‘Dancing With the Stars’ Sends Home Final Couple Ahead of Finale

Dancing With The Stars Season 28 is one step closer to completion after Monday night’s semi-finals. James Van Der Beek was sent home, leaving only four celebrity contestants and their dancing partners left to compete for the Mirrorball trophy. Like last week’s episode, the semi-finals featured two rounds of dancing.

The first round had the dancers performing a “redemption dance,” where judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba helped each of the contestants improve on their lowest-scoring dances. In Round 2, the dance duos took on dance styles they still had not performed before.

In last week’s boy band and girl group tribute episode, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was finally eliminated. He was easily the most controversial contestant, as continued riding fan votes for as long as he could while still getting low scores from the judges. Without him on the show, the only dancers left were contestants who continued to impress the judges all season.

Here’s how each of the dancers did in Round 1:

• Country artist Lauren Alaina and Gleb Savchenko opened the night under Goodman’s tutelage to perform an excellent Paso Doble to Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger.” They earned a 27/30.
• Pop star Ally Brooke and Sasha Farber were mentored by Goodman as well, and were tasked with performing a Viennese Waltz again. They danced to Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect,” picking up a 29/30. Tonioli and Inaba both gave them perfect 10s.
• The Bachelorette star Hannah Brown and Alan Bersten worked with Inaba, who assigned a Rumba. They performed to Sam Smith and Normani’s “Dancing with a Stranger,” and earned a 27/30.
• Comedian and actor Kel Mitchell and Witney Carson got Tonioli as their mentor. He assigned them a Tango to The Temptations’ “Get Ready.” The two got a 27/30.
• TV and film actor James Van Der Beek and Emma Slater also got an assist from Goodman, who asked the duo to perform a Cha Cha to Jamiroquai’s “Canned Heat.” The performance was surprisingly disappointing for the judges, who gave them a 24/30.

Here’s how they did in Round 2:

• Alaina and Savchenko’s second dance was a Viennese Waltz to Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind.” Their elegant performance received a 27/30.
• Brooke and Farber picked a Charelston to Benny Goodman’s “Swing Swing Swing.” They earned the second perfect score of the night, earning a 30/30.
• Brown and Bersten earned a 27/30 fo the final dance of the night. They performed a Contemporary to Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me.”
• Mitchell and Carson performed a Contemporary dance to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” He dedicated the performance to victims of gun violence. The performance was so moving that Inaba was in tears, and Goodman stood up to applaud. The performance got a perfect 30/30.
• Van Der Beek and Slater performed a Foxtrot to Hozier’s “Take Me To Church,” and received a 27/30. Before the dance Van Der Beek revealed that his wife Kimberly Brook suffered a miscarriage on Saturday.

Van Der Beek and Brooke were the bottom two, so the judges had to pick one or the other.

The Dancing With The Stars finale airs on Monday, Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC