Lindsay Arnold Reveals The Challenges Jordan Fisher Faced That You Didn't See on 'DWTS' (Exclusive)

Lindsay Arnold has had quite an eventful week.

From getting the first perfect score for the season on Dancing With The Stars, to stopping by Ellen with partner Jordan Fisher (more on that soon).

With a little time to spare between everything else, Lindsay spoke with JJJ about the challenges that she and Jordan faced last week while working on their perfect Foxtrot for Disney night, and how she really feels about those video packages.

“When we found out that we had the Foxtrot, we were both actually a bit nervous because we were dancing in frame again,” Lindsay says. “That’s actually something that Jordan struggles with. It doesn’t not come natural to him to dance in a frame with someone right in front of him. It’s never been an easy thing for him and was a bit daunting.”

They have done frame dances before in the Tango and Viennese waltz earlier in the season, but it had been a few weeks.

Lindsay adds, “We were nervous about that because we have this goal to meet or exceed our standards and were a little worried that maybe our Foxtrot wasn’t going to do that. We were worked really hard and I tried to construct a dance that challenged him but also showcased his talents — and we found a great, happy medium with everything.”

Even though Lindsay is mentioning Jordan‘s struggles with the dance, you probably have a confused face asking “What? But we’ve never seen them.”

Which is why we had to ask her exactly what she thought about those video packages that air just before their performance. Click inside to see what she said…

Since the start of season 25, you maybe haven’t seen as many struggles from celebrities as you have in the past, and it’s something that we and Lindsay, too, have noticed.

“We film hours and hours of footage and then you see a minute and a half of all of that,’ she shares. “We have challenges every single week and the audience and viewers aren’t really seeing them in that. Then, to see Jordan doing so well in the actual performance, it puts an extra emphasis on pressure for him.”

“It puts that pressure on him to be perfect and that’s not something easy to have on your conscious. He’s very tough on himself and gets frustrated with himself just like everyone else. But, he comes out and kills it and I could not be more proud of him.”

Talking more about the video packages and asking if she’d like to pick out what goes in them, Lindsay does, but she doesn’t all at the same time.

“I sometimes do wish that we had a part in picking what goes into those packages, and then sometimes I don’t,” she stated. “The producers kind of know what the journey is and what needs to be shown and what doesn’t. Then at the same time…it’s more frustrating for Jordan for sure, with people saying ‘Oh my gosh, this looks so easy for you. You have it in the bag, it’s not hard at all’, and he says every time that it is hard for him. He pushes himself and going through challenges just like everyone else.”

Lindsay continues, backing her partner, “Yes, Jordan is a gifted person and he has a lot of talents, but just like every other celebrity on this program, he is stepping into something he’s never done before and facing these challenges in different ways. I want to everyone to see that this is challenge and Jordan is working his butt off to look like it isn’t.”

“It’s good that people think it does look easy, because that’s my goal as a teacher to make it look easy, but it is definitely not.”

And as far as the video packages affecting Jordan‘s performance he’s set to do, Lindsay says that they’ve been okay so far. Even watching his “Most Memorable Year” video package was good for him.

“We’ve been very happy with everything,” Lindsay says. “The most emotional one was obviously the Most Memorable Year where he shared his adoption story. That hit very close to home for him and it was the first time he was seeing himself talk about his story. That actually helped him in an incredible way because it added an emotion to the performance that I don’t think would have been there if we had not seen the package.”

“On the other hand,” Lindsay adds, “In past seasons, when I know ahead of time that the video package will be intense or might show a tough moment, I’ll keep my partner distracted so they don’t watch it and so it doesn’t throw them off in the performance.”

Stay tuned for more from Lindsay‘s exclusive DWTS blog for JJJ!