‘Dancing With the Stars’ Causes Fan Frenzy With Shocking Elimination

The 21st season of ABC’s competition show begins the first night of its grand finale narrowing the field to just three couples

DWTS Derek Hough and Bindi Irwin

(Spoiler alert: Please don’t read on if you have not watched Monday’s episode of “Dancing With the Stars”)

And then there were three.

The race for the 21st Mirror Ball Trophy is down to the wire as “Dancing With the Stars” began its two-night finale on Monday.

But despite two consecutive weeks of earning perfect scores, Big Time Rush singer Carlos PenaVega and his partner, Witney Carson, were ousted from the competition.

“Well, first of all I thank God for this opportunity because it has been life-changing,” he told co-host Tom Bergeron on air.

That left just teenage conservationist Bindi Irwin, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and U.S. National Army guardsman Alek Skarlatos competing for the top prize.

Some fans reacted with horror to PenaVega’s elimination.

 

The frontrunner clearly seems to be Irwin, who performed a contemporary freestyle with partner Derek Hough that honored her late father, Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin. 

And Carter and partner Sharna Burgess roused the crowd with a group dance to “Larger Than Life,” his 1999 hit song with the Backstreet Boys.

But there seemed to be a lot of online hostility toward Skarlatos, the 23-year-old U.S. serviceman who helped subdue a gunman on a French train. His dances with pro Lindsay Arnold — they were the only couple to not receive perfect scores from the judges on Monday — had some fans scratching their heads.

Thom Geier

Thom is an award-winning editor and writer with a keen knowledge of American pop culture and a knack for finding original approaches that inform and delight readers. He’s handled breaking news as well as long-term feature packages, mentored young writers who have become industry leaders, and developed fresh, shareable content across both print and digital…

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