Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik's dance partner, Rylee Arnold, shared a heartfelt message ahead of Dancing With The Stars (DWTS) milestone night, as the American dance reality show celebrated its 500th episode on Tuesday.
For the special episode, contestants paid tribute to iconic performances from past seasons. Nedoroscik and Arnold honoured Charli D'Amelio and Mark Ballas's season 31 routine to Joji's "Glimpse of Us" with a Viennese Waltz.
The second round promises to challenge contestants with an "Instant Dance Challenge," where they will have only five minutes to learn the style they'll perform on stage.
Ahead of the milestone, professional dancer and choreographer Rylee Arnold expressed her excitement in an Instagram post, writing, "It's the 500th episode on @dancingwiththestars tonight!!! I've been watching this show since I was a little girl, so it is surreal being a part of this episode tonight! Truly fulfilling one of my biggest dreams."
The 19-year-old also praised Nedoroscik, saying, "STEPHEN!!! I'm so proud of you and how hard you have worked on this dance! You continue to impress and inspire me every day, and I love teaching you dance!!! We got this tonight- it's going to be a fun one."
Nedoroscik joined DWTS in its 33rd season following his success at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he helped the USA team secure a bronze in the men's all-around and won an individual bronze in the pommel horse event.
Recently, Arnold and Nedoroscik took a break from the dance floor for a double date at the Wicked premiere. The pair, along with their significant others Walker Lyons and Tess McCracken, enjoyed the outing together.
In an interview with Women's Health, choreographer Rylee Arnold talked about what it took to juggle her diabetes while balancing the intense demands of competitive dancing in a show like Dancing With The Stars. "It's really hard to have Type 1 diabetes while dancing, because if your blood sugar isn't in that 80 to 120 range, your energy will plummet. It was really hard last year when I first joined Dancing With The Stars. That's because when your stress is super high, your blood sugar naturally runs higher. It was really hard for me to combat that and also be able to do my job."
She also shared about being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and how she was really close to a diabetes coma. " I got my blood drawn, and my blood sugar was 1,023. It was so scary. If I had just gone to bed that night and not to the hospital, I might not be alive today. I was really, really close to a diabetic coma."
