‘Dancing With the Stars’ Sends Home Another Couple Amid Voting Backlash

Dancing With the Stars roared back this week with an exciting “Dance-Off” episode. The night ended with Kate Flannery going home, following the exciting head-to-hand dances with two couples on the floor at the same time. It came a week after the controversial exit of Karamo Brown, while Sean Spicer continued to stay on the show.

The episode began with the remaining seven couples going through the usual individual dances. After those, the teams danced head-to-head to the same dance style on the floor together. There were only three “dance-offs,” so the couple with the highest individual judges’ score got immunity and two points were automatically added to their judges’ score total.

Spicer’s continued presence this late into the show has caused an uproar among die-hard DWTS fans who have questioned the voting process. The series already changed this up, as judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba now get to pick which one of the two lowest vote-getters stay on the show. However, Spicer has yet to be in the bottom two.

Incredibly, Spicer was once again marked safe right away. The judges had to chose between Kate Flannery and Ally Brooke. All three picked Brooke, who got the first perfect score during the night.

Here is how the dancers did this week during their individual dances:

• Country artist Lauren Alaina and Gleb Savchenko danced a Jive to Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog.” They earned a 24/30, picking up 8s from all three judges.
• Pop star Ally Brooke and Sasha Farber danced a Jazz Charleston to her own song, “Higher.” Brooke even lip synced to the song at the start, before she began dancing with Farber. Their performance was so good, they earned the first perfect score of the season with a 30/30.
• The Bachelorette star Hannah Brown and Alan Bersten were the third consecutive dancers to receive at least one 10 from a judge. They picked up 10s from Inaba and Tonioli, while Goodman gave the duo a 9. In total, they received a 29/30 for their quickstep to Elle King’s “American Girl.”
• The Office actress Kate Flannery and Pasha Pashkov danced a Jive to “Heat Wave” in matching plaid outfits. Although their performance was not the best of their time on the show, they received a 24/30 from the judges.
• Comedian and actor Kel Mitchell and Witney Carson stunned with their Salsa to “This Is How We Do It.” They received a 28/30, including the first 10 of the season thanks to Tonioli.
• Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Jenna Johnson, who was dancing in place of Lindsay Arnold, earned a 20/30 for their Jazz dance to “Come Sail Away.” Goodman actually mentioned Spicer’s continued success with the fan vote, telling him, “We keep tossing you out of the boat and the viewers keep tossing you back in.”
• TV and film actor James Van Der Beek and Emma Slater’s Contemporary dance to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” was the last individual dance of the night. The pair did an emotional slow dance to the rock classic. Their performance earned the second perfect 30/30 score of the night.

Here are the results from the “dance-offs.” Although Van Der Beek and Brooke both earned 30/30 scores, Van Der Beek was already chosen as the dancer skipping out on the dance-offs. That meant Van Der Beek automatically got a 32 judges’ score.

• Mitchell and Carson had to dance against Brooke and Farber. They performed a jive to “Don’t Stop Me Now,” because the judges were really impressed with their last jives. The performances were so good that it was almost impossible to pick the winner. However, they picked Mitchell, bringing his points total for the night to 30.
• Spicer and Johnson squared off against Flannery and Pashkov, with a cha cha to “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).” All three judges said Flannery won the dance-off, bringing their total up to 26.
• In the last dance-off, Brown and Bersten and Alaina and Savchenko took the stage together for a salsa to “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You.” Their performances were so good that Goodman wanted to give both of them a bonus point. However, all three judges went with Brown, who ended up with a 31.

New episodes of Dancing With The Stars air Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC