"Dancing with the Stars" faces shocking elimination
This week,"Dancing with the Stars" took a tour of the 20th century, celebrating the music and dance from the '20s through modern day.
This week saw some of the best costumes, some of the greatest set pieces, and some of the most incredible routines of the whole season so far.
It was also an emotional roller-coaster with stars getting hurt, stars getting rewarded with incredible scores, and a shocking elimination that simply defies explanation. Here are the best, worst, and weirdest moments of the night.
THE BEST
Riker Lynch's Old Timey Baseball Number
Riker's era was 1920s, and for his baseball-themed quickstep he and Alison pulled off an astounding routine set to a '20s big-band swing style cover of Jason Derulo's "Wiggle" that was easily 10 times better than the real version.
Bruce Willis Stops By
The "Die Hard" star came by to visit his daughter while she rehearsed, and we got to see an emotional side to the action star that is rarely made public. He even got a little choked up talking about how proud he was of his little girl.
Noah Galloway is a Badass Gangster
For Noah and Sharna's '70s number, Noah played a Scarface-like gangster and, honestly, he totally ruled. For someone who admitted to never having acted before, he was great. And it paid off, with he and Sharna receiving a whole lot of love from Carrie Ann Inaba.
Nastia Liukin Does Great Even With a New Partner
Derek Hough hurt himself during rehearsals for the "DWTS" 10th anniversary so Sasha Farber had to come in and take over for the injured pro. Derek choreographed the dance, and his injury was even incorporated in the beginning when Derek pretended to introduce Nastia and Sasha on a subway. The whole thing was brilliant, and ended up being the highest-scoring dance of the night, which must be bittersweet for Derek, considering he didn't get to earn that score himself.
Willow is a Ninja
Mark and Willow managed to pull off a ninja-themed number that incorporated martial arts with ballroom dancing, and despite Mark's propensity to make the dance more about style than substance, this week's routine was an innovate blending of both.
THE WORST
Val Chmerkovskiy Almost Breaks Rumer Willis' Neck
As seen in the pre-taped package played before their dance, Val and Rumer were rehearsing when Val got a little overly enthusiastic and ended up dropping Rumer, with her neck landing on his knee, causing her a great deal of pain. It was a hard hit, and while the pre-taped packages are designed to be as dramatic as possible, this one felt legitimately scary. Luckily she recovered just fine and ended up delivering a great routine while looking simply gorgeous in her black, white and pink polka dot dress.
Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson Are Just So Touchy Feely
Yeah, we get it, you guys want to get it on. It doesn't need to be the focus of every dance, and it's awkward. Like when you're hanging out at a party and your friends are making out right next to you. Just get a room.
THE WEIRDEST
Willow Shields' Tiny Dress
aybe this is just our prudish side coming out, but Willow's super short blue fringe dress that she wore in the dance-off against Riker and Allison seemed kind of inappropriate for a 14-year-old. The dance was great, and Willow and Mark even beat Riker and Alison, but the whole thing just seemed a little uncomfortable.
THE BIG GOODBYE *CAUTION: SPOILERS*
In what has to be one of the biggest surprise decisions in the history of "Dancing with the Stars," the final two stars in jeopardy were Rumer Willis and Willow Shields -- who have consistently been two of the highest-scored stars every single week.
And, in the end, 14-year-old Willow got the axe -- again, despite a score of 37 this week and a stellar string of performances. The news brought her to tears, and ended the show on quite the downer note. Even Chris and Robert were astonished that they were safe, and everyone looked quite upset about the young starlet's departure.
Seriously? It brings into question how much of the show has anything at all to do with the stars' ability to dance. Hopefully "DWTS" viewers get their act together for the rest of the season.
FINAL SCORES
Nastia Liukin & Derek Hough - 38
Riker Lynch & Allison Holker - 37
Willow Shields & Mark Ballas - 37 (Eliminated)
Noah Galloway & Sharna Burgess - 36
Rumer Willis & Valentin Chmerkovskiy - 35
Chris Soules & Witney Carson - 31
Robert Herjavec & Kym Johnson - 31