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Ciara Miller broke down in tears after she and her partner, Brandon Armstrong, were eliminated from Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday night.
After she and Brandon, 32, nabbed their top scores of the competition, only to find themselves named as the couple who would be heading home, the 30-year-old Summer House star admitted she was “sad” and “bummed.”
“I’m sad. Obviously, I’m bummed … to say the least,” Ciara told Entertainment Tonight on October 6.
According to Ciara, she learned a lot from participating in the series, including that it is okay to “not be perfect.”
“It’s easy to be in the public eye and only want to present the most perfect side of yourself. So this was definitely like, a fun experience to get out of that comfort zone,” she explained.
Then, when fan support was mentioned, Ciara started to cry.
“That’s special, I [can’t] even put into words what that means,” she said. “I’m glad that some people can see how special this partnership was and I’m grateful … I’m just sad. It’s something new. I loved this experience and this partnership and getting to do this, and I wanted to just like continue on, so yeah, it’s just sad.”
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Brandon spoke out as well, saying that Ciara “shouldn’t have gone home.”
“But look, at the end of the day, people are voting for a million different reasons, and ultimately, they do tell you to vote for your favorite couple,” he continued. “It’s entertainment as much as it is dance. And so you feel bummed because you feel like you’re squeezing all of the juice out of a lemon and it gets cut short, but it is what it is, and I wish it was different, obviously, but I’m proud of her.”
Also during the interview, Ciara said that she and Brandon would be “friends for life.”
“I feel like he’s stuck with me whether he likes it or not,” she stated.
During Tuesday’s episode of DWTS, which served as “Mariah Carey Night,” Ciara looked back on the three sixes she received for her performance last week.
“Was it the cleanest? No. But it was better than two weeks ago, so I was disappointed about staying in the sixes. I want at least some sevens this week,” she declared. “This week, I want to prove that I’m supposed to be here. So it’s very clear that I need to step this game up if I want to stay in this competition.”
As for her song choice, Ciara asked, “Who doesn’t love Mimi? I chose ‘Emotions’ because we’ve been through a lot of different emotions throughout this entire year, and I want to bring it back to happy, like, let’s celebrate.”
Following Ciara and Brandon’s jazz dance, the judges applauded the performance as “so fun” and “well presented” — and said it was Ciara’s “best dance” so far as they awarded her with three sevens.
Summer House season 11 is expected to premiere sometime later this year or early next year.