It’s always hard being the first person/couple cut from a reality show competition, but someone has to do it, right? Season 21 of Dancing With The Stars started out really cozy, with a night of dancing and a night of recaps. But in the second week, the dreaded double elimination was dropped on the teams, meaning that each group had to prepare two dances for two consecutive nights of dancing and elimination. Yikes, right? Nothing like throwing these dancers right into the fire, right? Sadly, soulful legend Chaka Khan and her partner, Keo Motsepe, were the first couple to be cut from Dancing With The Stars .
It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. Chaka and Keo, despite a rocky first outing, got much, much better in the second week. Their scores, though, weren’t amazing, and I suppose that those judges’ scores combined with the phone votes were not enough to keep Chaka and Keo in the competition. It’s a shame, too! Chaka was a ton of fun to have around on Dancing With The Stars. Her fiery hair and personality to match were always entertaining, and I would have liked to have seen this dancing duo move closer to the Mirror Ball Trophy.
In a true act of diva realness, Chaka treated her elimination like it wasn’t no thang. I mean, she’s Chaka Khan. She’s certainly seen a hell of a lot worse (and better) than getting kicked off of a show like Dancing With The Stars. Her gracious farewell speech was mostly that she had fun, she was happy to be there, sad to leave, and would just mosey along to being an all-ruling musical queen somewhere else.
It seems to me that the older legends are eliminated from Dancing With The Stars first. Is it because they are worse dancers than the younger folk? I don’t think so. I think it has to do with name recognition. We now live in a world where the average preteen doesn’t even know who Paul McCartney is, so how could they be expected to cheer on and vote for Chaka Khan? It’s an unfair part of the Dancing With The Stars process, for sure.
You rule, Chaka Khan (and Keo), and I’m certainly sad to see you go!
Images: Adam Taylor/ABC
