Unexpected Exit: Bat Chen Sbag and Idan Atias Are the First Couple Eliminated from Dancing with the Stars

Bat Chen Sbag and Idan Atias took the judges’ criticism from their first dance deep into the rehearsal room, but that apparently was not enough. After the tense elimination round, the panel decided to keep Daniel Greenberg and dancer Alon Davidovsky, and bid farewell to the respected television creator.

After all the couples in the first group performed two opening numbers on the Dancing with the Stars stage, it was time for the first elimination from the competition. After the judges’ scores and the audience vote were combined, the first pair to end their run on the show was television creator Bat Chen Sbag, known for “Stumtumet,” and dancer Idan Atias. The two were eliminated after performing a waltz to Omer Adam’s “Lailot VeKlalot,” and faced the deciding round against Daniel Greenberg and dancer Alon Davidovsky.

After Sbag’s Latin debut dance, the judges offered constructive criticism. “There wasn’t much grace in it,” judge David Dvir told her, and Anna Aronov added, “This floor doesn’t like feet very much.” The pair took the feedback into the rehearsal rooms to work on a calmer, better performance. “I think that in the characters I wrote for myself, I am hard-core, these are extreme characters, in my life I’m not like that. I came to give myself over and do the best I can, bring myself and reach the judges.”

Unfortunately for the two, the performance did not score high and received only 22 points. Sbag summed up the experience emotionally, “I enjoyed it very much, it was a lot of fun. I was proud of myself. I thought that in the first dance the judges saw fire, and then there was anger and frustration from the gap between the performance and the criticism.” The judges also gave mixed feedback. “This is a better dance than the previous one, you’re a good student, but I feel you are not connected to your body,” Dvir said. “Your upper body is stiff, you have to let it go, otherwise it can’t work.” Aronov added, “We didn’t expect it to suit you, but it does. You stood like a dancer. You are a good student, and there was movement here. The competition here is tough.”