Since finally saying yes to Dancing with the Stars, Danielle Fishel has been bringing her A-game for Season 34 during the 2025 TV schedule. The actress is paired with Pasha Pashkov and, although the training has been brutal, she seems to be having a lot of fun on the ballroom floor. And that's not just because she’s preparing to dance to a song by pal and former co-star Sabrina Carpenter. She’s also been flashing back to her Boy Meets World days.
Fishel was just about 11 or 12 years old when she landed the role of Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World back in 1993. The show certainly taught her a lot about the industry at a young age, and she's been candid about the experiences she had -- both on and off camera -- during that time. Apparently, she’s taken some of what she’s learned with her to the ballroom, too, as Fishel opened up to People about the similarities between DWTS and BMW, specifically when it comes to the amount of pressure she's under:
I'm good under pressure, and I'm a performer. I haven't been in front of the camera performing for a very long time. I didn't know if I was going to feel rusty or if I was going to know what to do anymore. But literally the minute the audience loads in, and I get that feeling like it's 1994 again and there's an audience of 250 people on the set of Boy Meets World. [When] it's live show night, I just come alive from the inside.
Being a contestant on DWTS isn't easy. Between the rehearsals, the live shows and the uncertainty of whether someone will make it to another round, it can be pretty intimidating. Even though Fishel is certainly feeling the pressure, it seems to be nothing she hasn’t dealt with before. It may have been a while since she’s performed live, she's still working in front of a live audience (albeit in a different way) and that rush of adrenaline can certainly hit a person.
Boy Meets World has stayed close to Danielle Fishel’s heart over the years. She recently revealed that she still has an original crew jacket from one of the early seasons, and it still fits her. Plus, she still participates in the Pod Meets World rewatch podcast alongside former co-stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong. With that show, the three actors constantly look back at their time on the '90s sitcom and support one another, which is always nice to see.
As for Dancing With the Stars, Danielle Fishel and Pasha Pashkov managed to survive last week’s double elimination and make it to TikTok Night for this week. They will be dancing to Sabrina Carpenter’s hit “Manchild,” which isn’t so much a surprise as Fishel has previously said that dancing to a Carpenter song was her first request. I'm excited to see the routine that they've come up with.
The pressure is on for Fishel the farther she gets in the competition, but it’s nothing she hasn't quite faced before. Whether or not she’ll survive TikTok Night remains to be seen, but tune in on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and or with a Disney+ subscription to cheer her on! Coincidentally, you can also use that same streaming membership to check out all seven seasons of Boy Meets World.
