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Dancing with the Stars 5

Wayne Newton: 'Dancing with the Stars' elimination was "inevitable"

By Christopher Rocchio, 10/10/2007

Despite more than 40 years of experience under his belt as an entertainer, Wayne Newton thinks his elimination from Dancing with the Stars' fifth season was bound to happen sooner rather than later.

"Is it cruel to prolong the inevitable?" wondered Newton during a Wednesday night Jimmy Kimmel Live appearance that followed his ousting on Dancing with the Stars 5's third live results show broadcast. "When you look at those other people -- who really stepped up and have done an incredible job -- I have nothing but good thoughts about being on that show."

The 65-year-old Las Vegas icon -- who was the second oldest Dancing with the Stars' participant behind only Season 2's George Hamilton -- as well as his professional partner Cheryl Burke were among the bottom two couples based on a combination of the judges' scores from Monday night's performance episode and home viewer votes cast following the broadcast.

More Dancing with the Stars 5 News

Wayne and Cheryl performed a tango routine during Monday night's performance episode, and Dancing with the Stars' judges scored it an 18 out of a possible 30 points -- the lowest score of any of the 10 couples who performed. It was the second week in a row they had received the lowest judges scores.

"The rest of the people on the show really stepped up," Newton told Kimmel. "I'm really proud of them."

Their elimination also marked Burke's earliest exit ever from the ABC reality competition show. She won Dancing with the Stars' second season with former 98 Degrees member Drew Lachey and its third season with former NFL star Emmitt Smith before finishing fourth with Ian Ziering last season.

Newton took full responsibility for Burke's early exit.

"My partner was the sweetest, most adorable, incredible professional... and a wonderful teacher," gushed Newton to Kimmel about Burke. "The friendship will carry on, at least for the rest of my life."

(Photo credit ABC)

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