By james art Since it was Halloween week, the theme of Tuesday night’s episode of “Dancing with the Stars” was “Halloween Nightmares.” And it will end up being just that for The Bachelor’s Jen Tran.
It started as a dream. The University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate and her professional dance partner Sasha Farber received their best scores of the competition. And later, when it was time for the first “dances” of the season, the couple would win their round.
So when they were eliminated at the end of the night, it was as jarring as a jump scare in a horror movie.
This is how it all happened. Plus, how the other contestants fared:
A Look at Jen Tran and Sasha Farber’s Dancing with the Stars Week 6 Dance
“What are you afraid of?” Farber asked Tran.
“Just like things that jump out at me without me knowing, like vampires,” Tran replied.
It’s “perfect,” Farber said, because the two will perform Contemporary on “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo.
“I love that song,” Tran told him. “I’ve dated a lot of vampires in the past that sucked the energy out of me.”
(Cough cough, Devin Strader, cough cough).
To help Tran reveal her “real vampire,” Farber enlisted former “DWTS” contestant Alyson Hannigan, the actress who played Willow Rosenberg on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
“The more you believe it, the more we believe it,” Hannigan told Tran.
She advised Tran to “think about someone you hate the hell out of” and “commit to the intensity.”
“It was hard watching everyone get nines, but I was just waiting for that moment,” Tran said in a clip. “But everything Alison said really helped, so this vampire has something to prove and she’s going to kill him.”
Dancing with the Stars Week 6 Judges’ Thoughts on Jen Tran and Sasha Farber
Tran and Farber’s performance brought the ballroom to its feet.
Judge Bruno Tonioli gives Tran a new nickname: “The Queen of the Damned.”
“You really got your teeth into that performance,” he said.
In past dances, especially in the first parts of them, Tran lost a bit of control, he said. But this time she was “on top of it all.”
“You were actually in charge of the dance and you won it honey,” he told her. “You did it. You did it, baby.’
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba informed Tran that she had earned the 9 she had been working for.
“That was an amazing dance,” Inaba said. “It was athletic and it was emotional. You were in character the whole way through. All the movements were raw, tight and clean.’
Judge Derek Gau “loved it”, especially the intensity and drama.
“It was so amazing,” he said. “You were in character the whole way through. I love this trip. I love this partnership. Well done.”
Tran and Farber got 28 out of 30, with a surprising 10 from Inaba and nines from Hough and Tonioli.
“I don’t even know what to think,” Tran said. “We worked so hard this week.”
She thanked her partner by hugging him.
How did the other Dancing with the Stars contestants do in Week 6?
Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher with professional dancer Alan Bersten
Former NBA star Dwight Howard with professional dancer Daniela Karagach
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Dance: A Contemporary, in which Howard becomes the nightmare, the boogeyman.
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Song: “Ring Around The Rosie” by District 78, featuring Natalia Lilly
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Score: 28/30
Former NFL player Danny Amendola with professional dancer Whitney Carson
Former “Bachelor” Joey Graziadei, who also has Wisconsin ties, with pro dancer Jenna Johnson
Olympic gymnast Steven Nedorosczyk with professional dancer Riley Arnold
TV star Chandler Kinney with professional dancer Brandon Armstrong
The first dances of the season
Tuesday marked the return of the “Dance-Offs”. According to ABC: “Two couples at a time face each other on the ballroom floor as they dance against each other in the same style at the same time.”
The winners of each of the three “Dance-Offs” will be selected by the judges and will receive three bonus points added to their judges total for the night.
By winning the Dance-Offs immunity last week, Kinney and Armstrong did not have to compete in this round and automatically received three bonus points.
Tran and Farber went head-to-head with Nedoroscik and Arnold. They got the salsa for “Jump In The Line” from the “Beetlejuice” soundtrack.
After the performances, Howe said: “Jen and Sasha, I love that you guys jumped right into it. There is a lot of content. You danced the whole way.”
He also gave props to Nedoroscik’s tricks.
“I don’t know,” said Hugh. “It’s apples and oranges.”
“You have completely opposite styles,” Inaba said.
Tran is fluid and rhythmic, she said, while Nedoroscik is exciting.
Who would the judges crown as the winner? Tran and Farber.
Here are the other couples who squared off and who came out on top:
Who was eliminated on Tuesday night’s Dancing with the Stars Week 6?
With those three additional bonus points, Tran and Farber were tied for third place with Howard and Karagach in the standings heading into elimination.
“The scores for this cast are so close that every vote can count,” co-host Alfonso Ribeiro said. “Even with bonus points, no one is guaranteed to be safe from elimination.”
As usual, the live votes were combined with the judges’ scores to determine who would be eliminated from the competition.
When Ribeiro announced that Tran and Farber were going home, the two hugged.
Co-host Julianne Howe asked Tran about the biggest thing she learned or took away from competing in the competition.
“Honestly, so much,” Tran said. “But, I mean, just being here,” I whisper. Sorry, I have teeth – but I am so grateful to have met all the people I have met here. Everyone here was so amazing and so nice.”
She said she has been “attached at the hip” to Farber for the past few weeks and “can’t even imagine life” without him.
“I’m really so, so grateful for everyone here and everything I’ve learned,” she said.
The show will not air next week due to election night, but will return on Tuesday, November 12. It will simulcast on ABC and Disney+ at 7pm CT and will be available the next day on Hulu.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dancing with the Stars Week 6 recap Halloween: Jenn Tran eliminated