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‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 30 recap: Brian Austin Green and ‘Bachelor’ Matt James sent home in shocking double elimination

By Megan Stone Oct 13, 2021 | 5:00 AM


ABC/Eric McCandless

While Monday on Dancing with the Stars was sugar, spice and everything nice for Disney Heroes Night — Tuesday was an about face, with host Tyra Banks announcing an evil plot twist for Disney Villains Night: the season’s first double elimination. 

The first person to head home was Beverly Hills, 90210 alum Brian Austin Green, with Banks revealing his departure was by default as he and partner Sharna Burgess finished the night at the bottom of the scoreboard.

The audience voted Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore and former Bachelor Matt James into the bottom two and the judges were evenly split over who to save. Len Goodman bemoaned being in the “horrible position” of casting the tie-breaking vote and, after some stalling, ultimately chose to spare Kenya, who fell to her knees in shock.

That decision also meant the end of Bachelor Nation’s hope of winning a third consecutive Mirrorball Trophy. Former Bachelorettes Hannah Brown and Kaitlyn Bristowe won the two previous seasons.

Speaking of consecutive wins, The Office star Melora Hardin again brought her A-game to the ballroom and again claimed first place.  Her theatrical and in-character jazz routine to Tangled‘s “Mother Knows Best” — which Melora sang, by the way — earned her the first 10 of the season.

Another standout moment came from country singer Jimmie Allen, who opened the show with his Captain Hook-inspired jazz routine to Billie Eilish‘s “bad guy.”  After securing his best score of the season, the Grammy nominee proudly revealed that he just found out his wife, Alexis Gale, was about to give birth to their second child. 

Peloton instructor Cody Rigsby also had a great night and secured his best score of the season. The judges took a moment to salute him and dance partner Cheryl Burke, who were both “fresh out of quarantine” after testing positive for COVID-19 a few weeks ago — which meant they had the least amount of time to rehearse.

Rigsby explained he and Cheryl were able to hold their first in-person practice on Friday and, before then, relied on Zoom to communicate.  Despite their triumph this week, they have to work extra hard to catch up with the rest of the pack as they are currently at the bottom of the scoreboard and are now in danger of going home.

Dancing with the Stars returns next Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, where the cast will pay homage to the movie Grease.

Here are the current standings:

Melora Hardin, The Office actress, with Artem Chivensky — 73/80
JoJo Siwa, Nickelodeon star, with Jenna Johnson — 70/80
Olivia Jade, influencer, with Val Chmerkovskiy — 70/80 
Amanda KlootsThe Talk co-host, with Alan Bersten — 68/80
Suni Lee, Olympic Gold medalist, with Sasha Farber — 68/80
Jimmie Allen, country music singer, with Emma Slater — 67/80
Melanie C, Spice Girl, with Gleb Savchenko — 66/80
Michael “The Miz” Gregory, WWE superstar, Witney Carson — 65/80
Iman Shumpert, NBA player, with Daniella Karagach — 63/80
Kenya Moore, former Miss USA, with Brandon Armstrong — 59/80
Cody Rigsby, Peloton instructor, with Cheryl Burke — 58/80

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