‘Dancing With the Stars’ Contestants Get Teary-Eyed Recalling Their ‘Most Memorable Year’

The ABC reality show’s recurring theme usually marks the most emotional episode of the season

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(Spoiler alert: Please do not read on if you haven’t watched Monday’s “Dancing With the Stars”)

Another day, another devastating elimination on “Dancing With the Stars.”

Season 24 of the ABC hit reality competition asked contestants to recall their “most memorable year” on Monday, which has become a “heart-touching” tradition for the show.

But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean that another contestant wasn’t sent packing. And that unfortunate hopeful in the race for the Mirror Ball was  …

… “A-Team” Mr. T, despite a dance that was his best so far.

Earlier, Normani Kordei recalled when she got a big break in the music business, and got a backup from her Fifth Harmony bandmates for her Rumba. But while Len Goodman thought he “needed more,” the rest of the judges liked her touching performance.

Nick Viall didn’t have to dig too far back into his memory, saying 2016 was his favorite year as he finally found love courtesy of another ABC show, “The Bachelor.”

“This was your best dance, calm down and keep up the good work,” Julianne Hough told him. “Now I have seen you with your shirt off, we’ve so much in common,” Goodman quipped.

Nancy Kerrigan had a very public “bad year” when she was clubbed in the knee in 1994, but she chose a different series of incidents to focus on — suffering six miscarriages. “I almost felt shameful,” she said, breaking down in tears.

“You are dancing on your edge,” Carrie-Ann Inaba told her, while Goodman believes that Kerrigan went from “being in the pack, to being a front-runner.”

Before his surprise elimination, Mr. T recalled 1995 when he was diagnosed with cancer. “I had achieved what I wanted to achieve … then everything stopped,” the “A-Team” star said, before dancing the Waltz to “Amazing Grace.”

The water works were pouring, as Inaba told him that he was winning their hearts. “Your faith radiated out of you during that dance,” she said.

Former “Glee” actress Heather Morris chose 2015 as the year she got married to her former high school classmate, Taylor, opting to perform to her wedding song “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon.

“Sharp, crisp, great hip action … I thought it was lovely,” Goodman said of the fun routine.

Not surprisingly, David Ross said that 2016 when the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year World Series drought was his best ever, and it was also the year he retired from baseball. The former MLB pro was joined by teammate Anthony Rizzo before dancing to “Forever Young.”

“You still have the vitality of a spring chicken and the impetus of a teenager on a first day,” Bruno Tonioli told the baseball champ, despite a bit of hopping and skipping.

NFL player Rashad Jennings shared his tumultuous relationship with his estranged father, up until the year when his dad suffered a stroke and had his leg amputated in 2006. “It was bigger than football … my dad got lost at one point, but I was happy to be there for him,” Jennings said.

“I was mesmerized,” Tonioli said. “It was like one of the great artists painting one of the most beautiful works of art expressed through dance.”

Reality star Erika Jayne’s hardest time was when she first moved to Los Angeles to try and break into Hollywood, sparking a Cha Cha to Madonna’s “Express Yourself.”

“You show up as you … you are bold and you are fearless,” Inaba said after the raunchy routine.

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, 20, doesn’t have as many years as the other contestants to pick from, so she went for the year 2000 when she was adopted by her grandparents. Yep, that is a pretty momentous life moment.

“Sometimes being perfect is not the story we need to tell,” Hough said of Bile’s tearful performance.

Needless to say, professional bull rider Bonner Bolton said his most memorable year was 2016 — when he nearly died in a devastating accident that snapped his neck.

“I just sort of landed upside down on my head,” he said. “That bull could have totally finished me off right there.”

The work paid of as Tonioli said “we have a new leading man in town, it was perfectly pitched to show off what this boy can do.”

“Welcome to the competition,” Goodman added.

“Dancing With the Stars” airs Mondays on ABC.

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