Dancing with the Stars eliminated Ralph Macchio and professional partner Karina Smirnoff during Tuesday night's eighth live twelfth-season results show on ABC.
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The actor and The Karate Kid star and Smirnoff became the eighth couple ousted from the competition based on the combination of the Dancing with the Stars judges' scores they had received during Monday night's performance show and the home viewer votes that were cast afterwards.
"The memories I'll take with me [include] Day 1 when we came out here with the foxtrot and this place erupted here in this theater and out in the streets, and I will never forget how the fans have driven us through every week. It inspired me. I would run here every Monday for us to present what we worked on," Macchio said following his ouster.
"I loved that, and my gratitude is overwhelming. Thanks to my friends and my family. They always wanted me to do the show -- I did the show. Thanks to Dancing with the Stars and for the opportunity, for the crew -- you guys are amazing -- makeup, hair, everything. And you [host Brooke Burke] and [host Tom Bergeron], you guys are fantastic."
"And Karina, you have inspired me in so many ways with your heart, your talent, your class, your integrity as an artist and even more so as a human being. I am proud to have been your dance partner and more proud to be your friend," Macchio added.
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Macchio and Smirnoff -- who had finished in fifth and last place on last week's leaderboard during the eighth twelfth-season performance show -- had finished in fourth and last place on Monday night's judging leaderboard after they danced two routines that were each eligible to receive up to 30 possible points from Dancing with the Stars judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.
Macchio and Smirnoff had also participated in an additional "winner-take-all cha cha" competition in which one couple earned 15 additional points for performing the best cha cha but lost, and ended the night with 48 total points. The couple danced an Argentine tango which received 25 points and followed it with a salsa routine which received 23 points from the judges.
Actress and former Kirstie Alley's Big Life star Kirstie Alley and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy were the other couple still in danger of elimination prior to Macchio and Smirnoff's ouster, however Bergeron noted they were not necessarily the other couple in the bottom two based on the combination of the judges' scoring and home viewer votes from Monday night's performance show.
Just as they did during last week's performance show, Alley and Chmerkovskiy had finished in third place on the judges' leaderboard with 54 total points. After dancing a Viennese waltz that earned 27 points, Alley and Chmerkovskiy returned to the dance floor and performed a paso doble which received an additional 27 points from the judges.
Also like last week, Disney Channel star Chelsea Kane and professional partner Mark Ballas had finished in first place on the judges' leaderboard after they performed an Argentine tango which received 28 points from the judges and later followed it with a rumba that earned a perfect 30-point score.
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However, Kane and Ballas then won the winner-take-all competition -- which vaulted them far into first place on the leaderboard with 73 total points.
NFL football star Hines Ward and partner Kym Johnson had finished in second place on the leaderboard -- the same position they had also finished during last week's performance show.
Ironically, Ward and Johnson had received perfect 30-point scores for both the dances -- an Argentine tango and a salsa -- they performed during the performance show's first two rounds, but lost the subsequent winner-take-all competition, leaving them in a distant second place with 60 total points despite their prior perfect scores.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski