Daniella Karagach says Pasha DWTS is not a rivalry. After the Sept. 15 premiere of Dancing With the Stars season 35, she drew a sharp line between competition on the floor and marriage at home: “We're not competing against each other, literally he's my teammate,” she told E! News' Will Marfuggi.
Karagach and Pashkov
“He's my partner. He's my rock,” Karagach said, adding, “It's just never a competition.” The 12-year marriage has become a working relationship inside season 35, with Karagach partnered with Ezra Frech and Pashkov paired with Amber Glenn. That setup gives the show an unusual built-in contrast: two pros in the same season, but on separate competitive tracks.
Karagach said the distance between those tracks disappears once rehearsal ends. “He's either helping me or I'm helping him,” she said, and the four of them “have dinner together.” After that, “We go to our house and just unwind,” she said. “It's just the best time. It doesn't feel like a competition.”
Season 35 scores
20 points for Karagach and Frech helped set the immediate stakes after the premiere. Their tango to Kelly Clarkson's “Since U Been Gone” placed them in second behind Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson, who earned 21 points. That scoreboard gives the husband-wife storyline a concrete edge: Karagach is still chasing the top of the leaderboard while Pashkov is navigating the same season from a different pairing.
3-year-old Nikita is part of that same rhythm at home. Ezra Frech called Pasha Pashkov and Amber Glenn “amazing human beings,” and said, “This is a human experience.” The season now has a clear pressure point: two married pros, two different partners, and one weekly scoreboard that keeps sorting the pairs without changing the relationship between them.
