Tonight on ABC we have DWTS our favorite reality TV show returning to the ballroom when Dancing With The Stars season 35 episode 4 called, “Yacht Rock Night,” airs. We have your all-new Wednesday, September 29, 2025, season 35 episode 4 Dancing With The Stars recap below!
On tonight’s DWTS episode, as per the ABC synopsis, “Thirteen remaining couples cruise into “Yacht Rock Night,” with performances set to smooth grooves, soft-rock classics and iconic hits that defined the yacht rock era.”
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In tonight’s Dancing With The Stars episode, its Yacht Rock theme night! This was a new one. It all came fraught with drama and injury. Pasha got inured on tonight’s episode. He was practicing with his partner, Amber Glenn. The two were doing a twirl when her overextended arm smacked right in the face. It didn’t break anything. It just caused a severe nose bleed and headache. Don’t worry. He was checked out and deemed fine by the medical team. Pasha probably also followed up with his own doctor. He was a trained professional who would know what his limits are before carrying on with the rest of the show. And he was still dancing tonight so hopefully he’s fully recovered.
The two danced the Foxtrot. It was a beautiful dancing. The judges even noted that they’ve been seeing improvement with each dance. Amber was a figure skater and she brought that skating elegance to the dance. Which was perfect for the Foxtrot. They got drinks during the commercial break and the show returned to three eights from the judges. It was twenty-four out of thirty for them. It was also the first eights of the season. This duo was proving quite strong and unfortunately the injuries continued with the others.
It doesn’t matter that its Week 3. Some of them were truly injuring themselves here. Julia Stiles was up next with her partner, Ezra This time it was Julia who got injured. She “popped” a rib. She wasn’t rushed to a hospital or anything. It just seemed like this was an old injury that she knew she couldn’t push through. They had to go days without lifts and spins. Julia did her best to recover even as she kept up with practice. She is getting getter. The judges noted her overall improvement with her Salsa tonight.
There were a few tricks of the trade as well that the judges happily provided. Derek told her the trick to spins. Bruno called her a Spice Girl. Carrie Ann seemed to enjoy her letting go. Julia allowed herself to be vulnerable with her performance. She was an actress so she was used to displaying a finished product. This was the first time where she gets seen during her mistakes on top of her triumphs. She and Ezra received nineteen out of thirty. They could go higher as long as they keep putting in the work.
Funnily, the next star was known for his mistakes. He simply didn’t let that stop him from continuing. He’s the fan favorite that everyone’s talking about, Guillermo Rodgriguez. Guillermo wasn’t even trying yet he was still pulling off wins tonight because of improvement. Improvement was the true theme of the night. There were some of them that touched the bottom and almost went home. They didn’t want a repeat of that anytime soon so they began putting in more effort tonight. Guillermo proved he was slower to improve than others.
Not that he let them stop him from being pure entertainment. Guillermo and Witney danced the Foxtrot. It didn’t look like the Foxtrot. It couldn’t be labeled as a Foxtrot. It was on the other hand very funny. Gullermo was rocking a coconut bra under his suit tonight. He also wrote “Dancing With the People” on his stomach with marker. Witney was doing all the dancing. She was doing the routine. Gullermo was merely getting better at walking across the floor and not dancing across it. And hey the judges acknowledged that with a score of fifteen out of thirty because they knew Gullermo was no longer dancing for them or their opinions.
Tatyana Ali followed with her partner, Jan. They danced the Quickstep. Tatyana has been really rusty when it comes to dancing. She knew that was her weak point going into this season and she still signed up. She got a bunch of fours that first week. Sixes the second. Now, she was showing why she deserved those sevens by fully embodying the rule of a maneater. Jan was also a great coach. He knew exactly what Tatyana needed to enact her role and he turned that into a dance. They fully earned those sevens.
Tatyana was never bad at dancing. She simply had people who didn’t know what she needed when Jan did. These two working together have been improving and others were fighting to stay in the game after last week. Take Harry Shum Jr. He actually has dancing experience going into the show. He was an actor. He was a serious threat before last week. The judges and even the audience at home had complained about a disconnect with his dance with Jenna. They especially hated the shout that scared some of them.
Well, good news. There was no shouting with their performance tonight. Harry and Jenna went back to the dance and they put together a stellar Jive. Their Jive would go on to earn them a score of twenty-four. They were the second of the night to earn eights. It was a tough act to follow for Taylor Hanson. Taylor and his partner Brit had been given the Foxtrot. Its hard because there’s been great Foxtrots and not so great Foxtrots on earlier. They had to stand with the stronger ones by hopefully drawing no comparison to the weaker ones.
Taylor and Brit developed far more this week than last week. They gave their best performance to date. They also got to pay homage to a favorite rock band with their song. The music was what Taylor understood. He was a musician himself. He also took part in a tribute the same band. So, this really lit a fire under him. He and Brit got a full score of eighteen out of thirty. Maybe they should continue to incorporate musicality with him. Who knows how far he’ll go then? The two were then followed by Maura Higgins.
Maura and Mark have been strong dancers from the start. They started out on top. They merely had to maintain it. They had the Quickstep tonight. Maura always thinks she can’t do it until Mark pushes her. He somehow always brings out her best. Their Quicksteps was one of the best of the night. It was light-hearted and fun. The whole night has actually been fun for everyone. Maura has a great coach and it showed in their scores. They scored twenty-two out of thirty. They even were the third to get an eight in this night alone.
These two were then followed by Ciara Miller and Brandon. They got the Cha Cha that they put a seventies spin on. Ciara looked so beautiful. Her dancing was improving and indeed the judges noted she was getting better. Its just that every once in a while the audience could see her get lost in her head. Overthinking is a thing when it comes to dance. Ciara wanted to get it right and that sometimes made it visible that it wasn’t flowing on its own. Still, she was getting much better and her working relationship with Brandon was proving to a great font of support for the reality star.
They got a score of eighteen out of thirty. It wasn’t too bad. The feedback they received was positive and the judges tried the same with Jackson Olson. He was nominated for Hottest TikToker. Only tonight he struggled. The Paso Doble wasn’t for everyone. It can truly test even the strongest amongst everyone. He and Emma put together an incredible effort that was strong in rehearsals and appeared to slightly fall apart on the dancefloor itself. It was again considered an improvement. It also had a score of eighteen so it sucks that Jackson looked like a kicked puppy after all that hard work.
Connor Wood was another bringing a good sense of humor into tonight. The comedian with his partner Rylee had danced the Foxtrot. The Foxtrot was elegance. It was refinement. One couldn’t always tell by his performance because he ended up making it a little funny. The dance wasn’t perfect. It was also coming off a rough week last week. There was just some walking thrown in where they should’ve been some gliding. He and Rylee still scored pretty high. Connor had been genuinely shocked when they got twenty out of thirty. And Rylee was so happy that she was shouting in joy.
Jenna Dewan was up next. She and Val had talked about it. They both decided that sitting at the top of leaderboard wasn’t enough. They wanted to bring back some of the magic of dance. Jenna was a dancer and actress. She loved this. She and Val loved dancing the Samba. It was a Latin dance. It was a sexy dance. Some ended up feeling it was a little too much. They also pointed out that she’s been doing fast dances for the past three weeks and that they were hoping to see a slower dance from the pair in the future.
The slower dance would bring out the skill. Or so they said and here’s America thinking she and Val did a pretty great job. Thanks, judges! These two were followed by Bachelorette alum, Tyler Cameron and Sharna. Together they performed the Jive. The turns weren’t as tight as they could’ve been. It was still a lively and fun dance. Derek was struggling to remember names with these two and he really has to work on that one. They later had a score of seventeen. They had the second lowest score of the night.
And the last dance of the night went to Ezra Frech with his partner, Daniella. They got the Foxtrot. They were at the top last week. Then again last week involved a fast dance and tonight had a slower one. They put on another stellar performance. They didn’t aim as high as they were hoping. They got a bunch of sevens and ended the night with a score of twenty-one. It was closer to the top although they might see things differently come eliminations. But tonight was the end for Taylor and Brit who were soon eliminated. They ended on a high note and that was the only way to go.
THE END!