This past Monday the showtook a trip down memory lane as the 10 remaining contestants danced to songs that commemorated a significant time in each of the celebrities' lives.
Season 19 champ Alfonso Ribeiro filled in as host for Tom Bergeron.
Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson, as well as Gary Busey and Anna Trebunskaya, were on the chopping block, but it was the Academy Award-nominated actor and his Russian partner who packed their dancing shoes.
True to form, Gary's parting words: "The fact that I have been eliminated is false because my spirit lives on as a partnership and will remain in this room throughout the show. So you won't see us dancing, but we'll be there!" O-kay.
Here's how the contestants performed in week four of the competition:
Alexa PenaVega and Mark Ballas
Dance: Foxtrot
Year: 2000
Alexa picked the year that she booked Spy Kids — but because it also marked the year her entire family moved with her to Austin to support her career. While she clearly enjoyed honoring her loved ones with the performance, the judges thought there was room for improvement.
Score: 21 out of 30
Tamar Braxton and Valentin Chmerkovskiy
Dance: Rumba
Year: 2012
Tamar revisited a scary time in her life — when she almost lost her husband, Vincent Herbert. Fortunately, he recovered from several blood clots in his lungs and the couple decided to have a child together.
Score: 27 out of 30
Hayes Grier and Emma Slater
Dance: Contemporary
Year: 2014
The youngest competitor in the group, Hayes picked the year that his Vine videos with his brother Nash took off. "My life changed in six seconds," he recalled of his overnight fame, and he's matching that fevered pitch on the dance floor.
Score: 27 out of 30
Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold
Dance: Paso Doble
Year: 2015
Alek called 2015 the best year he'd had — but that was taped before the mass shooting at his Oregon college last week. Upon hearing the news of the tragedy, the hero (who helped avert a potential terrorist attack on a Paris-bound train earlier this year) headed home to help. Of course. Maintaining composure on a dance floor, in a competition, in the face of this, was obviously difficult.
Score: 24 out of 30
Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess
Dance: Jazz
Year: 1992
What other year would there be? The year that he met the Backstreet Boys, who, he admitted, "saved" him. "They loved and treated me like a real brother," he said as he recounted the dysfunction in his own biological family. It was a touching love letter to his former bandmates, and Carter subsequently brought the house down.
Score: 27 out of 30
Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson
Dance: Viennese Waltz
Year: 2012
2012 was a turning point for Carlos, as he fell into a dark place after Big Time Rush's success peaked and he returned home from tour. He attended church with his father, and at a Bible study he met wife (and competitor) Alexa.
Paula Deen and Louis van Amstel
Dance: Cha Cha
Year: 1989
Paula paid tribute to the year that she found the strength to walk away from a failing marriage and launch her own business. Her days are numbered.
Score: 18 out of 30
Andy Grammer and Allison Holker
Dance: Cha-Cha
Year: 2009
In 2009, Andy lost his mother rather suddenly to breast cancer. From this tragedy, however, came his hit song "Good to Be Alive." He used that tune to honor his mom.
Score: 23 out of 30
Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough
Dance: Contemporary
Year: 2006
"What shaped me the most would probably be when my dad passed away," the wildlife conservationist said in her video package. "For the rest of my life, I'll kind of feel like he's gonna come home." She was clearly emotional as she danced for her father, the famed Crocodile Hunter, and it's safe to say that by the time she and Derek finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Score: 28 out of 30 (with a perfect 10 from Bruno — the first of the season)
Gary Busey and Anna Trebunskaya
Dance: Jazz
Year: 1979
Gary chose to pay tribute to the year he got his big break as the lead in The Buddy Holly Story (for which he received an Academy Award nomination no less).
Score: 16 out of 30
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