‘Dancing with the Stars’ 19: Tavis Smiley blames production, schedule for elimination

Do we have our first “shock” elimination now from “Dancing with the Stars“? Hardly. Instead, Tuesday night’s result show brought an end of the road for Tavis Smiley. He was not the most well-known performer of the season, and he also received the second-lowest score on the night Monday in a 28.

What is interesting now is what he is having to say about his exit after the fact. Speaking to People Magazine after the elimination, Smiley (who may not have been so smiley at the time) said that he only had around 10 hours to contribute to rehearsals this past week thanks to his book tour. He asked to be on the show this spring instead, and that didn’t come to pass:

“Producers shouldn’t sign up people who can’t commit the time when they are told up front that the person is going to be on a book tour … We gave them the entire book-tour schedule in advance! This is not about sour grapes. It’s about saying I think the fans deserve to have stars on this show who have the time to commit to learning the dances so [partner Sharna Burgess] and other professionals don’t waste their time trying to do something that’s just humanly impossible.”

 

We understand where Smiley is coming from here, since there was no way he could compete against other stars with both more athleticism and also more time to devote to the series. However, he also had the opportunity to turn down the show in the first place if he felt like it was going to be too much for him to handle, and this was still a net positive for him. He’d probably also agree with that.

Tell us: Do you think Smiley’s lack of rehearsal time contributed to his exit, or do you believe he would have been sent home early regardless? Share below, and dance over here to get some further TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: ABC