The professional partner of the star from “Family Matters” is surprised by her “DWTS” score

Family matters Star Reginald VelJohnson was certainly a surprise in his Dancing with the stars debut on Tuesday evening, but no one was more surprised than his professional partner Emma Slater.

The 72-year-old sitcom and film actor sang a salsa to “Motownphilly” by Boyz II Men, with his expressive face doing more work than his feet. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Derek Hough encouraged the Die Hard Star to incorporate more movement in the future, but despite the feedback he managed to score a 6, 5 and 5 for a total of 16.

Slater began screaming and jumping up and down as the scores were read out, clearly overwhelmed by the score. VelJohnson simply said, “I did it.” Despite being the lowest of the first five couples, it was more or less on par with Ilona Maher and Brooks Nader, who both received 18 points for their first dances.

VelJohnson cited his time on Family matters and Broadway as his previous experience in the world of dance, saying during his opening package, “I moved well as a kid. But as an old man, we'll see.”

He also said he wanted to do the show for himself. “I have a lot of soul. I learned ballroom dancing from my parents, so it has a special place in my heart,” he told Slater.

After the performance aired, Slater expressed further support to her partner with a sweet dedication on Instagram. “We got a 6!!!!!!” she wrote. “A 6 and two 5s for our first dance and I'm really, really proud of @thereginaldveljohnson for putting everything he had into this dance.”

She continued: “I'm also really happy that he's getting so much support for this in his later years. It's so important to recognize when people are doing their best and to appreciate the good people in our lives, no matter what age they are. And he is one of the very best.”

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Their DWTS Debut tonight was Oscar nominee Eric Roberts, the newly crowned Bachelorette Stars such as Jenn Tran, Tori Spelling, Phaedra Parks, Dwight Howard, Joey Graziadei and fake heiress Anna Delvey, described in the show's official announcement as the “notorious ankle bracelet fashionista.”

Dancing with the stars airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET/PT on ABC and Disney+ and streams the next day on Hulu.