Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro contestant AJ Pritchard’s fiancée, Zara Zoffany, is clearing the air after her recent criticism of DWTS pro Rylee Arnold.
In a Monday, August 31, TikTok video, Zara, 32, apologized to Rylee, 21, over comments she previously shared on social media about the semifinal episode of DWTS: The Next Pro. Rylee made a guest appearance on the episode, dancing with AJ, 31, and later fed back to the judges that she felt AJ was too critical during their rehearsals.
After the episode aired, Zara claimed in a social media comment directed at Rylee that AJ “wouldn’t have had to critique you in the first place if everything had been right.” She also alleged that AJ suffered a concussion during rehearsals with Rylee. Rylee’s DWTS costar and friend, Ezra Sosa, fired back, defending the professional dancer, while DWTS: The Next Pro judge, Shirley Ballas, also came to Rylee’s defense.
In her video on Monday, Zara said that she has been frustrated about the “constant online videos” about AJ, “about his sexuality, about our relationship,” since The Next Pro began, calling the reaction to AJ from viewers overly “negative.”
“So when I got to the Riley edit, I was already up to here with how they’ve perceived him with the villain edit, with all the criticism, all the comments, all the TikToks,” she said.
“I just feel like there’s a fine line between criticism and confidence, and when you’re so confident in your craft and you know the textbook so well, you want it to be perfect,” Zara said in defense of AJ.
Zara said that Rylee has “earned” her spot on Dancing With the Stars, adding, “I just want to make it clear that I never said she wasn’t qualified. I think that stemmed from Ezra’s reply [to me] saying that she’s more than qualified … and I think that’s where those Chinese whispers were misconstrued.”
“So I just want to say, if you are watching this, Riley, from the bottom of my heart, I am truly sorry if I made you feel like a certain type of way. That was never my intention,” Zara said, addressing Rylee.
As for her earlier comment, Zara said, “I really don’t think that the message I wrote deserved this, and I feel like I don’t deserve this.”
Following the August 24 episode of The Next Pro, Zara took aim at Rylee’s criticism of AJ via an Instagram comment.
“[Rylee] — @aj11ace wouldn’t have had to critique you in the first place if everything had been right,” she wrote. “Dancing with Bailey [McKnight] last week showed how he danced with an amateur & their dance was amazing. This week was suppose [sic] to be dancing with a pro … very different dynamics & what people didn’t see in rehearsals was that you injured him when you hit him in the head, leaving with a slight concussion and needing to see a [doctor].”
Ezra, 25, responded, “I usually stay out of stuff like this, but this genuinely made me sick to my stomach. Rylee is my best friend, I love her and I will speak up for her. Rylee is more than qualified to be a pro, and one dance with a completely different partnership does not erase the years of training, talent and work that earned her that title.”
During Monday’s live The Next Pro finale, Adele Zaikman was victorious over AJ and Selena Hamilton. She is set to join the DWTS season 35 cast of pro dancers when the show returns on September 15.
