We did not see this one coming.
Despite perfect scores and the expectation that she was heading to the finals, Olympian Simone Biles was eliminated on Monday night’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
The gold medal gymnast was a fan favorite, not to mention that Olympic athletes have had a great run on the dance competition.
Biles’ Olympic teammate Laurie Hernandez won season 23 of the show, speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno won season four, ice skater Kristi Yamaguchi won season 6, gymnast Shawn Johnson won season 8, and ice dancer Meryl Davis won season 18.
But high scores are only part of the equation and Biles failed to capture enough fan votes to remain in competition for season 24.
The decision sent shock waves across social media.
Even former “DWTS” competitor actor Chris Kattan, who was eliminated earlier this season, tweeted his surprise.
For her part, Biles kept it classy and even tweeted her thanks to her supporters and the show for “giving me a friend for life” in dance partner Sasha Farber.
Biles also coined a now-famous catch phrase on the show.
Host Tom Bergeron last week asked Biles why the positive comments from judges didn’t make her smile. The petite gymnast responded with “Smiling doesn’t win you gold medals.”
Bergeron tweeted a photo with Biles after she made a fashion statement with the phrase by printing it onto a tank top.
The remaining dance couples competing for the Mirrorball trophy are Normani Kordei and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, David Ross and Lindsay Arnold and Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater.
