Kim Kardashian and her champion professional partner Mark Ballas were axed from Dancing with the Stars Tuesday.
09/03/2008 - Kim Kardashian - EA Sports Freestyle's Facebreaker VIP Launch Party - Arrivals - Avalon Hollywood - Hollywood, CA, USA © Tina Gill / PR Photos
The date was also the five-year anniversary of Kim’s famous attorney father’s death. Robert Kardashian represented O.J. Simpson along with attorney Johnny Cochran, and comprised a "dream team" of lawyers who kept OJ free. Kardashian died in 2003 at age 59; Cochran died in 2005 at age 67.
“I just know he’s really happy and watching over me and I made him proud,” Kim, who earned 17 out of 30 points for her rumba with Mark, told hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris, before taking the stage for a final dance.
Mark’s father Corky and his partner, actress Cloris Leachman, who scored the lowest of all the teams with 15 points, were the last pair to be sent to safety backstage, and will return to compete next week.
Judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba unanimously chose Warren Sapp and Kym Johnson, who earned 24 points Monday, to perform their leather-clad, Matrix-inspired paso doble, hailing their performance.
Country crooner Jessica Simpson performed her hit single, “Come on Over,” and later covered Robbie Williams’s “Angels.”
Siblings Derek and Julianne Hough were declared safe at the same time.
Kim Kardashian, once off cameras, rushed to the waiting arms of her family and broke down into tears.
“What can I say… I am obviously sad to go,” Kardashian blogged on her Web site the next day, “but I am more sad to not be seeing this amazing cast that really has grown so close together.”
“It was a tough day for her,” Ballas said after the show, “and we talked about it, and I imagine it will always be a sad day for her. I just hope that her time on the show was magical for her, and, at the end of the day, I will always be so proud that I was the one holding her hand up there.”
Kardashian's shyness was her Achilles heel. “What people don’t realize about her,” stepfather Bruce Jenner told People magazine “Is that she is incredibly shy. She’s a smart business woman, but a very shy and quiet girl.”
“I know I wasn’t the best dancer and I never claimed to be,” Kardashian blogged. “I have never taken a dance class in my life until now! But WOW what an incredible experience!”
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