NJ native and Bachelorette Jenn Tran kicks off next endeavor on 'Dancing with the Stars'
The Bachelorette and North Jersey native Jenn Tran kicked off her next endeavor on Tuesday night with the premiere of season 33 of "Dancing with the Stars."
For her first dance, Tran and her pro partner Sasha Farber danced a cha cha to "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus.
The pair had the least amount of time to train and rehearse prior to Tuesday's premiere as Tran hopped on a plane to join the rest of the cast on "Good Morning America" within hours of her heartbreaking "Bachelorette" finale on Sept. 3.
"My time on the 'Bachelorette' didn’t end the way I had hoped. I truthfully felt like my heart was getting ripped out of my chest," said Tran during her introduction. "But as one door closes another one opens. Almost immediately after I got off the stage, I met Sasha at the airport, went to 'Good Morning America,' now I am here with a little bit of vengeance."
She continued, "Being on this season of 'Dancing with the Stars' is coming at honestly the most perfect time of my life. I just want to pour into myself, and I don’t want to give to a man. I want to be able to just be independent."
Tran shared that she took one ballroom dancing class in college and has not danced since. Nevertheless, the judges overall loved her performance.
"Forget about 'The Bachelorette' because you have found your perfect match right here with Sasha. You are adorable, I love it. You have so much potential," said Derek Hough, stating that Tran has some things to work on such as straightening her legs and extending her arms, but that overall, he thought it was a "really great first dance."
"My love, you're really blossoming in front of us. It had all the quality of the cha cha cha, bright, lively, happy. You have kind of a natural sense of music which is great. You just have to work on the foot placement, once you get that right all the correct action will happen naturally," said judge Bruno Tonioli. "But I'll tell you, I loved it. Great job."
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba expressed similar sentiments, telling Tran and Farber that their performance was "so entertaining" and that she "loved every minute of it."
In the end, the pair earned a score of 19 out of 30, receiving a seven from Inaba, a six from Hough and a six from Tonioli.
"Honestly, it's just been such a whirlwind, but I think at the start of the night I am just feeling so so grateful to be here and to have honestly the best partner ever," said Tran about Farber during the post-dance interview with Julianne Hough. "He has been lifting me up in every corner that he can, and it's been truly amazing to have such a best friend already."
How to vote for Jenn Tran on 'Dancing with the Stars'
You can vote for Tran, or any of the other pairs, online at https://dwtsvote.abc.com and/or by SMS text message during the live voting window each episode/week. Both methods of voting are open only during the initial broadcast on ABC and Disney+ with voting closing shortly after the final competitive dance of each episode.
Who got eliminated on 'Dancing with the Stars' this week?
There were no eliminations on Tuesday night following the first round of competition, however, two pairs will be sent home at the end of next week's episode.
'Dancing with the Stars' scores
The final leaderboard at the end of the night, based on the judges' scores, was:
Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong: 23 out of 30
Dwight Howard and Danielle Karagach: 22
Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson: 21
Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold: 21
Danny Amendola and Witney Carson: 20
Jenn Tran and Sasha Farber: 19
Phaedra Parks and Val Chmerkovskiy: 19
Anna Delvey and Ezra Sosa: 18
Brooks Nader and Gleb Savchenko: 18
Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten: 18
Tori Spelling and Pasha Pashkov: 17
Reginald VelJohnson and Emma Slater: 16
Eric Roberts and Britt Stewart: 15
You can watch "Dancing with the Stars" every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC and Disney+.
Episodes will be available to stream on-demand throughout the season on Disney+ shortly after the episode airs. Episodes will also be available for streaming the next day on ABC.com and Hulu.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ native, Bachelorette Jenn Tran on Dancing with the Stars premiere