The Squeeze - Val Chmerkovskiy: Let Them Dance

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

In this week’s episode, Dancing With The Stars pro Val Chmerkovskiy returns (two years after he and Jenna Johnson were among our very first guests!). Val opens up about growing up in Ukraine until age eight, immigrating to Brooklyn, and what that huge life shift felt like as a kid. He shares when dance first entered his life, how it evolved from a creative outlet to a career, and what it’s like to keep that passion alive when it’s also your job. He talks about working alongside his wife Jenna as pros on Dancing With The Stars, their shared Emmy nomination for a tribute to Len Goodman, and how they navigate turning off “work mode” at home. Val also speaks about how fatherhood has shifted his perspective and deepened his appreciation for his own parents’ sacrifices. Plus, he gives us the inside scoop on filming Hulu’s Got to Get Out, how the experience challenged him, and the friendships he formed with his fellow castmates.Be sure to follow Valentin https://instagram.com/valentin/!To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [e-mail] sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on all of our socials:The SqueezeInstagram: https://instagram.com/thesqueeze/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@thesqueezepodcastTay LautnerInstagram: https://instagram.com/taylautner/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mrstaylautnerAmazon Storefront https://urlgeni.us/amazon/FDXj7 Taylor LautnerInstagram: https://instagram.com/taylorlautner/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlautnerTo learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow https://instagram.com/lemonsbytay/ and visit lemonsbytay.comEpisode Sponsors:For a limited time, Tempo is offering my listeners SIXTY PERCENT OFF your first box! Go to TempoMeals.com/SQUEEZE. Rules and restrictions may apply.Try your new trusty favorites with an exclusive set for our listeners. New customers can get the Liquid Lash Extensions Mascara and a mini-sized Brilliant Eye Brightener at a special set price with free shipping available at thrivecausemetics.com/THESQUEEZE. Or save more with 20% off your first order at thrivecausemetics.com/THESQUEEZE.Nuuly is a great value at $98 a month for any 6 styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of Nuuly when you sign up with the code SQUEEZE. Just go to nuuly.com and enter the code SQUEEZE and sign up to get $28 off your first month. Nuuly Subscription Clothing Rental. Change Your Clothes.Opill is birth control in your control, and you can use code SQUEEZE for twenty five percent off your first month of Opill at Opill.com.Head to Target or Target.com to find Cremo’s new line of antiperspirants and deodorants in the Italian Bergamot and Palo Santo scents.Meet Caudalie's Iconic Vinoperfect Serum. Available at Sephora and Caudalie.com.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Auto-hue with Sunny Cars feels as if the children Not me be seen. Tiselstramble. Zand-Worda. Actis-verkeer. Verdweint. Vacanty can chaotic

but who zorgalos an auto-hurt, says, Uno-dos, no stress. No, no-verwachted costs, always full-ledged. So, footho-hue without your re-sadviseur

or sunnycars. The following podcast is a dear media production. Delusional optimism. about the American dream. There's no comparison. You know, I'd rather be here. You and Jenna are here.

Really, our first guest, season one. And your episode is one of our top ten most viewed episodes. So we'll see how this one stands next to it. Process of elimination. It's like, all right, it's Jenna. Just have to have Jenna back solo. We'll compare them. We can really tell.

So when did dance start? In our community, Russian, Ukrainian ballroom dance is the thing. You watch dancing with the stars. It's a bunch of Schmikovsky's, Chmikovskis, and a bunch of girls from youth. So true. Jenna's winning moment was a winning moment for me. She's incredible choreographer, and I am an amazing bystander to her creativity.

Can we get to the show? Like, you're in a house for 10 days. Money's going up. You got to escape. But Dancing with the Star is not reality TV. Reality TV is, what did you say to me, Taylor? Look at you. You know, it's like, whoa, we were just hanging out.

You're a personality with some of those characters. Honestly, the normal people were the least normal in the house. You also can know. Your sprinting was very impressive. And everybody's like, no, bro, you look like the bad guy from Terminator. You have like the best posture running down this. Val, welcome back to the squeeze. Thank you.

We don't have many welcome back. So it's always, it always feels good when I hear you say that. I know, I know. It's good. How's it feel? It feels like an honorable mention. As it should, don't you see it. No, I appreciate it.

It's cool. Again, like I said, all the record, am I allowed to say I'm proud of you? I'm proud of this project. I'm proud of, you know, how far you've come. It's awesome. Thank you. It's a very competitive space. I mean, like, everybody wants to do it.

First of a lot of people do it and then do it well and do it consistently. That's so sweet. Yeah, appreciate that. Yeah, it's so fun. Yeah, you guys, you and Jenna are here. You guys are one of our, like, really our first guests. Really towards the top. Yeah.

Season one. And your episode is one of our top ten most. viewed episodes. Yeah. So hopefully we'll see how this one stands next to it. Right. We'll do the process of elimination. Like, all right, it's Jenna.

Who's the X-Factor here? We'll just have to have Jenna back solo. We'll compare them. We can really tell. That's funny. Okay, so we start each episode off with this jar. It's a game called citrus got real. If you want to pull a little piece of paper out of there and read it to our lemon drops.

Lemon fortune cookie. Okay. Lemon fortune cookie. If you could choose your own name, what would it be? Oh, my gosh. Wow. This is, oh, wow. It's a great question.

I had a son, and I feel like I named him a name that I would have loved to be named. Oh, that's cool. Rome. Yeah. It's my version of Junior. Yeah. Instead of naming him literally Valentine. But, yeah, my son's name is Rome, and I love that name.

Yeah. It is very cool. Cool. Do you have one? Yeah, I do. And this is going to get a little bit awkward. It's not going to be awkward. It's just funny and ironic. When I was a kid, I actually asked my mom all the time if she could change my name. Are you serious? Yes. Wait, I didn't know that. Yeah, all the time. I would say, like, is it too late to change my name? Because I always wanted to be Max. Wow. I was obsessed with the name Max.

I can actually see you as a Max. Yeah, me too. As a kid. Okay. Taylor, I feel like, no, maybe. Max. Is that, was there like a character or like a friend at school or do you just? No, I didn't know anybody named Max.

I just like loved the name as a kid. I was like, I'm sure there was a dog that you met. Yeah. Probably was. With how much I love dogs, there definitely was a dog involved with that. Definitely was a dog. My brother's name is Max. That's, yeah.

Yeah. Max is a great name. You have big Macs. Max energy. Big Max energy. Wow. Look at that. That's the coolest thing anybody's ever said to me. What a compliment. What did your mom say? She said no. She said I was going to remain Taylor. Is it a family name? Did you? No. No. I don't.

Do you have any siblings? I have one younger sister. I forget. No, they got it from something. I think it was like the last name of an actor they liked or a character. character and something. Clearly I care a lot. I just want to be Max still. I'm about the origin of your name. I think Vine was from a little girl that my mom used to babysit and her name was Taylor. That's where she got Taylor from. I could be wrong.

What do you want your name to be? I used to want it to be my middle name, which was Renee, because I knew so many Taylor's. Yeah, Taylor became a thing at some point. Yeah, and I wanted to be like original. You look like a Renee. Thank you. You do. Thank you.

Should we just change our names to Max and Renee? Honestly, it would probably make our life a lot easier if we didn't have the same name. That's true. But you got a Renee haircut right now for sure. Definitely. It's after my nana because her name's Irene and that's like a, she's Greek and that's like a Greek spinoff of the name. Yeah. Wow.

Great question. Boom. You do call me Renee sometimes and I do enjoy it. Yeah, usually when you're in trouble. Yeah, definitely when I'm in trouble. Okay. So I'm excited to have you here solo because last time when we had you was a lot of like, like marriage and relationship stuff, but.

And dancing with the stars. And dancing the stars, which, you know, maybe we'll talk about. Because he was just coming off a winning season. Yes. Wait, no. No. It was before. It was before?

Yeah. Oh, Zocchi was our first. Yeah. Zocci was our first last year. Oh my gosh. That's right. We started this trend on our show, which I'm happy to keep up, is our first episode of each year has been the winner.

The raining. Yeah. So we had Zochie on for, she was our first guest of season two. and then this year was Joey. Wow. That's great. It's just this trend that we randomly have to start. That's a great trend.

Yeah. It's not too shabby. I'm going to keep up with it. But we didn't really get to dive into your upbringing and stuff. And I would love to kind of just start with that because I'm really interested in hearing about it. But something, yeah, that's something that we didn't dive into. But you were born in Ukraine. You lived there until you were eight and then you immigrated over to Brooklyn.

Do you remember much of your child? childhood? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, it's hard for me to put an age to it. I think after five is like most of my memories. Yeah. But I, yeah, I do. I remember the city, like the architecture, the energy that I felt. Yeah. The place where I lived, you know, the apartment. Yeah. The little apartment. Where in Ukraine? Odessa, Ukraine. Dessa, Ukraine. So it's like a little city on the Black Sea and it's known as the New Orleans of the Soviet Union. It's got a lot of jazz, a lot of soul, it's a melting pot. A lot of, a big Jewish community, Eastern European Jewish community,

Slavic community, I mean, all of it. Yeah. A lot of foreign exchange students and I mean, again, it's just like for an Eastern European country, it felt colorful, you know, with its music and comedy and the art. That's cool. Yeah. What prompted you guys to move? So my brother was 14.

And so this is 94. This is post-Soviet Union fell apart. This is my little history lesson. But it's important, right? Especially now with the Russia-Ukrainian thing is that, you know, I'm a Russian-speaking Ukrainian. That's obviously anti-war and pro-Ukraine. independence and the ability to choose what it wants to do. It's a sovereign nation.

But for 85 years, we've been one union, you know. It was the United Soviet States, you know, 14 republics that are vastly different in culture together speaking one language, which was Russian. And so a lot of the Russian culture and Russian language, language, let's say, you know, for the last 80 years doesn't solely belong to Russia. It belongs to all of those republics because they all contributed. You know, so I've never even learned Ukrainian, unfortunately. Wow.

You know, so I wouldn't be able to show my, let's say, Ukrainian pride even at the moment because I'm a Russian-speaking Ukrainian. Yeah. So anyway, that's the region that I'm from. Yeah. And one of the reasons my parents moved is because there was already an unsettling kind and boiling instability about that region. Because in the 90s, it was like, imagine, God forbid, the United States breaks apart.

Yeah. And a lot of chaos is going to ensue. And this wasn't just a union that fell apart. It was a union that was communist, meaning that there's no free enterprise or free, even thought, really. So all of a sudden, there's all this freedom that's never been there before. Yeah. But a people haven't changed.

So, you know, that's where you get the oligarchy. You know, you hear the Russian oligarchs. A lot of that was made in the 90s with ruthlessness. So my parents didn't want me to be around that or their son would be around that. Okay. And they got lucky and were able to immigrate to Brooklyn, New York. Yeah. Being quite well off.

You know, my dad was doing well. But he understood what it would take to continue to do well. What did he do? Like import export. That's a very fancy way of saying what he did. He basically imported, let's say, genes from Turkey or Europe and sold them in the Ukrainian local Adysemaqa market as one of the products that was not available there. You know, Levi jeans. Yeah.

Like things that in the West, that's already part of the capitalistic. democratic kind of society where free trade, people are moving things faster. Yeah. And so we moved to America into a much lower level of living and social status for my father and my mom. You know, as a family, we definitely downgraded. Yeah. But we upgrade it in spirit.

Yeah. You know, and the opportunity. And now you're looking at things without this glass ceiling and fear. You kind of just have this delusional optimism. about the American dream. Yeah. But, you know, now as an adult, I grew up in this country. I analyzed that delusional optimism and reality in a different way.

But I think there's no comparison. You know, I'd rather be here. Yeah. Were you happy that you guys were moving? Or did they, like, explain, like, were you able to, like, kind of grasp the concept of why it was happening? or were you just like, I'm sad. We're going to America.

Yeah, what's crazy is like eight and 14 are quite different. I mean, it's only six years, but it's a really different train of thought. So my brother remembers more of like the heartache of separating with your family. I mean, immigration is hard, even from state to state. Imagine leaving your lineage. I mean, again, I don't want to sound so whatever, poet. but really like your roots, your friendships, your habits, your hobbies, all of it. Very different.

Yeah. So to leave that, we had the dinner and relatives came and the whole, you know, it's every cultural movie you've ever seen. Yeah. You know, you're saying goodbye and tears. But I'm excited, you know, because we're going on a journey. So I have nothing really to leave behind. I'm eight years old. I'm just starting out.

Yeah. So I was excited. I remember landing. at JFK, I remember the smell. It just smelled like a different world. Yeah. I'll never forget that. What prompted Brooklyn?

Just the, you know, you gravitate to where your people are. You know, we moved to a very Eastern European immigrant neighborhood around Coney Island. Brighton Beach is the name. Anora just put that on the map again. You know, it's like that. Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, you know, it was for a lot. long time very Italian it was still very Italian immigrant heavy but again there was also you know a black community Hispanic community and and then slowly I think late

70s 80s 90s an influx of Russian Ukrainian Jews immigrated there again you plead refuge that our connection our ability to get the chance to immigrate here legally was our Jewish connect. It was like an organization here that makes sure that they help facilitate any sort of Jewish immigrants that are pleading refuge from anti-Semitism. And there was quite a bit of that in that region still. This is the place, you know. And so they were able to, my grandma's Jewish. Her family was unfortunately killed during the Holocaust and they gave her the right to it. So it was my grandma who still lives in Brooklyn that is the reason why our family was able

to immigrate. And they looked at my father who was 35, my mom who was 35, two young kids, a hardworking young family. You know, it's a human resource that this country welcomed. And I'm very lucky and fortunate that that was the case. Yeah. Again, even though they welcomed us into projects. Yeah.

you know, in South Brooklyn. Yeah. Lemon drops, I am so excited to talk to you about our next sponsor because this product I've actually been using for a couple months now, and I have absolutely been loving it. It is Cotoli's iconic Vina Perfect serum. It is clinically proven to visibly reduce dark spots by 63% after just one bottle and effective on all types of dark spots caused by sun, acne, and pregnancy.

When I first saw the Vina Perfect serum, I feel like I was seeing it all over the internet. I had never tried it and I was like clearly this product is loved by so many influencers. And I finally got to try it and I have been loving it. I feel like my skin really suffers from dark spots when I get a Zit. The dark spot after lingers for months. And I've really started to see a difference in my skin using this venopirific serum. Cotally has been a dark spot expert for 20 years.

This gentle alternative is 62% more effective than vitamin C to brighten and even skin tone. One is sold globally every 15 seconds. If that doesn't scramed, this product works. I don't know what does. If you guys struggle with dark spots at all, anything caused by sun, acne, or pregnancy, you guys need to check out this product. I love how it feels on my skin. And also, I love the effects that it has had on my skin.

And I can see why so many people love it. Cotoli's Vina Perfect serum is available at Sephora and Cotally.com. When you think about fast food, you probably think about unhealthy, thought-out patty's dripping with grease. But when you're on a tight schedule, need to save time, you might not have any other option. If this sounds familiar to you, then you need to check out Tempo. Tempo can provide you with protein-packed fuel to save time without compromising your health goals. Tempo is a weekly delivery service that offers chef-crafted meals from a dietitian-apprecian-approok. approved menu fresh to your door. Tempo serves up fast, feel good single serving meals that are crafted

to cook in just three minutes. So you can eat well without sacrificing taste or convenience. With new recipes each week that are made with real ingredients and nutrient rich, they make it easy to keep up with a healthy lifestyle. I am totally guilty of getting stuck in the busy schedule, not having time in between meetings, I'm driving places, I'm doing things, I don't have time to make a healthy meal for 40 minutes. And I ended up just a just. ordering in junk food or driving through fast food. And that's where Tempo comes in because I love that their meals are good for you and they're so easy to make. They really just take the hassle out of eating good food. Tempo offers a variety of meals for different dietary needs and taste

preferences, including protein-packed, calorie-conscious, carb-conscious, and fiber-rich. And for a limited time, Tempo is offering our listeners 60% off your first box. you can go to tempo meals.com slash squeeze. That's tempo meals.com slash squeeze for 60% off your first box. Tempomels.com slash squeeze rules and restrictions may apply. Okay, Lemma drops. If you follow me on social media, you know that some of my close friends are literal makeup legends. They know how to glam. They have been doing a full beat for 10 plus years. And I'm someone that isn't really know exactly what they're doing with, their makeup, but whether you're all about simple mascara and gloss or you love to play with bold shapes and colors, there's always a trusty favorite that you use for every look, and that's where

Thrive Cosmetics comes in. Thrive Cosmetics makes certified 100% vegan and cruelty-free products you can depend on for everything from simple daily wear to show stopping self-expression. And it's all made with clean, skin-loving ingredients, high-performance, and trademark formulas and uncompromising standards. What I love most about Thrive Cosmetics is for every. Every product purchase, Thrive Cosmetics, donates products and funds to help communities thrive. So you know you're actually doing good when you're shopping these products. Some absolute standout products that they have are their infinity waterproof eyeliner.

It's waterproof and smudge proof for all day wear with high pigment definition. And let's not forget about the liquid lash extensions mascara. This mascara, you've seen it on the internet. It has gone viral so many times. It has over 40,000 five-star reviews. It comes in five shades, last all day. without clumping, smudging, or flaking. Try your trusting new favorites with an exclusive set for our listeners.

New customers can get the liquid lash extensions mascara and a mini-sized brilliant eye brightener at a special set price with free shipping available at thrivecosmetics.com slash the squeeze. Or save more with 20% off your first order at thrivecosmetics.com slash the squeeze. That's Thrive Cosmetics, C-A-U-S-E-M-E-T-I-C-S dot com slash the squeeze for 20% off your first order. So when did dance start for you? Throughout.

Dance, my parents signed my brother up to an after-school chivalry program in Ukraine. Oh, wow. And one of the things was ballroom dance. And the teacher was like he should take extra ballroom dance lessons. because he's so talented. Oh my gosh. And like now I look back, she was probably just recruiting boys to dance.

Yeah. But maybe he actually had some potential. She's like, he's really good. Yeah, keep it up. But yeah, exactly. But my parents never danced. So they were just these really, you know,

idealistic parents that wanted to do the best for their kids. So they're like, dance, of course. Let him dance. Yeah. And so then they signed me up to dance. And when we moved to America, again, it's like I didn't really speak English, but I knew how to dance.

Wow. Which served me no purpose at all. It gave me no social currency in elementary school. That's funny. But we kept dancing because, again, in our community in the Eastern European, Russian, Ukrainian culture that was now growing in that area, ballroom dance is the thing, you know, and it was thriving. And so I continue to go. Wow.

And I excelled. And I, you know, that's why, again, you watch dancing with the stars. It's a bunch of Schmikovsky's, Schmikvintz, Svchankos, and a bunch of girls from Utah. Yeah. That's what it is. That's so funny. So true. Because we embraced our male ballroom dancers and dancers in general and athletes.

That's the thing. It's like I grew up in competitive ballroom dance. I didn't grow up in artistic ballroom dance. Like, yeah. It's dance sport. So I was competing. I was like, to me, I was trying to be a Michael Jordan, not like a Michael Jackson. It wasn't a moonwalk that inspired me.

It was like, three seconds in the clock for the win. To me, the three seconds on the clock was like, and now, jive, your final dance, you know. And I go off and win that title or make it to the next round. You know, that's the energy that I kind of pursued ballroom dance with. So to me, the bullying didn't make sense because I was an athlete. Yeah. You know, not that you should bully non-athletes. I'm just saying, like, I'll play ball, I'll play all of it, and I ballroom dance.

Yeah. You did get bullied as a kid? I mean, social media, et cetera, like, it's hard. But you're going to feel it at some point in your life. And we're not ever going to, as a society, eliminate all of it. We should continue to shed light on how damaging it is. But it's going to happen. People are broken.

So they're going to try to break you. So yeah, there was misunderstanding, bullying, whatever. Never physical. I never felt threatened for sure, no. But I also didn't walk around being like, I'm a ballroom dancer. You know, it's like something I never really talked about. Yeah. Or bragged about, even though on the side,

I am one of the best ballroom dancers this country has ever seen. Yeah. So it's like this incredible. pride that I have that I don't carry with me actually, which I love that I think that created a really nice balance for me as a little kid. Yeah. Experience and a lot of unnatural, you know, ego and then being really humbled by society that told me like, who cares?

Yeah, right. That's so interesting. I love that analogy of like just like the competition, like you're a competitor and, you know, I grew up dancing. It was more like a, I mean, I competed, but it was very much so. you know, something fun where I got to express my emotions and was very feeling. I didn't, like, compete much. Um, but it's cool to like hear that, that take on it and like just like how serious it. Oh, yeah. And then it's also a source of lively, like income. Again, I don't want to

like livelihood. I'm eight, you know, I'm 10, 12. But I was making money. Yeah. And I was able to make it money. So my brother and I, who was now 18 and I'm 12, got a lot. I. I was a lot. I'm 12. got a job in a Russian restaurant. Again, shout out anora with different type of work. But, you know, a lot of the imagery is that. And actually, Tatiana is the restaurant. That's one of the restaurants that we perform that. And by performing.

So Friday, Saturday, it's nights. It's, you know, again, back to the culture of the people. You didn't have much. But you all, you know, food and hosting. is your wealth. Yeah. People, you know, it's like crazy. I get emotional, but, you know, the people that you can bring around you and eat,

you still dress up. You still, you know, I love that. Yeah. And so during those festivities, there would be a show. Yeah. A ballroom dance show. And me and my brother would come out and with our partners. Yeah.

And we would perform. Wow. And I would get paid $25 for doing the cha-cha. And the same shit that I'm doing right. now yeah wow that's crazy paid a little more yeah a few more zero but the same intensity the same purpose the same responsibility yeah you know that's why it's hard for me to turn that off yeah i'm evolving obviously there are other things now in my life that are impacting how i the type of relationship i have with dance yeah but at times that intensity is is just what it is it's the

only relationship i've ever had with dance yeah yeah yeah do you Do you feel like as it's grown or as you've evolved as a dancer? Do you feel like there's been, it's become like an outlet for you? Like do you go, if let's say you're like having, you know, you're struggling mentally or you're going through a hard time. Do you go like I need to go like dance and like have an outlet? Because I feel like that's what a lot of people do. Or is it like just a passion like, you know, is it a passion that you have like someone? one with sport.

Like, you know, I don't think, like, Luca's, like, being like, I'm stressed. I need to go, like, shoot threes. Like, I don't, you know. It's great that you know about Luca. Thank you. That's great. Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Lucas is stressed. Well, I think that is, I bet that's true, though. And I bet it's similar for you. I bet when you're stressed, Lucas's like, yeah, no, I got to go put my mind into that. And I bet it's similar.

Yeah. I bet if you're feeling that way, you're like, I got to go just, like, get in this. studio, just like, I don't know. For sure. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's a place that you've invested so much of your life to. And one of the things we discussed, actually, with Jen, when we talked about marriage and things, is that, is that I married you to love you and be your partner in life. And dance is part of our life, so sure.

But my relationship with dance has been there before anybody. Yeah. You know, and that's a, so back to, you know, that's a place where I draw a lot of, a lot of peace, a lot of self-esteem, you know, which is so hard now transitioning in any sport for Luca when he retires. Yeah. And he no longer can play on that same level, same for me. Like, your body retires. Yeah. Your mind and spirit never does.

So, yeah, it's definitely a place. It's a safe haven for me and a place to distract. And I've definitely went there. And I continue to go there. You know, not everything makes me money that has to do with what I'm doing with dance. Yeah. You know, it's either making me money or it's making me better or it's making me happy, you know. And a lot of times the money is not a part of that equation at all.

But it's the opportunity to dance. That's the reward for me. So special. Is it ever, is it ever challenging to, keep that love and passion for dance and it being like your safe space outlet when it bleeds over into your everyday job? He's like, no, not all. No, yeah, it's just, it's not every day.

We just talked about my seasons of dance in general. It's like it's very action-packed around dancing with the stars. In that regard, yes, like that show has my undivided attention. every day, you know, because I also want to be successful. Yeah. And I'm also responsible for another person's experience on the show, you know, especially now. There are people that would love to do the show. Yeah.

And I am their liaison into this experience. I don't know what, Allison, what, like, you know, it's like, you got the golden ticket and like, let me show you around. Yeah. Yeah. Let me give you every flavor of this Dancing with the Stars factory. Yeah. I need to wake up on time. I need to be energized.

I need to, you know, I'm responsible for you, for you to enjoy this. So that for sure. Offseason, again, I'm not always touring. When I'm touring, it's fun. I mean, it's incredible. It's obviously a little bit more challenging now with a child, but that's so fun. Yeah. It's very hard work, but it's a real human exchange, you know, and I love that.

Yeah. It's Tatiana on crack, you know. It's Mohegan's son with 10,000. thousand people but it's the same exchange and i just love it and treated the same way um so no that would never get old yeah uh and then there again there's like moments where i treat myself to to you know because my toolkit is still my body yeah uh and so i need to just replenish my body yeah for sure true how do you like throughout the season i mean obviously like you guys have downtime but when the Dancing with the Star season is going,

do, is there like, do you and Jenna have an off switch with work while it's going? Or is it just, y'all are just, like, locked in? Because, like, we, obviously, we work together, but this is, you know, a year-round, full-time thing. But it's hard sometimes for us to sit down at the dinner table and, you know, not talk about. Y'all, we podcasting right now or we having a genuine conversation? But again, you are, you don't. turn on respectfully. I mean, you turn on at work, but you really are having an authentic conversation.

Yeah. So it does spill over, but not in a toxic way. Like, is the opposite. Life is spilling over into work. And the fact that you get to do that is a huge blessing. Because you would probably do this exact same thing, just outside. Yeah. Without this.

Yeah. And Martha. Martha would have been there, though, still. But yeah. So, but I understand what you're saying. And it does get frustrating because not all of it is peaceful. Yeah. Work is not always peaceful.

Right. When that bleeds over, it's like, okay. Especially when, yeah, like, it's going great for one of you and the other one. Oh, yeah. That's hard. Yeah. You're right. I imagine like, yeah, one person's like wanting to like celebrate and feeling on cloud nine.

And the other one's just like down in the dumps. I can't imagine those dinners. Yeah. They are important dinners. Yeah. their growing moment. That's why this time, this season was so special. Jenna's winning moment was a winning moment for me because I'm going to experience that

dinner. Yeah. You know, because we've already experienced the other dinners. Yeah. So I was just excited for that. Oh my gosh. I remember that moment. Like you standing at the side of the stage, just the camera like behind you watching.

That was so good. Yeah. I keep mentioning Maui's tattoo because I see a lot of Maui now with our kid. sorry, Moana. Yeah. Maui and Moana. His little tattoos always like running around.

Yeah. So that shot is like me here jumping up and down. So you're not even focused on whatever's here, but you can't help it because he's like, what's happening here? And then my brother was behind me filming. So again, it was just like,

it was just a really special moment for that reason is that very rarely do you get to like align. both parties are we just had you know got nominated for an Emmy like it was just I mean again I couldn't thank the Lord the universe anything you everybody enough times for that you know that's like the Eastern European Jewish you know nerves you know it's like anything good is happening I'm like please just thank you so much please yeah yeah Forth thankful for everything. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah. How exciting was that getting nominated for an Emmy? How did you guys find out? So excited. So excited. I mean, when we, when the piece happened, it felt really special. Yeah.

And so, like, just the feedback was felt like different. Yeah. And some people drop the Emmy thing. Oh, this is that, you know, in that feedback. But so you know, you hear it so you can't help but like have a, A sliver expectation. But again, you are, I'm an adult. Yeah.

You know, like I'm not 15. It's like, oh, yeah. Oh, this is mine. You know, I'm like, this is beautiful. Thanks. Yeah. But the expectation was very low. Yeah.

And then, you know, you submit, you go through the process. And then I think it's around. We were in Chicago doing the show called Saver, Savor after hours, again, sharing space at work and in life in a different city, with our kid. Chicago is beautiful. Chicago. Yes.

I mean, my God, what a great city. I do love Chicago. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it is. Best. Again, from my experience, where I was at. Yeah. And yeah, and they announced it.

And I think it's like a live stream. Celebrities do it. You know, so again, it's just like it's about having the opportunity to put ballroom dance in front of eyeballs that wouldn't have ventured there for sure so that you know besides the recognition which i think jen really deserves she's incredible choreographer and i am an amazing bystander to her creativity so that was also a special moment but yeah it was just getting into the room where it happens the room wherever it happens yeah it's like the emmy parties with everybody the directors producers like so you're like oh this is what i've been doing for 12 years in the strange city yeah

you know like you always feel and again maybe it's the immigrant thing maybe is the born dance thing maybe it's you know all of the above yeah you feel like you're visiting you know i always feel like okay when are they going to tell me to go back home you know wow that's so interesting i don't know if you guys have noticed but the past few episodes on my socials i've been elevating style of really swapped in some nice sweaters, wearing some more denim. And it's because of our next sponsor, Newly. Newly is a subscription clothing rental service and I have absolutely been loving them. You guys, listen, for just $9.8 a month, you can choose any six styles you want, access to thousands of styles for more than 400 brands. Brands like Free People, Farm Rio, Hill House,

for Love of Lemons, Anthropology, a Goldie, so many of my favorites. Newley has inclusive sizing up to 5x as well as petite and maternity, fast free shipping and returns and professional cleaning and newly state of the art laundering facility, and you also have the option to buy what you love at a discount. I can't tell you how much I've been loving newly because I feel like I just stare at my closet and I'm like I don't have anything to wear. I have nothing to wear. But with newly I'm able to constantly change out my clothes, what jeans I have, what sweaters I have. It honestly brings out such a fun sense of style for me and getting to try on. on different clothes and see what I actually like. Another thing I love about newly is that they're

flexible. There's no fees. There's no late fees, damaged fees to pause or fees to cancel. Newly is a great value at $98 a month for any six styles, but right now you can get $28 off your first month of newly when you sign up with code squeeze. Just go to n-u-u-l-y.com. That's newly with two U's and enter the code squeeze and sign up to get $28 off your first month. That's N-U-U-L-Y dot com, newly with two U's with code squeeze, newly subscription clothing rental. Change your clothes. This episode is brought to you by O-Pill, the first over-the-counter daily birth control pill available in the U.S.

Did you know that about a third of women face barriers to accessing prescription birth control, whether it's a struggle of getting an appointment for a prescription, taking time off of work or school, lack of insurance, and not to mention carrying the mental load of it all, women have been facing these barriers head on. But now we can take a breath because with O-Pill for the first time in U.S. history, no permission is required to access a daily birth control pill. O-Pill is a daily birth control pill that's FDA-approved, full prescription strength, and estrogen-free. It is 98% effective when used as directed, making it the most effective over-the-counter birth control available.

You can find O-Pill at most major retailers or online. When I first heard about Opil, I cannot tell you guys how excited I was because of all of these struggles that women face. It can be so hard to get birth control. And now this is an FDA approved over-the-counter birth control. I also love that it's estrogen-free. I recently switched to birth control that is estrogen-free. And I have been loving it for myself. O-Pill is birth control and your control. And you can use code squeeze for 25% off your first. month of Opill at opill.com. That's code squeeze at O-P-I-L-com. Check out O-P-L to see if it's right for you. I don't know if you guys struggle with this too, but I feel like finding a gift for my husband

can really be one of the hardest things because what do our men actually need? But then I got to thinking he could really use some upscale grooming products for men. Ladies, your man works hard and plays hard, and he deserves to smell good while doing so. Cremot deodorant is the answer. Cremos professionals meticulously designed their products to provide 48-hour protection and appealing scents that set men apart from the crowd. Elevate your man's deodorant experience with Cremos to latest signature scents, Italian bergamont, and Palosanto.

Both of these smells are to die for. I recently just got Taylor the Palosanto smell, and honestly, he has never smelled better. I have been loving getting to smell the scent on him because it has deep, smoky, and refined notes to it, and he truly smells great. What sets Cremont apart from other men's deodorants, Cremont used enhanced multi-layered scent technology to guarantee guys a longer lasting scent experience. So he can apply once and spend the rest of the day smelling his best. What I love about Cremont is they actually care about men's grooming products.

These poor men, ladies, I just feel like we have so many. aisles and aisles of products. And the guys barely have anything. Cremow has really come in and stepped up the game for men. Head to Target or Target.com to find Cremos new line of antiperspirants and deodorants and the Italian Bergamont and Palosanto sense. Once again, that's Target or Target.com. Okay, let's talk a little bit about being a dad.

Yeah. Because last time you hear, Rome was just like a little nugget. And now he's two? Yeah, he's two in three months. Oh my gosh. So cute. literally must have like, like just, he must have been like a few months old. I know.

I need to go back and look at exactly when we taped. We filmed, I think it was like December and she was not pregnant? No. Oh. So, wait. He was born in January. So we filmed, what, February? We launched in February.

Think, think, think. It may have been April. We may have taped in April. April 20, 23. Yes. Yep. So it's been exactly. two years then.

Yeah. Okay. And yeah, he went out a few months old. Yeah. So crazy. How? Yeah, two years later.

Yeah. How is parenting shifted for you at all? It's more dynamic. I mean, when we last spoke, I was just like changing diapers, you know? It's like an assembly line of just keeping this thing alive. Yeah.

And now we're, I could be of more influence and more, you know, there's more conversation. Yeah. His, like, personality's coming out. Super cool. He's so cute.

Super cool kid. You know, now he's, like, having more frustrating moments as a parent. You have to exercise even more patience. And he's, like, slapping a lot. You know, you got to, like, teach all those things. But outside of that, I mean, the coolest kid, like, I'd rather chill with him than anybody else. That's awesome. For sure.

That's so cute. Oh, sorry. I was curious if since becoming a parent, it's changed your perspective at all or made you, you sound like a very appreciative, thankful person to begin with, but changed your perspective at all in the sacrifices that your parents made for you guys? Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm like, I've been a pretty thoughtful kid growing up where I recognized that as, as, you guys. It was happening. I've been praising my parents for a long time. It's my favorite thing to do, for sure.

And now becoming a father, becoming a parent, it's like even more so. But also that you like reflect. And like, uh, there are a lot of things that, you know, it's what we talked about the show. There's my experience. There's their experience. There are our collective experience.

Sure. So my experience, you know, my dad's a hero. I'm sure somewhere along the way he wasn't. You know, I've already spent more physical time with my kid at that age than my dad did with me. Yeah. As the average numbers show, in general, our generation is just doing that.

That's a privilege, that's, et cetera, whatever. It's a circumstance, I'm lucky. He was in a work, you know, he was in a situation where he had to work. It wasn't a choice. He wasn't, you know, gambling while. But that's just reality. I am spending more time.

I am already having that type of impact. Now, again, I don't know if that's how that translates in my kid. Yeah. I just also got lucky because my dad, in supporting our dance kind of, you know, careers, he also got into dance as far as a business owner. So we have 15 dance studios called, dance with me around the country. It's social dance studios. So we teach people that don't know how to dance that want to start whatever age. And mostly we cater to adults. So it's very much a dancing

with the Star's experience for the average person that wants to try it. So he got into it and we, you know, we've owned this dance studio for 20 years. Wow. And so this is a family business that we inadvertently ended up spending so much time together, quality time too, because again, it's a labor of love. We love dance. We love people. We love congregating with people. And that's it, sharing space.

And he's also, he's not a dancer, but he's charismatic. He's awesome. Yeah. You know, he's a vibe. So I got a chance to love him and be with him. Still am, thank God. Yeah. But at work all the time.

Yeah. You know, what if that wasn't the case? What if I, you know, went into biology or whatever? Yeah. And he can, or he was, you know, because he was a computer programmer in the late 90s and did well and quit his job. Yeah. And again, took, took two social, you know, the pride once again, took a hit to start the studio business.

He's not a dancer, so he's investing into my brother who's 17 at the time. Wow. As the dance teacher. Yeah. And I was like the star student. Yeah. And that was the package. That's so funny.

Sign your kids up for dance. But yeah, so this studio, again, it's a beautiful environment. I don't know how we got into me pitching the studio. But the point is that it's like I just analyze. that right because a lot of questions like are you going to put him into dance are you going to you know yeah and i first of all yes i would love to put him into dance i think it's amazing yeah especially ballroom dance where he is sharing space you know this whole conversation i won worlds i won this i didn't do any of those things without my dance partner and they you know switch through time but for the most part on average

i danced with one person for three years yeah that was my teammate every day we practiced together Yeah. So I've been by the side of a young girl, young, you know, I've grown up with girls, competed with girls, won and lost with girls. So I think as a human growing up in the world, that's a beautiful thing that isn't provided every day, everywhere. Yeah. You know, it's a social service to put boys into ballroom dance, I think.

Anyway, so, but besides that, is that time spent together? Like, I am the achievement of my parents' sacrifice and success and focus. A lot of people don't like the word sacrifice because a lot of parents are like, that's not a sacrifice. That's what parents are supposed to do. But a lot of parents choose not to do that. For sure. So I'm a reflection.

My brother is a reflection of their effort. My kids is going to be a reflection of mine. You know, and so that's, I'm already doing certain things differently. from my dad. But I'm also inspired by a lot of things that he did. Totally. I love that. Oh my gosh.

I can't wait to see him. Lindsay's been posting stuff of Sage. Oh, yeah. Her little stepping on the little, I have to show you these videos. They're so cute. She's dancing?

Yeah, she's taking her little ballroom classes and they have like little stars or like shapes on the ground and she like steps on them. Wow. You guys, you guys start them young. But, no. I'm not. I don't.

In Utah, again, but that's why you get the, the Arnold's and the Johnsons and the, you know, and the Schmerkowski's. Yeah. Because they do. They start them very young. Yeah. And the boys are doing all the sports until unless they signed up to dance, you know.

And so again, culturally, it's, there's a lot of ballroom dance in that community. But not enough. Still, very, just really one or two studios. One, I'll shout out center stage. That's where they're all from. Really? And we'll continue to be from there because it's a thriving ballroom dance community. randomly placed in these Provo Mountains.

Yeah. Is there like some, is there some like guru teacher there? There's shout out Kim Del Grosso. There's a, there's a guru human who is nurturing. It's already like seven generations. That's a lot, but like four generations. Again, a generation is, I'm counting from eight to 19. Yeah.

You know, I'm not. Yeah. generations of incredibly talented ballroom and all around dancers. It's her. That's this woman. Yes, Kim Del Grosso. Again, there's a partner, Alex. But I'm just saying, if you're asking for the guru, I don't think it's a guru thing.

I think it's a community thing. Yeah. All families want their kids to be active. You know, dance is just one of the choices. They're probably excellent in arching and archery, rather, and all these other things that I am not a part of, so I don't know how good they stand on that. But as far as dance, they have a very thriving community. I want to shout out Kim LaGrozzo because she is that energy and spirit.

She's teaching, like, you know, she raised like Derek and Julianne, just in the Jenna, John, Lindsay. You know, I just want to go down the list. Wow. And still is like we were there last week is still, you know, teaching like five and six-year-olds like you know animated musical theater or whatever you know so this a person that's dedicated her life yeah to raising humans through the vehicle of dance yeah you know i too have that type of relationship with dance as well yeah but at the core of it is being of some sort of influence on the fellow man yeah you man whether they're older younger kids is a different relationship adults is a different

relationship. Yeah. But it's awesome that Dan's gave me that vehicle. It's so special. Can we get to the show? Yeah, we can. Do you have any other questions on parenthood before we do that? No.

Are you trying to say so? If you have one, go ahead. I'm just excited to talk about the show since we both watched it and enjoyed it. Go ahead. We were talking before, but we love these type of shows. You're currently on got to get out. Yes.

Such a crazy concept. When it was first presented to you, was it like an automatic, yeah, I'm in on that. Like, what was your first thoughts when you heard the concept? Yeah. It sounds intense. Like you got cameras on you 24-7. Yeah, no, I automatically was like, yes, I'm in. Then I, you know, then I look at what it is and whether.

I made the right choice. Okay. But as far as a Hulu project that is produced by, you know, big people and has a big budget behind it and is interested in what I have to do with it, thank you. You felt. Yeah, let's do it. Then I'm like, all right, I'm not, you know, I don't have to do this. I don't have to do that.

And everything that I do have to do is within my, you know, Like, I don't need somebody to tell me how to speak or how to present myself. Yeah. And everything else is a human experience. So I was just down for the, you know, that's the, yeah, that's the beauty of, I don't know, like, it's always nerve-wracking to be in so many different places. But at the same time, I'm so used to that. And not one place has me like, this is my. entire identity.

Yeah. So I'm okay with taking risks. That's a beautiful place. So again, I had no expectation of what the show, to be honest, even in the description of it was like very limited. Like you're in a house for 10 days. Money's going up. You got to escape.

Yeah. You escape, you escape with the money or you get caught. So going in, I initially thought that if I have a failed escape and I get caught, I get eliminated. Yeah. So it's like, listen, I'm either going home with money or I'm going home with experience. Yeah.

I'm definitely not staying here for 10 days. Right. And so then I realized like, no, no, you're going to be there until you can get out, literally. Right. But no, anyway, long-winded, I was excited to do it. It never, nothing felt like I was selling my soul or venturing outside of my moral compass. It was a cool opportunity.

It was like, like, have fun. Yeah. Again, I also learned a lot from that experience. Gotta get out is not like anything I've done on TV before. And it's not like, you know, I'm going into my 20th season of Dancing with the Stars. But Dancing with the Stars is not reality TV in my mind. Because I am just doing what I'm excellent at. And they just figured out a format how to shoot it and broadcast it to people.

I'm not doing anything outside of what I do really well. here reality TV is is not that reality TV is what did you say to me Taylor look at you you know it's like whoa we were just we were just hanging out and that just came out of nowhere your personality with some of those characters is so I couldn't I was like that's what was hard I was like is this for real or this is just like for TV or is this a game or you just like playing this game really i mean steve trash can steve lost 40 no sorry gained 40 pounds for the show because in real life he's actually a a huge dude very muscular works out like crazy is in prime shape he gained because he didn't want to intimidate the house with with that build he wanted to kind of come

off as you know steve what yes wait Steve is Who is the guy who was the writer? The writer? Yeah, who no one liked. Yeah. Yeah, Trash Cat and Steve. He was like a jacked guy.

He and I like, into the show, I'm like, damn, bro, those calves, those calves are not attached to that torso. Yeah. What? No, he, because he looked like, what's his name from, not minions? Dispicable Me? The mean guy. Gru? Yeah, grew, a little bit.

But yo, no, he's. I would not have guessed that. Yeah, he's a in-shape, big, big, like, I would not call him trash can Steve if he looked like that. That's so funny. Oh, man. The calves is killing me. The calves aren't matching up. That's so funny.

Go ahead. Because you can't gain weight on them things, you know? So it's like, yo, you exercise. I know you exercise. Right. Yeah. Caves are a dead giveaway. You're probably the only person to, like, notice that.

I'm curious how like your relationships formed in the house. Do you still keep in contact with anyone or? That's the crazy thing is like we still have a group chat. Really? Since the show. Wow. So and we kind of talk about us like we split at the end was quite like a bit anticlimatic. But at the same time, it's what allowed us to continue to be friends.

Like, you know, almost a year later, we still, like I said, have this group chat. That makes sense. Next, tomorrow, two of the guys are coming over to L.A., they're doing like a rap party hanging out. They're staying in my house, you know, Rob. Those are the things that I'm like a little bummed about because I don't think, rightfully so. I mean, again, there was so many cameras in the house, 24-7 filming. Yeah. There was too much to care.

I mean, it would have to be like a 30 episode show, two hours minimum. To have everything. To have all of the juice, you know. So I understand they have to make decisions. Yeah. Probably outside of just providing the most truth. Yeah. But entertainment isn't always the truth.

Yeah. They did a great job. Yeah. But there were moments like, again, me and Rob, Rob, robbed the lieutenant from Jersey City. I mean, this is a guy that, like, feels so familiar to me. And so we obviously became really, really good friends. That alliance didn't really translate that much. You know, I feel like people feel, I have more of a tie with Susan, which was authentic

because me and Susan did have a great friendship and relationship, as I did with a lot of people there, obviously. But as far as my working of alliances, you know, we had a couple, couple. I mean, here's something that, again, doesn't translate in the show. It's not just because I came off with this energy that, like, I'm trustworthy. Because the truth is, if you escape, like, you worked with three other people, but you could keep the money. Yeah. Yeah. And I think a lot of people gave off that energy. Yeah.

You know, that, like... That they would keep the money. Yeah. I'm going to keep all of it. Yeah. That's what you're there for. Yeah. Yeah.

So if people had clues, you know, there were few people that they trusted to run. Yeah. Because you had to run. You couldn't just like, you know. It's true. The runners needed to be trusted people. Right. Because they're the ones that can walk away with it or not.

And out of all the runners that were trustworthy, I was the only one that didn't pull a hamstring. Yeah. Straight up. Again, I don't know if it translates. Which is so funny. Because you got an NFL running back. Yeah. But he was the other runner.

But he had such. a strong alliance and his game, Rashad was like, his game was crazy to tell. So people were like, I don't know what the hell is going on with Rashad. Yeah. Stephen, who's in, you know, there's a few athletes there. The firefighter. He can fly. He ran so fast. I was like, you took your shoes. Why did you take your shoes? I was like, I run faster. I was curious about that. He took the shoes off. I was like, why is he doing that? You're going to shatter every bone in your foot, but he'll grip that freaking cement. Oh, he's, and he's athletic. I mean, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's the firefighter, active firefighter.

He pulled his hamstring on that run and like really pulled it. So that's it. That's his last run. And we were in the lines together too. So we could have probably switched all of the runs on a few of them where I would have been distracted and doing things in the house. But that's the thing. It's like as soon as I was not in the kitchen talking smack, they were like,

sums up. Where's Val? You know? Yeah. That means I'm outside. running so everybody's already like by the button you know so you really had to kind of politic did you ever run or that's just your athleticism oh in life yeah no because you're you also can know your sprinting was very impressive I was so upset that last one I was really

upset because I was like how slow am I not the last one it was one of this games how slow am I because Steve lied to us about disabling the button. Yep. That was a thought. He screwed everyone with that. So I was like, yo, he disabled the button for 30 seconds and I still didn't make it.

How am I like floating? And everybody's like, no, bro, you look like the bad guy from Terminator. You have like the best posture running down this. But I was squeezing again, I'm not a track star. I play ball. I'm more of a lateral mover, you know, Like, I move my hips. I could lift people, whatever.

But I'm not sprinting. Like, so I did my best. Oh, man. But, yeah, everybody pulled their hamstrings. Yeah. So I was the only, that's why I knew I was going to make the cut regardless. Because I was like, all like. You were all they had left.

Yeah. Yeah. Their only hope. Do you feel like there was, did everyone blend well or did like the reality people kind of keep to themselves and the normal people

cage to themselves or... The normal people honestly the normal people were the least normal in the house

yeah yeah they again the stakes kind of made them lose their mind a little bit yeah

whereas the celebrity reality stars they were just chilling you know they're like I'm you know

like I'm good yeah yeah not gonna like pull a hamstring for some money yeah

um But no, again, all jokes aside, we all blend it because it's still one kitchen. And yes, there were, you build a little bit of, obviously, some chemistry with your roommates. Because again, we lived in a house, but we were separated into like the blue room. So it was like me, doodles, Nick, Rob, Steve, and Spencer. And I think this is also where, and also on the watchtower, we hung out quite a bit. Yeah. And, you know, in that idle time, you're having conversation.

But yeah, me and Spencer became good friends because of the fact that we shared this room together. Because we were, I mean, like, dying laughing. I was curious if your personalities would get along. I know. I would think either, like, actually, honestly, I wouldn't think they would. Right. Yeah. No, for sure.

I mean, again, I think. any other time they wouldn't. Yeah. But at a time where we're both father, right? So like there's already something that I know about him. Yeah. That is common ground in the fact that he, he's a father of two. And he's a loving father of two.

You know, there's already common ground knowing that he has a wife that he loves for a period of time. They're both in television. They both, you know. And so, again, I'm not saying that that's what a friendship is built on. As a matter of fact, those aren't even the things we really touched on that much. But it was just in the back of my mind, I knew certain things about you. So on top of this, you're like recklessly funny and, you know, super witty.

And of course, I disagree with you on a lot of the way you, your decision making. But I'm not judging. You know, it is what it is. As far as, yeah, he's just a funny. He's a funny dude. He's just a good dude that puts on an act of being this awful person. But it's like, okay, who do you want, right? Do you want somebody that's lying about how good they are or lying about how bad they are?

Yeah. You know, and I'll choose that. So he's a great time. We've also just met, you know, it's been a year. But when you spent 10 days attached to the hip, like a lot of that, friendship process is expedited. Yeah. The final escape.

Did you think you were getting out? Because I sure did. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. That was hard-breaking. How annoying was Rashad looking through that. Oh, so annoying.

So annoying. And I think Spencer, like, in the edit, Spencer is kind of narrating that whole thing, which he does a great job depicting that. I mean, Rashad was so freaking stubborn. Would he really just not leave there? He would just not leave there. That's a lot.

On his toes, like, talk about calves. Yeah. You know what I mean? So he was standing there and on the eyes, on the brain, like, you're just looking at nothing for most of the time. Oh, frustrating. No, I was, again, I was just frustrated for the camaraderie aspect, you know. It was just like such a storybook ending.

Yeah. We've collaborated all these days and we failed a couple of times. Now we've, because again, these clues are very, it's just the chances of these things coming together. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to maximize the opportunity. Yeah.

Yeah. Exactly. That's why it was so nerve wrecked. It felt like you had it in that moment. Yeah. I was like, okay, if I get past the windows on the side and I'm like, let's it, I'm outside. Yeah. The only reason why I'm running because I just want to get it over just in case somebody just walks

by and just on a hunch presses the button. Yeah. You should have been able to walk all the way down to the gate. And I just was excited to come back and do the right thing. Right? So it's like, oh, so I'm fighting for the opportunity to do the right thing. Yeah. Now, that's why before we get to Stein and Cynthia, that's really was my motivation.

It was also to show that, like, you could. Because those are the things that don't make the cut as well. It's like I preached a lot, just like this. So I connected with Rob. That gesture wasn't just like a show to me, even though I was like waiting for the cut to see if it was. It wasn't. It was genuine.

That's genuinely who he is, you know, and I'm motivated by that. And I was like, yo, here's a lighthearted reality TV show where doing the right thing will be broadcasted to so many people. Yeah. And when money's involved too, doing the right thing is even harder. And so I felt like this is a great, it would be such a great opportunity for me

because, you know, I am in a better place and I'm lucky, I'm fortunate for that. But the money wasn't the driver. The driver was the opportunity to come back and be like, boom, boom, boom, can we throw somebody else in here? Because like, so as anticlimatic, as like I said, that final share was,

it was cool because you didn't want to leave anybody in this house without anything. Yeah. That would hurt. Yeah. You know, so true. And that's the thing. It's like it turned into less of this competition show and more about this human experience

about people in the house. They have this goal. Yes. That goal is driving a lot of the action. Yeah. But there's still people and they didn't lose their humanity along the way over some money. Maybe if there was more money. Maybe we'll see.

Next season. Next season, we'll see. You did say in your last confessional, though, that you were going to buy Jenna a good gift. Yeah. I did say that. Yeah. And I did. You did.

I did. Okay. A gift worth exactly what I won, actually. Wow. Which is a very. She's taken care of gift. Yeah. But it's more symbolic than the actual gift.

Yeah. It's the fact that this isn't the numerical value of your love. Yeah. But there is no numerical value. As a matter of fact, like here's a gesture that, yeah, I'm also not trying to overplay this gesture. It's not that much. But anyway, the point is that it's more of symbolism than anything. Yeah.

And an accomplishment for myself as well. It's self-serving. The fact that I can be a person that is able to do that from my love. loved one is a beautiful thing. Doesn't mean that that's the baseline of our relationship. Yeah. That would be scary. But it's a nice little touch, you know, on a pretty solid baseline, I think.

Yeah. No, that's so sweet. Well, thanks for coming back and joining us. We'll have to have Jenna on next. Right? And then we can compare. Get this competition going. You have to fact check these stories.

It's so good. Thanks, man. Thank you. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me. It's so fun. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.