Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold already have some tricks up their sleeve for the Dancing With the Stars season 35 finale.
“It’s really, for lack of a better word, iconic,” Wood, 31, told Us exclusively after Grammy Night on Tuesday, November 10, teasing their plans for the end of the season. “It will go down in herstory.”
Arnold, 21, laughed as Wood continued, “I do believe so. Pop culture herstory.”
Wood has surprised viewers throughout the season, and Grammy Night was no different. The pair performed an Argentine tango to “SexyBack” by Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland, earning 27 out of 30 points from the judges, who praised the TikTok star for becoming a leading man.
“I’ll take it. Nine weeks in, I’ll take it,” he teased to Us. “There’s only two weeks left, thank God we figured it out.”
Wood noted that the positive feedback was especially validating coming from Carrie Ann Inaba, a notoriously tough judge.
“That felt really, really great to get,” he said, joking there was “pressure” to live up to a song like “SexyBack.”
“If I would have gone out there and flopped around like a fish on a poop deck, I can’t imagine getting on my phone after that. Oh, my God, kill me,” he added.
Wood and Arnold came close to a perfect score on Tuesday, earning all 9s from the judges, and they have high hopes that 30 points can be achieved going into the rest of the season.
The pair were kept safe from elimination, securing them a place in the season 35 semifinals. Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy were ultimately sent home.
Throughout the season, Wood and Arnold have formed an unbreakable bond, and their connection has easily stolen viewers’ hearts.
“This guy’s like my ride or die now,” Arnold previously told Us. “I’m just so proud of Connor, and I’m so excited to see him every day. I’m so excited to teach him every day. He’s just so positive and awesome and funny and genuinely been one of my favorite students.”
Wood is also proud of how far he’s come since the competition began in September.
“I have a feeling where I’m like, ‘Oh, I like to be here,’” he said earlier this month. “You know, one time I was like, ‘Wow, I skated past. I slipped under the radar last week.’ And now being in a place where I’m seeing improvement, Rylee is just creating this amazing choreo, and I can keep up with it. It’s just, like, the coolest feeling. … We won a long time ago. I’m over the moon to make it this far. It’s, like, incredible.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
