Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas on DWTS.

I am saddened to report that tonight Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas were eliminated during Week 5 from Dancing with the Stars.

My jaw is on the floor as very quickly within the episode the two couples with the lowest scores (Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer and Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas) were declared safe right off the bat.  This is one particular case where I think the voting system failed as, in my not-so-humble opinion, Bristol should have been the next to go.  Florence has made steady and marked improvement as the weeks have gone by, and she added a touch of class and grace to the dancing that a lot of the younger dancers don’t quite have yet.  And out of all the dancers Florence always had a positive attitude, a willing smile, and was able to laugh at herself, even when the dance steps weren’t coming as quickly as she would have liked.

Most of all I hope Florence motivated people of all ages to just get up and dance.  She kept right up with dancers who were quite literally 30 years younger than her and did so with poise and a killer sense of humor.  Florence, you will be missed.

Watch last night’s performances and see Florence and Corky’s final dance here.