Dancing With the Stars pro Rylee Arnold is leaning on her inner circle — and thanking fans — after receiving criticism tied to her appearance on The Next Pro.
“I love you all so very much,” Rylee, 21, wrote in the caption of a TikTok video posted Friday, August 27, showing her decorating makeup containers with rhinestones alongside troupe dancer Carter Williams. Carter kept the mood light in the comments, writing, “Us just bedazzling our night away…✨ [I know] that’s right.”
Support quickly poured in from the DWTS family. Fellow cast member Ezra Sosa hyped her up with, “MY MF QUEEN,” while Rylee’s sister, Brynley Arnold, praised the choreographer as “iconic.”
Rylee later returned to TikTok with another upbeat post, dancing around her kitchen to Jamie Miller’s “Babydoll” as she appeared to shake off the online noise.
Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro judge Shirley Ballas has also entered the conversation surrounding Rylee Arnold and AJ Pritchard’s off-the-dance-floor drama. In the comments of a recent Instagram post promoting the upcoming Next Pro season finale, Shirley, 65, was asked to share her “opinion” after AJ’s fiancée, Zara Zoffany, publicly criticized Rylee, 21, for calling out […]
“If someone’s gonna hurt me / If someone’s gonna tear my world in two,” Rylee mouthed the lyrics in the Saturday, August 29, video. “If someone’s gonna wreck me/ Believe me baby / That someone’s gotta be you.”
Rylee further noted in her caption that she recently made banana bread and “life is so good.”
Rylee found herself in hot water after her appearance during the DWTS: The Next Pro semifinals, where she was partnered with contestant AJ Pritchard. During the episode, Rylee claimed to the judges that AJ, 31, was overly critical in rehearsals without offering her any positive feedback or encouragement.
In response, AJ’s fiancée, Zara Zoffany, clapped back at Rylee’s feedback.
“[Rylee] — @aj11ace wouldn’t have had to critique you in the first place if everything had been right. Dancing with Bailey [McKnight] last week showed how he danced with an amateur & their dance was amazing,” Zara, 32, claimed in a social media comment, referring to AJ’s previous Next Pro dance with the influencer. “This week was suppose [sic] to be dancing with a pro … very different dynamics & what people didn’t see in rehearsals was that you injured him when you hit him in the head, leaving with a slight concussion and needing to see a [doctor].”
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She added at the time, “He wouldn’t have needed to give it if something hadn’t been wrong. I hope you were able to take something positive and useful from his teaching and feedback.”
Ezra Sosa has entered the chat amid his Dancing With the Stars costar Rylee Arnold’s ongoing drama over her Next Pro cameo. Rylee, 21, appeared on the Monday, August 24, episode, in which she teamed up with contestant AJ Pritchard for a routine in the semifinals. During the episode, Rylee openly claimed to the judges […]
While AJ has not publicly addressed Zara’s comments, several of Rylee’s colleagues publicly defended the DWTS finalist.
“I usually stay out of stuff like this, but this genuinely made me sick to my stomach,” Ezra, 25, replied to Zara via Instagram comment. “Rylee is my best friend, I love her and I will speak up for her. Rylee is more than qualified to be a pro, and one dance with a completely different partnership does not erase the years of training, talent and work that earned her that title.”
The Next Pro judge Shirley Ballas, for her part, stressed that Rylee “earned her place” on the main show in a separate statement.
“@ryleearnold1 has earned her place on DWTS through hard work [and] dedicating her time to all styles,” Shirley, 65, wrote. “I have a lot of respect for her. Shame others do not.”
AJ is among the finalists to become the next DWTS pro for the upcoming season 35 alongside Selena Hamilton and Adele Zaikman.
The Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro finale airs on ABC Monday, August 31 at 8 p.m. ET.