Rylee Arnold‘s motto? Dance big or go home.
And that’s exactly what the Dancing With the Stars pro helped partner Connor Wood do during his season 35 debut Sept. 15, despite confessing that she believed the podcaster was not fully ready for the experience.
“I don’t think he was prepared for the performance aspect of this. It’s like nothing else,” Rylee exclusively told E! News’ Will Marfuggi during their joint interview after the premiere. “And as a dancer, even myself stepping into this, it’s so foreign and just stressful because it’s a live show.”
Indeed, the competitive dancer was still taking in the exciting evening in the ballroom—and all the pressure that comes with each step closer to landing the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
As the 21-year-old put it, “There’s so much at stake, and you do so much rehearsal to get ready, and it’s that one moment that you have to nail it. But he did such a good job.”
As for Connor’s take on how his first routine went?
“I don’t know how to describe it. It’s a weird feeling,” he admitted with a laugh. “I might throw up, but I’m also really hungry. I’ve never felt that.”
The 31-year-old added, “We don’t practice here,” referring to the ballroom, which was why “going out there, it was kind of blind.”
And Rylee can relate to the TikToker being a newbie to the DWTS family. After all, she became a pro three years ago, coaching stars like reality TV star Harry Jowsey and Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik since 2023.
And the Utah native—whose sister is former pro Lindsay Arnold—has worked hard to earn her spot returning to the ABC hit. Last year, she responded to fan criticism questioning her teaching technique.
“There’s been a lot of things this year [and] people saying that I’m not coming back next season, that I’m not gonna be asked back,” Rylee told Julianne Hough during a 2025 episode of The Morning After (Show), “or people saying I don’t know how to teach.”
“I would absolutely love to do another season—if not a bunch of more seasons—in my life, if they want me there,” she explained, adding that the outside scrutiny was “just noise.”
Read on to check out Rylee and Connor’s stiff competition for this year’s ballroom dance-off.
Julia Stiles & Ezra Sosa
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Connor Wood & Rylee Arnold
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The Summer House star is prepping for her turn in the ballrom.
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Maura Higgins & Mark Ballas
The Love Island UK alum is hoping her love for DWTS doesn’t betray her as she manifested this experience.
“I have a vision board and I redo it every year,” she told E! News in May. “This year is the first year that I stayed at home by myself on New Year’s Eve. I did not go out at all. I made myself a bowl of pasta and a glass of red wine and I redid my vision board for the year. Dancing With the Stars was already on it from the year before. However, I added five more Dancing With the Stars on the board.”
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