'Dancing With the Stars': Kristin Cavallari Elimination Shocks Judges, Audiences

Dancing With the Stars provided yet more fodder for discussion Monday night with the shock elimination of Kristin Cavallari and her partner Mark Ballas.

The duo received a standing ovation for their samba routine but were voted off the show, despite the fact that the judges had consistently praised The Hills starlet Cavallari during the three weeks she was in this season's competition.

On Monday’s show two-time champion Cavallari and partner Ballas danced to Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love, earning a score of 24 from a possible 30.

According to the rules of the competition, the celebrity couple with the lowest score (which is a combination of the judges' score and audience votes) is eliminated.

In the elimination round, Cavallari and American women's footballer, Hope Solo, faced off against each other. When Tom Bergeron, the host of the show, announced that Cavallari had danced her last dance, the audience looked shocked.

“I’m a little surprised, to be honest, but I’ve had such a great time, and I’ve had an awesome experience, so it is what it is,” Cavallari told host Brooke Burke Charvet.

According to a report by ABC, Len Goodman, a head judge, said that neither Solo nor Cavallari should have been in the bottom two. It was, to quote the report, madness.

“This is truly crazy,” he said, “My expectation was that these two couples would be fighting for the final.

Equally surprisingly, Chaz Bono, an American transgender writer and musican, received the lowest score from the judges but escaped elimination.

I wish I could thank each & every one of you personally for your votes, he wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday, You are the reason Lacey Schwimmer and I ARE DANCING AGAIN next week!!

The competition will continue next week, with Ricki Lake, David Arquette, Chaz Bono, Nancy Grace, Rob Kardashian, Carson Kressley, J.R. Martinez, Chynna Phillips and Solo competing.