Dancing with the Stars has made it to week 3, totaling 4 eliminations. First removed was Conner Leavitt, shocking to some considering his wife, Whitney Leavitt, made a deep run in the show last season. Next was Sarah Jane Nader, another relative of a former competitor (Brooks Nader). The following week Giada De Laurentiis made her exit, a famous cook who unfortunately didn’t impress the judges with her salsa. These first eliminations, while slightly shocking, made sense given the context: the relative competitiveness and popularity of other contestants. This week’s elimination of Taylor Hanson, Britt Stewart’s partner, came as much more of a shock to my friends and I.Â
Andy Richter’s deep run into last season despite little dance skill set the stage for “the new Andy” this season: Guillermo Rodriguez. Both have been carried past eliminations due to votes by fans who love to see them perform and entertain. I can’t say I’m not with these people: Guillermo’s dances have been some of my favorites to watch these first few weeks. Yet I think he has reached a point where his continuation is getting in the way of others’ potential, like Taylor Hanson. Hanson, while not at the top of the leaderboard, clearly had potential to improve far beyond Guillermo, and could have had a shot at making it far. He is robbed of the chance to see where this potential would have taken him, because people just want to see Guillermo. If it were me choosing eliminations, I would have told Guillermo it’s been a good run, but we must get on with the real premise of the show: a dance competition. Even Guillermo’s own partner, Whitney Carson, was shocked by their continuation, and seemed upset at the elimination of Taylor and Britt. When the elimination was announced she immediately put her hand over her mouth and widened her eyes. Perhaps this could also be due to the fact that she’s four months pregnant and is wondering if Guillermo will be able to survive another routine…Â
Despite Guillermo’s obvious show quality, watching Britt Stewart cry and apologize to Taylor Hanson as he thanked her for all she did for him made me feel like it should have been Guillermo eliminated. I’m thinking if it was, he would have laughed, then said how relieved he was to not have to dance anymore, since it’s so tiring.