‘Dancing With the Stars’: Vernon Davis and Peta Murgatroyd React to Elimination

It was the end of the road for Vernon Davis and Peta Murgatroyd on Dancing With the Stars. After three weeks in a row in the bottom two, the former NFL player and his pro partner were eliminated during Monday’s Top 11 episode of the ABC dance competition show. The pair found themselves in the bottom after scoring a 21/30 for their cha cha to Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration,” with judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli opting to save other bottom two couple, Johnny Weir and and Britt Stewart. “This is so hard and it’s only going to get harder,” Tonioli said of the difficult decision. “Each of you have great [dance] qualities.”‘

Davis and Murgatroyd reflected on their time on DWTS to Entertainment Tonight following the elimination. “Life is all about the unexpected,” the athlete said. “But it’s great, you know? I had a great journey. I met Peta, and Nelly… even though there’s COVID [concerns], being able to spend moments with these guys during the show was awesome.”

Murgatroyd added that having come together as a team, she and Davis “love each other very much,” and “had a great time.” She continued, “We had a nice bond that was formed and I truly hope that we can just carry that over into our lives now forever. It’s been a pleasure getting to know him, and getting to know his stories and his life.”

Murgatroyd also updated fans on her neck injury after having to rush off stage last week to see the medical team. “When I was getting the judges’ scores last week, I was standing there thinking, ‘Something’s not right,’” she recalled. “I could just feel it was just stiffening up… and as I walked off, we went up the stairs to go back up to our skybox area, and I couldn’t turn my head.” After being evaluated, the pro learned that her neck pain was actually caused by three of her ribs having “popped out,” which she said was “strange,” as she doesn’t know how it could have occurred. “I’m fine [now]. I’m totally fine, and I don’t know how it happened,” the dancer admitted.

Monday’s show was also a banner night as Hough returned to the DWTS stage as a dancer for the first time since 2017, performing a paso doble to Taalbi Brothers’ “Uccen” with girlfriend Hayley Erbert. Despite speculation that the judge planned on proposing to Erbert during the special dance, Hough told Entertainment Tonight that wasn’t in the cards. “I’m just going to be straight up, that’s not happening,” he said. “Just because, that’s just not my style I don’t think, you know?”