Jordan Chiles Shares Story Behind Surprise Celeb Cameo in ‘DWTS’ Finale Freestyle

The Olympian may have come in third place overall, but one judge called her routine the ‘best’ they’d seen in the show’s history.

Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa / Disney/Eric McCandless

The epic three-hour finale of Dancing With the Stars aired live last night, and all the finalists did an unbelievable job on their Freestyle Dances—still, there’s no denying Jordan Chiles’s routine stood out from the pack.

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A finale to remember

For the send-off show, the five remaining dancing duos were tasked with competing in three rigorous rounds—a Judges’ Choice round (where the judges decided on a dance style and song for the pairs to perform), an Instant Dance round (where the pairs drew a dance style and song at random, only having moments to come up with a routine) and of course, the beloved Freestyle Dance round (where the pairs performed routines that showed off the finalists’ personalities and growth over the season).

Every single Freestyle Dance received perfect scores across the panel last night, making the competition as tight as ever—but they certainly closed the show with a bang thanks to Chiles and her pro partner Ezra Sosa’s standout number, which fans will likely be talking about for years to come!

For their last dance of the season, the duo performed a powerful routine choreographed to a mashup of “Bow Down (Homecoming Live)” by Beyoncé and “Motivation” by Normani (the latter of which Chiles had previously also used in a gymnastics routine). Chiles hit all the right moves and brought everything needed to succeed to the dance floor, including her signature confidence, charisma and—to the delight of viewers watching at home and in the live studio audience—a very special guest: Normani herself.

An unforgettable cameo

Longtime fans of the hit ABC competition will remember that the singing sensation had previously appeared on DWTS as a contestant back in Season 24—but how exactly did this incredible surprise cameo come to be? Well, as Chiles revealed after the show, it was all Normani’s idea.

“She’s the one that actually said, ‘I think I should be in your freestyle,’” the Olympian exclusively told E! News. “I didn’t know she was serious until her manager called me and was like, ‘No, she’s being serious. She wants to be in it.’”

Chiles went on, adding, “I was like, ‘Okay, Ezra, we’re gonna do this. We’re gonna make it one of the most iconic freestyles.’” And they absolutely did, leaving the judges in awe—in fact, Carrie Ann Inaba even outright said that the routine was the “best” Freestyle she’d seen in all 20 seasons of judging on the show.

Also, a little fun fact/trivia for you: Chiles came in third place overall for the competition, which proved to be somewhat kismet, as Normani also came in third 10 seasons earlier!

Did you miss the three-hour DWTS Season 34 finale? No worries! You can catch up on everything with our live recap here!

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