The Dancing with the Stars competitors pushed themselves to new extremes on Monday night because, in order to make it to next week’s semifinals, they had to survive a dance off and a double-elimination.
Unfortunately, the journey came to an end for Olivia Jade and country singer Jimmie Allen. Jade was automatically eliminated for earning the lowest combined score of the night while Allen was sent to the bottom two alongside The Office actress Melora Hardin. The judges voted unanimously to save Hardin.
Monday night celebrated icon Janet Jackson, who amped up the pressure by tuning in from London to watch everyone dance to her music.
One of the competitors feeling the most pressure was The Talk co-host Amanda Kloots, who wanted to impress the judges with her jazz routine to Jackson’s “Miss You Much.” Kloots, who has prior dance experience, confessed to feeling frustrated that the judges have been so hard on her and hoped to turn her luck around.
Her dance partner, Alan Bersten, argued the judges “see something special with her” and that’s why they’ve been so unforgiving. That said, he pushed Amanda even harder during rehearsals so she could meet those high expectations. His tactic paid off because they not only collected their first perfect score of the season, they also won the dance off against Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby and earned two extra bonus points.
Also feeling the pressure was Olympian Suni Lee, who opened up about the bullying she’s received since joining DWTS. “I always see a lot of mean comments about me not being able to dance and I need to go home,” she shared. “I feel like they’re right. I let them get to me.”
She managed to shake off haters and also collected a perfect score for her samba to Jackson’s “All For You.” The gold medalist also triumphed in the dance off and added two bonus points to her score.
Dancing with the Stars returns Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Here are the current standings:
Suni Lee, Olympic Gold medalist, with Sasha Farber — 42/40
Amanda Kloots, The Talk co-host, with Alan Bersten — 42/40
Melora Hardin, The Office actress, with Artem Chivensky — 42/40
JoJo Siwa, Nickelodeon star, with Jenna Johnson — 41/40
Cody Rigsby, Peloton instructor, with Cheryl Burke — 38/40
Iman Shumpert, NBA player, with Daniella Karagach — 35/40
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