‘Dancing With the Stars’ Biggest Surprise on TikTok Night Wasn’t a Dance Move

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dancing With the StarsWhen it comes to shock eliminations on Dancing With the Stars, at this point, it’s not necessarily uncommon. Every season, at least one celebrity leaves the competition earlier than anticipated, leading to an uproar of “robbed” claims and fans seeking justice. Well, DWTS gave us another entry to the list after its latest shock elimination of Fifth Harmony‘s Lauren Jauregui.

Having joined the cast only three days before the cast announcement, the singer was at a slight disadvantage compared to her fellow Season 34 competitors, but she was holding her own alongside partner Brandon Armstrong. But something about TikTok night left her feeling a certain way: pissed.

Hundreds upon hundreds of celebrities have entered the infamous ballroom to compete on Dancing With the Stars. More often than not, they enjoy their experience and walk away with an extraordinary feeling. But when your journey is cut short, it makes sense to feel certain emotions. The evening, which catered to integrating TikTok moves into classic choreography, celebrated the influence of the social media platform, but after her critiques honed in on her cha-cha-cha technique, it made sense why Lauren felt the way she did.

Lauren Jaureugi Had a Right to Be Pissed

TikTok has truly changed the world in every way possible. In the world of dance, it gave everyone with a cell phone and a dream the chance for 15 seconds. It boasts so many viral influencers that a good chunk of the Dancing With the Stars Season 34 cast is an influencer or has a massive following thanks to the platform. It made sense that the celebrity reality competition would honor the platform with its biggest hits and catchiest moves. They even invited OG DWTS TikTok IT girl and Season 31 champion Charli D’Amelio to dance in the opening. While the show paid homage and acknowledged the social media boom, the shock during the actual performances was not the occasional hiccups of tasking the professionals to incorporate TikTok moves into the choreography, compromising the authenticity of the genre — it was the result.

Once the season announced the cast, co-host Alfonso Ribeiro told US Weekly, “It’s ever-changing, and there were some pairings that were different three weeks ago.” Referring to the former reality star, Lauren was still up for the challenge, eager to put her dancing past to the test.

Known for big girl group choreography, Lauren had musicality down pat. Like many other competitors on the show, it was all about learning the specific techniques for ballroom dances. Through three weeks of competition, Lauren seemed like she was slated for a decent run, especially with a TikTok theme that fit her history. She performed a cha-cha-cha to her own song, “Work From Home,” which had previously blown up on TikTok.

But due to the theme, rather than including the original Fifth Harmony choreography, Brandon tossed in the moves from TikTok as the night went on. Maybe it was harder to connect to this version of the song, but something didn’t jive. Especially with the judges, like Carrie Ann Inaba, who wanted more “pep in her step.” Meanwhile, Derek Hough stated he looked forward to her dances, and Bruno Tonioli, the harshest, asked her to add more light and shade. And still, she received a six from each judge, leaving her with 18 points.

‘DWTS’ TikTok Night Worked for the TikTok Stars

Image via ABC

The judges seem to always score lower for the first few performers. Lauren and Brandon became casualties of circumstance, falling to the bottom of the leader board alongside Andy Richter and Emma Slater. Being the dance that knocked her out of the competition, with her bandmates in the ballroom, was a tough pill to swallow, leading to her one-word answer to Julianne Hough‘s question.

Not only were fans pissed at the results, with some calling for a change in the voting system, but it also completely took some pros by shock. Under the post of their dance on the official Dancing With the Stars Instagram, which Lauren did not include on her feed, Emma wrote, “I just can’t believe you guys went. I did not see that coming.” Meanwhile, Ezra Sosa posted on his story, “Justice for Lauren and Brandon.” To make matters worse, Lauren becomes the lowest-placing Fifth Harmony girl as Normani and Ally Brooke both placed third.

TikTok night may have been advantageous for those whose lives revolve around the platform, like Alix Earle and MomTok’s Whitney Leavitt and Jen Affleck. Then, being reminded of having the current largest following at 9.2M (which has increased since Witney Carson told him it was 9.1M in their clip package), like Robert Irwin certainly helped. But Lauren’s shocking elimination on a night that should have been a slam dunk with the theme and song proved that no one is safe on DWTS.

Maybe the voting system is broken or the weight of judging and popularity needs to be examined, but what’s evident from the result is that when you’re passionate about competing on the show, blunt and raw reactions aren’t shocking; they’re expected.

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm EST on ABC and streams on Disney+. All episodes are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.