Alix Earle Reveals 1 Part of “Wicked” Routine “DWTS” Partner Val Chmerkovskiy Had the Hardest Time Getting Right (Exclusive)

Some parts of performing live on television seem wicked hard!

On the Oct. 21 episode of Dancing with the Stars, contestants brought their best musical theater flair to the dance floor, as they competed in the show’s Wicked Night.

Joined by Wicked and Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu, who guest-judged the Oct. 21 episode, the couples danced their way through the movie musical’s iconic soundtrack.

Since no couple was cut during last week’s Dedication Night, the 10 remaining couples duked it out, hoping to survive the elimination. Unfortunately, Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying and pro Rylee Arnold were sent home at the end of the episode.

While Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy made their jazz routine to “What Is This Feeling?” look easy, while chatting with PEOPLE after the show, Earle revealed that there was one part of the dance that her pro partner struggled with in rehearsals.

“My favorite part from practice this week was day one or day two when we realized we wanted to mouth the words at parts of this song and the dance,” she laughs. “Val just could not for the life of him get these lyrics down.”

Instead of mouthing the lyric “loathing,” Earle reveals that Chmerkovskiy kept singing the word “lonely” instead.

For his part, Val, who was born in Odessa, Ukraine, quips, “English is my second language!”

In a video she made while getting ready for the performance, Earle shared that she and Chmerkovskiy were excited to perform to the song, which follows Wicked‘s two main characters, Glinda and Elphaba, as they air out their grievances about each other, since many had speculated that the two didn’t necessarily like each other at the beginning of the show’s run.

“I think in the beginning, everyone thought we hated each other,” the New Jersey native joked while getting glammed up. “We both have very sarcastic personalities. Like, we are very similar. I think it’s like the northeast, the Jersey, and New York in us.”

Last week, during the DWTS Dedication Night, Earle and Chmerkovskiy danced to Coldplay’s “Sparks” alongside Earle’s little sister Izabel.

Speaking with PEOPLE after that episode, Earle shared how pro Chmerkovskiy helped her tap into the emotions she spoke about in the video.

“I give Val so much credit because I think if we hadn’t gotten as close as we had as partners, it would’ve been probably a little bit more difficult for me to open up in that way because it’s a little bit more of a vulnerable side for me and something I don’t really share often,” she says.