The semi-finals of Dancing With the Stars brought a heartbreaking double elimination—and Gabby Windey opening up about her own broken heart.
The Nov. 14 episode tasked the remaining celebs and their pro partners with performing two dances—one ballroom, one Latin—for a spot in the DWTS finale.
As Gabby and partner Val Chmerkovskiy prepared their waltz routine to Des'ree's "I Am Kissing You," the Bachelorette star—whose breakup from fiancé Erich Schwer was revealed Nov. 4—explained why it meant so much to her.
"For me, it holds a special place because I did just go through a breakup," Gabby said. "The end of our relationship happened because we weren't completely in step and in sync with each other on our common goals or just the way we approach life. We weren't each other's best match."
While dancing through an admittedly difficult time, Gabby pointed to the positive role models in her life as inspiration, telling Val, "I'm just so grateful that my dad and my stepmom encompass so many fundamentals and values that I look for in a relationship."
As she and Val got ready to hit the dancefloor, Gabby told him, "I want to channel that kind of everlasting love in this dance."
Well, mission accomplished.
Their waltz earned them a perfect score of 40 and high praise from the entire judges' panel, including head judge Len Goodman, who later in the episode announced this season will be his final season on Dancing With the Stars.
That score combined with another perfect score for their paso doble routine later in the night earned them a tie for the top spot with Charli D'Amelio and her partner Mark Ballas and a spot in the Nov. 21 Dancing With the Stars finale.
Charli and Mark also earned their place in the finale, along with Wayne Brady and his partner Witney Carson, who announced her pregnancy earlier in the episode.
With those three couples securely in the finale, the bottom three was comprised of Drag Race star Shangela and her partner Gleb Savchenko, Trevor Donovan and his partner Emma Slater and Daniel Durant and his partner Britt Stewart.
Once the initial fan vote was combined with the judges' scores, Trevor and Emma were the first couple sent home.
Left in the hands of the judges, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba all voted to save Shangela and Gleb from elimination—and booked them a spot in the finale.
Find out who takes home the Mirrorball trophy when the Dancing With the Stars season finale streams live Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
For a full update on the latest DWTS scorecard, keep scrolling.