‘Dancing With the Stars’ Favorite Juan Pablo Di Pace Speaks out After Surprise Elimination

Juan Pablo Di Pace is speaking out after his shocking elimination from Dancing With The Stars on Monday night.

Fans were outraged after Di Pace, who earned perfect scores during both of his dances with pro partner Cheryl Burke during Monday’s semi-finals, was sent packing.

“Thank you so much for the outrage 🙂 all I’ll say is I’ve had the time of my life DANCING and I’m so glad you guys recognized that! At the end of the day I got to do what I love,” the 39-year-old Fuller House star tweeted hours after the live episode aired.

Fans wrote back to Di Pace with words of encouragement. “You were the best from the very beginning! You were my pick to win. There’s no question that you’re the best dancer on the competition. if nothing else, maybe this will encourage them to change the balance of scoring or add a judges save for the finale. God bless,” one fan responded.

“Absolutely ridiculous that you and Cheryl got eliminated. You’re the best dancer this season and should have won the entire thing. So unfair,” another said.

“You were beyond amazing!!!!!! You didn’t deserve to go home! Thank you for blessing us with your artistry,” someone else wrote.

On Instagram, Di Pace took to his Story, posting a black screen with just one word: “#heartbroken.”

Di Pace’s elimination from the reality dance competition was so surprising that upon hearing the news, the audience erupted in boos. Even the judges, who have seen several undeserved eliminations over the series’ 27 seasons, were disappointed, with head judge Len Goodman throwing in his two cents after the announcement was made.

“Listen, I know the American people would like fair play, but mostly we like justice,” Goodman said. “And there’s no justice here.”

Fans were even calling for a recount of the vote. “Forget about the Florida midterms…a DWTS recount is what this country needs right now!! Justice for Juan Pablo and Cheryl,” one fan tweeted.

If Di Pace was upset, he didn’t show it. During the final seconds of the episode, he graciously accepted his fate. “I just love dancing so much, and at least I got to do it in front of millions of people with this beautiful girl,” he told host Erin Andrews, referring to Burke.

The outrage over Di Pace’s elimination wasn’t quite as matched for The Bachelorette star Joe “Grocery Store Joe” Amabile and pro partner Jenna Johnson, who were also eliminated Monday night. Amabile’s scores had been consistently low throughout the season; he earned a 22/30 and 24/30 during their dances during Monday’s semi-finals, compared to Juan Pablo’s consistent 30/30 for each dance.

With Di Pace surprisingly out of the running, that leaves model Alexis Ren and pro partner Alan Bersten, country music personality Bobby Bones and partner Sharna Burgess, Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch and Keo Motsepe, and Disney Channel star Milo Manheim and Witney Carson left to compete for the mirrorball trophy.

The Dancing With the Stars finals air on Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.