ABC’s Emmy award winning reality show “Dancing With the Stars” premiered its 33rd season on September 17. The show pairs professional dancers with celebrities to compete weekly in hopes of taking home the “Len Goodman Mirror Ball”. This season began with 13 teams, one of which has Worcester native and Olympic bronze medalist, Stephen Nedoroscik.
Nedoroscik gained popularity at the 2024 Summer Olympics where he competed as a member of the U.S. men’s national gymnastics team. Nedoroscik specializes on the pommel horse, and supported Team USA in bringing home their first bronze medal since the 2008 games. Additionally, Nedoroscik won the individual bronze medal in the pommel horse final, scoring a 15.300, this being the men’s team first individual medal since the 2016 Olympics.
While Nedoroscik’s display of talents and accomplishments were celebrated across the country, that was not the only reason he gained attention during the summer games this year. Being that Nedoroscik specializes in pommel horse, many of the gymnastic routines did not involve his participation- causing him to rest in between his routines. Photos of him sleeping off the mat circulated the internet, turning into a viral meme.
Additionally, Nedoroscik was often referred to as the “Clark Kent of pommel horse” as fans compared his removal of his glasses before routines to the comic book character Superman gearing up for action.
Since the Summer Olympics ended Nedoroscik’s fame has only continued to grow. The Olympian appeared on both the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and the Today Show, and continues to receive attention across social media.
Currently, Nedoroscik is competing on Dancing with the Stars, and is the first male gymnastic Olympian to participate on the show. He has been paired with professional dancer Rylee Arnold, denoting their team as “Team Arnold Pommel”- a spin on the iced tea beverage and American professional golfer: Arnold Palmer.
Arnold and Nedoroscik kicked off week one of Dancing with the Stars by performing a jive to the Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Nedoroscik poked fun at his recent online fame by throwing his glasses off stage and winking to the audience at the beginning of their performance. The judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli each gave the team sevens out of ten, granting the pair a score of 21/30. This score marked the team as having one of the best routines of the night.
Week two had an “Oscar night” theme, to which Arnold Pommel performed an energetic jive to the “Superman Main Theme.” The performance was an obvious nod to the internet’s comparison of the star to the infamous comic book and movie character. The team earned a grand total of 22/30 points, Hough and Tunoli scoring the duo as 7/10 and Inaba an 8/10.
“Soul Train” was the theme for this Monday night’s episode of Dancing With the Stars. Arnold Pommel performed a quick step style dance to the song “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. While the judges offered many critiques to the performance the duo still managed to earn 30/40 points (a guest judge caused an alteration in total number of points). Inaba and guest judge Rosie Perez both scored the team an 8/10, while Tonioli and Hough raised 7/10.
Nedoroscik and Arnold are projected to do very well in the competition, many speculating the potential for the duo to be finalists this season. With both the display of commitment Nedoroscik has shown for Dancing with the Stars and his online presence, it is likely that America will vote in his favor. Thus Nedoroscik has the ability to not only add “Len Goodman Mirror Ball recipient” to his resume, but also bring additional pride to his home city of Worcester.
