Dancing With the Stars judges were not impressed with Bristol Palin's foxtrot on Monday's show, giving her a 19 out of 30 — (beating only Margaret Cho, who received the lowest score of the night).
Through her dance, the teen advocate, 19, and partner Mark Ballas tried to tell a story about helping the less fortunate. "I didn't quite get it," judge Carrie Ann Inaba sniped afterwards.
"I feel like the judges were right — we could have gotten more into the emotion of it," Ballas, 24, told UsMagazine.com of their routine. "But I was really happy with the way it moved and looked. Her footwork was super-clean. I don't feel like she got acknowledgment for the things she did well, She just got hammered for 'not acting' and then Bruno said, 'You're not Meryl Streep … yet!'"
Added Bristol, "And I'm not trying to be! I'm definitely not trying to be an actress. I guess that's just the analogy he could come up with. Hopefully next week, though, I can try to put some more emotion into it and just sell it."
Despite the low score, she said she "liked the foxtrot" and "loved the flow of it."
She said she still gets tons of positive remarks whenever she's at a speaking engagement to promote teen abstinence.
"They're always like, 'Oh, I've never watched the show before, but now I'm glued to it, rooting for you!' It's awesome."
How does she balance being a mother and rehearsing?
"Well, [my son, Tripp, who turns 2 in December] travels with me most of the time, so I've done some fun things here with him," she told Us. "I have taken him to the pool and down to the beach. And after the show, a lot of times I go home and watch it with him!"
