On the July 27 episode of the spinoff series, Stephani Sosa accidentally hit fellow contestant Natalie Jolley in the face, unexpectedly sending her home
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Ezra-Sosa-Stephani-Sosa-072826-709c5e8d806b4f559bd7a1d8652502d8.jpg "Ezra Sosa; Stephani Sosa")
Credit: Jesse Grant/Variety via Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- On the July 27 episode of Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, contestant Natalie Jolley was eliminated after Stephani Sosa accidentally hit her in the face, causing injury
- Following backlash from fans, Ezra Sosa came to his sister’s defense in the comments, saying, “This happens all the time”
- Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro airs Mondays on ABC
Ezra Sosa is coming to his sister Stephani Sosa‘s defense.
On the Monday, July 27, episode of Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, Stephani, 26, accidentally hit fellow contestant Natalie Jolley in the face. Jolley, 20, was wheeled into an ambulance and was absent from rehearsals and performances for the rest of the episode.
After the week’s final showcase, judge Shirley Ballas announced that neither of the bottom two dancers would be eliminated. Instead, Jolley was sent home because she had not been “medically cleared” to continue in the competition.
Fans of the spinoff show took to social media to express their thoughts on the decision to eliminate Jolley.
Credit: ABC
Under a TikTok video of the moment Stephani hit Jolley, one fan commented, “Stephani should’ve been the one who left not Natalie.” Another wrote, “Girl. Say sorry. Damn,” while another commented, “How is she not aware of her spacing? This is ground for elimination.”
Responding to commenters, Ezra defended his sister.
“This comment section…,” the Dancing With the Stars pro wrote. “My sister apologized to Natalie they didn’t air it. Also this happens all the time when you are rehearsing.”
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Following his response, Ezra shared a video of him and Stephani reacting to the scene in the episode, writing “Reacting to my sister bitch slapping another contestant on DWTS: The Next Pro” over it.
As footage of Stephani hitting Jolley in the eye plays, the brother-and-sister duo both cover their faces in shock and awkwardly laugh. Ezra turns to Stephani and says, “Steph, why did you do that?”
“Steph, that’s bad,” he says as Stephani nods in agreement. “You didn’t tell me you bitch slapped her. That’s bad. Poor girl.” Stephani says, “I feel so bad.”
Credit: Brian Friedman/Dick Clark Productions via Getty
In a confessional on the episode, Stephani said, “I don’t know what happened. The dance was moving so quickly, and Natalie got hit in the face. I just hate being the one that caused that.”
“Like, I just feel horrible,” she added, tearing up. “I know she’s worked really hard to be here, and I hope she’s okay.”
Jolley was the third contestant to be eliminated from DWTS: The Next Pro, following Benjamin Castro and Briar Nolet.
Speaking to PEOPLE at the series premiere watch party in Los Angeles earlier this month, Ezra — who has been a pro dancer on DWTS for two seasons — revealed the advice he gave Stephani ahead of her turn on the spinoff.
“Just to be a pro, there’s so much that goes behind it,” he explained. “I feel like the biggest advice that I told my sister was that this competition is a pressure cooker. You have to make sure that you’re mentally okay if you’re going to actually thrive in this environment.”
Ezra shared that he sent her off with one message.
“‘If for whatever reason you become a pro, it’s gonna be based on your own merit,’” he said. “I feel like that was really important for me, really important for the show, and I’m just really excited to see her journey.”
Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and streams on Hulu.
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