Ciara Miller Eliminated From Dancing With the Stars on Mariah Carey Night

Tuesday, October 6, 2026 — Mariah Carey Night was supposed to be a celebration, and for most of the evening it was: twelve couples, twelve diva anthems, a leaderboard that finally started to separate the contenders from the pack. But the ending of Week 4 landed like a record scratch. When hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro named the bottom three — Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson, Jackson Olson and Emma Slater, Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong — the ballroom did the math everyone else did. Guillermo had the night’s lowest score by a mile, a 13/30. Jackson and Ciara both had 21s. And then the name came: Ciara Miller, gone. A consistent performer, a 21/30 Jazz to “Emotions,” and the fifth elimination of Dancing With the Stars Season 35.

This is the part of the season where the fan vote becomes the show. Miller and Armstrong were not the worst dancers on Tuesday night — not close. They were simply the couple whose scores and votes combined worst. Guillermo Rodriguez, the Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick, has now survived the bottom three twice while scoring the night’s lowest total both weeks, carried overwhelmingly by viewer votes and what the judges keep calling his exuberance. As one recap put it Tuesday night: because it ain’t the scores.

The shocker: what went wrong for Ciara and Brandon

On paper, nothing. Their Jazz to “Emotions” — one of Carey’s most technically demanding vocal performances, and a brave pick for a dance that needs precision — earned 21/30, tied for fifth on the night. But DWTS eliminations are a two-variable equation, and the fan-vote half is invisible until the names are read. Miller, who began training in August and took the competition seriously from day one, became the latest reminder that mid-pack scores are the danger zone: not good enough to be bulletproof, not bad enough to inspire a sympathy surge.

The news traveled fast. Minutes after the elimination aired, Page Six caught up with Miller’s Summer House co-star Kyle Cooke at the outlet’s Virtual Reali-Tea Awards in New York City, where he reacted in real time. “Oh, no. We all voted, too,” Cooke said, visibly shocked. He added that Miller had shown him a little two-step while they were filming Summer House — training that started back in August — and called it an incredible opportunity, saying he was sure she’d done her absolute best.

A quick note on the early-night reporting, because live TV moves fast and so do live blogs: some early chatter Tuesday named Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Sarah Jane Nader as an elimination — but Nader was already out of the competition in the premiere weeks, along with Conner Leavitt and celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, and Hanson singer Taylor Hanson followed on Yacht Rock Night in Week 3. The verified result, confirmed after the show, is Ciara Miller. When live updates correct themselves, the post-show record is the one that counts.

The leaderboard: Maura’s night, and the 24 club

If Tuesday had a coronation, it belonged to Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas. The Traitors alum’s Waltz to “If It’s Over” — elegant, whimsical, and, in the judges’ telling, technically pristine — earned 25/30, the highest score of the night and the season’s first 9, handed out by a visibly emotional Carrie Ann Inaba, who said the dance transported her. Derek Hough praised it as a classic waltz with no gimmicks; Bruno Tonioli called the musicality out of this world. Higgins, who’d been hoping for three 8s, left with a 9-8-8 and the top of the board.

Right behind her, a three-way tie at 24/30. Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson’s Tango to “It’s Like That” — with a genuine Glee reunion baked in, as Amber Riley sang the number live for her former co-star — earned 24, with Inaba calling it masterful. Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy’s Rumba to “My All” also landed 24, three 8s that left Dewan in tears after a week of wrestling with the judges’ notes on restraint; Hough stood and applauded, announcing that Jenna Dewan had entered the ballroom. And Paralympian Ezra Frech with Daniella Karagach matched them at 24 for a Rumba to “Anytime You Need a Friend.” Olympic skater Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov rounded out the top tier at 23 for their Rumba to “Hero” — elegant and flowy, capped by a one-legged bend, though Inaba urged Glenn to pull back and breathe a little more.

The middle of the pack: personal bests and a birthday

Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa keep climbing. Their Viennese Waltz to “Vision of Love” — Stiles rising from a park bench in a pink gown as the smoke rolled — scored 21/30, the couple’s best, and Inaba called it a breakthrough while Tonioli compared the Save the Last Dance actress to Tinker Bell. Bachelor Nation alum Tyler Cameron and Sharna Burgess also earned 21 for their Foxtrot to “#Beautiful,” an improved score on a night Cameron dedicated to his late mother, who died of a brain aneurysm; after the dance he carried a rose to the front row and gave his fiancée, Tate Madden, a kiss before facing the judges. Hough paid tribute to Cameron’s mom on behalf of the panel.

Jackson Olson and Emma Slater matched that 21 for their Waltz to “Without You” — straight 7s across the board, the Savannah Bananas star’s best scores of the competition and a fine birthday present, since Olson turned 29 on Tuesday. It wasn’t enough to keep them out of the bottom three, but the fan vote carried them through. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum Tatyana Ali and Jan Ravnik earned 20/30 for a charming Jazz to “Fantasy” complete with a flip, and influencer Connor Wood with Rylee Arnold scored 19 for a steamy Rumba to “Touch My Body” — a routine that got so hot Julianne Hough made them redo the body rolls as an encore.

Guillermo survives the 13 again

And then there’s Guillermo. The Jimmy Kimmel Live! sidekick’s Samba to “Obsessed” was, by the judges’ own admission, barely a samba — he hit some semblance of the marks, dropped to the floor, crawled, jumped back up, and finished with his arms folded while the crowd went wild. The score: 13/30, the lowest of the night, with Bruno Tonioli’s 5 doing the heavy lifting. Inaba even called him out for not bringing his trademark joy, drawing gasps from the audience. And yet: bottom three, safe. Two weeks running, the scores say he should be gone and the votes say otherwise. That tension is now the season’s defining storyline — the judges can grade the dancing, but America keeps voting for the bit.

The moments everyone will talk about

Beyond the scores, Tuesday belonged to the Mariah of it all. The Glee reunion — Amber Riley, Season 17 Mirrorball champion, singing live for Harry Shum Jr.’s tango while Derek Hough, her old winning partner, gave her a loving shoutout — was the night’s emotional peak that had nothing to do with points. And in the night’s biggest news for fans who can’t get enough, Emma Slater announced the return of the Dancing With the Stars tour for 2027, with North American dates, a presale starting Thursday, Oct. 8, tickets on sale to everyone Tuesday, Oct. 13, and the joining pro lineup revealed. For a show in its 35th season, the machine is still expanding.

What’s next: Super Bowl Night

Week 5 is “Super Bowl Night”, and the field is down to eleven couples with the leaderboard finally taking shape: Higgins and Ballas at the top, a logjam of 24s behind them, and a bottom half where every 19, 20, and 21 is one bad vote total away from disaster. Ciara Miller’s exit is the warning the remaining couples needed — on this show, in this era, a good dance is never a guarantee. For the full song list from tonight’s Mariah Carey celebration, that’s the sound of a season hitting its stride. Next Tuesday, the theme gets bigger, the stakes get higher, and somebody else learns what Miller learned tonight: the judges only get three votes.