HASSELHOF ELIMINATED FROM 'DANCING WITH THE STARS'

Host Tom Bergeron wasn't kidding when he teased how the first elimination on this season's "Dancing with the Stars" would be a shocker.

For more about the celebrity who got the boot on Tuesday's episode -- and how it caught the producers by surprise -- go to the jump.

After earning only 15 out of 30 points for dancing the cha cha cha to the band's version of "Sex Bomb," David Hasselhoff got the ol' heave-ho during Tuesday's episode of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

Most of his fellow dancers were practically speechless afterwards ("It proves that anything can happen," said a shell-shocked Michael Bolton) while executive producer Conrad Green was downright bummed.

"I'm really sad to see David go," Green told EW. "Of all of the people in the cast, it's a real surprise for us because he is such a brilliant character. I thought his routine was really entertaining. I understand from the judges' purist dance point-of-view, it might not have been technically the best dance.

"But it's the one that made me laugh the most and I enjoyed it. Personally, I watch more for the entertainment than anything else. I like good old-fashioned entertainment shows because you never know what's coming. From that point of view, David had one of the best dances of the night."

Hasselhoff seemed to take the elimination in stride when trying to explain the reason for his quick ouster.

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"I knew going into this that when you are David Hasselhoff and you live this larger-than-life persona, then everyone is kind of gunning for you," he told EW. "I knew that I had to kind of get past the judges, and I did everything I could to go on technique. Two days before [premiere night], I had it down. I was so happy because my body came around. But premiere night, it just wouldn't work like I hoped."

And how. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba called him the offspring of Donny Osmond and Jerry Springer, while Len Goodman said "it's never too early to panic." Even Bruno Tonioli wrote off his performance as "madness."

Hasselhoff's family seemed to indicate that all was not well with their dad; one of his daughters sitting in the audience on Tuesday said that Hasselhoff's knees were aching, so their pop and his partner Kym Johnson had some fessing up to do after the show.



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"He was trying not to talk about it...," Johnson said.

"I got a cortisone shot, had a few liters of fluid drained and some electrical shocks this morning," Hasselhoff conceded about his knees. "So I said, if we went to the next round, I'd be good. Now I'll just be walking good for my live show in Loughlin."

The actor-singer is performing at a casino in the Nevada resort town September 22 through September 26.

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Though he admitted feeling bad for Johnson, Hasselhoff is hoping that his now-ex-dance partner will join him on the road during one of his concerts.

"Maybe she'll jump on stage and do 'Sex Bomb,' which is going to be my new single in my live show. Life is a journey. I said to her tonight, 'Whatever happens, we breathe in God, we breathe out smiles. There's a reason for everything.' And you know what? We had a blast. As long as you give everything you've got in life, there are no regrets."

Most importantly, he doesn't think viewers were trying to get back at him for the way he judged on "America's Got Talent," even though he made a crack about it during the show.

"I was compassionate to those kids," he said. "The psychiatrist who they usually have backstage for those kids came up to me and said how I saved them a lot of money because I would give them encouragement and tell them to learn from this moment, use it as a springboard to move forward. If I give that message out to them, I take it for myself."

This isn't the last we'll see of The Hoff. He said A&E is about to debut his reality show called "The Hasselhoffs," but he's not ready to reveal the debut date just yet.

"It's really based on my life in Hollywood and the perception of me. Who I am is not what people know. It's really about me and my daughters and their quest to become pop stars and how hard they have worked. It might be too soft for reality TV because it has the good and the bad, but it's not ugly. It's based on positive reinforcement about life and all the things that we learn. I'm very, very proud of it. It's coming out very soon."