Ciara Miller pirouetted into Carrie Ann Inaba’s heart on Dancing With the Stars.
After the Summer House star and her pro partner Brandon Armstrong performed a foxtrot to Whitney Houston’s "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" on night two of the show’s season 35 premiere, she brought Inaba to tears, with the DWTS judge sharing why felt moved.
“You made me cry because I can see the pain that you have. I can feel it,” Inaba told Miller following her performance on the Sept. 16 episode. “This is the beautiful thing about dance, is that it gives you a place to express that.”
“I think that you are a stunning dancer,” she continued tearfully. “Did you see how [you] grew from the beginning to the end? Did you see that smile and how you lit it up? Your lines are beautiful.”
Ultimately, Inaba emphasized that she doesn’t want Miller to give up.
“I want you to go continue this journey,” she said. “I want you to believe in yourself. I want you to do that because you are a beautiful dancer, and it's all coming back.”
And when asked about the touching feedback by co-host Julianne Hough, Miller—whose friend group imploded when her ex West Wilson entered a secret relationship with her best friend Amanda Batula—became emotional while sharing that the words hit home.
“It's a lot of build-up for a big moment,” the reality star explained, “but I feel like it's the start of a new chapter.”
“I want to have fun moving forward,” she continued. “But I just wanted to leave everything on the floor tonight, and this was really for my friends that held me up over the past year in my community.”
Indeed, before she took the dance floor, Miller—whose pals Lindsay Hubbard and Mia Calabrese were in the ballroom for her first dance—detailed the inspiration behind her emotional performance, expressing her gratitude toward those who supported her during a dark time in her life.
“There were days and nights with my friends, behind closed doors, that were hard—really hard—to get through,” she wrote in an Sept. 16 Instagram post, “and I'm eternally grateful to them, because without them, I wouldn't be walking out on this stage tonight.”
“This dance is for my village who have held me up, and allowed me the space exhale,” Miller continued. “No lights. No cameras. Behind closed doors.”
To see who Miller and Armstrong are competing against for the Mirrorball Trophy, keep reading…
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The Love Island UK alum is hoping her love for DWTS doesn't betray her as she manifested this experience.
"I have a vision board and I redo it every year," she told E! News in May. "This year is the first year that I stayed at home by myself on New Year's Eve. I did not go out at all. I made myself a bowl of pasta and a glass of red wine and I redid my vision board for the year. Dancing With the Stars was already on it from the year before. However, I added five more Dancing With the Stars on the board."