Former Beverly Hills 90210 actress Shannen Doherty and her professional partner Mark Ballas became the first couple eliminated from Dancing with the Stars' tenth season during Tuesday night's live results show broadcast on ABC.

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Doherty and Ballas were ousted from the competition based on the combination of the judges scores they received for their dances on the season's first two Monday night performance shows and the home viewer votes that were cast immediately following both broadcasts.

"I think that dancing really isn't my thing.  I'm an actor and it's what I love to do.  I did this for my dad and I did exactly what I wanted," Doherty said after she and Ballas became the first of the season's 11 couples to be eliminated.

In addition, Doherty also revealed that Ballas had suffered a knee injury that would have forced him to miss at least most of the remaining Dancing with the Stars season if they hadn't been ousted.

"I kind of think it's fate.  My partner is hurt and he's out for six weeks, and to be honest I wouldn't want to go on without Mark," she said.

Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron then elaborated on the comment and explained Ballas had injured his knee during the dress rehearsal before Monday night's performance show.

"I may not need surgery, I may, but I pulled the muscle off the bone so I'm going to be out for six weeks," Ballas said, adding that his father Corky Ballas --who was paired with Cloris Leachman during Dancing with the Stars' seventh season -- would have taken over as Doherty's partner.

"Yeah, I think it was to keep it in the family," Doherty joked.

Doherty and Ballas were eliminated from Dancing with the Stars even though they had finished in seventh place with 38 out of 60 possible points on the judges' combined two-week leaderboard and been praised for their improvement during Monday night's second performance show.

"Your energy was so much better, your performance level was so much better... this is the way to go," Bruno Tonioli said before the judges revealed the couple had received 20 out of 30 points for their jive performance, which had tied for sixth among Monday night's performance scores.

"I think Mark was absolutely right in pushing you harder.  It was a very solid routine, very strong, very fiery... [it] was nice to see a brighter side of Shannen," Carrie Ann Inaba added.   "Great improvement."

Doherty and Ballas had also finished tied for sixth place on the judges' leaderboard during last Monday night's premiere when they received 18 out of 30 points for their Viennese waltz.

Prior to Doherty and Ballas' elimination, Dancing with the Stars revealed that former Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson and partner Damian Whitewood were the other couple in the bottom two based on a combination of the judges' scoring and home viewer votes.

Anderson and Whitewood had finished tied with ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy for third place on last week's premiere but slipped to fourth place on the combined leaderboard after receiving 22 points for their Monday night foxtrot, leaving them with 43 combined points.

Just like on last week's premiere, Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger and gold-medal Olympic figure skater Evan Lysacek had finished in first and second place on the judges' leaderboard during Monday night's second performance show.

Scherzinger and partner Derek Hough had topped Monday night's leaderboard after receiving 28 out of 30 possible points for their jive while Lysacek and partner Anna Trebunskaya received 24 points for their own jive.  Scherzinger and Hough's score also included the season's first two perfect 10's, which they received from Inaba and Tonioli.

Together with their previous premiere scores, the performances left Scherzinger and Lysacek in first and second place on the combined judges' leaderboard with 53 and 47 out of 60 possible points respectively.

Andrews and Chmerkovskiy finished third on Monday night's judging leaderboard after receiving 23 points for their foxtrot, leaving them in third place on the combined leaderboard with 44 points. 

Actress, comedian and Clean House host Niecy Nash and partner Louis van Amstel had received 21 points for their foxtrot, ranking them fifth on Monday night's judging leaderboard and sixth on the combined two-week leaderboard with 39 points.

Former The Bachelor star Jake Pavelka and partner Chelsie Hightower had finished tied for sixth place with Doherty and Ballas on Monday night's leaderboard and in fifth place on the combined leaderboard with 40 total points after receiving 20 points for their Monday night jive.

Former All My Children actor Aiden Turner and partner Edyta Sliwinska had finished eighth on Monday night's leaderboard after receiving 19 points for their foxtrot.  The performance had left them with a combined two-week score of 34 points, which left them tied with NFL star Chad Ochocinco and partner Cheryl Burke for eighth place on the combined leaderboard.

Ochocinco and Burke had received only 16 points for their Monday night foxtrot, leaving them in ninth place on the night's leaderboard.

Former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star Kate Gosselin and partner Tony Dovolani had finished tenth on both the Monday night and combined leaderboards after earning only 15 points for their jive, which gave them a a combined two-week score of 31 points.

Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin and partner Ashley Costa had finished last on both leaderboards after receiving only 12 points for their foxtrot, resulting in a two-week score of only 26 points.

During the results show, Dancing with the Stars' judges also gave the ten remaining couples the task of telling a story with the routines they do next week.

"We're issuing a challenge for next week," lead judge Len Goodman told the contestants.  "We want each dance to show a story.  Now we don't want it to work with gimmicks and tricks, we're not interested in that.  We want to see a story through the dance."
About The Author: Steven Rogers

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