search for love. She described how she would be “overextending” herself to try and make that relationship work, and was already tearing up while speaking to Artem Chigvintsev about it. Charity also made the point that going through what she did made her into the person she is today, including finding love with Dotun Olubeko.
And what she went through also evidently helped her become a standout celebrity dancer! Charity and Artem were one of four pairs to perform contemporary in “Most Memorable Year,” but they were by far the highest-scoring, and for good reason. The performance started out with the duo on top of a set of monkey bars, with the former Bachelorette proving that you don’t have to be a pro to have the core strength needed to pull of some incredible moves. She even stood on top of the bars and dropped back into her partner’s arms. Talk about defying gravity on live TV! Take a look:
Charity Lawson wanted to put all her emotion into the dance, and she pulled it off! The Bachelor Nation veteran had more going for her with her contemporary dance than just nerves of steel to perform on monkey bars on live TV. She chose Selena Gomez‘s “Lose You to Love Me” for the performance, and I just about forgot that I wasn’t watching two pros together. Carrie Ann Inaba was so impressed that she gave the duo the very first score of 10 for the season, with Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli giving a 9 each. For her part, Charity was so overwhelmed by emotion that she could barely speak, and needed Artem to field a question from Julianne Hough at one point.
On the whole, Charity arguably had the strongest dance performance and strongest emotional performance of the night. Xochitl Gomez – a.k.a. Bruno Tonioli’s “Little Marvelette” – and partner Val Chmerkovskiy got a 10 later in the night, and tied Charity and Artem’s total score of 29, but the former Bachelorette really blew me away. Bachelor Nation fans really need to see how her story has continued if they’re not already watching Dancing with the Stars, and she may be a frontrunner. In fact, I would place her in the top three along with Gomez and Grammy-winner Jason Mraz, despite Mraz originally having low expectations for the show.
Of course, the episode was emotional beyond Charity Lawson’s contemporary dance, as DWTS brought back some former pros to join the current cast of dancers in a beautiful waltz tribute to late judge Len Goodman, to “Moon River.” The next episode may involve fewer tears, as it will be Monster Night on Dancing with the Stars! If you want to see Charity in action, you can watch on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ABC or stream via Disney+ subscription.