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'Dancing With the Stars': Nelly's 'below average and stiff' foxtrot performance fails to impress viewers

Nelly and his partner Daniella performed the foxtrot to 'It's Alright' from Soul for the Disney Night episode for which he got great comments from judges. Fans, however, were not impressed

Nelly and his partner Daniella Karagach danced the foxtrot on the Disney Night episode of 'Dancing With the Stars' on Monday, September 28, evening to 'It's Alright' from the 2020 film 'Soul'. As part of the rehearsals, Daniella had taken him to see the inspiring film which touched him greatly and the hip-hop star couldn't help but think about his two kids.

Nelly has always openly spoken about how he didn't come from much and that his growing up years was marred by adversity but he still pushed through and pursued his dreams to achieve the goals he had set for himself. Speaking about his kids, in a confessional, he said that he tries to instill the same in his kids and pushes them to follow their dreams and he ended it with "love what you do, do what you love," for his fans.

Coming to the performance, Nelly and Daniella looked like they really enjoyed themselves while performing. He was a little stiff, given his muscled up physique but Nelly knows how to make up for his shortcomings. He smiled throughout the routine, at some point maybe he overdid it with the smile, he was practically grinning at one point and when the music stopped and the fake applause track filled the ballroom, Nelly was almost fighting the urge to control his laughter but he lost that battle.

The judges were impressed by his showmanship on the floor, Bruno Tonioli a little more than Derek Hough and Carrie Ann Inaba. Tonioli commended Nelly's foxtrot, he said that he was seeing such good foxtrot after a long time. However, he asked the hip-hop star to be careful with his shoulders because that makes his neck disappear.

Hough said that he liked how smooth the performance was but pointed out that the timing was a little off. Carrie had feedback for Daniella, she said Nelly has shown what he's capable of which is a lot, and now it was the pro dancer's responsibility to bring in a break-out moment during the next week's performance. Nelly and Daniella's score for the evening was 18/30. 

The audiences watching from home were not rooting as hard for Nelly as much as the judges. Here are a couple of reactions. "Yeah, I didn't care for that FOXTROT from Nelly. His dancing just lacks a grace and continuity that FOXTROT requires, especially at that tempo. A 6. #DWTS," wrote a fan. Another wrote, "Nelly why are you so stiff?? #DWTS"

Another fan said, "Let's be honest, if Nelly wasn't the superstar that he is, he would be in great danger of going home any week now because his dancing esp this week is not really giving me anything. #DWTS." Another comment read, "Each week the Judges praise Nelly's below-average performance and never say anything bad, yet they rip 15-year-old Sky Jackson; wtf? @DancingABC #DWTS."

'Dancing With the Stars' airs on Mondays at 8 pm ET on ABC.