“Dancing with the Star’s” most controversial season has one less celebrity contender competing for mirrorball glory.
WARNING: Major spoilers ahead!
On Tuesday, NBA star Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest), said peace out to the ballroom, taking newcomer to the celebrity competition, professional partner Peta Mergatroyd, out of the game as well.
“I had a great, great time… [It was] awesome,” Metta said after learning the news.
Metta and Peta’s dance – a cha cha – wasn’t a hit with the judges on Monday night, although Carrie Anne Inaba did give the Laker points for his style.
“Now we know who the wild one is gonna be. You’re sort of eccentric, and yet, kind of sexy. It works,” she said.
“Cha cha’s a sexy dance, and I thought that worked, but it was kind of wrong for all the technical reasons,” she added.
The elimination news came as a relief to Nancy Grace and Tristan MacManus, and Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke, who were also left until the end of the show to find out they were actually safe.
Although his sprightly cha cha helped Chaz Bono make it through to another week with partner Lacey Schwimmer, the activist admitted to co-host Tom Bergeron earlier in the evening that performing last on Monday night created additional pressure.
“It was hard to watch everybody go and I was rooting for everybody, but in the back of my mind was still, ‘Oh my God! I still have to go do this.’ So it was nerve wracking,” he said.
Italian model and television presenter Elisabetta Canalis and partner Val Chmerkovskiy — who many thought might be in danger of elimination — were surprised to learn they would be back another week after they landed near the bottom of the leaderboard on Monday evening.
Their cha cha didn’t please the judges, especially Len Goodman, who hated the group’s use of a prop – a bed — in the ballroom.
“It was just wishful thinking that I tried to portray on the show,” Val said on Tuesday’s show, reflecting on using the device. “I try to get everything out of the way in the first episode.
“I just wanted to take my shirt off and be in bed,” he added.
Next week — with the quickstep — things will be tough on the underdog pair, as it was revealed on Tuesday night that Elisabetta was born with an injury to her shoulder, making being spun out by her partner, extremely painful.
“Dancing with the Stars” returns on Monday at 8/7 C on ABC.
Copyright © 2024 by NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be republished, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.