Swimsuit

Alix Earle Channels Her Inner Disney Villain for Marvelously Moody ‘DWTS’ Performance

The first-ever SI Swimsuit digital cover model’s fourth dance tied for the second-place spot on the leaderboard this week.

Bailey Colon

Alix Earle
Alix Earle / Eric McCandless/Disney/Getty Images

Before Alix Earle completed her Week 4 routine on Dancing With The Stars with her partner Val Chmerkovskiy, the SI Swimsuit model revealed that the duo’s Maleficent-inspired number wasn’t the initial plan.

On Tuesday, the first-ever SI Swimsuit digital cover model told her TikTok account, revealing to her followers that the original idea for the number—which ultimately notched a trio of 8s from the show’s judges—centered around the 2010 film Tangled. However, her mindset ultimately shifted in the hope of instead highlighting her versatility on the ballroom floor.

“I wanted to really show a different character [and] that I can, like, take on a different role for the dance,” she explained. Then, she “came across [the song] Once Upon a Dream by Lana [Del Ray].” The 24-year-old continued, “I couldn’t stop playing it in the car, and I was like, you know what? We might have to do this.”

The pivot paid off, as Earle and Chmerkovskiy landed the second-highest scores of the night in a three-way tie with Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten, and fellow 2025 SI Swimsuit model Jordan Chiles with her dance partner Ezra Sosa. Actually, Chiles—who snagged her own front-page spot in the magazine back in May—paid homage to another princess, as the pairing performed a quickstep to “Special Spice” from Tiana’s Bayou Adventure ride at Disneyland.

The group in second place trailed Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas, who edged out the competition by one point for a score of 25/30. The pair also secured the lone 9 rating of the night—and the first 9 of the competition so far—from judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

However, several fans declared that they believed Earle and Chmerkovskiy should have scored higher than their final tally, voicing their opinions on Instagram:

“This needed at LEAST one 9!!!” One fan exclaimed, with over 2,800 users liking the comment in agreement.

“robbed from the first 9s of the season,” another fan added.

One user exclaimed, “if that dance didn’t get at least a 9- idk what will !! they KILLED IT.”

Perhaps Week 5 will be the duo’s lucky night, as they return to the ballroom for “Dedication Night” on Oct. 14. While information is limited on their upcoming number so far, the theme is a fan-favorite, as celebrity contestants devote their performance at the midway point of the season to a loved one.

To see every score from this Tuesday night’s episode, along with which couple will not be returning to the ballroom next week, check out our live recap here.

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Bailey Colon
BAILEY COLON

Bailey Colón is a writer on the Breaking and Trending News team for SI Swimsuit. Before joining SI Swimsuit, Colón worked at the National Basketball Association where she served as a founding member of the ‘Starting 5’ newsletter and led editorial operations for the NBA App and dotcom. Colón is particularly passionate about the impact of athletics on popular culture, fashion and media. The New England native has a bachelor’s degree from Marist College in journalism and political science.

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