‘Dancing With the Stars’: ’80s Film Star Becomes First Elimination

The celebrities have all showcased what they’re made of on Season 30 of Dancing With the Stars, but one of them still had to be eliminated by the end of Monday night’s episode. Ultimately, it came down to either Bling Empire star Christine Chiu or The Karate Kid‘s Martin Kove. Host Tyra Banks then announced that Kove was eliminated. 

Just as in previous seasons, it was up to the judges to determine who would be going home after Banks revealed the bottom two. All four of the judges — Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli — shared that they wanted to save Chiu. As a result, Kove and his partner Britt Stewart were eliminated from the competition. 

The cast of Season 30 includes Melora Hardin, JoJo Siwa, Suni Lee, Jimmie Allen, Brian Austin Green, Kenya Moore, and Matt James. This season also saw the return of many fan-favorite DWTS pros including Cheryl Burke, Gleb Savchenko, Artem Chigvintsev, and Sharna Burgess. While it’s only the second week in the competition, DWTS has already been faced with a major shake-up. Ahead of Monday’s episode, Burke shared that she tested positive for COVID-19. 

“I have really bad news. I am positive, which means I have COVID,” Burke said on Instagram while tearing up. “I feel so bad. I feel so bad for Cody, I feel like I’m letting him down. I just feel like s- and it’s so overwhelming.” She continued, “It’s Sunday and the show’s tomorrow. … I just hope I didn’t spread it. For those of you who don’t think COVID is a real thing, it’s f-king real. I have to quarantine for 10 days, I’ve been ordered to stay home. I can’t believe this happened.”

As a result, she was forced to quarantine at home and was not able to compete alongside her partner, Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby. However, that didn’t prevent than from receiving their scores from the judges. Banks announced at the top of the episode that Rigsby was at a separate location, as he could not be in the ballroom since he came in close contact with Burke. He and Burke both appeared over video chat to receive their scores from the judges, who viewed the pair’s salsa performance from a recent rehearsal. They ended up receiving a score of 24 out of 40.