‘Dancing With the Stars’ Judges ‘Irritated’ by Latest Elimination

This week’s Dancing With The Stars once again ended with judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli having to make a decision they never thought they would have to. The trio had to decide to save singer Ally Brooke or actress Kate Flannery, even though former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer clearly had the worst score of the night. Moments before, Brooke and dancer Sasha Farber even became the first two to earn a perfect score in Season 28.

“I just want to say it’s confusing for me at this point, why these are the bottom two,” Inaba said. “Absolutely confused and a little irritated, but I have to do my job and I have to chose one of you. You both have been amazing. You both have been wonderful. Kate, you represent a woman in her 50s like a tiger! But I’m saving Ally and Sasha.”

“Again, I’m in the same position as Carrie Ann,” Tonioli agreed. “You know, I have to do my job. You shouldn’t be here. But after the show so far, I have to chose Ally and Sasha.”

With both Tonioli and Inaba picking Brooke, Goodman did not need to chime in, but host Tom Bergeron still asked for his opinion.

“Ally and Sasha,” Goodman said without a second thought.

Brooke was close to getting eliminated because she was one of the bottom two vote-getters. That shocking result came only minutes after she and Farber performed a perfect dance to her own single, “Higher.”

This season of DWTS has become increasingly frustrating for the judges and die-hard fans. The producers put in a new elimination system where the judges could save one of the two dancers with the least number of fan votes. Clearly, the idea was to keep celebrities with consistently low scores from getting deep into the season, but it has not been working. Since Lamar Odom’s early exit, Spicer has continued to get the worst scores from the judges, but has now made it past Week 8.

The annoyance was palpable on the judges’ faces at the very beginning. Spicer, who had to dance with Jenna Johnson Monday because Lindsay Arnold was out due to a death in her family, was the first dancer Monday night and Goodman teared into him.

“We keep throwing you out the boat, and the viewers keep throwing a life preserver,” Goodman told Spicer, later adding, “a mermaid has better feet than you.”

“That’s the truth,” Inaba agreed.

“You don’t have many jazz bones in your body, do you?” Tonioli asked. “Finding Nemo has better feet than you.”

The judges still let him off with a 20/30, which was two points better than last week.

Later on, Spicer and Johnson were paired with Flannery and Pasha Pashkov in the dance competition. All three judges picked Flannery as the winner of their face-off, so Flannery’s total score on the night was a 26/30.

Dancing With The Stars will be back on Monday at 8 p.m. ET with Spicer as one of the final six contestants.

Photo credit: ABC/Kelsey McNeal