There was a surprising elimination on Tuesday’s episode of “Dancing With the Stars.”

 
With her precise movements, and glowing stage presence, Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin (Alec Mazo is her partner) has always been one of the front-runners on this season of  “Dancing With the Stars.” But Monday’s score of 22 found her bringing up the rear for the women.

 
Then there’s singer Aaron Carter (partnered by Karina Smirnoff), whose steps have been faltering as of late, although he still manages to pull pretty decent scores from week to week. He scored 24 points from the judges Monday. Not his best scores, but definitely not his worst.
 
Overall, each of them landed in the middle of the leader board this week, so it was surprising to see that they were the last two celebrities facing elimination on Tuesday.
 
If it were based on the lowest judge scores alone, then former NFL player Michael Irvin and actress Melissa Joan Hart should have been facing the glare of the red light. Unfortunately for Natalie and Aaron that is not the case.
 
Between the two of them Natalie has been a little more consistent in her performances. But being rock solid was not enough to keep her in step and she was eliminated.
 
For Aaron, it’s onto the next round and the terror that is next week’s double elimination on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

-- Sonya Eskridge