The 'Dancing With the Stars' Elimination Duel Claims Another

ABC

Dancing With the Stars' "Elimination Duel" is starting to take the fun -- or at least the surprise -- out of Season 14. When Tuesday's results show came down to the bottom two, there was really no contest.

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On one side of the ballroom floor were Roshon Fegan and Chelsie Hightower, and on the other: Gladys Knight and Tristan MacManus. Regardless of her skill or spunk, Knight's age was an obvious handicap in the fast-paced jive, so a divided judges' panel sent her packing. But she left the show with the same beaming smile she's had from the start.

PHOTOS: Season 14 Official Cast Photos

"We're not naive," she said backstage after the show. "We know talent when we see it, and we know what kind of ballpark we're operating in. We don't ever give into the negative, because that keeps you from going as far as you can go, but you have to be prepared in some way for whatever."

Whatever ended up being the end of the road this week, though she added that she thought their elimination jive was as good of an effort as they could have offered.

"It didn't really matter what dance they chose, as long as you were able to put it together and execute," she said. "I thought we had a good dance, and they felt that someone else did a better job with it."

Looking ahead to the end of season, Knight deflected questions about her singing on the finale -- Harold Wheeler's house band played the soul singer out to her hit, "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- and said she hadn't even approached producers about the possibility. MacManus seemed keen to get her to do it.

And one more question, which so often rears its head in the Dancing With the Stars studio, had the 67-year-old brushing off inquiries over the weight she's lost on the show before she ultimately complied.

"From when I first started?" Knight asked, lowering her voice to an almost whisper. "60 [pounds]."