Dancing With The Stars Reveals Its Season 35 Semifinalists With A Stunning Elimination — Did The Right Couple Go Home?

Ever wanted to hear "Thong Song" accompany a sultry Argentine tango? Do I have the show for you!

Season 35 of "Dancing With the Stars" officially reached its quarterfinal round on Tuesday night, an episode that doubled as a tribute to the Grammys. Thus, Grammy-winning songs served as the soundtrack to all of the evening's performances, resulting in song/dance pairings as odd as the aforementioned Sisqó track, or as fitting as Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" on a powerful paso doble. There was a little something for every taste... unless you're will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas, who sat in the ballroom audience and probably didn't love listening to the house band's cover of "Boom Boom Pow." Just let the guy do it himself! He's right there!

Tuesday's quarterfinals also featured the Dance-Off rounds, each one featuring two couples who performed simultaneously in the same style. Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson were exempt from participating in this round, since they finished last week with the highest cumulative score across the entire season; the other pairs, though, were all vying for bonus points that would be added to their final scores for the night. Here's how those results shook out:

• ROUND 1: Amber and Pasha beat Ezra and Daniella in the rumba (featuring a live performance of "The Boy Is Mine" from Brandy and Monica)

• ROUND 2: Jenna and Val beat Tatyana and Jan in the cha-cha (featuring a live performance of "The Middle" from Maren Morris)

• ROUND 3: Maura and Mark beat Connor and Rylee in the cha-cha (featuring a live performance of "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow)

Of course, all the fun had to end with the elimination of one couple, bringing our Season 35 roster down to just six pairs — and you might be surprised by the duo that got the boot.

Keep scrolling for our full recap of the Grammy Night performances and results, then hit the comments and tell us: Are the right couples going to the semifinals?

DANCE STYLE: Argentine tango (to "Crazy in Love (Remix)" by Beyoncé)

Never one to back down from a choreographing challenge, Daniella had Ezra do all of this style's kicks and flicks with his running blade instead of his right leg — an exercise in speed and precision that I thought Ezra navigated nicely. Less impressive, unfortunately, were the lifts, and the second half of this performance had quite a few of them. When Ezra helped Daniella down from his shoulders and then slowly lowered her to the ground for their final pose, he looked a breath away from losing his balance entirely, resulting in a regrettably choppy execution. 

JUDGES' SCORES: 27 out of 30

DANCE STYLE: Paso doble (to "Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence)

After a couple weeks of perfectly good but not especially memorable performances, Amber bounced back with this really strong paso doble, which was full to bursting with authentic paso content. The knee spins! Divine! Her and Pasha's synchronization was excellent throughout, which was doubly impressive for Amber, who had to handle a billowing skirt for the whole dance. My only complaint: That cover of "Bring Me to Life" was way too fast, no?

JUDGES' SCORES: 28 out of 30

DANCE STYLE: Argentine tango (to "Thong Song" by Sisqó)

I've been a little bummed to see Maura's recent decline after a tremendously strong first half of this season. How thrilling, then, that she pulled off this Argentine tango with such a command of the choreography, even amid a rib injury that threatened to derail this routine's all-important lifts. I still think Maura could give herself over to her performances a little more than she's currently doing — I'm talking totally-forgot-I-was-on-live-TV-for-a-second-there levels of commitment — but she reminded us with this performance that she's got perhaps the best lines of anyone left in the competition.

JUDGES' SCORES: 27 out of 30

DANCE STYLE: Tango (to "Boom Boom Pow" by Black Eyed Peas)

Ooh, someone's peaking at the right time! It's been a delight to watch Tatyana's confidence bloom a little more each week, and this was her most self-assured performance yet (complete with a little lip-syncing to the camera, which she handled nicely). With nothing but respect for this show's fantastic costuming department, I'm not sure the suit showcased what Tatyana was doing with her top half in this dance, with some of the crisp movements getting weighed down by bulky material. But you could just tell Tatyana was locked in for the entirety of her performance, as evidenced by her cute and sheepish, "Man, did I really just do all that?" smile after the number ended.

JUDGES' SCORES: 27 out of 30

DANCE STYLE: Argentine tango (to "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake ft. Timbaland)

Connor is also peaking at the perfect time, and he was a very strong partner for Rylee here, giving her a sturdy base for her marathon of tricks throughout this number. That said, I'd hoped to see Connor tackle some more intricate legwork, like the flicks that Ezra showed off in this same style earlier in the night. If Rylee wanted to avoid displaying some of Connor's technical shortcomings, I get it! But with only the semifinals and finale remaining in this season after Tuesday's episode, there's no time like the present for Connor to rise to as many challenges as possible.

JUDGES' SCORES: 27 out of 30

DANCE STYLE: Salsa (to "Die With a Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars)

To Harry's credit, the pace of this salsa was quick, and he didn't miss a beat; his coordination on Jenna's series of lightning-fast lifts was especially impressive. But when he and Jenna got into the meat of this performance's salsa content, there was a stiffness in his legs and hips that I was disappointed to hear only Derek Hough mention during the judges' comments. In fact, it's been weeks since Harry got any meaningful notes from the panel, which has made it difficult to invest in his growth.

JUDGES' SCORES: 29 out of 30

DANCE STYLE: Jazz (to "All For You" by Janet Jackson)

With no disrespect to Val, Jenna kinda ate up her partner on this one, no? In that breakdown section in particular, it was nearly impossible to look away from Jenna, who brought flow and spunk and fun facial expressions to every beat. 

I will, of course, allow a little cynicism to seep through here and posit that Jenna and Val's elimination is shocking on paper, but perhaps not all that surprising to longtime fans of the show. There's a large swath of "Dancing" viewers who simply don't like when professional or quasi-professional dancers compete on this series as amateurs, even if they're not trained in ballroom or Latin dance (which is a casting requirement, per exec producer Conrad Green). "Glee" alum Heather Morris was booted prematurely for similar reasons, and just last year, "Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" star Whitney Leavitt — a standout of Season 34 — didn't make it to the finale, either. It's always fun to behold great dancing, but there's a limit for how much dance experience some viewers are willing to overlook.

I don't think it helped Jenna that she performed to a Janet Jackson song on Tuesday night, years after she served as a backup dancer for Janet on her tour. Accusations of favoritism have plagued Season 35 since the full cast was announced, with Jenna and Harry Shum Jr. as the primary targets, and voters may not have been able to rally around a routine that seemed designed to give Jenna an easy week.

JUDGES' SCORES: 28 out of 30

Those are my thoughts, but what about yours? Drop a comment below with all of your feelings about Tuesday's quarterfinals.