Andy Cohen Apologizes to Julia Stiles After Her 18/30 DWTS Debut

Q: Did a controversial radio comment secretly give Julia Stiles the ultimate underdog narrative needed to dominate the dance floor?

Yes — at least in narrative terms, Andy Cohen’s comment appears to have handed Julia Stiles a ready-made underdog storyline, and she used it effectively on the *Dancing with the Stars* premiere. Stiles herself said the remark was “imprinted” in her brain and framed it as motivation to compete. In rehearsal footage, she and partner Ezra Sosa even turned it into a goal: win the Mirrorball and end up on Cohen’s couch. That gave viewers an immediate arc — a star publicly doubted, then stepping onto the ballroom floor to answer critics. The show amplified that storyline in real time. After Stiles and Sosa performed a quickstep to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” judge Derek Hough directly rebuked Cohen with, “Andy Cohen, you can eat it!” Social media reaction suggested the moment resonated, helping position Stiles as someone audiences wanted to root for. Her 18 out of 30 score also backed up the redemption angle with a solid competitive start. There is also a deeper layer. Coverage noted Stiles had long carried pressure from *Save the Last Dance* and had stepped away from dance classes because of expectations tied to that role. In that context, the Cohen remark did not create the whole story, but it sharpened it: this became not just about proving a critic wrong, but about reclaiming confidence and joy in dancing. Whether that narrative will help her “dominate” the season remains unproven. But it clearly strengthened her launch and gave her one of the premiere’s most memorable storylines.

3 articles · Updated · TV Insider · Sep 17

Watch What Happens Live gave Andy Cohen a chance to reverse course after Julia Stiles used her Dancing With the Stars premiere package to call out his past jab at her dancing.
18/30 was Stiles' score for a quickstep with Ezra Sosa, and Derek Hough piled on from the judges' table by telling Cohen to "eat it" after the performance.
Cohen then named himself the show's "Jackhole of the Day," told Stiles "I am so sorry" and "You killed it tonight," and mocked his own moves with a clip of himself dancing at a concert.
The apology traced back to a 2025 SiriusXM interview with Kerry Washington, when Cohen said Stiles was "not the greatest dancer on the planet"—a remark Stiles said stayed "imprinted" in her mind during rehearsals.