Dancing with the Stars Season 34: Alix Earle's "Refined Fierceness" Samba earns 30/30 in round one to open Finale strong

Dancing with the Stars Season 34 Finale: Alix Earle's samba with partner Val Chmerkovskiy opened the finale on a perfect note, earning 30 out of 30 in round one and establishing a strong start to their bid for the Mirrorball Trophy.

In the Judges’ Round, Carrie Ann Inaba assigned the pair a demanding samba to “Hip Hip Chin Chin” by Club des Belugas, and the panel’s unified set of 10s confirmed the routine as the first perfect score of the Dancing with the Stars Season 34 finale.​

Judges’ Round on Dancing with the Stars Season 34

The Dancing with the Stars Season 34 finale structured its opening act around the Judges’ Round, where each finalist performed a routine selected and coached by one of the judges.

For Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy, Carrie Ann Inaba chose samba, a style widely described in coverage as one of the show’s more technically challenging Latin dances due to its rhythm, bounce action, and continuous hip movement.​

Inaba’s assignment paired Earle and Chmerkovskiy with “Hip Hip Chin Chin” by Club des Belugas, a track whose tempo and syncopation demand control and stamina from competitors on Dancing with the Stars. 

The routine was positioned early in the broadcast, making their performance the first major test of the night for both the couple and the scoring panel.​

Carrie Ann Inaba’s assessment

Following the samba, Carrie Ann Inaba delivered a detailed assessment from the Dancing with the Stars judging table.

She called it an “incredible samba” that “put all the content in,” emphasizing that she had seen the full range of required samba elements in Earle and Chmerkovskiy’s choreography.

Inaba also highlighted the quality that later framed the night’s coverage, praising Earle’s “refined fierceness” and concluding, 

“You performed the heck out of it, girl!”​

Accounts of the finale noted that Inaba’s remarks underscored both the volume of content and the performance quality she expected from a Dancing with the Stars Season 34 finalist.

The 10 she awarded matched the enthusiasm of her comments and contributed to the couple’s perfect 30, which was cited in multiple recaps as a key early milestone in the finale.​

Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli’s reactions

Derek Hough echoed Inaba’s focus on technical density, describing the samba as:

“So filled with content ... congratulations.”

Coverage of the Dancing with the Stars Season 34 finale linked his reaction to the show’s emphasis on content‑heavy choreography in late‑season rounds, where judges expect finalists to sustain clean footwork and timing even under increased difficulty.​

Bruno Tonioli framed his comments around the energy of the night. He opened with,

“Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a hot night,” then told Earle, “You were not good, you were incandescent ... As a performer, you have become an absolute star.” 

Score breakdown and placement in the finale

The samba scored straight 10s, which made Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy a total of 30 out of 30 in the first round.

It was the inaugural flawless mark of the Dancing with the Stars Season 34 finale, which put the pair at the forefront of the initial leaderboard as other finalists were set to dance their Judges' Round dances.

This opening 30/30 also fed into the cumulative scoring that would combine Judges’ Round, freestyle, and additional routines to determine the final standings.

Coverage noted that in recent seasons of Dancing with the Stars, a perfect opener can shift momentum and influence both judge expectations and audience voting throughout the rest of the night.​

The choice of “Hip Hip Chin Chin” by Club des Belugas gave the Dancing with the Stars routine a distinctive jazz‑infused samba feel, while still requiring traditional samba bounce and leg action.

Stay tuned for more updates.