Dancing With the Stars pro Rylee Arnold is grateful for the support of her community after facing backlash for her The Next Pro appearance.
“I love you all so very much,” Rylee, 21, captioned TikTok footage of herself bedazzling makeup containers on Friday, August 27, alongside troupe dancer Carter Williams, who replied, “Us just bedazzling our night away…✨ [I know] that’s right.”
Rylee’s DWTS costar Ezra Sosa replied, “MY MF QUEEN,” while her sister Brynley Arnold gushed that the choreographer is “iconic.”
In a follow-up TikTok upload, Rylee danced in her kitchen to Jamie Miller’s “Babydoll.”
“If someone’s gonna hurt me / If someone’s gonna tear my world in two,” Rylee mouthed the lyrics in the Saturday, August 29, video. “If someone’s gonna wreck me/ Believe me baby / That someone’s gotta be you.”
Rylee further noted in her caption that she recently made banana bread and “life is so good.”
Rylee found herself in hot water after her appearance during the DWTS: The Next Pro semifinals, where she was partnered with contestant AJ Pritchard. During the episode, Rylee claimed to the judges that AJ, 31, was overly critical in rehearsals without offering her any positive feedback or encouragement.
In response, AJ’s fiancée, Zara Zoffany, clapped back at Rylee’s feedback.
“[Rylee] — @aj11ace wouldn’t have had to critique you in the first place if everything had been right. Dancing with Bailey [McKnight] last week showed how he danced with an amateur & their dance was amazing,” Zara, 32, claimed in a social media comment, referring to AJ’s previous Next Pro dance with the influencer. “This week was suppose [sic] to be dancing with a pro … very different dynamics & what people didn’t see in rehearsals was that you injured him when you hit him in the head, leaving with a slight concussion and needing to see a [doctor].”
She added at the time, “He wouldn’t have needed to give it if something hadn’t been wrong. I hope you were able to take something positive and useful from his teaching and feedback.”
While AJ has not publicly addressed Zara’s comments, several of Rylee’s colleagues publicly defended the DWTS finalist.
“I usually stay out of stuff like this, but this genuinely made me sick to my stomach,” Ezra, 25, replied to Zara via Instagram comment. “Rylee is my best friend, I love her and I will speak up for her. Rylee is more than qualified to be a pro, and one dance with a completely different partnership does not erase the years of training, talent and work that earned her that title.”
The Next Pro judge Shirley Ballas, for her part, stressed that Rylee “earned her place” on the main show in a separate statement.
“@ryleearnold1 has earned her place on DWTS through hard work [and] dedicating her time to all styles,” Shirley, 65, wrote. “I have a lot of respect for her. Shame others do not.”
AJ is among the finalists to become the next DWTS pro for the upcoming season 35 alongside Selena Hamilton and Adele Zaikman.
The Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro finale airs on ABC Monday, August 31 at 8 p.m. ET.
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