Carole Baskin Reacts to Her ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Elimination

Carole Baskin is speaking out after she became the second contestant to be eliminated from Dancing With the Stars Season 29. After hitting the dance floor with a samba to none other than “The Circle of Life” during the always highly-anticipated Disney Week, the Tiger King subject and her pro dancing partner, Pasha Pashkov, were ultimately scratched from the competition, though Baskin doesn’t have any hard feelings about getting the boot.

Speaking with Entertainment Tonight just after Monday night’s episode, Baskin admitted that she doesn’t “feel shocked at all.” Going up against fellow celebs like Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe and Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean, she said that “the people who stayed on the show can really, really dance, and that’s what the show is all about.” Baskin was announced as part of the celebrity lineup in early September, an addition to the cast that shocked many. The Big Cat Rescue CEO said that when accepting the opportunity, she had “had no expectations about what this would be like, other than I didn’t think anybody could teach me to dance in a million years.”

Throughout her short stint on the ABC dancing competition, Baskin had gone all-in on her big cat messaging, which she became known for thanks to her time on the Netflix docuseries. During Week 1, she made her debut on the stage in a tiger themed ensemble, complete with a flower crown, to tackle a paso doble to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” She and Pashkov doubled down on the cat theme for Week 2, Baskin again donning cat-themed attire as they performed a Viennese waltz to Tom Jones’ “What’s New Pussycat.” That performance landed her in the bottom two, though she was saved from elimination, with Charles Oakley going home instead. Her third and final dance, meanwhile, was fully immersed in the big cat theme, with both Baskin and Pashkov channeling their inner cats for their ensembles as they danced to a tune from The Lion King. During her pre-taped package, Baskin even took the opportunity to share a message about the dangers of illegal big cat breeding, something that she said she is especially thankful for.

“I’m thankful that Dancing With the Stars gave me the opportunity [for] getting the message out there about big cats. So I’ve accomplished everything I came here to do,” she said. “I think this has been an amazing opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and get my message out there.”

Dancing With the Stars returns for the fourth week of competition Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest updates.