‘His fear is PALPABLE’: A snake in the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ rehearsal studio leaves one contestant scared for his life

To our surprise, one of the frontrunners of Dancing With the Stars season 33 is former New England Patriots player Danny Amendola, kicking a** — for lack of a better phrase — with his stellar dancing skills episode after episode.

Now, with “Halloween Nightmares Night” quickly approaching, it looks like the 38-year-old has hit a major speed bump that might hinder his performance, causing him to fall flat for the first time all season…

For those who are unfamiliar with his journey thus far, Danny and his professional dance partner, Witney Carson, began Dancing With the Stars with a 20 out of 30 for their Tango to Shaboozey & David Guetta’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

To follow, their scores increased drastically, earning a 21 out of 30 for their Jive to Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” during “Oscars Night,” a 30 out of 40 for their Foxtrot to The Jackson 5’s “Dancing Machine” during “Soul Train Night,” a 30 out of 40 (yet again) for their Paso Doble to Bon Jovi ‘s “Livin’ On A Prayer” during “Hair Metal Night,” and a 36 out of 40 for their Contemporary to X Ambassadors’ “Unsteady (Erich Lee Gravity Remix)” during “Dedications Night.”

Topping the leaderboard during “Dedications Night,” history repeated itself during “Disney Night” as well, as the duo earned the same score and topped the leaderboard with their Jazz to “Bye Bye Bye” from Deadpool & Wolverine.

Unfortunately for Danny and Witney, “Halloween Nightmares Night” tomorrow (Oct. 29) might be a different story…

For “Halloween Nightmares Night” on Dancing With the Stars, “the remaining seven couples get into the Halloween spirit with hair-raising transformations and spine-tingling routines for a night of fright and fun,” each facing their biggest fear during their individual dance. As far as Danny and Witney’s routine goes, the duo will perform an Argentine Tango to “Poison” by RAVN based on the former football player’s fear of snakes.

In order to get in the right mindset for the performance, Witney brought a snake into rehearsals to help her celebrity dance partner get accustomed to the creature he is so afraid of. Needless to say, the moment was as hilarious as can be:

Naturally, Dancing With the Stars fans had a field day with this TikTok video, laughing at how afraid of the snake Danny — who typicallu maintains a calm, cool, and collected demeanor — was:

“His fear is PALPABLE 😂”

“The way you can tell how scared he is 😭 I love him”

“The way he just lets go 😭 Witney is an icon though”

“Love how Witney is chill and Danny is like ‘No thanks!’ 😅”

Now, we have just one burning question: Was the snake strictly for training purposes, or will it make its way into the routine somehow?

To find out for yourself, catch “Halloween Nightmares Night” on Dancing With the Stars tomorrow at 8pm ET/PT on either ABC or Disney Plus, with next-day streaming via Hulu as well. After that, be sure to catch brand-new episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series every Tuesday afterwards.

Who knows, perhaps Danny and Witney will even bring home the Mirrorball Trophy!