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Did Honey Boo Boo survive first round of ‘Dancing With the Stars: Junior'?

By Nancy Clanton

Alana Thompson, a.k.a. "Honey Boo Boo," has joined the cast of "Dancing with the Stars: Juniors." Alana, 13, will be paired with professional junior dancer Tristan Ianiero and mentored by Artem Chigvintsev. Alana is from McIntyre, Georgia, and the

By Nancy Clanton

If you were watching the Braves last night instead of “Dancing With the Stars: Juniors,” you missed Alana Thompson, aka Honey Boo Boo, dance a salsa with her professional partner, Tristan Ianiero.

Alana showed up for her first rehearsal wearing a tiara. It’s that attitude that proved beneficial.

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As Entertainment Weekly put it: "Artem (Chigvintsev, her mentor, is) smart, he doesn't totally rein it in — he embraces it and uses it in their salsa. Sure, she's doing a lot of walking and shaking while standing in place, but she is owning it. She and Tristan look like they're having a blast and the judges and audience really respond to it."

Was her performance good enough to move to the next round?

Alana and Tristan scored 19 out of a possible 30. It sounds low, but after adding the live audience vote, she survived to dance another day.

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High scorer last night was Stevie Wonder’s son Mandla Morris and his pro teammate, Brightyn Brems. The pair, mentored by Cheryl Burke, scored 24 out of 30.

So, who went home?

The first episode had a double elimination, sending home the two lowest-scoring pairs — Addison Osta Smith and Lev Khmelev, and Tripp Palin (son of Bristol Palin) and Hailey Bills.

“Dancing With the Stars: Juniors” airs 8 p.m. Sundays on WSB-TV Channel 2, the local ABC affiliate.

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