Eric Roberts and his dance partner Britt Stewart have revealed to Newsweek how they hope to win votes during this season of Dancing with the Stars.
This year, celebrities competing for the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy include Beverly Hills, 90210 actor Tori Spelling paired with Pasha Pashkov, Real Housewives of Atlanta star Phaedra Parks competing with pro Val Chmerkovskiy, Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher competing with Alan Bersten, and many more.
Roberts—Emma Roberts’ father and Julia Roberts’ brother—has finally made his long-awaited Dancing with the Stars debut after first being asked to join the show 19 years ago. However, a scheduling conflict came up and he had to decline.
Now he’s been paired with Stewart, who first joined the show as a troupe member in Season 23 and remained in that role until Season 27. In Season 29, she made history as the first Black female professional dancer on the show.
In a conversation with Newsweek, the pair revealed how social media plays a core part of their strategy for the program.
Promo photo for Eric Roberts and Britt Stewart for ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” The duo have shared their voting strategy for Season 33 of the competition show.
Andrew Eccles/Disney
Stewart explained that showing off your personality and “having fun on social media” is a “really fun part of what I get to do each fall.”
Roberts added: “Yesterday she did the coolest thing. We were doing an ident [a short piece of video] where we’re doing advertising for the show. And she got splashed with a bucket of water—it was so cool.”
Roberts is referring to a viral TikTok trend that the duo incorporated into their social media strategy. The clip sees a coconut being cut open before the camera cuts to Stewart being splashed with water, representing the insides of the fruit.
After Stewart tries to wipe away the water, Roberts joins her on screen, saying: “Please vote for team—what’s our team name?”
“It’s Team Brightside,” Stewart said before Roberts added: “Brightside! Vote for Team Brightside so this does not happen again. Because it will.”
Stewart told Newsweek that the duo plans to leverage social media throughout the competition. By harnessing the power of platforms like Instagram and TikTok, they aim to engage with their audience, share behind-the-scenes moments and showcase their journey—and encourage people to vote.
“Yes, we have a very strategic strategy for our voting. And so yes, the coconut and the water was the first one of the series,” Stewart said.
“And I’m just going to tell people to like, keep voting for us to keep seeing those videos.”
When asked who they think will win this year—aside from themselves—Roberts said he thinks Olympic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik and Joey Graziadei from The Bachelor are in with a chance.
“That gymnast guy is pretty spectacular to watch. And as far as, like, the physicality goes, I pick him,” he said.
He went on to highlight Graziadei’s impressive debut routine with pro Jenna Johnson. The duo performed a cha cha to “Dancin’ In The Country” by Tyler Hubbard.
“But the cowboy guy, he jumped up with a woman standing up. It was kind of impressive too. He’s very graceful, but he’s also very masculine with his moves; he’s cool,” Roberts shared.
“It’s hard to know, but I’m gonna pick one of those two guys because they are extremely adept in physicality.”
However, Stewart picked Chandler Kinney from the TV series Pretty Little Liars, who is partnered with Brandon Armstrong.
“I mean, if you’re not talking about us, I’m still reaching for the stars Eric, you never know you never know,” she explained.
“I’d love to see Brandon win. And then I think Chandler, she is such a sweet girl. Their tango [on September 17], I mean, they were the top score of the night.
“And then I just have to say it, you know, being the only and first Black female pro on the show, we haven’t seen a Black woman win since Amber Riley, which was a very long time ago, and there’s only been one in 33 seasons.”
“And you got stuck with me,” Roberts quipped before Stewart responded: “Don’t worry, Eric, I’ll get my shot. But yeah, I’d love to see that. I’d love to see a Black female win the Mirrorball [Trophy] again.”
