Iman Shumpert and Daniella Karagach wowed the crowd on Monday’s Dancing With the Stars. The NBA star and his pro-partner hit the stage for Horror Night, delivering a contemporary routine inspired by the thriller Us.
The duo came out with an incredible, quasi-acrobatic number that saw both of them embody the malevolent Tethered of the film — complete with red jumpsuits — as they danced to the song most iconically associated with the film, “I Got 5 on It (Tethered Mix)” by Luniz feat. Michael Marshall.
The impressive number left the judges in absolute awe, and earned the pair their first perfect score of the season.
Shumpert and Karagach spoke with ET’s Lauren Zima backstage after the episode, and the pair reflected on the dance, and how it all came together.
“To finally get a chance at something so challenging, it feels like a huge accomplishment,” Shumpert shared.
The dance that earned them their four 10s featured numerous feats of acrobatic collaboration, including Shumpert spinning Karagach around in the air and her essentially crawling and spinning on him like a pommel horse.
“I’m just really impressed she had the bravery to come up with that dance,” Shumpert marveled.
“I said, ‘Your gonna grab me by my neck and your gonna throw me,'” Karagach recalled.
“I didn’t tell her I wanted to do that!” Shumpert quickly added, laughing.
“A lot of that stuff we kind of all ready to do,” Shumpert joked, referring to his playtime with his eldest daughter. “Probably not [swinging] her by the feet that much, but the standing on the shoulders and stuff.”
Monday’s score was a remarkable improvement over weeks past, and was a total of seven points higher than their previous high score of 33, which they earned during the second night of Disney Week.
The improvement proves one thing for Karagach: “We’re ready to win
