DWTS season 34: Johnson and Feldman eliminated in double exit

Reigning Dancing With the Stars champion Jenna Johnson and actor Corey Feldman were eliminated in a double departure from season 34 on the Sept. 23 episode, ending a brief partnership that became the subject of contrasting accounts about how well the pair worked together. The duo was sent home alongside Baron Davis and Britt Stewart after judges delivered low marks for their tango earlier in the season.

Johnson, 31, who won last season’s Mirrorball Trophy with Joey Graziadei, and Feldman, 54, had struggled to translate rehearsals into high scores. The pair received a 9 out of 20 for their premiere tango from judges Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli, a score that set an uphill path in a competition already described by some as intensely demanding. Feldman told reporters he was disappointed he could not secure another win for Johnson, calling her “amazing” and saying, “She deserves to be the champ every year in my book.”

Tensions about the partnership spilled into public debate after former DWTS pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Johnson’s brother-in-law, said Johnson had “a bit of an uphill climb” with Feldman and was having “a much more difficult time” than outsiders appreciated. Maksim...