Dancing With the Stars ended Mariah Carey Night with another surprising elimination as Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong were sent home despite delivering what the judges called their strongest performance of Season 35.
The Summer House star opened the October 6 episode with a Jazz routine to Mariah Carey’s “Emotions,” hoping to finally break through after several weeks of trying to establish herself in the ballroom.
And according to the judges, she did exactly that.
Derek Hough praised Ciara’s personality, commitment and inclusion of recognizable Jazz elements, while Bruno Tonioli highlighted how synchronized she and Brandon were throughout the routine.
Carrie Ann Inaba went even further, describing the performance as clean and polished and telling Ciara that it was her best dance of the season so far.
All three judges awarded the couple a 7, giving Ciara and Brandon a total score of 21 out of 30.
The score represented one of Ciara’s strongest moments in the competition and placed her in a four-way tie in the middle of the leaderboard.
But by the end of the night, that improvement wasn’t enough to keep her in the ballroom.
When Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough announced the results, Ciara and Brandon were revealed as the eliminated couple.
The result immediately stood out because several celebrities had received lower judges’ scores.
Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik earned 20 out of 30, Connor Wood and Rylee Arnold received 19, while Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson finished at the very bottom with only 13 out of 30.
All three couples survived.
Guillermo’s Samba to “Obsessed” was particularly difficult with the judges, resulting in 4s from Carrie Ann and Derek and a 5 from Bruno.
Despite receiving the lowest score of the entire evening, Guillermo and Witney advanced to another week.
That difference highlights one of the most important parts of Dancing With the Stars: judges’ scores alone do not determine who goes home.
The results combine the judges’ totals with votes from viewers, meaning a celebrity near the bottom of the leaderboard can survive if enough fans support them.
Ciara’s elimination therefore suggests that her 21 points were not enough when combined with the audience vote.
She wasn’t even near the bottom based solely on dancing scores.
Mariah Carey Night was led by Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas with 25, followed by Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy, Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach, and Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson, who each earned 24.
Ciara finished tied at 21 with Tyler Cameron, Jackson Olson and Julia Stiles.
The elimination continues an unpredictable start to Season 35 after Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart were also unexpectedly sent home one week earlier despite scoring higher than some couples who survived.
With judges’ scores and viewer support producing very different outcomes, the leaderboard is becoming less reliable as a way of predicting who will actually remain in the competition.
And for Ciara Miller, that became painfully clear on the same night the judges told her she had finally delivered her best dance.
