Dancing With the Stars season 34 is finally winding down to a close, but there’s still plenty of tears left to cry.
During the fan-favorite freestyle round, which customarily closes out DWTS finales, content creator and noted nepo sibling Dylan Efron graced the stage one last time with his pro partner Danielle Karagach. Clad in plaintive whites, Efron and Karagach delivered a searing testimony to the power of dance, through dance.
The ballroom erupted with cheers and audible sniffling from so many reduced to tears. After the judges’ glowing critiques, cohost Julianne Hough summed up the sentiments of the entire audience when she told Efron and Karagach, “I just want you guys to know that all of us, we were all up here crying. Truly so beautiful.”
ABC
“God, this is so hard to say. Making this finale, I feel proud of myself now,” Efron said in a video package from rehearsals which aired before his freestyle with Carson. “I feel like I’ve transformed a lot of people on the show, but you are the first person to devote yourself to the art,” Karagach told him.
Efron paid loving tribute to his superstar big bro Zac Efron at numerous points throughout the competition. But preparing for their freestyle, Dylan noted, “My whole life I watched my brother perform. I never wanted to be in the spotlight, and the fact that I can step out on stage and capture people’s attention, it truly gives me chills. I finally feel like I belong here.”
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The judges were unanimous in validating that belief after Efron smashed Karagach’s inventive freestyle choreography.
“Dancing With the Stars is this epic journey that no one understands until you go through. The emotional journey that you make with your partner is beyond understanding,” judge Carrie Ann Inaba shared. “I thought this dance was the perfect representation of what Dancing With the Stars is. So victorious, so emotional, so connected, the emotionality was just beyond.”
Hough concurred, adding, “When I watch you dance, you embody what I like to call a beautiful, sincere, kind masculinity. It was so tender, it was so present, and you were such a beautiful partner to Daniella. My man, I love you… such a beautiful, beautiful freestyle to wrap up this journey.”
Just before receiving one of his few perfect scores across 11 weeks of competition, Efron reflected in the skybox, “I came on and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not good at this. I need to make people laugh because I suck at this.’ And then I actually started falling in love with it, and Daniella was there for me and just kept pumping me up, so I just kept at it and worked my a– off.”
Efron is one of five contenders for the Len Goodman Mirrorball trophy. By the end of the night, it will be passed into either his hands, or the hands of wildlife conservationist Robert Irwin, influencer Alix Earle, actress Elaine Hendrix, or Olympian Jordan Chiles.
