Derek Hough is addressing the rumors that Brian Austin Green and Sharna Burgess were eliminated from Dancing With the Stars due to an excessive amount of PDA in the ballroom. The pair, who are a couple on and off the dance floor, left the competition last week in a shocking double elimination alongside former The Bachelor alum Matt James. The fourth week of the season was themed "Disney Night" and featured two episodes: "Disney Heroes Night" and "Disney Villains Night." On Monday, Brian and Sharna danced a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-themed waltz and earned 25 out of 40 points. On Tuesday night, they danced the paso doble to Pirates of the Caribbean and got 27 out of 40 points.
During Brian and Sharna's four weeks on Dancing With The Stars, the show's judges often criticized them for bring too focused on their relationship during their routines. Though it was originally her idea to bring her boyfriend of a year onto the hit ABC show, Sharna opened up days before their elimination about the downsides of competing alongside her significant other, admitting it was an unexpected challenge. Following Brian and Sharna's exit from DWTS, the couple did not participate in the weekly post-show interviews. Their absence led to rumors that they were salty about their elimination, but the couple later told fans on social media they had technical difficulties with their Zoom connection.
In a new interview with Buzz, Derek Hough, who was a former pro and a current judge, disagreed with fans who concluded he and his colleagues were too harsh on Brian and Sharna's relationship. "I wouldn't recall feeling critical of the relationship aspect, but I think there was just too much focus on it perhaps," Derek said. The former pro felt like fans attention on the real life couple dancing together on the show is expected and was anticipated, but it should have been old news when it came to the following week's performance. Instead, it felt like Brian continued to rely on Sharna every week and his technical dancing wasn't up to par with the competition. "I'm watching him. I'm watching his journey. I'm watching how he's improving, how he's getting better, or if he isn't or if he's plateauing or whatever it might be, and them being a couple becomes irrelevant for me after week one," Derek said, adding he's there to guide Brian on this dancing journey rather than allowing their love affect their scoring.
That said, Derek is aware how the judges' comments could be misunderstood to be focused on the relationship. "There was a sense that there was a lot of reliance when he was dancing with her and was sort of looking at her. It had nothing to do with the romance or their connection, nothing like that, just the actual technicality of it," he cleared up. Derek admits that if he were in their position, he'd be bothered that fans were more focused on their relationship, which is not new information, rather than the hard work they've been putting in every week to make Brian a better dancer. Derek makes these comments as a professional dancer who has a lot of experience telling a love story through dance with a partner he's dating. All in all, Derek thought Brian and Sharna were "great together" and loved watching their time on the show. He just wishes everyone could have moved passed the relationship aspect and focused on their skills as a competitive pair.
Derek was clearly in full support of Brian and Sharna's PDA in the ballroom, and didn't allow that new aspect of the show to affect the couple's ultimate fate. It's nice to hear a judge clear up those rumors, as there was a lot of concern from fans on social media wondering if their real-life connection got them cut from Dancing With the Stars early on in the season. Now that the show has two fewer stars, the competition is heating up heading into Grease week.
Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Source: Buzz