First came the downfall of Jamie Lynn Spears. Now, Dancing with the Stars’ other hugely controversial contestant just exited Season 32. The fans, who have been calling for these two to be voted off from the start of the new season, just keep on winning as, this week, the ax fell on a problematic football player.
Still, while the show’s fans on social media seem to be cheering, Adrian Peterson’s ouster this week was a surprise.
To celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary, Dancing with the Stars asked contestants to bring a Disneyfied routine to the dancefloor. Vanderpump Rules icon Ariana Madix, for example, wowed the judges with a contemporary romp to “Into the Unknown” from Frozen II. Xochitl Gomez, who may have had a slight edge over the contestants thanks to her work with Disney’s Marvel Studios, walked away with the highest total score of the night for her pasodoble to “Un Poco Loco” from Coco.
But a handful of celebs stumbled during Disney week. The lowest overall scores went to actress Alyson Hannigan, who couldn’t jazz up “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, and Brady Bunch’s Barry Williams, who received some naysaying barks from the judges after his performance of “He’s a Tramp” from The Lady and the Tramp.
In a shocking elimination, though, both of those teams were marked safe to move onto next week’s showdown. Instead, NFL running back Peterson and his partner Britt Stewart were the duo to leave.
The pair performed a Viennese waltz, swaying to “Baby Mine” from Dumbo. Although the judges had nothing but kind remarks for Peterson and Stewart, the pair only managed to receive a total score of 21, which was in the lower quadrant of performers that night. When the time came to send one set of dancers home, DWTS bid farewell to these two.
While Peterson was sad to leave, almost no one on social media seemed all that upset by his departure. “Adrian and Britt were not a match and you could literally tell,” one viewer shared, calling their interactions “awk.”
Peterson has been a running back for a number of NFL teams, and began his career with the Minnesota Vikings. In 2014, he was indicted on charges of child abuse and suspended from the NFL. Last year, arrested on suspicion of a domestic violence incident involving his wife on an airplane. The charges were eventually dropped.
All of this is to say: We don’t need to see Peterson dancing to children’s songs on a reality show—a rather tasteless moment in the dance competition’s history. (Still, this is the series that hosted Sean Spicer; the moral standards for who is granted a platform don’t seem to be that high.)
With Spears and Peterson, the season’s biggest villains, now eliminated, fans are going to have to start parting with the folks they love on the show.
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