‘DWTS’ Gets Personal for Most Memorable Year Night! See the Scores:

Sharing their stories. The Dancing With the Stars contestants performed to songs that were released during the most memorable year of their lives during the Monday, October 17, episode.

After each star had a chance to talk about a year that shaped them, Jessie James Decker and Alan Bersten and Vinny Guadagnino and Koko Iwasaki had the lowest scores of the night. Following Selma Blair‘s announcement that she would be leaving the competition early amid health concerns due to her ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis, Tyra Banks explained that this week’s elimination will be pushed to the Tuesday, October 18, episode.

After finding themselves toward the end of the leaderboard last week, Trevor Donovan and Emma Slater wanted to bring genuine emotion to their jazz routine this time around. Donovan, 44, selected Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” from 2008, the year he was cast in 90210 after nearly giving up on acting.

Slater, 33, got emotional after hearing her partner share his experience during rehearsal. “It feels so nice for you to show up like this and be so committed and involved,” she said, tearing up.

Their hard work paid off and the duo earned their highest score thus far, a 32. “Without a doubt, Trevor, that was your best dance for me,” said judge Len Goodman. Carrie Ann Inaba revealed that she cried during the performance. “I could feel how hard you were trying,” she said.

Emotions continued to run high throughout the night with Gabby Windey dancing to JP Cooper’s “If the World Should Ever Stop” from 2020, the year that she worked as an ICU nurse during the Coronavirus crisis.

“I saw a lot of death, a lot of isolation. Especially since, like, [patients’] families couldn’t be there with them,” Windey, 31, told her partner Val Chmerkovskiy during rehearsal. “But none of our patients died alone. You know, you get to do that as a nurse.”

She continued: “As a nurse during COVID, I did feel like the world was ending at some points. Thankfully, it didn’t, and I get to dedicate this dance to the people that persevered through that hard time with me.”

The judges were moved by the routine and gave the pair a score of 36. Inaba, 54, told the Bachelorette alum that although her execution was “stunning,” she still wanted her to let go more. “I still sometimes feel a little bit of a disconnect,” she said.

Derek Hough told the Illinois native he would love to have someone like her for a nurse and said she was just “beaming with light.” When cohost Alfonso Ribeiro asked Chmerkovskiy, 36, about his partner’s greatest strength, he replied, “Derek kind of said it, her ability to make people laugh. … In hard times, laughter really is the place to go.”

Scroll through to see all the scores from Most Memorable Year Night: