Peta Murgatroyd Explains Why Grocery Store Joe Is Still On ‘Dancing With The Stars’

Peta Murgatroyd has her eye on a few frontrunners on Dancing With the Stars, and one of them is trailing at the bottom of the judges’ leaderboard.

In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Murgatroyd said she thinks Dancing With the Stars celebs Milo Manheim, Alexis Ren, DeMarcus Ware, and Tinashe all have what it takes to win the next mirrorball trophy. But she didn’t rule out the possibility of Bachelor Nation fan favorite “Grocery Store” Joe Amabile making it far into the competition.

Murgatroyd said fancy footwork is only one step in the ABC celebrity ballroom competition. After a week of voting glitches (the Week 2 telephone votes were not counted due to technical difficulties, so only the judges scores and online votes were calculated), the two-time mirrorball champ said she isn’t surprised that Grocery Store Joe is faring well on the show, despite his dismal status at the bottom of the leaderboard.

“He’s getting that popular vote and Bachelor nation is so strong. I had two Bachelors, so I get it.”

Over her 11 seasons as a Dancing With the Stars pro dancer, Murgatroyd has been partnered with two stars of ABC’s The Bachelor: Sean Lowe in season 16 and Nick Viall in season 24.

“My two Bachelors had no dance experience either and I got to [week] seven with both of them, or maybe even [week] eight with Sean. It’s all about how hard you try, and how hard you can pick yourself back up and keep moving when you make a mistake.”

Murgatroyd defended the inexperienced Bachelor stars, saying it’s especially difficult for them to perform on the ABC dance-off with no prior experience in the entertainment world.

“It is so tough for these guys to come out there and dance in front of an audience and then to millions of people when they’ve had no sort of background of even performing or doing it on television like that, It’s incredibly daunting and I take my hat off to them because he’s doing a good job, and the best that he can.”

Peta Murgatroyd has a bit of a special connection to Grocery Store Joe, as his DWTS partner, Jenna Johnson, is engaged to her brother-in-law, Val Chmerkovskiy. Murgatroyd even revealed that she and her husband, fellow Dancing With the Stars alum Maksim Chmerkovskiy, even went out to dinner with Grocery Store Joe and his Bachelor in Paradise girlfriend, Kendall Long. The Aussie pro dancer describes the ABC lovebirds as “so funny and so lovely and so down to earth.”

Grocery Store Joe has made a mini-career out of his short-lived stay on Becca Kufrin’s season of The Bachelorette. After being cut loose by Kufrin on the first night of her season (he fumbled his introduction to The Bachelorette star), fans fell in love with Amabile. That fan support led to an unexpected stint on Bachelor in Paradise, where he met and fell in love with Long, then landed his current opportunity on Dancing With the Stars.

But while fans love him, the judges aren’t giving the Bachelor in Paradise star any breaks when it comes to his scores. Amabile has landed at the bottom of the leaderboard after every one of his dances. The judges weren’t impressed with his quickstep, foxtrot or jazz, so the fan vote is what is keeping him afloat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLIDsz4o7cg

Week three of Dancing With the Stars kicks off Monday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.