The ballroom fell silent as Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles and her professional partner, Ezra Sosa, took their final pose. The stillness was broken by a wave of applause and the sight of perfect 10s flashing on the judges’ scoreboard. On a pivotal night in the season, Chiles had achieved a near-perfect score of 39 out of 40 for a captivating Rumba set to “For Good” from Wicked, tying for the highest mark of the evening and signaling a major breakthrough in her artistic journey on the show. The emotional weight of the moment, however, extended far beyond the numbers.

In an interview with Access Hollywood’s digital correspondent Lauren Herbert , following the performance as seen on their YouTube channel, Chiles revealed a certain nature of the achievement. The key to this sentiment was se

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