Dancing With The Stars: Tyra Banks cries while bidding fond farewell to Jeannie Mai after emergency – Daily Mail

Tyra Banks cried as she bid a departing Jeannie Mai goodbye on Monday’s episode of Dancing With The Stars.

The 46-year-old host didn’t hold back when honoring Jeannie, 41, who competed on the show before getting sidelined Sunday by a medical emergency.

‘Jeannie, we’re glad everything went well and that you’re on your way to a speedy recovery,’ Tyra said, her voice catching. ‘As you see, I’m emotional. We’re all emotional in here.’

She remembered seeing Jeannie’s ‘love and passion’ for DWTS and told her, ‘Just know you are still a part of this family until the final episode of this season.’

The latest episode was originally intended to be a double elimination, but those plans were scrapped after Jeannie experienced an issue that sent her to the hospital.

The Real co-host withdrew from the competition after undergoing emergency surgery for epiglottis, a rare condition that can impede breathing and become fatal if not treated.

‘I am absolutely devastated that my journey on Dancing With The Stars has to end this way,’ Jeannie said from her hospital room, her eyes teary and voice husky.

She explained that doctors had discovered an abscess in her throat, and that her tonsils and throat had gotten so infected it began permeating the areas behind her neck and ears.

Jeannie’s rapper fiancé Jeezy, 43, comforted her after the surgery, as her doctor announced that everything had gone well and she was ‘out of danger.’

‘If we had waited one more day, your throat would have closed up,’ he emphasized.

Jeannie’s partner, Brandon Armstrong, 26, was sanguine about what happened, saying only that he was glad Jeannie was okay.

But it was a tough moment for the Holey Moley correspondent, who has spoken on DWTS of having to ‘make a place at the table’ for herself in Hollywood, and familial sacrifices.

Hers was the latest misfortune to befall the show’s cast, after dancer Cheryl Burke, 36, hit her head, Kaitlyn Bristowe, 35, hurt her ankle, and Anne Heche, 51, injured her knee in rehearsals.

The season 29 episode was the first time all season that dancers would be performing twice, with the second dance a chance for them to earn some ‘extra’ points.

After all the scores were counted, Nev Schulman, 35, and Johnny Weir, 36, topped the leaderboard with 30 points, while rapper Nelly, 45, fell to the bottom.

Nev and Jenna Johnson, 26, danced a Viennese waltz to Arianna Grande and Justin Bieber’s Stuck With You.

Johnny and Britt Stewart, 31, did a foxtrot to the Sean Mendes song Wonder.

Both men earned three extra points in the second round for a cha-cha and Viennese waltz.

‘I could see the ring of confidence,’ Bruno Tonioli, 64, told Nev, who received the season’s first perfect score last week. ‘You were oozing charm and charisma.’

Nelly and partner Daniella Karagach, 28, got just 21 points for their rumba to The Tony Rich Project’s Nobody Knows, though they picked up another two points for their samba.

At the end of the show, Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause, 39, and Gleb Savchenko were unanimously voted out, with Skai Jackson, 18, and Alan Bersten, 26, also at bottom.

Chrishell and Gleb had danced a sexy Viennese waltz to Rihanna’s Love On The Brain, which left Bruno fanning himself.

‘I was thinking of so many things while I was watching that,’ he said, as they nabbed 24 points, later adding two for a cha-cha. ‘None had anything to do with the Viennese waltz.’

Chrishell’s Selling Sunset costars Jason Oppenheim and Mary Fitzgerald video-conferenced in to support Chrishell during rehearsals.

Skai had gotten 25 points for her fun, fast-paced salsa to Missy Elliott’s Work It, which saw her being propelled around the stage by Alan.

‘Alan, what are you doing to this girl?’ Bruno asked him before the pair grabbed two more points for their samba. ‘Are you trying to train her for the Cirque du Soleil?’

Backstreet Boy AJ McLean, 42, and his partner Cheryl subsequently notched 24 points for their rumba to Kaleo’s Way Down We Go.

The singer dedicated it to ‘all the addicts out there,’ saying the song made him reflect on his 20-year battle with drugs and alcohol, which began when he was 22.

AJ remembered trying cocaine for the first time on the set of BSB’s 2016 video shoot for The Call, and confessed that the two years after that were a blur.

‘I was drinking a fifth of whiskey a day, eight ball of cocaine a night,’ he said. ‘I overdosed twice, and I have literally been in and out of recovery and sobriety up until almost 11 months ago.’

In 2019, AJ went partying in Las Vegas with pals, then drank and took drugs the whole way home.

When he arrived, his three-year-old daughter Lyric Dean Mclean refused to hug him, turning up her nose and saying, ‘You don’t smell like my daddy.’

‘That was it,’ shared AJ, who immediately went to treatment, and hasn’t indulged since. ‘That was my breaking point… My kids saved my life.’

The singer vowed not to hide his emotions any longer, and it showed in his breathtakingly raw dance, which Bruno said was ‘captivating’ in its intensity and intent.

‘The drama, the purpose, the storytelling! You were just killing it,’ he raved, before AJ received three extra points for his samba.

Kaitlyn and Artem Chigvintsev, 38, rebounded from a weak showing last week to earn 25 points for their jive to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, plus three points for their samba.

‘You have what it takes—you can do everything,’ Bruno praised Kaitlyn. ‘There’s one more thing you need to do: More passion, more attack, more intention, clearer finish.’

Justina Machado, 48, and Sasha Farber, 36, got 27 points for their samba to Sérgio Mendes’ Maghalena, which they dedicated to Justina’s One Day At A Time co-star, Rita Moreno, 88.

‘You have such an exuberant presence,’ Bruno told Justina, who added two points for her Viennese waltz. ‘You make every hour feel like happy hour.’

Dancing With The Stars will return next week on ABC.