Tyra Banks Is Defending Her Major "Dancing With the Stars" Gaffe

The elimination ceremony briefly devolved into confusion when the host read the wrong names.

The elimination ceremony of the fourth week of this season of Dancing With the Stars got a little confusing, to say the least. On Monday night's episode, the remaining contestants gathered on the dance floor, as usual, and host Tyra Banks read the names of the couples moving on to the next week, one by one. But fans and the dancers themselves were left scratching their heads when Banks declared that a team previously announced to be "safe" was actually in the bottom two. On Twitter, Tyra Banks defended her Dancing With the Stars gaffe by blaming incorrect cue cards.

The issue became apparent when Banks announced the bottom two pairs with three left on the floor: Selling Sunset's Chrishell Stause and Gleb Savchenko, actor Anne Heche and Keo Motsepe, and NFL star Vernon Davis and Peta Murgatroyd. Heche and Motsepe were one of the couples in danger, but the other was Cheer star Monica Aldama and Val Chmerkovskiy, who'd already left the floor, believing they were moving on. Banks called them back, saying that there had been "an error in the control room." The judges ended up sending Heche and Motsepe home, Aldama and Chmerkovskiy took the screw-up in stride.

"I'm just thinking 2020, you know?" Chmerkovskiy told ET Online right afterwards. "It was crazy, it was shocking. To be honest, we still don't know. We just came off the stage so I don't have an answer for you. As Tyra said, it's live TV. What you see is what you get but I'm glad we get to laugh about it now."

In a post-show tweet, Banks doubled down on her claim that the error wasn't her fault, saying, "Wowzers. Live TV. Wrong name on cards. So challenging to deal with moments like these. But we power through." Some fans took her to task for blaming the production staff, however.

This is Banks' first season hosting Dancing With the Stars, replacing Tom Bergeron, who had hosted the program since its 2005 premiere, and Erin Andrews, who joined the show in 2014. Both were informed over the summer that they weren't going to be invited back.

Keep reading for more of the most shocking mistakes in the history of live TV. And for the stars who made the most out of their reality fame, here are The 30 Most Successful Reality TV Personalities of the Last 30 Years.

Read the original article on Best Life.

1
La La Land is mistakenly announced as Best Picture.

Moonlight winning Best Picture
YouTube/Oscars

The 2017 Academy Awards certainly ended with a bang. Presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced the musical La La Land had won Best Picture, and it wasn't until the middle of that team's acceptance speech that they realized—and shared with a shocked theater—that the envelope actually said that the drama Moonlight had won the award. The embarrassing error led to the Academy changing their policies in the hope of avoiding a similar snafu.

And for some sad news about the future of moviegoing, check out This Major Movie Theater Chain Just Announced It's Closing All Locations.

2
Ashlee Simpson's track fails on Saturday Night Live.

Ashlee Simpson
Shutterstock/Joe Seer

Sister of Jessica and pop star in her own right, Ashlee Simpson, experienced the worst of "Live from New York, it's Saturday night!" when she was the show's musical guest on a 2004 episode. A technical glitch with her backing track left Simpson dancing awkwardly on stage and facing accusations of lip synching that have followed her for years.

3
Steve Harvey flubs the crowning of Miss Universe.

Steve Harvey Miss Universe
YouTube/Fox

Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez, had a crown on her head, was cradling flowers in her arms, and had already started taking her victory lap when Miss Universe 2015 host Steve Harvey corrected his mistake—Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, had actually won the pageant.

For the most influential celebrity who shares your birth year, The Biggest Star Who's the Same Age as You.

4
Brooke Shields is ahead of her cue at the Tony Awards.

Brooke Shields Tony Awards
YouTube/CBS

If you've ever wondered how the Tony Awards get all those elaborate production numbers right on the live telecast, well…they don't. In 2011, stage and screen star Brooke Shields was the victim of an incorrectly timed teleprompter cue and couldn't quite find the moment she was actually supposed to come into host Neil Patrick Harris' opening song with her verse. When she presented later in the night, she apologized to the audience in a frank and funny way that the network censors had to bleep.

5
John Travolta mispronounces Idina Menzel's name.

John Travolta Oscars
Youtube/ABC

"Let It Go" from Frozen was certainly the frontrunner to win Best Original Song at the 2014 Oscars. But people don't remember the powerful Disney number winning the award as well as they probably remember John Travolta introducing star Idina Menzel to perform it. Why? He infamously referred to her as "Adele Dazeem," who…does not exist.

And for more Hollywood trivia sent right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.

6
Mariah Carey powers through technical difficulties on New Year's Eve.

Mariah Carey
Shutterstock/lev radin

The legendary diva Mariah Carey looked mortified during her medley performance on New Year's Rockin' Eve in 2016, when she didn't seem to know the moves, mumbled through her lyrics, and at some points, stopped singing entirely. The debacle led to blame being lobbed back and forth from Carey's team (her in-ear headphones didn't work) to ABC (she skipped rehearsals), but the singer vindicated herself when she returned to perform for Times Square revelers in 2017—and without a single snag.

Sage Young
Sage Young is the Deputy Entertainment Editor at Best Life, expanding and honing our coverage in this vertical by managing a team of industry-obsessed writers. Read more
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