'Dancing With the Stars': Kiss Kate Gosselin Good-Bye

April 20, 2010— -- Kiss Kate goodbye.

In a tearful conclusion to Tuesday night's program, Kate Gosselin was voted off "Dancing With the Stars" by the viewers at home.

She had improbably made it to the fifth week of the season, outlasting even astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the process, proving that the tenacity that made her famous as the reality star of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" can hold her in good stead on other stages.

"You are one tough cookie and you are no quitter," judge Carrie Ann Inaba remarked as she eased Kate out the door.

"She's not like our other stars," she said, pointing out that Gosselin became famous first by being a stay-at-home mother of eight and then a tabloid sensation.

It was Gosselin's first time in the bottom two of the program -- pitting her directly against another single mother of a different stripe: former "Baywatch" babe Pamela Anderson.

The show ended in a weepy wave of goodwill for Gosselin, who hadn't always been the recipient of the kindest of words on "Dancing."

"Considering what's been going on in your life, I have such admiration for the courage you have for participating in this competition," said her professional partner Tony Dovolani. "I give her all the credit in the world for showing up as exhausted as she was."

From the beginning of the season, her footwork had fallen far short of fancy.

Attempting to mimic Dovolani's puckish prancing in the first episode, Gosselin flailed through a classic Viennese waltz. The song was Billy Joel's "She's Always a Woman to Me," but she looked more like a child just learning how to distinguish left from right.

Gosselin wore what looked like a leftover costume from the set of "I Dream of Jeanie," accessorized by a terrified expression -- as if her legs just might refuse to cooperate altogether.

They nearly did. Dovolani raged at Gosselin's lack of talent, venting that "Nothing in dancing is natural to Kate."

That didn't stop her from nagging her pro partner again and again about the moves.

"I've never been questioned in my teaching," he exploded. "I quit!"

Kate Gosselin Kicked Off 'Dancing With the Stars' in Week Five

The judges didn't take kindly to her skillset either.

"The technique was terrible," railed Bruno Tolini as she stood stoic, a schoolgirl enduring a scolding. "It looked like Tony was pushing a shopping cart across the floor. You have to exude something!"

Still, she somehow made it to the next round, and even showed signs of progress in her tango. The judges called it a "mini-breakthrough" and "a step in the right direction."

But it didn't last. The final nail in her boogie-coffin came Monday night. The reality star and mother of eight stiffly fox-trotted through "Don't You (Forget About Me)" for the show's first "Movie Night."

But although the "Breakfast Club" theme was a fitting choice for the evening, Kate seemed to have an increasingly difficult time convincing judges she still fit in on the show.

"There's some sort of grace that's developing ... but, it never becomes a formed sentence or a movement," said Inaba, comparing Gosselin's movement to the embodiment of the mealy-mouthed speech of the adults in the "Peanuts" cartoons.

Judge Len Goodman agreed, calling the routine "a stroll, not a dance."

Knowing full well that her dancing fate lay in the hands of America, Gosselin was quick to play the single mother card. Invoking her kids, she said had received eight special visitors earlier in the day.

"I have to keep dancing for them," she insisted.

America concluded otherwise.

Still, a tearful Kate thanked the voters at home for keeping her in the running for as long as they did.

"Thank you for believing in me probably more than I believed in myself," she said.

And yet, subpar though her skills may have been, it's hard to blame the reality TV mom for getting her kicks from "Dancing," considering how things so publicly unraveled for her over the past year.

She has been at continuous odds with her equally infamous ex-husband Jon Gosselin, most recently for her participation in the very program that just evicted her.

In perhaps the most ominous salvo in their domestic battle yet, her ex-husband has countered Gosselin's new, more glamorous look with a makeover of his own: This week he was spotted sporting a heavily gelled faux-hawk.

And it's also hard to feel bad for her getting the boot. In August, the former "Jon and Kate Plus 8" star will launch a new series on TLC called "Twist of Kate."

The show will feature Gosselin visiting parents around the country as they try to balance work, family and "other challenges life throws at them," according to the network.

In June, Gosselin will also star in a series of specials called "Kate Plus 8" featuring her and her children. No word yet on whether she'll be unveiling any groovy new moves.