Canton native Amanda Kloots advances to 'Dancing With the Stars' finale on emotional night

Canton native Amanda Kloots and her partner advanced to next week's "Dancing With the Stars" finale after registering a perfect score Monday night during an emotionally riveting routine in tribute to her late husband.

Kloots and her partner, Alan Bersten, performed a contemporary dance in the second round to "Live Your Life," a song written by her husband, Nick Cordero, who died in July 2020 after battling COVID-19 through a 95-day hospitalization that included a lengthy coma.

The dance left Kloots teary-eyed, as the judges praised the performance both for its execution and emotional impact.

"When you're grieving, you feel so alone," she said following the dance, her voice breaking as she wiped away tears. "But I had such an amazing support system; some of them are here today, but the whole world, and I just think that you have to find that community if you're grieving because there's something out there for you and you can connect with people."

Turning to Bersten, she pulled him closer with her arm. "I just want to thank Alan for this beautiful dance that I'll always have," Kloots said.

Judges rave about Amanda Kloots

Judges raved about Kloots' contemporary number in which she was visibly emotional throughout.

"I was totally mesmerized, my love," Judge Bruno Tonioli said. "You touched my heart and I'm sure you touched the heart of the nation. This is beyond critique. I lived something with you tonight. (Cordero is) proud of you and smiling up there."

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba expressed amazement over the routine.

"Something happened like halfway through the dance where I saw you like disappear and go into this moment right now one thousand percent, and it was so beautiful," she said. "You transcended beauty, you transcended perfection, you just made something ... there's no words..."

Earlier Monday night, Kloots and Bersten danced the tango in the redemption round, scoring a 39 out of 40.

"I saw attack, I saw aggression, great movement across the floor — fabulous," Judge Len Goodman said.

Judge Derek Hough lauded Kloots for being the most consistent dancer this season. "I'm in awe of you ... that was so fantastic, well done."

Tonioli gushed even more. "What you had ... it was the clear-cut brilliance of a diamond. It was so polished, so slick — you were just on fire, girl."

Inaba was the lone judge to dock the couple a point, denying the opportunity for two perfect scores.

"You danced that tango like the boss that you are my dear," Inaba said. "That was incredible."

However, she scored the couple a 9 out of 10 because she said Kloots' leg came off the floor during the dance.

Kloots, flashing a smile, described the show as a journey.

"I could have never done this tango we did (during) week one," she said. "I mean it's amazing what you can do when you work hard and you really want to be somewhere..."

Saved by the judges

However, despite scoring a total of 79 out of 80 for the two dances, judges had to save Kloots from elimination because, when fan voting was included, the duo ended up in the bottom three of the dance teams.

Monday's other highlights included JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson scoring a perfect total of 80 for their two dances before advancing to the finale.

Also moving on are Iman Shumpert, a former NBA player and member of the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers championship team, and Cody Rigsby, as well as their dance partners.

Eliminated were dance couples featuring Melora Hardin and Suni Lee.

Talk show co-host, author

Kloots, a former Broadway actress and award-winning fitness entrepreneur, is also co-host of the CBS daytime television program, "The Talk."

Kloots recently released her memoir, the New York Times bestseller "Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero" that was co-authored with her sister Anna Kloots.

A former Broadway dancer and Radio City Rockette, Kloots performed on a variety of stage, film and TV productions for more than 17 years. She lives in Los Angeles with her son, Elvis.

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com

On Twitter @ebalintREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: 'Dancing With the Stars' finale: Amanda Kloots advances