Spoilers ahead for Week 2 of Dancing with the Stars Season 32.
Dancing with the Stars spiced the celebs up in Week 2 of Season 32 with Latin Night, which involved salsas, sambas, rumbas, and more. Some duos did better than others with the different styles of dance, and former Bachelorette Charity Lawson had to deal with usual partner Artem Chigvintsev's absence due to a positive COVID test. But it was Marvel star Xochitl Gomez who had to face a phobia for Latin Night, and she did it in a costume that she told CinemaBlend included a nod to Gwen Stefani herself.
Xochitl Gomez, who shared her thoughts on getting the "Little Marvelette" nickname from DWTS judge Bruno Tonioli, earned some impressive scores in the series premiere with partner Val Chmerkovskiy. He decided that meant that they should raise the stakes by adding some jumps in their salsa to Camila Cabello's "Don't Go Yet," prompting the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star to admit "a little bit of a fear of heights." She said that she was "nervous just because I don't really like to show my fear."
Fortunately, she was up to learn some jumps anyway, and the hard work paid off! Gomez and Chmerkovskiy earned an eight from each of the three judges, giving them the highest score of the night to that point and the highest score of Season 32 to that point. Is it any surprise that she earned enough support from fans to advance to Week 3?
And she did it in a pretty cool costume! When I spoke with Xochitl Gomez ahead of the Latin Night episode, she shared some insight on her look for her Week 2 salsa. The actress explained:
I've been working pretty hard on designing, working with the design team here. And they've been really lovely. I mean, they've really put so much time and effort into each one of these looks, and they have a really fast turnaround. You'll get to see, especially in this next one for salsa, I have a pretty good reference in there for Gwen Stefani that I really wanted to hit. It was really important to hit certain elements for last week [in the premiere]... and I think they did a really great job.
If you thought that Xochitl Gomez's costume had some Gwen Stefani vibes, it was no coincidence! Stefani is actually in primetime this fall in the same timeslot as Dancing with the Stars, although over on NBC as a coach on The Voice. Whether or not the combination of her costume and her score of 24 is enough for Gomez to become a frontrunner for the newly-named Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy remains to be seen, but she and Val Chmerkovskiy are crushing it so far. Check out their salsa!
The competition is definitely stiff with other DWTS celebs bringing their own advantages, although Jason Mraz at least clarified his comments about his extra vertebra from the premiere! See what's next on Dancing with the Stars Season 32 with new episodes on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET in the 2023 TV schedule.
