Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson were eliminated from Dancing With the Stars on Oct. 13 after Rodriguez turned in the week's lowest score, a 22, during the season 35 episode. The end came after their salsa to Bad Bunny's "Tití Me Preguntó," closing a run that had been building toward the bottom of the leaderboard all night.
That score mattered because it sat below the rest of the field from the episode, putting Rodriguez and Carson in the position no pair wants to face when viewer votes and judges' marks are added up. The elimination gave the Guillermo Rodriguez DWTS elimination search its answer in one night: the lowest score was not just symbolic, it was the number that helped end their season.
Rodriguez spent the aftermath talking less about the loss than about the people he met. In an E! News interview, he said he became friends with Ezra French and Connor Wood, adding, "It's a competition, but they're good people." He said, "We became friends and everything," and said he may go to lunch with Ezra and Connor, with a possible trip to see the Kings on Saturday.
The contrast was sharp. Rodriguez said the salsa was "fantastic," though he also admitted, "I thought it was gonna be hard, but it was too hard." Still, he said, "It was very hard, but you know what? I was having fun every day that I go and dance every Tuesday" and "I would do my best." That mix of enjoyment and strain is what made the exit sting: he sounded proud of the effort even as the score settled the result.
Carson's side of the story carried a different weight. She said she never thought she would be competing on Dancing with the Stars 20 weeks pregnant, and said Rodriguez made it possible for her to keep going. She called the week empowering and said, "It was empowering to see what my body could do each week," then added, "Women are amazing" and "It's just a testament to what we can do and what we're capable of." Rodriguez answered in kind, saying, "She's the best," and "Women can do anything they want."
What comes next is simple enough: Rodriguez says lunch is likely, and a Kings game may be too. The competition is over for him and Carson, but the friendships they described look set to outlast the score that sent them home.
