'Dancing with the Stars: Juniors': Sophia Pippen eliminated despite getting advice on 'confidence' from godmother Kim Kardashian
After a magical, thrilling ride on the latest episode of ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars: Juniors' - which was themed "Disney Night" - model Sophia Pippen, and her pro-partner Jake Monreal suffered a sad elimination. This came as a shock to many, considering the 9-year-old, and her dance partner on the show, both of whom were being mentored by original DWTS pro, Sasha Ferber, put up an especially strong performance to The Little Mermaid‘s “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” but sadly it wasn't enough to secure their spot on the show, and they ended up heading home.
Performing a samba to the Little Mermaid classic was a tough task in itself, but it seemingly came easy for Sophia, who was asked to open up her personality just last week on the show, as she and Jake presented a lovely Foxtrot to Taylor Swift's "Love Story." The theme for the previous episode was 'Songs from the year I was born' and Sophia lived every bit up to it. So naturally, when the opportunity to open up on the floor presented itself, there was no going wrong with undertaking an avatar of Ursula.
Her scores weren't strikingly different from the previous week's 20 out of 30, but it definitely wasn't a raise either. Last week, judge and DWTs pro, Val Chmerkovskiy was all full with his 'yes' to Sophia's performance, even though Mandy Moore had some complaints about Sophia's arm movements, and it was probably resonated by Adam Rippon who felt that Sophia definitely needs to turn it up, but even he agreed that she did a beautiful job.
This time, again, Mandy had complaints about Sophia's legs, and Val noted similar remarks about her arm movements, and all in all, there was some heavy criticism. The end result was her ending up with a solid 19 out of 30, which wasn't enough to secure her spot on the show until next week. But there was some silver lining to her otherwise unsuccessful week, as just ahead of her performance, her godmother and social media icon, Kim Kardashian West stopped by the rehearsal studio to offer her some words of guidance and empathy.
Sophia, the daughter of NBA legend Scottie Pippen and Kim's best friend Larsa Pippen, shared her personal reservations about getting on the floor, saying: “It’s going to be hard to play a villain in this dance because I’m really shy." But her 37-year-old beauty mogul godmother was able to calm down the girl. “I came here today to encourage Sophia,” the KKW Beauty icon said. “I’ve known her since she was a baby.”
Following that, she reminisced about her own journey of on the show, where she was eliminated in the third round itself, with partner Mark Ballas. “I wasn’t on [the show] for very long,” she said. “The rumba did me under.” But at the same time, this was able to offer Sophia the much-needed guidance. “I think my shyness really hurt me, so I really want you to be confident,” Kim added. “You just have to let it go!”
Over the summer, Kim had also taken her oldest daughter, North West, and niece, Penelope Disick, to the premiere taping of DWTS: Juniors to show support for Sophia. While her infectious smile and charming personality will definitely be missed on the show, Dancing with the Stars: Juniors returns Sunday, October 28, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.