Dancing with the Stars' cast and judges apparently feel home viewers should shoulder the majority of blame for the "shocking" elimination of fifth-season celebrity participant Sabrina Bryan.
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"This is when you have to remember that the judges are only one aspect and people tuning in have to vote who they want to see in the finale," Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba told People in a Wednesday report. "It is a competition and some days it does suck. Tonight it sucks."
The 23-year-old co-star of Disney's The Cheetah Girls films and her professional partner Mark Ballas were eliminated based on a combination of the judges' scores from their Monday night foxtrot routine -- a 25, their lowest judges' score of the competition -- as well as home viewer votes cast following the broadcast.
In addition, their elimination came only two weeks after the couple scored Dancing with the Stars first fifth-season perfect score from the judges, a 30 out of 30 possible points.
"This is an outrage and an upset," a reportedly tearful Inaba told People. "It's so disappointing and heartbreaking, not to mention complete shock. How do you explain Sabrina leaving? She's been at the top of the leader board from week one. Everyone assumed she'd be in the finale."
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All My Children actor Cameron Mathison and professional partner Edyta Sliwinska were the other couple in the result show's bottom two this week, and Mathison echoed Inaba's statements that home viewers assumed Bryan would make the fifth-season finale.
"It's almost like everyone took her for granted to be in the finals, and they sort of started voting for other people to help other people that needed it," Mathison explained to Entertainment Tonight following last night's live results show broadcast. "They kind of forgot about her, and she kind of got left in the cold a little bit because people took it for granted."
Dancing with the Stars professional Anna Trebunskaya was eliminated during the second week of the competition with celebrity partner Albert Reed, but she was still emotional following last night's ouster of Bryan.
"It's a big shock and a big loss for the show," Trebunskaya told People with "tears streaming down her face." "She was one of the best performers on the show ever. I think the show might suffer a little bit because the level of dancing will go down. It's so sad that America didn't vote for the best dancer. She was so clearly the best."
Inaba agreed that it might take some time for the Dancing with the Stars family to recover from its loss of Bryan.
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"Tonight was something we never experienced before," Inaba told Entertainment Tonight. "I think it will take a minute for us to recover from it because it was a shocker. It's frustrating. It's frustrating to see somebody that good go home so early."
Despite the reaction of Inaba and some of Bryan's fellow Dancing with the Stars participants, Bryan said she and Ballas are taking the defeat in stride.
"We both are just grateful," she told Entertainment Tonight. "I mean we have had the most amazing experience. We've made incredible friendships. I feel honored just to be on this show at all; to even be in the very first episode was incredible. To be able to come back every week like we have -- and been able to bang out some hot-ass performances -- was amazing. There's no feeling like performing on this stage."
Dancing with the Stars celebrity participant Marie Osmond was just as surprised as everyone else to see Bryan cut from the competition, however she believes the young actress' loss on the show won't impact her blossoming career.
"Sabrina is 23-years-old, you're going to hear a lot from Sabrina," Osmond told Entertainment Tonight. "She's talented; she's a sweetheart. It's a TV show. It's not her life. That score is not her life. You watch, she's going to score big in life because she's a wonderful person."
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio