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Alyson Hannigan had one goal when she appeared on Dancing With the Stars season 32: to make it to Taylor Swift night.
As it turns out, Hannigan, 51, later learned that the “Cruel Summer” singer herself was tuned into the show when her honorary episode came around.
“That was the night I freaked out the most because I was like, ‘Wait, I just wanted to get here, I didn’t know I’d actually have to do it. And what if she’s watching?’” she recalled to Joey Graziadei on the official Dancing With the Stars podcast on Thursday, September 25.
“I did find out she watched with her dancers,” Hannigan added.
The American Pie actress competed with professional dancer Sasha Farber on her season, which aired in 2023. The pair advanced to the finals where they placed fifth, and Xochitl Gomez won the show alongside partner Val Chmerkovskiy.
Hannigan and Farber, 41, cha-cha-cha’d to Swift’s 2008 song “You Belong With Me” on Swiftie Night, earning a trio of 7s and one 8 from the panel of judges.
In the ensuing dance relay, they beat out Harry Jowsey and Rylee Arnold as they danced to “Shake it Off.”
Swift, 35, even popped in herself during the episode through a video message.
“Hey guys, it’s Taylor. I just want to say thank you so much for having this me-themed night on Dancing With the Stars,” she said in the clip. “I can’t wait to see what your amazing choreographers and my friend Mandy Moore have in store. I so wish I could be there.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Hannigan nailed her Swift-inspired performances that night. The known Swiftie was present at the Eras Tour while her season was airing, attending one of her shows in Los Angeles.
“Even Taylor Swift’s shadow is incredible,” she captioned a post via Instagram, showing Swift’s silhouette at the concert.
A year later, Hannigan and her husband, Alexis Denisof, paid homage to Swift on Halloween with a couples costume inspired by her song “So High School.”
In photos shared via Instagram, Hannigan dressed as a football, while Denisof, 59, dressed as Aristotle, a reference to the line “You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.”
“Swifties get me,” she captioned the pics.
Commenters also noted that “So High School” was an apt song for the couple to choose to base their costumes on because it includes the line, “I’m watching American Pie with you on a Saturday night / Your friends are around, so be quiet.”
Hannigan joked to Us Weekly exclusively that the song, which is believed to be about Swift and her fiancé, Travis Kelce, made her feel a part of their relationship.
“I got to be with Taylor and Travis [Kelce] on the dates, really,” she said in an August 2024 interview. “Just the three of us — I mean, in my mind that’s how it went.”
Hannigan added that “So High School” might have “piqued” her kids’ interest in watching the 1999 comedy. (She and Denisof share daughters Satyana, 16, and Kiev, 13.)
“They haven’t mentioned that they wanna see it, but they know how exciting it is. Taylor might’ve piqued their interest, but not that they’ve mentioned,” she said. “That’s the one I dread the most. … Hopefully, I can just ride it out until they’re in college.”
