Guillermo Rodriguez has spent two decades lurking in Jimmy Kimmel's parking lot, ambushing celebrities with a security guard's deadpan and a tequila bottle he never actually opens.
The Kimmel sidekick made his Dancing With the Stars debut this season and promptly became the contestant everyone's group chat is arguing about.
His first routine with pro partner Emma Slater leaned hard into the bit — a cha-cha built around a security desk, a clipboard, and Guillermo confiscating the judges' paddles before the scores even dropped.
Bruno Tonioli was on his feet before the chorus hit, and Carrie Ann Inaba called it "the most chaotic joy I've felt all season," which is either a compliment or a warning.
What's genuinely surprising is the footwork underneath the comedy.
Guillermo isn't a ringer — no boy-band background, no secret ballet childhood — but he's putting in the rehearsal hours.
Slater posted a behind-the-scenes clip of him drilling the same hip action for forty minutes straight, sweat soaking through a Gucci-print button-down that surely cost more than his first car.
The comments section went feral. "He's actually trying" became the season's most unexpectedly wholesome talking point.
The judges' scores have been middling — sixes and sevens, with Len Goodman's ghost apparently still haunting the critique desk via Derek Hough's poker face.
But DWTS has never been purely about technique.
It's about whether America wants to watch you again next Tuesday.
By that metric, Guillermo is running away with it.
His fan base is a strange, beautiful coalition: Kimmel loyalists, telenovela aunties who adopted him years ago, and a growing army of TikTok editors who've set his rehearsal clips to Selena and Bad Bunny.
One video of him nailing a lift in paso doble week has racked up numbers the show's official account can only dream about.
A tabloid ran a piece claiming Guillermo's "comedy contestant" label is a strategy to coast to the finale without real dance ability, and his response on Instagram was a single clip of him doing the splits in his kitchen.
It's the most effective PR move anyone on that cast has made all season.
The real question now is whether the joke can outlast the competition.
The judges have started docking points for "playing to the camera," and the remaining couples include a former Olympian and a Disney Channel alum with actual musical theater training.
If Guillermo wants the mirrorball, he'll need at least one routine where the gag takes a back seat and the dancing carries the room.
What he doesn't have yet is a moment that makes the audience forget the parking lot entirely — and that's the one thing no pro partner can choreograph for him. **Our take:** Guillermo is the rare novelty contestant who's actually earned his spot, and the show is better for it.
Final Thoughts
But if he wins without ever delivering a straight-faced, no-gimmick routine, the mirrorball will feel like a punchline instead of a trophy.