'Dancing With the Stars' Athletes Tonya Harding, Adam Rippon & More Reveal Their Real-Life MVPs (Exclusive)

Dancing With the Stars: Athletes is giving fans a peek at the conversations that take place behind the scenes in rehearsals.

During Monday's semi-finals, the six remaining contestants will be dedicating their individual dances to the Most Valuable Players in their real lives. While we eagerly await their performances, ET has your exclusive first look at the heartwarming stories some of the athletes shared with their pro partners.

For Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, his MVP is his mother, Kelly. "My mom is my MVP because I don't think I've ever met anybody who's as smart [or] who's as selfless," he explains to Jenna Johnson in the clip.

See what the other contestants had to say in the player above.

It will be an intense third week for the athletes, as they will be dancing twice on Monday. They'll first perform their individual dance dedicated to their MVPs. Later, they'll also partake in a dance-off battle in hopes of staying safe from the end of the night's triple elimination.

Here's what they'll be dancing to for their individual performances:

Adam & Jenna Johnson
Individual dance: Contemporary – "O" by Coldplay

Chris & Witney Carson
Individual dance: Foxtrot – "I Got Rhythm" by Ray Chew Live

Jennie & Keo Motstepe
Individual dance: Viennese Waltz – "The Rest of Our Life" by Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

Josh & Sharna Burgess
Individual dance: Contemporary – "Stand by Me" by Bootstraps

Mirai & Alan Bersten
Individual dance: Quickstep – "Bo$$" by Ray Chew Live

Tonya & Sasha Farber:
Individual dance: Rumba – "See You Again" by Tyler Ward
 

Here's who will be pairing up against each other during the Dance-Off battle round:

Adam & Jenna vs. Mirai & Alan
Jive, "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry

Chris & Witney vs. Josh & Sharna
Salsa, "WTF (Where They From)" by Missy Elliott feat. Pharrell Williams

Tonya & Sasha vs. Jennie & Keo
Cha Cha, "Dance" by DNCE

ET also exclusively revealed on Friday that former contestants Meryl Davis, Von Miller and Nastia Liukin will be returning to the ballroom for week three, serving as mentors to the remaining six contestants vying for the mirrorball trophy. Read our exclusive Q&A (HERE) and watch the video below to hear highlights from our latest interviews with the DWTS cast.

Dancing With the Stars airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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