Line #31 Heartwarming/DancingWithTheStars


1	* Whatever your feelings about casting someone who's danced for years, Creator/JenniferGrey's emotional first waltz of the season - and Bruno's subsequent declaration that Patrick Swayze, Grey's ''Film/DirtyDancing'' co-star, would be proud of her - is nothing but this. Also qualifies as a TearJerker, as it moved Carrie Ann to tears.
2	* Jerry Springer, of all people. He said that all he wanted was to make it far enough in the competition to learn the waltz for his daughter's wedding. He did.
3	* Kelly Osbourne, whom not many thought would do well before the competition began, performs an exceptional Viennese Waltz on her first night, and before getting her score, runs to the audience to hug and kiss her parents, Ozzy and Sharon, who looked so happy and proud of her, with Sharon just pouring tears.
4	** Kelly Osbourne was just one big, long heartwarming moment, period.
5	* Combining this with a TearJerker moment was Wrestling/ChrisJericho's rumba on Week 3 of Season 12. The theme was for the contestant to pick a personal song that told a story about them. Chris picked "Music/LetItBe" by Music/{{the Beatles}} because it reminds him of his mother. As wrestling fans know, Chris's mother was in a serious car accident when he was just beginning his career. He was ready to give up wrestling, but his mother told him to stay with it. She died in 2005 and loved dancing - he's said many times she would have loved seeing him on ''DWTS'' more than anything.
6	** It was the first time in his 20-year professional career he's ''ever'' been billed as "Chris Irvine".
7	* Jonathan and Anna dancing in a tribute to Julia Ivleva, a professional dancer who has been battling stage IV lung cancer for close to a year.
8	* Season 13, Episode 11:
9	** In the middle of the show, just before David Arquette and Kim Johnson perform, this happens.
10	--> '''Tom Bergeron''': Now, hold on for a second. Last week, when we had to say goodbye to [[ThePollyanna some]][[CampGay body]] I said, "I can't believe we're saying goodbye to you a week before Broadway week". How could we do this without Carson Kressley? [[TheBusCameBack So we invited him back...]]
11	** And the crowd ''roars.'' Kressley then goes on to reveal to the audience that he has returned as the creative director for the Broadway group dance, which causes the crowd to go even ''more'' haywire with excitement. Someone in the crowd screams "We love you, Carson!" and Kressley proceeds to respond by blowing a kiss to the audience member and saying "I love you too".
12	** And ''then'' we get to see the celebrities react to Kressley's return and the heartwarming increases tenfold. Kevin Maher introduces an "amazing creative director", and the celebrities are eager to find out who it is. Soon later, Kressley proceeds to delightfully surprise everyone, announcing his return with just four words:
13	--> '''Carson Kressley''': [[TheBusCameBack GOOD MORNING,]] [[EnsembleDarkHorse BROADWAY, BABY-!]]
14	** The celebs and pros, who were clearly not expecting this at all, break out into cheers and grins, delighted to see their friend again, and run over to Kressley before giving him a massive GroupHug. And it gets better than that: if you look closely at the footage, who is the first one to react and run over (as well as the one who is clearly the most happy at Kressley's return)? ''Kym Johnson'', who is one of Kressley's closest pro friends on the show. It's evidently clear to see that ''everybody'' was saddened about Kressley's elimination the week before, and missed him very much.
15	* Another season, another Kressley return. This time around it's Season 15 for some behind the scenes shenanigans, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuIQNrlJsC0&t=2s once again the crowd goes nuts when Kressley enters the ballroom again]]. The fact that Kressley was one of three celebrities who were potentially the thirteenth celebrity introduced for the All-Stars season [[note]] along with Kyle Massey and the eventual winner of the slot, Sabrina Bryan [[/note]] shows just how popular he was with the crowd, so you can see just why the audience was even more excited than they were when he returned in Season 13.
16	** And then there's his reaction to seeing Maks again in the package...
17	--> '''Carson Kressley''': OH MY GOD, LOOK AT OUR LITTLE MAN! (''he goes up to Maks and hugs him'') How are you? You look like a little Lord Fauntleroy or something, but I mean that in a good way.
18	* Creator/BillEngvall declares his partner Emma Slater to be like a second daughter to him. And she feels the same way. Awwwww...
19	** And in one of his stand-up specials where he talks about his experience on the show, despite having physical injuries behind the scenes, and having to deal with his fans voting to keep him in, he thanks the fans for voting for him anyway, and noted that the show was one of the funnest things he's ever done, to the point where if ABC called him after his show and said that they "need him for Monday," he'd do it again.
20	* Every interaction between Maks and his Season 18 partner, Meryl. The judges outright said, repeatedly, that they have ''never'' seen Maks dance as well as he did with her. At the conclusion of that season, Maks said that [[spoiler:he knew now why he had never won it all before; it's because he was meant to win it with Meryl]]. One quote from their preparation for the finals sums up the entirety of their relationship:
21	-->'''Maks''': I don't need you to do better. I need you to just be you, and ''I'll'' do better.
22	* Meryl's interactions with castmate and partner of 17 years, Charlie White, fall into this category as well: their frequent background interactions, hugs, and their own special dance on the finale. Overall, the categorical refusal of these lifelong best friends to let the show turn them into competitors, instead supporting each other all the way to the moment when Charlie hoists her onto his shoulders for [[spoiler: her victory celebration]].
23	* Also in season 18, Amy Purdy's contemporary. Both of them.
24	* Season 16's Alexandra Raisman and her contemporary. The storyline of the dance is about not giving up after so many failures along the way. It helps that her song is "Titanium" by David Guetta.
25	* Season 17's Jack Osbourne. Just, Jack Osbourne.
26	* Season 14 Katherine Jenkins' waltz tribute to her late father. A few tears had been shed in that ballroom. Slightly dampened by Len Goodman's rather insensitive critique about a technicality.
27	* Season 16's Jacoby Jones and his foxtrot.
28	* Season 8's Steve-O, who came to ''Dancing'' fresh out of rehab and the mental institution. He repeatedly mentioned wanting to use the show to prove himself, and upon receiving mediocre scores every week became incredibly stressed out over the belief that he was letting fans down...yet, despite getting some of the worst scores of the season, he made it all the way to Week 6 based solely off of fans' support.
29	* While winning is always a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for the first place couple, Melissa Rycroft and Tony winning the All-Star season doubled as a Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming when the entire cast came running out to embrace and congratulate them before the hosts even had a chance to present them with the mirror ball. Considering they came in third before, absolutely no one was sour about their win that they more than earned.
30	* Dorothy Hamilton, who had to withdraw from the competition in week 2, not only getting to dance again in the final but getting to do so with Kristi Yamaguchi who she earlier noted she looked forward to watching every Monday during season 6. She had been battling cancer at the time and saw Kristi as a huge inspiration.
31	* In season 19, Lea Thompson's contemporary dance to "Dance with My Father," dedicated to her father. Carrie Ann bawled, and at least some of the audience was also close to tears. Lea, also, was crying near the end before bursting into massive sobs after the dance was over. Obviously, this doubles as a TearJerker.
32	* In the last few weeks before their elimination in the semi-finals, Peta Murgatroyd always in tears after dancing with Tommy Chong, she's really proud of what he accomplished considering he's 76-years old with a nagging injury.
33	* Mark Ballas in tears during the season 19 finale; say what you will about the guy, but his caring and partnership with Sadie Robertson is clearly genuine.
34	* From season 20's semifinals:
35	** After Noah received his scores for his first dance of the evening, he took the opportunity to [[spoiler:propose to his girlfriend]]. And of course, [[spoiler:she said yes]].
36	** Nastia and Derek's second dance, planned out by Len Goodman, was a very personal one for him, as he was reminiscing about how he used to be able to dance. To reinforce this, while Nastia danced with Derek for most of the routine, the dance closed with Nastia and Len dancing together.
37	* Season 21 got one before the first episode even aired; one of the contestants is Bindi Irwin, daughter of The Series/CrocodileHunter. She and partner Derek Hough wasted no time at all in christening themselves 'Team Crikey'.
38	** Bindi's Week 4 "Most Memorable Year" dance, set to the Liza Anne/Aaron Krause version of [[Music/ThePolice "Every Breath You Take"]] doubles as this and a tearjerker.
39	** This can also be said for their freestyle, especially the ending.
40	* In Week 4 of Season 21, Alexa [=PenaVega=] saying in her package in response to a judge's comments the previous week on how she and Mark could win, but her and Carlos cannot, that Carlos is more important to her than winning, because family comes first.
41	** In the same night, Carlos telling his story about how he was rock bottom and went to church and between that first Sunday he went and the next Sunday, his life completely changed. Why? Because that Thursday he was invited to a Bible study, where he met Alexa.
42	** Alexa and Mark's rumba, to the theme from ''Film/SomewhereInTime'', dedicated to Mark's parents Corky and Shirley (both famous ballroom dancers).
43	* Yet another Season 21 example, this time regarding Nick and Sharna in the second night of Hometown Glory Week. After Sharna brings up that her father and grandmother back in Wagga Wagga can't be there to watch her dance due to both being diagnosed with kidney failure, Nick comforts her by reassuring her they wouldn't be going home that week.
44	** And on the topic of Nick and Sharna, their entire segment in Icons Night, from the package to their scores, was one long heartwarming moment, entirely dedicated to Nick's wife Lauren and their first child.
45	** Many viewers who weren't exactly fond of Nick when the season began [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap started warming up to him]] after the duet rumba with a sickly Tamar and Val to "Hey Jude". The dance ended with Nick holding Tamar in his arms while telling her, "I got you."
46	** Similarly, during the semifinals, when Nick messed up the steps during his tango, he and Sharna stopped for a couple of seconds as she comforted him ("Be with me. I got you. Okay?") and they sang along to the song they were dancing to.
47	* While this obviously did not happen on the show itself, after they won Season 21, Bindi and Derek became so tired from all the back-to-back TV appearances that resulted from the win that they just simply collapsed on the floor and [[SleepCute snuggled close together with each other]]. Then, as if this wasn't heartwarming enough, runners-up Nick and Sharna decided to snuggle up with them as well. Bindi later had [[http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/11/25/22/2ED05B1400000578-0-image-a-38_1448491741102.jpg a picture taken of the four of them all sleeping together peacefully]] put up on Instagram. She called Derek, Nick and Sharna "gorgeous people" and thanked them for being her "human pillows".
48	* Season 22 saw Carrie Ann signing to deaf contestant (and eventual winner) Creator/NyleDimarco after his final dance "Thank you for showing your beautiful heart when you dance" which had him shedding TearsOfJoy. It's nice to see that she took some time to learn a bit of his language.
49	* Season 24 was the first after the passing of season 11 contestant Florence Henderson (who died just two days after the previous season's finale). As a tribute, [[https://twitter.com/Tom_Bergeron/status/843849220436119553/photo/1 a star was added to the ballroom floor.]]
50	** Bonner Bolton's ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' dance, complete with Sharna as Vanellope.
51	** When Most Memorable Year week came about, a lot of people expected Simone Biles' memorable year to be when she went to the Olympics (her fellow Olympian Laurie Hernandez chose this for her Memorable Year dance the previous season), but instead she chose [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5hrptj_simone-biles-sasha-farber-viennese-waltz_people the year she was adopted.]]
52	* During Season 25's Guilty Pleasures Week (Week 3), contestant Lindsey Stirling had just ended a romantic relationship that week. To cheer her up, her pro partner Mark Ballas got her onesies for him and her to lounge in all day (Lindsey said her guilty pleasure was to wear PJs all day).
53	* Season 27 had Danielle Umstead, the show's first blind contestant. For her cha-cha-cha with her pro partner Artem Chigvinstev, Artem choreographed her walking stick into the beginning of the routine!
54	** From the same season, Nancy McKeon and Valentin Chmerkovskiy's run on the show. Val literally carries Nancy up the stairs to the balcony in his arms after their Week 3 cha-cha-cha (it was revealed that she fractured one of her toes during Week 1 when rehearsing their Quickstep and the injury was still ongoing at the time).
55	** During Evanna Lynch and Keo Motsepe's rehearsal package for Halloween Week, Evanna was actually quite upset after the judges' scores for Disney Week (the week before Halloween Week) resulted in three 8s (a total of 24) when she was hoping to get a perfect score. Evanna declares that she's done dancing for the judges and will dance for herself—and Keo supporting her makes it all the sweeter. What makes it even better is that their Halloween Week Tango resulted in a near-perfect score (two 10s and one 9)!
56	** During Halloween Week after John Schneider and his pro partner Emma Slater performed their Paso Doble, the judges' reactions were less-than-stellar (though John took the critique spectacularly well). However, the audience highly disagreed with the judges critiques, with host Erin telling them it was amazing, Emma being supportive of John regardless of the scores and comments, and host Creator/TomBergeron even holding up an 8 paddle to show what he thought of John and Emma's Paso.
57	** Also during Halloween Week again: Joe Amabile was (and continued to be) one of the lowest scorers on Season 27. However, his Argentine Tango earned him his first 8 and 7s of the season for a total of 22 out of 30 (his highest score at the time until his Quickstep in the Semi-Finals (which earned him 24 out of 30)). What makes it Heartwarming is his fellow Pros and contestants actually cheering for him after the scores were given.
58	* Although many viewers agree that Bobby Bones' victory was undeserved, it is actually kind of sweet that he spent the entirety of his crowning moment with [[http://img.etonline.com/1242911076001/201811/2956/1242911076001_5969251143001_5969252416001-vs.jpg?pubId=1242911076001 a visible red lipstick mark]], presumably from Sharna, on his face.
59	* Season 28
60	** Like with Florence Henderson, the ballroom floor also added a tribute star for actress Valerie Harper, who was a season 17 contestant and died on Aug 30, 2019.
61	** James dedicating his Week 3 Rumba (based off the film "A Star Is Born" as it was Movie Night) to his wife.
62	*** Even sweeter was that in Week 4, James and his wife revealed that they were expecting a sixth child!
63	** Week 6 had Sailor Brinkley-Cook admitting that she suffered from stage fright whenever she actually performed. Val decides to have them practice their Jive for that week in public, in order to help her build up confidence for the actual performance.
64	*** Also crosses over with TearJerker, but when Sailor Brinkley-Cook was eliminated that same week, Val immediately hugs her and speaks encouragingly to her. All the rest of the pros and contestants came over at the end to offer hugs and support.
65	** Karamo's elimination in Week 7 (Halloween Night). Karamo not only takes in stride, thanking the judges, but the other pros and contestants came over to him and Jenna to cheer for them and lift them in support.
66	** Kate's elimination in Week 8 also similarly had the other pros and contestants coming over to her, cheering and lifting her and Pasha in support.
67	** The fact that newest pro Pasha Pashkov (Season 28 was his first season) garnered tons of support from fans, contestants and judges alike so quickly in the season due to his sweet partnership with Kate and his choreography.
68	** It's overall a TearJerker moment when James Van der Beek was shockingly eliminated in the semifinals (especially after he revealed in his video package that night that his wife had a miscarriage roughly two days earlier). Even the judges didn’t expect him to be the Bottom 2 (the other being Ally Brooke) and none of them wanted to eliminate either.[[note]]They chose to save Ally due to consistently high scores throughout the season[[/note]] The heartwarming parts are first when Ally, upset that he was going home after all that's happened to him, tearfully tries to give up her spot to him[[note]]which the rules state would not have been possible anyway[[/note]], and then when James himself also turned down her offer, telling her that she shouldn’t give up her own opportunity to shine after all her own hard work.
69	* Season 29:
70	** Crossing over with TearJerker, but Skai Jackson dedicating her Week 4 Foxtrot with Alan to the late Cameron Boyce. Not only was it a beautiful dance, but it also netted them the first 10 of the season.
71	* Season 30:
72	** Tribute stars were added to the ballroom floor for Season 7 contestant Creator/ClorisLeachman and Season 28 contestant [[Music/TheSupremes Mary Wilson]] who both died around the beginning of 2021.
73	** After [=JoJo=] Siwa performed a celebratory freestyle to Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", Bruno called her an inspiration and said he wished she had been around when he was a teenager.
74	* Season 31:
75	** After having to exit the competition early due for medical reasons, Selma Blair returned in the finale to perform a contemporary number with Sasha as former contestant Jordin Sparks sang "No Air" live. It's just as breathtaking as any of the other dances, and really shows that had she not had to bow out she truly could've made it far in the season.
76	** Charli and Mark's freestyle in the finale. During rehearsal they both bonded over how they'd fallen out of love with dance in their lives, and this season and their partnership really helped reignite their passion for it again. They end up dancing to the score from ''WesternAnimation/UsAgain'', which has similar themes, as a tribute to each other and finding their passion once more. Not only do they win, but Charlie affirmed that she's going to try pursuing dance as more than just a tiktok hobby again.
77	* Season 32:
78	** Barry Williams and Peta Murgatroyd's run on the show. Barry unexpectedly wowed many fans with his dancing, especially with him being the oldest person competing this season, and his showmanship and excitement for being part of the show endeared him to fans. By the time he and Peta were eliminated in Week 8 (Whitney Houston Night), everyone in the audience was cheering for him.

Context Heartwarming / DancingWithTheStars