It’s official:
Simone Biles isn’t just a world champion gymnast.
She’s also a world champion comeback generator.
On Dancing with the Stars last night, Biles advanced to this season’s semifinals on the heels of a solid Foxtrot and a strong Paso doble.
But the former Olympian didn’t totally win over the judges with these routines, as Carrie Ann Inaba took Biles to task less for her dancing skills and more for her lack of emotion.
“Your skills are unquestionable,” Inaba said, prior to getting into the crux of her critique:
“You hit every line with precision and perfection. But once again, I’m going to come back to performance and authenticity about who you are when you perform…
“You have this beautiful smile and you are a megastar with your energy, but once in a while, there’s beauty without a smile.
“There’s beauty in pain and all of the other emotions, and I’d like to see more of that.”
Julianne Hough agreed with her fellow panelist.
“I don’t know if the smile is authentic because you want to smile, or if it’s just because you rehearsed it that way,” she told Biles.
“I really just want to see some rawness come out.”
This is, of course, completely ridiculous. And also a bit sexist.
Can you imagine any judge telling a male contestant to smile more naturally?
Fortunately, Biles had the perfect response to this odd and unfair criticism.
“I’ve lived in a gym 14 years of my life, so it’s hard to show something I’ve never felt before,” she said at first, offering up a valid excuse for why she isn’t a natural on the dance floor.
But after remaining stoic upon hearing positive reviews after her second performance, and then being asked by Tom Bergeron why she still wasn’t smiling, Biles responded:
Smiling doesn’t win you gold medals.
BAM!
And Biles would know.
This amazing comeback earned the athlete quite a bit of praise and admiration across social media.
And then there was this:
Following the episode, Biles and her partner Sasha Farber spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the struggle she’s had to connect with the judges this season.
“I feel like everyone has their own opinion, clearly, and I feel it’s just how you take it,” Biles said, adding:
“I feel like I am trying, I am being honest, but if they don’t see that, I don’t know what more I can do.”
An intense competitor, Biles is accustomed to simply getting the job done; not concerning herself with what sort of emotions are displayed on her face.
“You don’t know which wild card of sexy or of happy they want to bring, and you almost have to read their minds and find it,” she told ET last night, concluding that she nearly broke down on live television.
“I had tears in my eyes. I almost ran to the bathroom at one point, but I pulled it together.”
You go, Simone Biles!
If we have it our way, this impressive young woman will win the entire thing this season…
… and then accept the Mirrorball Trophy without even the faintest hint of a smile.