TV Zendaya hasn't watched Dancing With the Stars since she competed on it: 'It was a very stressful experience' The Emmy winner competed on season 16 of the competition series at just the age of 16, emerging as runner-up. By Jessica Wang Jessica Wang Jessica is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly, where she covers TV, movies, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Bustle, NYLON, Cosmopolitan, InStyle, and more. She lives in California with her dog. EW's editorial guidelines Published on October 3, 2024 03:33PM EDT It appears Zendaya had a much better time with tennis lessons than the foxtrot. The Challengers star is looking back on her experience competing on Dancing With the Stars on the newest episode of Entertainment Weekly's The Awardist podcast, revealing that she has not tuned into the long-running dance competition series since she was on it. But she has a pretty good reason for it. Zendaya reflects on serving up a pop culture and critical hit with Challengers in EW's The Awardist digital magazine "I have not watched Dancing With the Stars since I was on," Zendaya says, laughing. "I didn't really watch Dancing With the Stars before I was on Dancing With the Stars. I don't think I was the target demographic. My grandma loves Dancing with the Stars, that's her bag. But yeah, I also think it was a very stressful experience. I was like, I don't think I'm gonna be watching this anymore.” Zendaya and Val Chmerkovskiy on 'Dancing With the Stars' season 16. Adam Taylor / Walt Disney Television via Getty Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more. At just 16, the actress-singer-dancer competed on season 16 back in 2013. Then a Disney Channel fixture known for her roles on Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover, Zendaya was actually close to winning the mirror ball trophy, coming in second as runner-up with dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy. In first place was Kellie Pickler and partner Derek Hough. The star is now over a decade removed from her child star and dancing days, having won two Emmys for her role as Rue on the HBO drama series Euphoria in the years since and now garnering Oscar buzz for her role as tennis coach Tashi Duncan in Luca Guadagnino's sexy sports drama Challengers. Turns out, her dancing partner previously predicted this very moment. Zendaya in 'Challengers'. MGM /Courtesy Everett Marisa Tomei says watching Tom Holland and Zendaya 'grow up' and 'fall in love' was her favorite part of Spider-Man When Zendaya won her first Emmy in 2020, Chmerkovskiy congratulated his former dance partner on Instagram and shared his prediction that she'd win an Oscar one day. "Nearly 8 years ago I got the pleasure to teach a brilliant young woman how to ballroom dance on @dancingabc," he wrote of Zendaya. "After giving it every ounce of our effort we came in second. Devastated by the loss I remember telling her that one day you’ll be winning an Oscar and part of the reason why will be this feeling of defeat you feel right now." Though the Emmy "isn’t an Oscar yet," Chmerkovskiy added, "I always knew you were special. Our season on DWTS, and now your continued success since has brought me ridiculous amount of joy. I’m so proud of you Z!" Listen to Zendaya's full interview on The Awardist podcast below.