DWTS Fans Unhappy After Tyra Banks Cuts Off Eliminated Contestant Paying Tribute To Late Grandmother

Tyra Banks hasn’t had an easy go of things on Dancing with the Stars since her predecessors Erin Andrews and Tom Bergeron were fired from the show, but she hasn’t always made things easy on herself either. This week, the DWTS host took a little flack from the fanbase after interrupting a contestant who was speaking about a scarf he wore in tribute to his late grandmother. We're about to get into spoilers, so if you aren't caught up on the show, please be forewarned. The contestant in question was none other than Jimmie Allen. 

The moment was a quick one, so it's possible if you were watching you might have missed it, but during this week’s elimination, Tyra Banks announced the couples that would be dancing in the semi-finals and who would be going home. Ultimately, the bottom three ended up being:

• Olivia Jade and Val
• Jimmie and Emma
• Melora and Artem 

After both Olivia Jade and Jimmie were eliminated, in the rush of ending the episode Tyra Banks had asked Jimmie for any final thoughts he had before his exit on Dancing with the Stars. Jimmie took the opportunity to talk about his costume that night, which he had worn in a performance of Janet Jackson’s “Escapade” with his partner, pro Emma Slater. He began talking about the scarf, noting,

Unfortunately, he was cut off by Tyra Banks, who did have to cut the episode for time. Yet, people were noticeably unhappy about the way the moment was handled, with Jimmie Allen clearly wanting to talk about his late grandmother and the tribute he had paid her during his time in the competition. Instead, Banks ended up cutting him off with a brusque, “She’s here with us” before wrapping on the episode. 

Of course, fans had thoughts. Some of these DWTS watchers were notably a littler more, erm, stressed than others.

Others simply thought it was a little off-putting for Tyra to ask the question if she didn’t have time to hear the answer. 

Even more awkward in my opinion? The host trying to look for Olivia Jade and Val while on the air rather than focusing in on Jimmie and Emma right away and giving them time to share their final thoughts. I get it. This could be Val's final season and the two had had a good run prior to the night's elimination. And yet.

Because Tyra Banks looked for the other couple instead of focusing in on what Jimmie had to say, it read as dismissive even if what she was feeling was a rush to wrap the episode. As one fan seemingly hopeful for a Tom Bergeron return noted, this is not how the former hosts would have handled things.

Ultimately, the results of this week’s episode where Jimmie Allen and Emma Slater were concerned were  not a huge shock (though Olivia Jade’s elimination certainly seemed to shock some). While the dancing pair had improved throughout the season and earned scores of “8” from each of the judges on the panel for the “Escapade” routine, when it came time to choose between Allen and competitor Melora Hardin, the judges chose unanimously for The Office star. Len had even previously called Allen’s dance “nice,” also noting, “is nice good enough to get you into next week? I’m not sure.” 

So, it was less of a surprise than the surprise Tyra Banks gave us at the end of the episode, one that a lot of fans really did find “rude.”

There’s still plenty of dancing to be done by the contestants and hosting to be done by Tyra Banks before the season ends. We'll have to wait and see if she manages to avoid another moment that riles up the fans like this one. We'll find out soon enough. New episodes of Dancing with the Stars air on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET, only on ABC, or see what else is heading to the TV schedule before the end of the year.