The “Dancing With the Stars” duos paid tribute to some of the most famous music videos during Tuesday night’s episode, including Britney Spears’ “Slave 4 U,” Aha’s “Take Me On” and NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me.”
This week’s teams had an added challenge; not only did the judges — including guest judge Paula Abdul — score them on their routine but also how well it honored the original music video.
Abdul delivered a few 10s through the night (see all the scores below) — including to Jason Mraz and Daniella Karagach — but the judges didn’t agree. While the pair have been near the top of the leaderboard each week, Carrie Ann Inaba and Derek Hough felt “underwhelmed” by their performance. Later, Hough and Bruno Tonioli were booed when they said they felt a disconnect between Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy after their jazz routine.
Harry Jowsey and Rylee Arnold also continued to struggle and both were disappointed after receiving week after week of low scores.
Meanwhile, Alyson Farber did her “best dance yet,” according to the judges and Inaba told Lele Pons this was the dance she’d been waiting to see her do.
After each duo performed solo, they were split into two teams. The first group, “Team Young’n Style,” included Harry and Rylee, Lele and Brandon, Xochitl and Val and Charity and Artem. After a dance to “Gangnam Style” by PSY, the judges were impressed with how Jowsey stepped up as the captain. The group earned a score of 40/40.
“Team 4 Everybody” consisted of Alyson and Sasha, Jason and Daniella, Ariana and Pasha and Barry and Peta, all dancing to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” by Backstreet Boys. They scored a 37/40.
The night also included two surprise boy banders — Lance Bass, who came to assist Harry Jowsey’s NSYNC video replication and AJ McLean, who stepped in to help the second group dance.
Still, one pair had to go home. In a shocking turn, Lele Pons and Brandon Armstrong were eliminated. The judges and hosts appeared shocked and Armstrong admitted, “That one burns. I don’t think Lele should have been going home.”