page_title: Amy Purdy
section_title: Dancing
hierarchical_section_title: Amy Purdy / Dancing
caption_attribution_description: Rio de Janeiro - Cerimônia de abertura dos Jogos Paralímpicos Rio 2016 no Estádio do Maracanã
context_page_description: Amelia Michelle "Amy" Purdy is an American actress, model, para-snowboarder, motivational speaker, clothing designer and author. Purdy is a 2014 Paralympic bronze medalist, 2018 Paralympics silver medalist, and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports.
context_section_description: Purdy was a contestant on season 18 of Dancing with the Stars. Paired with five-time champion Derek Hough, Purdy was the first double amputee contestant to ever appear on the show. Hough was, at the time, fresh from winning his fifth Mirrorball trophy and did not plan on coming back to the show. However, he changed his mind when Purdy joined the show as a contestant.
  During the show, Purdy was repeatedly praised for her fast learning skills, immense natural dancing ability, incredible endurance and passion and for being a role model. She never received any score lower than an 8. She received her first perfect score (40 out of 40) for her eighth dance, the Argentine tango, while dancing it after having an intense back injury the week prior. Purdy went on to receive two more perfect scores later on, though she also came close to a perfect score in four other dances where she received almost-perfect scores (29 out of 30 or 39 out of 40).
  Purdy was consistently deemed safe to advance to the week after, and she made it all the way to the finale with Olympic ice dancer Gold medalist Meryl Davis and actress Candace Cameron-Bure. Purdy eventually finished as a runner-up to Davis, and Bure took third place. In her appearance on the show, Purdy broke several records: she was the first double amputee contestant on the show and joined the list of few contestants to never receive any score lower than an 8 from the judges. Her performance average of 27.9 out of 30 is among the top ten of the highest ever on the show's history (with Davis' 28.4 average being the highest ever).
  At the 2016 Summer Paralympics' opening ceremony, Purdy made an appearance performing a dance routine with what was promoted as a "surprise partner": a KUKA robotic arm.
caption: Purdy dancing with a robotic arm at the 2016 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony
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