Giada De Laurentiis eliminated as DWTS Week 2 concludes, Higgins chips partner's tooth

Season 35’s second episode, themed Viral Hits Night, aired on Tuesday, Sept. 22. After judges’ scores and audience votes were tallied, Giada De Laurentiis and professional partner Alan Bersten were the third couple announced as safe, leaving them in the bottom three with Guillermo Rodriguez & Witney Carson and Tyler Cameron & Sharna Burgess. Ultimately, De Laurentiis and Bersten were eliminated.

"I tried my best and it wasn't best enough," De Laurentiis told co-hosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro after the results.

Maura Higgins revealed she had unintentionally chipped Mark Ballas’ tooth during rehearsals this week. Higgins, who earned the highest score of the previous episode, said the incident added to her nerves as she prepared for a Cha-Cha to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September.”

The night featured a range of performances, including Amber Glenn and Pasha Pashkov’s tango to “All the Things She Said,” which earned all 7s from the judges, and Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Johnson’s Viennese waltz to “Iris,” receiving all 6s. Other notable scores included Ezra Frech and Daniella Karagach’s Cha-Cha (21/30) and Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy’s jive (21/30).

Snooki made a brief cameo in the audience, and several judges offered brief comments, such as Bruno Tonioli’s “Bravo, you!” to Higgins and Derek Hough’s “Beautiful” to Shum Jr.

Voting opened at the start of the show and closed after the final dance, with viewers allowed up to ten votes per couple.