‘Dancing With the Stars’ Cuts Another Promising Competitor on Villians Night

In a night filled with Halloween vibes, the most frightening part about the latest episode of Dancing With the Stars may have been that the show still had to send one of the celebrities home at the end of the night. After host Tyra Banks announced which couples were safe, it was determined that Jeannie Mai, with her partner Brandon Armstrong, and Monica Aldama, with her partner Val Chmerkovskiy, were in the bottom two. The judges — Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli — then shared who they would like to save to dance another day in the competition. In the end, Aldama was sent home.

This week’s elimination comes a week after the bottom two left viewers, and the judges, a bit shocked. On the Oct. 19 episode, former football player Vernon Davis, and his partner Peta Murgatroyd, and Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, with his partner Britt Stewart, found themselves in the bottom two. Given the fact that both couples had been receiving high scores from the judges and were improving every week, it was a surprise to see that they were at risk of being sent home. Hough and Tonioli both voted to save Weir, meaning that Davis was eliminated from the competition. Following his time on the program, the athlete told Entertainment Tonight that he wasn’t happy about being sent home, but that he was keeping himself together.

“Life is all about the unexpected. But I had a great journey,” he said. “I am definitely down. I will shed some tears. Like, I haven’t gotten used to this young lady [Peta] here. Going in [rehearsals] every day with her, we became attached … I feel like I lost somebody else, it is crazy. I feel that emotion inside but I am holding myself together.” He added, “I wanted to be positive. I have good sportsmanship. You leave everything on a good note, you just smile and shake hands. Whatever comes out, comes out, and that is what life is all about for sure.”

For his final performance on DWTS, Davis was able to dedicate his dance to his late grandfather. In his interview with ET, the former NFL player noted that his grandfather would definitely be proud of how he fared in the competition. “It’s as if it was supposed to happen that if I were to go out, this would be a good time to go out, with dedication to my granddad,” Vernon said. “I know he is looking down, smiling and super proud. He will always be on my mind.”