The power of the people. Week after week, Sean Spicer has remained on season 28 of Dancing With the Stars. As of week 7, the former White House press secretary has yet to land in the bottom two, something that shocked the judges during the Monday, November 4, episode.
“I’m absolutely confused and a little irritated,” Carrie Ann Inaba said following the reveal that Ally Brooke and Kate Flannery landed in the bottom. However, she wasn’t the only one, as Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman both said they agreed with her. The judges’ scores only count for half — the people vote for the rest.
“I knew what my scores were and I know how well the rest of the cast had done, so to be called out first [as safe] was just a massive relief,” Spicer, 48, told Us Weekly after the episode. “The look for me this week was about bouncing back from last week and showing Lindsay [Arnold] that all of her hard work had paid off.”
That said, he admitted he saw the look of others who were upset when he was named safe. “I know how hard everyone else is working too and you feel bad because you see their progression and so yeah, it’s tough,” he shared. “It’s this mixed emotion that I’ve had, especially the last few weeks when you are watching someone that you’ve grown close to or that you know, and then you know how hard they’ve worked and they have to go home while your scores weren’t as high.”
The politician noted that he’s proud of his progress, but knows it’s all about America. “I have tremendous respect for the people that are taking time out of their night to vote for me,” he said. “I want to show them how much I appreciate their vote and how hard I want to work to continue on.”
At the end of the episode, Spicer with a score of 20 was in last place. Lauren Alaina earned a 24 and Flannery earned a 26 (thanks to her two bonus points. The top four spots went to James Van Der Beek (32), Hannah Brown (31), Brooke (30) and Kel Mitchell (30).
After the elimination, the cast and judges opened up to Us Weekly about the voting and their reactions: