DWTS Dancer Falls During Live Disney Night Opener and Turns It Into a Move: 'I Just Ate It on National Television'
On the evening of November 2, ABC's Dancing with the Stars aired its Disney Night episode on a Monday because of Election Day, and ensemble dancer Diego Pasillas slipped mid-routine during the opening medley, landed on the ballroom floor and turned the fall into a leg lift without missing a beat. His self-deprecating Instagram video after the show drew about 170,000 likes and became the night's most shared moment outside the competition itself.
The opener was a Disney on Broadway medley with selections from The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and the 1992 Broadway musical Newsies. Pasillas, dancing center frame in the Newsies segment, missed the intended jump and slid to the floor. According to Entertainment Weekly and PEOPLE, he lifted one leg in the air to make the move look intentional, got back up and rejoined the choreography on beat.
After the broadcast, Pasillas posted an Instagram video reacting to the moment. "You guys, I just ate it on national television," he said, before demonstrating what the move was supposed to look like — a leap, a spin in the air and a landing on both feet — and reenacting his fall. His caption read: "LOLLLL the show must go on." The post drew about 170,000 likes and more than 3,300 comments.
Fellow dancers and viewers rallied in the comments. DWTS pro Val Chmerkovskiy wrote that Pasillas had turned the fall into an effect and then saved it in the air, and RuPaul's Drag Race performer Cynthia Lee Fontaine wrote: "Listen you did amazing!" One commenter who identified as a dance teacher said every teacher would now play the clip to show students how to own a mistake, while another joked that it was not a mistake at all but an "unexpected solo."
In the competition itself, actress Julia Stiles and her partner Ezra Sosa were eliminated that night. Dancing with the Stars, now in its 35th season, normally airs live on Tuesdays on ABC and Disney+ and streams afterward on Hulu; this episode moved to Monday because of the November 3 midterm elections.
Source: Video posted by Diego Pasillas on Instagram
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 社交舞比赛资料图（Eva Rinaldi摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经Wikimedia Commons；非节目现场图）
