Fan-Favorite Sent Home on DANCING WITH THE STARS

DANCING WITH THE STARS welcomed Kiss back to the stage to closeout perhaps the most impressive week of performances, "Rock Week." It heralded new leaders in the competition, with Donald Driver and Maria Menounos receiving the highest marks by the judges. Disney star Roshon Fegan managed to climb his way to the top of the competition, clearing former DANCING starlet, Katherine Jenkins, fell to third place points-wise after an attempt to rile up some Welsh aggression. But what came in the last few seconds of the broadcast, the star eliminated this week, was even more surprising than the performances of last night.

Last night, it was reported that contestant Melissa Gilbert was rushed to hospital upon suffering a concussion and whiplash. She was noticeably absent from the DANCING stage during tonight's results show. Represented by partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Gilbert and singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw were the first two contestants up for elimination. For the first time this season, DeGraw crawled his way to safety, thanks to the smoky androgyny of his Johnny Depp-esque character for this week's rock routine.

Next up was Menounos, Jaleel White, and lowest scorer Gladys Knight - with, surprisingly, all three announced as being safe. 

With five couples guaranteed to traipse around the DANCING stage once more, frontrunner Driver and Fegan were the next two to be brought into the spotlight. With the judge's scores combined with the audience's votes, the first couple up for elimination was Fegan and Hightower.

Fan-favorite Katherine Jenkins was announced to be safe - with Sherri Shepherd and William Levy remaining. Ultimately, Sherri Shepherd would be forced to join fellow contestant Fegan in the bottom two.

Host Tom Bergeron was surprised by Shepherd's placement in the bottom two, as was she, who broke down in tears mid-interview. "All of us judges are in total shock," said head judge Len Goodman. "The standard is so high, anyone can be in jeopardy, anyone can be safe." Within the final seconds of this week's results show, it was announced the sassy-brash Shepherd would be going home. 

Through tears, Shepherd encouraged everyone to run towards what they fear, and expressed she had no regrets on her short stay in the competition. "I love and thank you all," she said. "I had the most amazing time."

For last night's coverage of DANCING's "Rock Week" episode, check out http://broadwayworld.com/article/DANCING-WITH-THE-STARS-Rock-Week-Recap-20120410.

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