Matt Walsh Reflects on ‘Tough Night on TV’ After ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Elimination

Matt Walsh is feeling nothing but gratitude following his Dancing With the Stars elimination.

“After a tough night on TV, it’s always nice to come home to family,” the Veep alum, 58, captioned a pic of a homemade sign which read “we love you” via his Instagram Story on Tuesday, September 26. “Thanks for the love everyone!”

Walsh’s partner, Koko Iwasaki, addressed the elimination via her own Instagram Story, writing, “I am SO proud of Matt and so proud of how he danced tonight with some real chacha steps. He is a joy of a human, a true student and I would have him as a partner every season if I could.”

She continued: “You were only just beginning and we will continue to dance! I love you my friend. And THANK YOU guys for all the love and support.”

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The dancing duo were the first couple of DWTS season 32 to be eliminated after earning the lowest score of the night for their Cha Cha to “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe during Tuesday’s season premiere.

Following his elimination, Walsh praised Iwasaki for being “the best,” telling cohosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough, “I had a wonderful time and it was a wonderful experience, and I would ask the judges to rewatch that routine sometime.”

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Earlier in the episode, Walsh jokingly called the ABC series the “Olympics of dance” in his intro package before expressing his desire to go far in the competition. “Yes, I am a competitive person, so I hope I’m not the first person eliminated,” he stated. “But I am America’s sweetheart. They might carry me to victory.”

Ahead of Tuesday’s episode, Walsh announced he would be taking a “pause” from the show to stand with the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) amid their strike. “I was excited to join the show and did so under the impression that it was not a WGA show and fell under a different agreement,” he said in a statement to Variety on September 21. “This morning when I was informed by my union, the WGA, that it is considered struck work I walked out of my rehearsal.”

He continued: “I have been and will always stand with my union members of the WGA, SAG and DGA [Director’s Guild of America]. Beyond our union artists, I am sensitive to the many people impacted by the strike and I hope for a speedy and fair resolution, and to one day work again with all the wonderful people I met at DWTS who tolerated my dancing.”

After the WGA announced on Sunday, September 24 that a tentative deal had been made with the AMPTP, a rep for Walsh announced on Monday, September 25, that he would compete on the show after all. “It’s been a brutal summer for all of us union members, so happy the WGA brokered a deal with the studios, it will be nice to put down our signs,” Walsh wrote via Instagram on Monday, September 25. “Now let’s use this momentum to get all SAG/AFTRA actors back to work.”