Ezra Frech says Amy Purdy’s support is fueling his run on Ezra Frech Dancing with the Stars season 35. The 21-year-old Paralympian is competing alongside Daniella Karagach, and the exchange between two amputees on the show has quickly become part of the season’s broader representation story.
Frech and Karagach tied for first place on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with 12 out of 30. That result gave his comments more weight, because it came while he was still building momentum on TV and after Purdy had already publicly backed him.
Purdy’s season 18 precedent
Purdy’s connection to the show runs through season 18, when she competed with Derek Hough and finished in second place. She is 46 and a double below-the-knee amputee, which places her among the few disabled competitors who have already shown what a long run on the series can look like.
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, she wrote that she had been “emotional in the best way” thinking about Frech on DWTS and said that watching him speak openly and confidently about normalizing disability moved her more than she expected. She also wrote, “I’m just so moved by the way @ezrafrech is showing up in the world.”
Frech on representation
Frech answered that support after DWTS “Yacht Rock Night” on Tuesday, Sept. 30. “I have a lot of love for Amy,” he said. “Getting her love each week is fueling,” he said, adding, “That’s a dear friend of mine.”
He also tied the moment to the show’s limited disability pipeline: “She and Noah [Galloway], and every person with a disability that’s been on the show, have paved the way for this to be possible so that kids can dream big, see somebody like themselves on the TV screen.” The mechanism is simple enough to matter: visibility on a mainstream competition changes who can imagine the next audition, the next routine, and the next public vote.
Sept. 15 and what follows
Before the season 35 premiere on Sept. 15, Frech wrote that it meant the world to him to represent the disabled community on such a powerful stage. Purdy, who said she was not yet confident enough to speak openly about her disability when she competed, described a different path on the show: she said she could only show up, work as hard as she could, and let people see what was possible.
That contrast gives this season its edge. Purdy opened a door by competing; Frech is using the same stage to talk directly about disability while still chasing scores with Karagach. How far they advance in season 35 is the open question, but the impact is already visible in the way one former contestant’s backing now feeds the current run.
