Jenna Dewan and Val's samba to Toto's 'Africa' has viewers hunting for a mishap
The clip from Yacht Rock night opened at about fifteen times a usual first day for the show's channel, and its comments have become a recount of the judges' marks.
Dancing With The StarsStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 155,728 views a day, 15 times a normal first day on this channel (10,176).
Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy’s Yacht Rock Samba | Dancing with the Stars
"Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy's Yacht Rock Samba" is exactly what its title says: the actress and her pro partner dancing a samba to "Africa," Toto's 1982 hit. It is one of a run of Yacht Rock night clips the Dancing with the Stars channel posted on September 30, and it has moved fastest. In 23 hours it gathered more than 150,000 views, roughly fifteen times what a new upload there usually draws on its first day.
The rest of the evening's clips are not far behind. Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach's foxtrot to "Just the Two of Us" is the closest. Tyler Cameron's jive, Taylor Hanson's foxtrot and Tatyana Ali's quickstep to "Maneater" sit at roughly half of Dewan's total.
Dewan is no newcomer to a dance floor. She came up as a professional dancer, starred in the 2006 film Step Up, and later hosted NBC's World of Dance, where Derek Hough, now one of the judges at this table, sat on the panel.
That may explain the tone of the comments. Viewers spend less time on the dance than on the scores. Several say they rewatched the routine and still could not find the mishap Carrie Ann Inaba mentioned, others argue the samba deserved at least one 8, and one well-liked theory holds that the judges are strict with her because they expect so much. A smaller group wishes she had been given traditional samba music instead of a themed night. Then there is Val's hair, which turns up again and again.
Published on Trari
What viewers say
i think i'm blind, i do not see the mishap that carrie ann was talking about lol
@katelynmariee1See it on YouTubeI can’t get over Val’s hair 😍
@fba7089See it on YouTubeNow this choreography was perfect and well-executed...
And oh my God the samba rolls!!@LucyDS-y3vSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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- Channel
- Dancing With The Stars
- Subscribers
- 1,370,000
- Channel views, pace per day
- 627,321 (on a normal day: 523,451)
- Video published
- September 30, 2026
- Video views so far
- 154,384 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 155,728
The numbers
Here is how the samba's first day compares with what this channel's new uploads usually draw.
💡 Test your knowledge
Toto's "Africa," the song behind this samba, first appeared on which album?
"Africa" was released on Toto IV in 1982, the album that also includes "Rosanna" and won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
