Oh no! Carole Baskin is eliminated from Dancing With the Stars season 29. The animal rights activist performance wasn’t enough to continue in the competition and win the Mirror Ball trophy. The judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli decided to save Anne Heche and her partner Keo Motsepe which were also in the bottom two. “I’m stunned. I actually have never, ever seen a samba like this one. I don’t know where to begin — but if you were dancing with the Brooklyn bridge, you could get more bounce,” said Tonioli.
The eccentric Tiger King star and Pasha Pashkov received a total of 12 out of 30 after dancing the Samba to the rhythm of “Circle of Life” from “The Lion King“ — wearing catsuits, of course! Carrie Ann Inaba gave her performance a score of five points and told Baskin that although she has “beautiful hands” when she dances, she needed so much more to keep in the competition. “Samba is more than that. It was lacking most of the other things,” Inaba said.
Once eliminated, Baskin said, “My husband is going to be so happy I‘m coming home.” The next day, the big cat lady made an appearance on Good Morning America. “I’m so thankful to have had this opportunity, and it will be hard to leave the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ crew — and especially Pasha,” Baskin said. “He has been so wonderful.”
The 59-year-old big cat activist said that her motive to be part of the dancing competition show was to highlight the importance of the animals she continuously advocates. “I think all of the awareness that is raised from this has been wonderful for the cats,” Baskin explained. “That‘s been my main reason for being here is to try and end the cub petting and the private possession of big cats.”
The CEO of Big Cat Rescue also said in the past that this was an opportunity for people to get to know the real “Carole Baskin.” “Well, Tiger King really glamorized animal abusers and villainized me for trying to stop animal abuse, so I felt really betrayed by that, but what amazed me was how many people believe that false portrayal of me without doing anything to find out who I really am,” she said. “It’s been a nightmare since Tiger King aired.”
Fans of the show took Twitter to react to Baskin’s elimination. “I feel like I can actually take the season seriously now with Carole Baskin gone, SEE YA #dwts,” a viewer wrote, while another tweeted a clever pun. “Q) When’s Carole going home? A) Right meow. #DWTS #DisneyNight,” the person joked.
“Woohoo carole f**king baskin is going home, maybe 2020 is starting to turn around for the better #DWTS Ha ha! Yaasss! One good thing about #DisneyNight this year? Buh-bye, cat lady! thought it would take half the season to get rid of Carole Baskin,” one person said, questioning if this might be a “Proof that Americans can vote?“ According to the social media user, this might be a sign. “That they’re sick of bs? I dunno. Takin it as a sign #fangirllife #DWTS.”
Watch Carole Baskin and Pasha Pashkov last performance.
