Did Jackson Olson Drop Emma Slater During Their Waltz on ‘Dancing With the Stars’? A Full Investigation

DisneyMariah Carey Night on Dancing With the Stars had plenty of shocking moments (pls see: Connor Wood’s body roll), but one of the most talked-about bits took place during Jackson Olson and Emma Slater’s waltz to “Without You” where—for a brief second—it looked like the Savannah Bananas star almost dropped the pro.

None of the judges said anything about the near-drop, and the pair was awarded three 7s but…you can judge for yourself:

Following the episode, some fans even took to Reddit to theorize that the mistake was purposefully not mentioned by the judges. The suggested reason: Jackson is heading to the Banana Bowl championship game on October 10 alongside Emma and the DWTS troupe, and production didn’t want to risk him getting eliminated.

I’ve gotta admit, the timing is a bit suspicious…

However, I’m not fully convinced that Jackson almost dropped his partner. If you compare the photos that Emma shared from rehearsal with the photos from the live performance, it does seem like the tricky move was executed almost exactly as planned, so perhaps it was choreographed that way (though Jackson may have been a hair too far back during the taping).

You also might recall Derek Hough and Bindi Irwin performing a very similar move during their Viennese waltz to “Roses and Violets” by Alexander Jean during season 21. The dance scored a perfect 30, so…whatever they did, they apparently did it right!

Skip to 2:54 in the below video to see for yourself.

Therefore, I think it’s safe to conclude that Emma’s shocking leap into Jackson’s arms was totally (or, at least, mostly) intentional.

Oh, and if you’re wondering whether or not he and Guillermo Rodriguez settled their beef, it seems all is well there, too.

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