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‘Dancing With the Stars’ Recap: Three Couples Get Perfect Scores; Ryan Lochte Goes Home

Trick or treat! The Monday, October 31, episode of Dancing With the Stars was packed full of both as the remaining seven couples competed for immunity and an extra five points. The stakes were feeling higher as the competition progressed, and all of the celebrities clearly wanted to bring their A-game for Halloween night. As is to be expected, however, some fared better than others, and for one star, the journey to the Mirrorball ended. Watch the highlights in the video above, and read our recap below!

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Laurie and Val

Three’s a Crowd

A whopping three separate couples nabbed perfect scores. First to the coveted 30 were Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy, whose Charlie and the Chocolate Factory–inspired Viennese waltz had the judges in tears. During their video package, Laurie seemed frustrated that they weren’t getting the scores they should, and cleared her schedule (by missing the gymnastics tour) to get some practice time in. Val, meanwhile, felt responsible for making sure Laurie sparkled each week and was stressed they were losing momentum when they needed to be gaining speed. Fortunately, their hard work paid off. Bruno Tonioli praised Laurie’s acting, saying it had “improved 1,000 fold,” while Carrie Ann Inaba was literally crying because the dance “was divine.”

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Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold also dazzled with their skeleton-inspired quickstep, which Julianne Hough described as “awesome.” In their video package, Calvin’s insanely adorable 2-year-old son stopped by rehearsal, giving audiences just one more reason to adore Calvin.

Related: PHOTOS: Dancing With the Stars Winners Through the Years: Mirrorball Champs From 2005 to Now

Last to dance were James Hinchcliffe and Jenna Johnson. (ICYMI, Sharna Burgess injured her knee last week and is out for about a month; this has to be a huge bummer since it was looking like she might get to take another swing at the Mirrorball, which she has yet to win.) James and Jenna opted for a Suicide Squad–themed Viennese waltz, which had Julianne melting in her chair. Bruno praised James for delivering “the ride of a lifetime,” despite the fact that he had a “new set of wheels” (new set of wheels = Jenna).

Even though all three couples had the same score, ultimately James had the highest overall from the season to date, so he and Jenna nabbed immunity and picked up the extra points (not that they even need them).

Marilu and Ryan Still Struggle

Despite their obvious dedication to practice and desire to do better, both Marilu Henner and Ryan Lochte seemed stuck at the bottom. In her video package with partner Derek Hough, Marilu appeared frustrated by their mistakes the week before. As Marilu grilled Derek about what might have gone wrong, he seemed somewhat at a loss for explanation, noting only that they had practiced … a lot. This time around, their Argentine tango earned more lukewarm reviews. Carrie Ann complimented Marilu for coming back to the ballroom with “such intensity,” but noted that she did see a lot of little mistakes. Julianne also saw the mistakes, and the panel gave Marilu and Derek a 23 out of 30 as a result.

Also clocking in with a 23 were Ryan and Cheryl Burke, who performed a tango inspired by Maleficent. Though the judges loved Ryan’s performance and artistry, they all agreed he was too hunched over. Still, Bruno deemed the Olympic swimmer the “prince of darkness,” which seemed to cheer Ryan up a bit.

Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko performed a high-energy jazz routine that landed them in the middle of the pack, a few points above Terra Jole and Sasha Farber, whose cha-cha-cha “didn’t wow” the judges (according to Carrie Ann, anyway).

Cheryl and Ryan

Dance-Off Time

Once James and Jenna received immunity, the remaining six couples danced in pairs to compete for bonus sets of three points. Laurie and Val started with a jive against Calvin and Lindsay. While both dances were strong, Laurie and Val won this round.

Next up were Jana and Gleb vs. Terra and Sasha with salsa routines. The routines were solid, and both Gleb and Sasha took their shirts off in an attempt to tip the scales. At the end, Jana and Gleb won by just a tiny bit (but Sasha looked equally good shirtless, for what it’s worth).

Finally came Marilu and Derek vs. Ryan and Cheryl. Though these two couples were obviously weaker than the four that had danced prior, they put up a good showing. Ultimately, Ryan and Cheryl nabbed the bonus three points, but then …

Jana and Gleb

Ryan and Cheryl Are Eliminated

Moments after winning an extra few points, Ryan and Cheryl got the news that they were going home. (This was probably annoying for Marilu, too, since she lost her bonus points to someone who wasn’t even going to use them.)

Ryan smiled as he said goodbye, and the whole audience — 700 people according to host Tom Bergeron — stood to give the swimmer a standing ovation. “I learned a lot about myself that no matter how hard I get knocked down, I can keep fighting,” Ryan said. “I’m sad that I’m going home, but everyone here has touched me.” Bergeron pointed out that when Ryan first started the competition, it was almost inconceivable that the crowd would be giving him a standing ovation. In other words, he wanted to make sure Ryan understood how much the show had rehabbed his image.

Tell Us: Do you think Ryan and Cheryl deserved to go home?

Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. 

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