Meet Ezra Frech, The “Revolutionary” Paralympian On ‘Dancing With The Stars’
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On Sept. 15, viewers of the Season 35 premiere of Dancing With the Stars showed up in full force, with host Alfonso Ribeiro sharing that viewership more than doubled the previous season’s premiere.
This news came as ABC’s online voting system crashed mid-show.
Regardless, the season premiere was full of excitement, with many viewers being drawn to one of the competing stars who they may have been initially less familiar with: Paralympian athlete Ezra Frech.
Partnered up with Daniella Karagach, 21-year-old Paralympian athlete Ezra Frech will be one to watch.
Competing with a prosthetic leg, Ezra was one of the top dancers of the night, and the first dance had a special symbolic meaning to him…
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All About Ezra Frech
The son of Iranian-American actress Bahar Soomekh — who had a supporting role in Paul Haggis’ Best Picture winner, Crash (2004) — Ezra Frech is an athlete and a motivational speaker.
Born in 2005 with a congenital limb difference, Ezra was born with missing fingers on his left hand and without most of his lower left leg.
When he was nearly three years old, his lower left leg was amputated and one of his toes was successfully transplanted onto his left hand.
Speaking at WE Day in 2017, where he was introduced by Sabrina Carpenter, Ezra shared about his passion for increasing access to adaptive sports, which is the field of athleticism that accommodates competitors with disabilities.
His own athletic career has taken him to the Paralympics twice, first in 2020 and then again in 2024.
At the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in Paris, France, Ezra won two Gold medals: one in the Men’s 100 meter race, and the other in the Men’s high jump.
Outside of the Paralympics, he has also competed in the World Para Athletics Championships.
Watch Ezra Frech’s DWTS Debut Dance
During rehearsal for his Dancing With the Stars debut, Ezra worked with Daniella Karagach to learn the tango.
In a behind the scenes video of their rehearsal, Daniella explained that in a tango, men typically lead with their left side, which happens to be the side of Ezra’s body that includes his prosthetic leg.
Speaking on this, Ezra shared the symbolic meaning this dance took on for him, saying:
“It’s just so special that we start the dance where we’re only connected by my left hand — right hand behind our backs — leading with my left leg. Almost saying, like, ‘Oh, the thing that is supposed to be such a negative, the thing that is supposed to be so scary and daunting and challenging, oh yeah, we’re stepping right into it, and, actually, we’re going to show that off.”
He added, “There’s something really empowering about that.”
In fact, while choreographing their tango, Daniella said she had to do it in such a way to ensure that Ezra’s hips would be level, describing it as “a whole science.”
Ezra went on to share how his prosthetic leg works, showing how he has no control of it below the knee.
“Any bit of slippage, and I’m going down,” Ezra shared. “If I land on a bent knee, it’ll give out … The knee will buckle, and I’ll fall, so every step I take has to be on a straight leg on my prosthetic side.”
He explained that Daniella choreographed their tango with special diagonal steps to allow him to maintain a straight leg and prevent his head from going up and down.
Ezra added, “Everything that we’re doing is, in some ways, revolutionary, because nobody has done something like this, at least in this way, used a mechanical knee — a hinge knee — on the show, which basically means there’s no safety on my leg.”
In the world of Dancing With the Stars, Ezra is the third Paralympian to compete, with double-amputee Paralympian snowboarder Amy Purdy competing in Season 18 and vision-impaired Paralympian alpine skier Danelle Umstead competing in Season 27.
Notably, Purdy used more traditional prosthetics for her dances, as she was amputated below the knees.
Ezra and Daniella’s tango was set to Kelly Clarkson’s 2004 hit “Since U Been Gone,” and their performance was the second-highest scoring of the night, earning a 20.
Watch his dance as part of Team Footloose from night 1 of Dancing With the Stars, here:
Watch Ezra and Daniella rehearse, here:
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