Hayes Grier scores his highest marks yet on ‘DWTS’

If Hayes Grier continues to improve as a dancer at his current rate, the 15-year-old “social media sensation” will be the best competitor on “Dancing With the Stars” by this time next month.

Grier and professional dance partner Emma Slater received a total score of 23 from the judging panel on the live show Tuesday night, one night after getting a 22 for their foxtrot and eight days removed from the 21 they earned for a cha cha in the season premiere.

Despite being “pretty nervous” about doing a quickstep to Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?,” Grier – wearing a black suit with rhinestone accents, a white shirt, a skinny black tie and sneakers – moved as confidently as we’ve seen him move on the dance floor and seemed to have muted some of his gawkiness.

There’s still an undercurrent of awkwardness to his general presence on the show. Slater, 26, continues to wear outfits that bare lots of cleavage when they pair up (although I suspect that’s more for the viewing audience than anything else); and the judges won’t stop ribbing each other about having a crush on him.

It’s easy to forget that this kid from Mooresville is, well, just a kid – not even yet old enough to drive. And it’s easy to forget the double-standard at play: If this were a 15-year-old girl, there’d likely be an outcry if her male partner danced shirtless, or if host Tom Bergeron cracked that he had the hots for her.

Anyway, I digress. The judges did have constructive comments.

Julianne Hough, who scored their dance a 7: “It was fresh, it was youthful, it was everything that you two as a couple are together. I still want to get that booty and just smack it right under.” (This sounded worse than it actually was. She just meant Grier sticks it out too much when he dances.)

Bruno Tonioli (8): “It was hip, it was cool, you have a joyful energy of youth. ... I’m telling you, you are going out there like a model. OK? You were just like a supermodel. ... The posture was better, the bum has to go in a little bit more, but it was absolutely your best dance.”

Carrie Ann Inaba (8): “I love the way you exploded out here. You got right into hold. It was fresh, but it was also classic because you stayed in hold the whole way through. ... You’ve got to work on your feet, though, because the toning of your feet sometimes ... they’ve got their own dance going on. But other than that, it was fantastic.”

Tuesday night was a continuation of “Hometown Glory” week. Grier got to pick the song Monday night (Florida Georgia Line’s “This Is How We Roll”); Slater – who grew up in Tamworth, England – chose Tuesday’s tune, which she said reminded her of her twin sister.

But her intro package wasn’t as much about Tamworth as it was about British accents, with her prompting Grier to mimic her pronounciation of words like “tomato,” “banana” and ... “spotted dick.”

“Have you not heard of spotted dick?” she asked her teenage partner. “That’s a British pudding.”

That’s also, by the way, a colossally unfortunate name for anything in the eyes of Americans – no matter what their age.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Hayes Grier scores his highest marks yet on ‘DWTS’."