Joe Amabile Says He ‘Almost Killed’ Partner Jenna Johnson on DWTS

Joe Amabile

took a trip down memory lane with Dancing With the Stars partner Jenna Johnson and confessed that not all of their time together was fun.

“Remember when I almost snapped your neck?” Amabile, 38, asked Johnson, 30, during the Saturday, December 16, episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast.

Johnson didn’t skip a beat, revealing that the near accident happened during season 27’s Halloween episode.

“I almost killed you. I swear on my life, she almost died,” Amabile told listeners. “It was insane.”

Looking back, Amabile remembered messing up at the very end of their Frankenstein-themed Argentine tango. After only spinning Johnson 180 degrees, her body tensed up. Amabile could no longer extend his reach, so the professional dancer had to abort the backflip and flip forward to avoid hitting her head.

“Honestly, Joe, that was your best dance, and it was the ending move. We had just one lift,” Johnson reassured him, explaining, “He put his arm in the wrong spot. I was going to do a backflip. I don’t know how I did that.”

Amabile noted that his arms getting stuck “was the only thing I couldn’t do” in the routine or we’d mess up. “It was the only position I couldn’t lift her in,” he explained, teasing he was warned, “Just don’t do this” before taking the stage and “it was what I did.”

Johnson and Amabile were paired together for season 27 of the competition series, which aired in 2018. The duo were the eighth couple eliminated, exiting the show after the semifinals.

Although Johnson didn’t seem fazed by her near-catastrophic experience with Amabile, she revealed she was hoping to be partnered with a football player instead of another Bachelor Nation star after their time together.

Rumors surfaced earlier this year that Johnson was unhappy she was paired with Bachelor alum Joey Graziadei over an NFL player for season 33. (Danny Amendola joined the show as Witney Carson’s partner.)

“I’ve never had a football player. I’ve always wanted to partner with them because, again, they’re athletic, they are totally down to be coached and yelled at,” she explained. “It’s a lot of hours. So they’ve had that experience. And then also they’re usually pretty big and strong, so they can lift the girl all over the place.”

Amabile’s wife and cohost, Serena Pitt, teased that his mess up just proved why an NFL player would be a great partner moving forward.

“This is why she wants a football player,” Pitt, 27, joked. “She’s like, ‘They would never do that to me.’”

Johnson insisted that her time with both Amabile and Graziadei, 29, were equally fun, even if Amabile didn’t win. (Johnson and Graziadei won the Mirrorball trophy in November.)

“Our season was one of my favorite seasons,” Johnson said of Amabile. “Your dance experience wasn’t the best. I had so much fun every day in rehearsal with you because you were just so down.”

She gushed, “We laughed so hard. I feel like because there were no expectations dance-wise we were just like, ‘Let’s just go do this!’”