The unlikely but heartwarming friendship between hip-hop legend Flavor Flav and Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles reached a new high on ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ After publicly supporting Chiles through her Olympic disappointment in Paris, Flavor Flav was on hand for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night to cheer her on.
This latest chapter in their story saw the rapper not just as a fan in the crowd, but as a guest judge with a special role in her performance.
How Did Flavor Flav Show His Support for Jordan Chiles on ‘Dancing With The Stars’?
Ahead of the show, the Public Enemy icon took to Instagram to share a video of himself embracing Chiles. He captioned the video with a clear message of support:
“We Rockin and Rollin already at @dancingwiththestars First person I seen is my girl @jordanchiles,”
As a guest judge for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Night, Flavor Flav watched as Chiles and her partner, Ezra Sosa, performed a jazz routine to Tina Turner’s “River Deep – Mountain High.”
The performance was a hit, earning a score of 38 out of 40, and Flavor Flav himself awarded Chiles one of her two perfect 10s for the week. That score was high enough to secure their spot in Week 9 of the competition, which is set to conclude at the end of the month.
How Is Chiles Moving Past Her Olympic Disappointment?
This success on the dance floor comes after a difficult period for the gymnast, who previously opened up about the emotional toll of having her Olympic bronze medal stripped away at the Paris Olympics. In an interview with KPBS, Chiles did not hold back about the experience.
“I was devastated. I was crying. I felt like every single time I would accomplish something, something would be stripped away from me. And I had a part in my book, I explain that the same thing happened to me at a younger age when I got an award and it got stripped away from me. So to me, it was like a full circle moment. My life had kind of spiraled. It was just a very hard moment. And I never knew that I was going to have to go through that.”
To cope with the aftermath, Chiles said she focused on her academics at UCLA and used fun activities as a distraction. Now, with two Olympic medals already to her name, she is looking ahead to the LA Olympics in 2028 for a chance to add to her collection.