Karina Smirnoff and Victor Espinoza were eliminated from Dancing with the Stars’ 21 st season on Tuesday.
Smirnoff and Triple Crown winning jockey, Victor Espinoza, bade farewell when Espinoza was voted off during the season’s second elimination. The singer Chaka Khan was eliminated on Monday night.
#DWTS : Triple Crown winner @EspinozasVictor eliminated from @DancingABC : http://t.co/Pi9CVYAhgV #DancingOnGMA pic.twitter.com/ErQfVZ9No2
— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 23, 2015
Victor Espinoza, Karina Smirnoff’s celebrity partner, said his experience with Dancing with the Stars is “ amazing .” Victor spoke to the audience after their routine.
“I had an amazing time, and especially tonight. Tonight it was just special for me because I wanted to dance for Karina and everybody else with all my heart. I know yesterday, I was a little off because those pants are so tight.”
Espinoza and Smirnoff didn’t do so well on Monday night. They were in 12 th place, at the bottom of the judges’ leaderboard, after this week’s first elimination. Karina Smirnoff and her partner moved to 9 th place after getting 20 points from judges for their rumba number.
Karina Smirnoff has been a professional dance partner for Dancing with the Stars since the show’s third season. She won the 13 th season with her celebrity partner J. R. Martinez, a soap opera actor. She and Apolo Anton Ohno placed 5 th for for fifteenth season.
On her Dancing with the Stars blog, Karina wrote about her experiences as the professional dance partner of Victor Espinoza. The five-time U.S. National Dancesport Champion said that she cried when she found out that she and Victor had been voted off the show.
“There were definitely some tears Tuesday night after Victor and I found out we were eliminated, but I wasn’t crying about losing the competition,” Smirnoff said.
Smirnoff also added that while she knows that Dancing with the Stars is just a TV show, the realization that she won’t be practicing dance routines with Espinoza any more saddens her. The pro dancer also said that she’s going to miss Espinoza and his jokes.
. @Karina_Smirnoff ‘s love letter to @DancingABC partner @espinozasvictor http://t.co/RJY75NIqUd #DWTS pic.twitter.com/qbg10BWtsB — People magazine (@people) September 23, 2015
“Yes, Dancing with the Stars is a TV show, and you always have to keep that in mind, but at the end of the day what I’m most sad about is that Vic and I won’t be rehearsing every day together. What I’m going to miss most is going to the studio every day seeing his face – seeing him jump up and down and trying to joke with me.”
The 37-year-old dancer also mentioned in her heartfelt note that she’s going to miss Espinoza’s “vibrant spirit” and his “dedication” to the show.
[Image via YouTube]
