Swaying his hips and samba-ing like a pro, Glen Osborne has soared to the top of the leaderboard on the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars NZ.
Partnered with Vanessa Cole, the rugby player-turned-cop continued his Kiwi music choice with Broods' 'Free'.
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Before the dance, he admitted he was pretty nervous about the entire performance - but no nerves appeared to be on show when he hit the dancefloor.
After the slick performance, Osborne revealed he was driven to succeed after getting accidentally whacked in the nose during rehearsal.
"He certainly improved when he got a smack in the nose, I'll tell you!" Cole joked.
The judges were suitably impressed by his performance, which earned a standing ovation from Rachel White and Camilla Sacre-Dallerup.
"I think you've realised this is not a sprint, this is a marathon. And every week you give us just a little bit more of [that] technique that you've worked on," Sacre-Dallerup said.
Julz Tocker was equally captivated, saying: "You had everything in there... I'm actually speechless. That's how a samba should be danced by a man."
Normally tough-to-impress White was also singing Osborne's praises.
"You had the perfect combination of freedom and yet sharpness," she said, praising his promenade runs as "mesmerising".
With three 8s for a total of 24, Osborne earned the top score of the season so far. Combined with his score from last week, he sits comfortably in second place on the leaderboard with 41 points ahead of Monday night's elimination.
The next episode of DWTS NZ will air on Monday at 7pm on Three. The full episode can be watched again on ThreeNow.
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