Dancing With The Stars NZ judge James Luck says it's a shame they didn't get behind the show's first-ever same-sex partnership, questioning whether the viewers were ready to see men dancing together on television.
Despite scoring a total of 29 with the judging panel, comedian Eli Matthewson and his dance partner Johnny Williams were voted off the show on Monday night following their jive to 'That's What I Want' by Lil Nas.
"It was such a shock to all of us," Luck said on AM on Tuesday morning.
"They were just good dancers. Unfortunately the scores are half [the judges' score] and half the public vote, and obviously the public just didn't get behind Eli, which is such a shame."
Asked if it was harder to judge a same-sex couple, Luck said the genders of the competitors were irrelevent.
"We try and ignore that. To us in the dancing world we don't care who you're dancing with... that stuff is irrelevant to us. But unfortunately, maybe, some people in New Zealand weren't ready to see that on TV - and the pair just didn't get the backing they deserved."
Luck also said it was "completely incorrect" of AM host Ryan Bridge to suggest dance is "traditionally between a man and a woman".
"I think dance is dance, dance is the language of the body. Throughout history you've been shown men dancing with women, but I don't think throughout history men have not been dancing with other men," he said.
Monday night's group samba dances adjusted each celebrity's total leaderboard scores to:
- Jazz Thornton: 35
- Rhys Mathewson: 33
- Eli Matthewson: 29
- Alex Vaz: 27
- Eric Murray: 27
- Kerre Woodham: 26
- Brodie Kane: 24
- David Letele: 23.
In a statement following his elimination, Matthewson said: "I feel so lucky and privileged to have had the chance to do this. I couldn't have asked for anything better than to do it with Johnny. If we could do it all again, there's nothing I would change. I'm just sad, 'cause we had a lot of awesome things planned! I'm really, really gutted - but I had the best time."
Head Judge Camilla Sacre-Dallerup added: "I'm absolutely shocked and sad. If you'd asked me to predict the results yesterday, I would have said that Eli would be in the finale. He's shown so much talent and potential, I feel his journey has been cut short."
Dancing With The Stars NZ is broadcast on Warner Bros Discovery's Three on Sundays at 7pm and Mondays at 7:30pm and can also be streamed via ThreeNow.
