This story originally appeared on Them.
Bisexual model and reality television star Sarah Jane Nader got the first axe of the 36th season of Dancing With the Stars on Wednesday night and was eliminated, alongside her dancing partner Hailey Bills.
Nader and Bills earned a score of 14/30 during the second night of the two-night premiere, in which female celebrities and their partners were tasked with putting on a number from the year in which the celebrity dancer was born. Nader and Bills did a jive to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi.”
Nader and Bills were the first same-sex pairing on Dancing with the Stars in four years. JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson were the show’s first-ever same sex pairing on season 30, with the next season seeing a pairing up of RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Shangela and Gleb Savchenko, who also happens to be ex-boyfriend to Nader’s older sister, Brooks Nader. (What a tangled reality TV web we weave, right?)
Prior to the season premiere, Nader opened up about being part of just the third same-sex pairing in the show’s history, telling Entertainment Weekly that it is “so cool to be the representation that I didn’t have growing up.”
“I’m just so honored to be here and be doing this,” Nader told EW. “And I hope that in a few years it’s very normal that two girls are dancing together on this show.”
Nader showed support for Bills ahead of the premiere, pointing out on Instagram that, due to it being a night of all the female celebrities dancing and them being the only same-sex couple, Bills would be the only professional dancer competing.
Nader was the first female celebrity to be voted off this season as part of a two-night premiere event. The first night saw the competition show say goodbye to Connor Leavitt, another reality show star from Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
Nader came out as bisexual on Love Thy Nader, the show which features her and her sisters making it as models in New York City. Her sexuality became a topic of discussion after she brought a woman she was dating named Eliana home to Louisiana to meet her family for the first time.
“It was a huge moment for me because we’ve never talked about my sexuality,” Nader told Variety. “I’m very close to my extended family, and I love them, but it has always been sort of something that I felt like was just ignored and even danced around. No one would want to know about my dating life because they would be scared that it would come up. When I had a girlfriend that I loved very much before Eliana, I was too scared to bring her home. I didn’t want to put her under the pressure of experiencing homophobia.”
Many people expressed sadness and frustration that Nader and Bills, who was elevated from part of the dance troupe to being a solo dancer for the first time, saw such an early exit.
“There's no way they shouldve been eliminated first,” one person wrote in an Instagram post from the official Dancing With the Stars account. “How did every1 fight 4 hailey to be a pro and then not vote 4 them? So disappointed. They shouldve stayed like 2 more weeks.”
A few people also pointed out that the same-sex pairing may have been unfairly scrutinized because of the way their similar body types affected the dance routine.
“I think it’s rougher with two women who are the same size and similar body frames. When they do the same move at the same time, you can really tell who the pro is. Like Jojo towered over Jenna in their dances so it didn’t look as unsynchronized,” another person wrote. “A lot of it was the choreography since the pro is new. Hoping we get the chance to see both of them get better!”
Despite being in its 35th season, Dancing With the Stars saw an uptick for its season premiere this year, with 6.7 million people tuning in to watch the choreographed competition, its best ratings in six years.
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