DANCING WITH THE STARS - “Episode 1901" -- “Dancing with the Stars” is back with an all-new celebrity cast and fresh show format. The competition begins with the two-hour season premiere, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 (8:00-10:01 p.m., ET). The premiere episode kicked off with a spectacular live opening number featuring the entire cast and judges. Each couple then performed a Cha Cha, Foxtrot or Jive, vying for America’s vote for the first time. (Photo by Adam Taylor/ABC via Getty Images)
ABC via Getty Images
Summer and Winter Olympian Lolo Jones was part of the first couple eliminated from “Dancing with the Stars” on Tuesday night.
Jones, who smiled and hugged partner Keo Motsepe upon hearing the news, said she misstepped on her cha-cha dance, calling the performance “awful.”
“No one wants to go out the first week,” Jones told AfterBuzz TV. “I take full credit for the mishap.”
Jones and Motsepe trained for 3 1/2 weeks, the dancer said.
“I learned that I do have a lot of walls and guards up that I was trying to break through,” Jones said. “I would have liked to do the jive or the samba. Samba, the next Olympics are in Rio, so I would have liked to do that.”
It’s unknown when Jones will return to competition, in a bobsled or on the track. She said in June if she did any bobsledding this season, it would only be the North American portion of the World Cup schedule in December.
Jones was the only Olympian on this season of “Dancing with the Stars.” Olympic ice dancing champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White reached the final five last season, with Davis winning.
“When you go so many times rejected in public you put walls up,” was posted on Jones’ Facebook account. “When I was dancing last night and messed up I had flashbacks of the three Olympics and that people constantly tease me about. I thought oh no here it comes again. People are going to ridicule me. I’m so tired of feeling embarrassed.
“I joined the other competitors upstairs and I couldn’t force a smile on my face. I felt like vomiting and in between the other dances I went in a back room and fought back tears. I felt so broken. So unlovable. Embarssed [sic].
“My brief time on #DWTS was a lasting lesson. I really wanted to stay on the show and have the layers of hurt wash away by showing the public how hard I work. I wanted to come away a victor for once. I wanted to do so good performing in public that the haters would stop teasing me.”