Ezra Frech on Tackling ‘DWTS’ Season 35 With Amber Glenn as “Teammates” and What Becoming the Show’s First Amputee Winner Would Mean

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Like any athlete, Ezra Frech is in it to win it on Dancing With the Stars. And there’s a real chance he could be the celebrity walking away with the mirrorball on the show’s Nov. 24 finale.

Frech doesn’t want to look too far ahead, though. “You can’t think too far ahead on a show like Dancing With the Stars. Anything could happen at any week,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The Paralympic gold medalist has consistently scored well on the competition dance series, and is an even bigger hit with fans online. He has particularly inspired a younger generation of viewers, many who seem themselves represented in Frech’s journey as an amputee.

“Our grounding, stabilizing force is the love and support that we receive from the fans,” he says, adding that his “motivation” for doing the show was to represent the disabled community and “all people with disabilities.”

Many athletes have competed on DWTS, and the track and field star is not left lonesome this year, as he’s also dancing against fellow Olympic gold medalist Amber Glenn.

Their castings as the sole athletes on this season of the show was further winked at with the professional dancers they’re partnered with; Frech dances with Daniella Karagach, and Amber is with Pasha Pashkov, the two of whom are married.

“This journey feels like we’re on the same team together,” Frech says of navigating season 35 with Karagach, Glenn and Pashkov. “Amber and I are teammates in this.”

When asked about how fans believe the season 35 Len Goodman mirrorball trophy may end up in the Pashkov-Karagach household, Frech still doesn’t want to look too far ahead in the competition, but admits it “would be really special” if they all made it to finale night.

Below, Frech opens up about why he felt “called” to partake in season 35 of DWTS; the Hunger Games fan theory he saw fans say he and Glenn should implement so they can “split the trophy”; what being the first amputee to win DWTS would mean; and working with Karagach.

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Tell me a little bit about your knowledge of Dancing With the Stars prior and how the opportunity came about for you.

I’ve watched Dancing With the Stars for a long time. I have had friends who have been on the show. There’s been a lot of amazing disability representation on Dancing With the Stars. Amy Purdy, Daniel Durant, Noah Galloway: They’ve done a fantastic job of making people with disabilities feel seen through dance. It’s always been something that was in the back of my mind as a dream. Then in more recent years, it looked like it could potentially become a reality, and then it ended up working out really well this year.

[Season 35] falls perfectly in my off season. From a track and field standpoint, my season ends, and I have three months of an off season, and it happened to fall right in the Dancing With the Stars season. It just felt like the perfect timing. It felt like the perfect moment, and sometimes you can’t explain it, but you feel called to things, and I felt very called to to do this.

Are you doing any training right now for track and field, or are you fully focused on Dancing With the Stars?

I am weightlifting a little bit, but honestly, I had a mentor [Heinrich Popow] who was on the German version of Dancing With the Stars. He was an amputee and was also a former gold medalist in my same event. He told me, “Be very careful how much work you do outside of the dance studio, because you’re going to be putting so much stress on your body. You don’t want to risk injury.” We’re being pretty strategic to not do too much outside of the rehearsal studio right now. I’m all in on dance.

You’ve been in the spotlight as an athlete, and you’ve also done advocacy work throughout your adolescence. What has it been like being introduced to this new level of exposure that comes with Dancing With the Stars?

I mean, Dancing With the Stars is another level. The fanbase is so amazing and massive, and it is so beautiful to see the love and support. Honestly, this is definitely a journey that is a roller coaster of emotions. There’s so much going on, and the support I’ve felt, it’s just so special. I’m beyond grateful.

How do you think your background, not only as an athlete, but somebody who has been in the public eye has been helpful during your time on the show?

When I step into the ballroom, it feels the same way I’ve always felt my whole life when I step onto the track and I’m about to compete. That has been helpful just in the athlete mentality, of course, that Amber and I have, and it translates in a different way. Of course, I’m not necessarily running full speed for 100 meters when I’m on the dance floor. It’s a little bit more intricate, delicate, artistic.

You are partnered with Daniella and Amber is with Pasha. A lot of fans think the mirrorball might end up in the Pashkov-Karagach household. With that expectation and how great you both have done, does that put an added level of pressure on your couples, or do you think being partnered with somebody who has a husband competing on the show has allowed for more collaboration between your couples?

Definitely more collaboration. It feels like we’re going through this side by side. Of course, you know, everyone’s super excited for us on social media, and it means a lot to Amber and I. I saw a couple funny videos of people saying that we need to do what they did in the Hunger Games, and like eat the berries and split the trophy. But no, Amber and I are teammates in this, and she’s so amazing. And Pasha and Dani collaborate obviously with each other all the time; they are married, they are each other’s rocks, so Amber and I have become really, really close throughout this experience.

It’s cool because in an experience that can super easily feel overwhelming to have so many eyes on you at all times and we’re doing this thing that is out of our comfort zone in some ways, to have somebody who you feel like is on the same team with you, navigating with you, it’s really special. I really cherish Amber and I’s friendship. And you know, we take it one week at a time. We have to dance every week like it’s our last. We focus one week at a time, but of course it would be really special if we had the opportunity to get to the finale together.

If you did win the show, you would be the first amputee to ever win Dancing With the Stars. What would winning the show mean to you?

Of course, getting the opportunity to make the finale, to win the show, to get to represent the disabled community in that way and become the first amputee to win Dancing With the Stars would be very, very special, and would mean a lot to myself and hopefully to all people with disabilities and the community as a whole. That’s the motivating factor; is representing my people well, representing this contingent of the population that I feel hasn’t had proper representation in mainstream media and doesn’t feel maybe properly included in society. That’s the motivation for even being on the show in the first place, is [to] represent them well. And then hopefully in the process, if I can go out there and do some fun dances, maybe people all over America, their perception of disability will change ever so slightly. That’s really important to me.

I’ve seen videos of young kids watching you dance and being inspired by you. How does that feel to know that you are inspiring such a vast majority of people as you take on Dancing With the Stars?

So so so special. I watch those videos all the time —

You’re always in the comments.

I try to be. First of all, watching videos where I get to see people with disabilities cheering me on is so special for me. But then also, if I get to send a little bit of love back and respond and say how appreciative I am for them, [that] takes two, three seconds out of my day. It just creates a beautiful love and energy back and forth, so I feel like it’s always worth it. I try to respond every time I see a video or something like that.

But seeing those videos and the support from all over social media, I mean, I just watched this video recently of this little kid who has a hand difference and he’s jumping up and down on his couch and watching me, and that warms my heart. That’s the type of stuff that brings a tear to my eye, and that’s the motivator. That’s what’s fueling my fire.

What do you and Dani have planned for Disney Night?

We are dancing a samba to The Little Mermaid, which will be a lot of fun. Everybody online, one of the weeks earlier in the season, said I look like Prince Eric all over social media because I slick my hair back (laughs). And so now we’re doing a samba to Little Mermaid “Under the Sea,” and it’ll be a lot of fun. It’s a classic, so gotta do it right.

Was this already picked out for you to do a Little Mermaid inspired number, or did that spark after the social media of it all?

I honestly think we were back and forth between a couple options, but the social media love around Prince Eric, I think, guided us in the right direction.

What is your favorite part of the full week process of Dancing With the Stars?

Live show day, 100 percent.

What has been your favorite dance so far that you’ve performed?

Our week two cha cha.

What has been the hardest dance style to learn so far?

Our salsa was probably the hardest, but now it’s going to be the samba (laughs.)

What is the greatest piece of advice that somebody has given you that you’ve applied and taken into Dancing With the Stars?

Be as present as humanly possible.

What is the number one thing you have learned from your partnership with Dani?

Oh, I’ve learned so much from my partnership with Dani. She is a special, special human being. The main thing that I’ve learned is her motto is trust the process. So we put a lot of work in, we trust the process. We work as hard as possible, and then we go out there and give it our all. But definitely trusting the process, trusting our work has been a great lesson.

Describe season 35 of Dancing With the Stars in one word.

Electric.

You’re in the Dancing With the Stars world right now. You’re also training for the next Paralympics. Is there anything else that you want to tease for your future?

We have a nonprofit, Angel City Sports. We do sports for people with physical disabilities in Southern California. So anybody that has a physical disability and wants to come out and try sport. Also we have a documentary called Adaptive, which aired after the last Paralympics in Paris, and we’re in the process of filming season two to L.A. 2028, and that will eventually air at some point. But fun things in the pipeline, and obviously focused on dancing right now.

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Season 35 of DWTS airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m., simulcasting across ABC and Disney+, and streaming the next day on Hulu. Read all of THR‘s DWTS coverage here.