'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star Phaedra Parks and 'Dancing With the Stars' pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy chat with THR and talk about rehearsals so far. Plus, Phaedra talks returning to RHOA.
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00:00What a pairing! How has it been so far? How have rehearsals been going? You guys have only had one or two rehearsals, right?
00:06Two.
00:07How would you describe rehearsals? How would you describe your dancing on a scale from one to ten?
00:12Well, I'll let him judge the dancing because he's the professional, but the rehearsals are definitely intense.
00:19No less than four hours, so that's a lot of dancing.
00:25How would you describe Phaedra Bell?
00:29Impressive. Very impressive. As an attorney, mortuary, preacher.
00:38Not preaching!
00:40Okay, I'll take it.
00:42She's always preaching the good things in life. She's just super positive. Hopefully we can add dancers to the list soon.
00:51Have you given her any advice about being a part of this journey in general? Or you know the drill?
00:58Well, you know, he's an awesome teacher, but he has said, you know, just be yourself and enjoy it.
01:07And you know, just be vulnerable. And so I'm not always good with that.
01:11Is there a song or an artist that you're looking forward to dancing to this season, hopefully?
01:18Oh, there's quite a few.
01:20Whitney Houston would be nice.
01:25We can't give away too many songs.
01:28Here's something. I know there's a lot of fun theme nights that happen every season.
01:33If you could come up with your own theme night for both of you guys, what would it be?
01:41I like eras like the 80s or the 90s. I love a theme party like that.
01:47I like that. I'm down with 90s. 90s hip hop.
01:52Do you feel like there's any main competitors this season? I know the athletes tend to do really well.
01:58But I also know Jenna and Joey, they're always competitors for you, Val, every season.
02:04So how do you feel like they're going to fare this season?
02:07I hope they do well. You know, a win for my lady is a win for me.
02:12So hopefully they'll do well, just not better than us.
02:18100%. Do you guys help each other out with choreography?
02:21Or is it like strictly when the season's on, it's like a house divided?
02:25No, it's definitely a house divided, but we cross over sometimes and help each other.
02:30AJ, I finally wanted to ask, you're back at Housewives after I think six seasons away.
02:36So what's it like to be back?
02:38It's been really fun. Obviously the cast is a little different.
02:42We've got three newbies, and so it's been fun. I'm enjoying it.
02:47We just wrapped season 16, and so it's really going to be something to watch.