Dancing With The Stars contestant Matt James revealed his pick to take home the Mirrorball Trophy. Disney Week ended in a double elimination, in which Matt and partner Lindsay Arnold, and Brian Austin Green and partner Sharna Burgess, left the competition. Both the cast and fans were shocked to see the former star of The Bachelor exit. However Matt accepted his loss with grace.
Disney Week was a two-night event, split into Heroes and Villains routines. On the first night, Matt and Lindsay danced to "The Incredits," the credit music from the Pixar movie The Incredibles. Dressed as Frozone, Matt performed a quickstep routine, for which he earned 26 out of 40 points. The following night, Matt was in costume as the snake Kaa from The Jungle Book and danced a Paso Doble to "Jungle" by X Ambassadors & Jamie N Commons. For this number, Matt earned a score of 31 out of 40, for a total two-night score of 57 out of 80. This put him toward the bottom of the leaderboard. During the elimination, the Bottom 3 was revealed to be Brian and Sharna, Matt and Lindsay, and Kenya and Brandon. Brian and Sharna were at the very bottom, so they left immediately. Then it was up to the judges to save either Matt or Kenya. Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli voted to keep Matt, but Derek voted to save Kenya, so the decision was now in the hands of head judge Len Goodman, who makes the final decision if the other three judges are not in agreement. Len gave praise to both but decided that Kenya would continue on in the competition instead of Matt.
In an interview with E! News, Matt explained that he was not upset by Len's decision, and he's rooting for Kenya. He said, "Nothing ever really catches me off guard anymore. Someone's gotta go home every week, so I'm hoping that Kenya and Brandon freakin' ride out, you know?" His partner, Lindsay, nodded her head in agreement. Matt's support of the woman whose save eliminated him proves that he understands what friendly competition is all about. He was a good sport throughout his run on the show, embracing the challenges of the dances with enthusiasm and always making everyone smile.
Host Tyra Banks was very surprised to see Matt leave the competition. She said, "There's such a Bachelor following. I thought Matt would be here for a lot longer." She explained why she thought Kenya was saved, saying that Kenya danced what Tyra calls "from her head to her toes tonight. Her facial expression and sexuality and the sensuality was in her face. And I really do think that went a long way to kind of sell that and made the judges give her a lot more love than they have been giving." Tyra's explanation gave a bit more insight into what Len might have been thinking when he saved Kenya instead of Matt.
Even though Matt was eliminated from Dancing With The Stars, he will continue to support his co-stars in their dance journeys, especially Kenya. The competition showed fans a whole new side of Matt. He may not have won the competition, but he danced into the hearts of viewers everywhere.
Dancing With The Stars airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
Source: E! News