— -- Singer Andy Grammer tonight became the latest contestant to be booted from the dance floor on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
The “Honey, I’m Good” singer has said he came on the program to honor his late mother, and tonight as he departed he said it was “kind of fitting” that he was going home after doing a dance to remember her.
“It’s been a really sweet process. It helped me kind of grieve through it,” he said, speaking of how participation on the show helped him through his mother’s death.
He called his pro partner, Allison Holker, “amazing,” adding: “I got a lot of awesome friends out of this and you all have been very lovely to me … .”
He and Carlos PenaVega had both been in jeopardy of elimination tonight. Elimination is based upon a combination of judges’ scores and viewer votes, and the competitor with the lowest combined score is voted off.
Six remaining couples return on Monday to compete for their chance at the championships.
Social media personality Hayes, Grier, TV chef Paula Deen, singer Chaka Khan, Triple Crown champion jockey Victor Espinoza and actor Gary Busey have previously been eliminated. Reality TV star Kim Zolciak-Biermann was forced to withdraw from the competition due to health concerns.
Before the elimination was announced, the couples tonight each had to dance a routine honoring an icon in their lives. The highest-scoring pair earned immunity from elimination next week, while the remaining couples had to perform a dance-off – a side-by-side comparison -- in their bid for bonus points from the judges and real-time votes from the viewing audience.
Bindi Irwin and Carlos PenaVega went head –to-head in a jive, with PenaVega emerging the winner, picking up 2 extra points.
Tamar Braxton and Alexa PenaVega challenged in a cha-cha, and PenaVega took the 2 extra points.
Grammer and Alek Skarlatos dance a side-by-side samba, with Grammer taking the 2 extra points.
Tonight’s top scorer: Nick Carter earned a perfect score tonight and immunity from elimination next week. Because he was the night’s highest scorer, he also picked up an extra 3 points.
Tonight’s standout moment: The standout moment also belonged to the Backstreet Boys band member Nick Carter, who touched the judges’ emotions with his poignant contemporary routine. After losing a child, he and his wife are pregnant again and Carter said he allowed those emotions to surface during his number with pro partner Sharna Burgess. At the end of the routine, a visibly emotional Carter went to his wife, Lauren Kitt Carter, who was sitting in the audience, kissed her, and brought her onto the dance floor. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough and Bruno Tonioli each gave him a 10, for a perfect score of 30 points. It was the highest score of the night.
Tonight’s Scores (Individual dance out of a possible 30 points; Dance-off points. Total.)
Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess: 30; 3. Total: 33
Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson: 27; 2. Total: 29
Tamar Braxton and Val Chmerkovskiy: 28; 0. Total: 28
Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough: 28; 0. Total: 28
Alexa PenaVega and Mark Ballas: 25; 2. Total: 27
Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold: 25; 0. Total: 25
Andy Grammer and Allison Holker: 22; 2. Total: 24 (They were voted off tonight.)
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