Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and her partner Sasha Farber was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars this week, edging out Bill Engvall and Emma Slater.
The former Jersey Shore star, 25, was choked up about leaving and admits she wasn’t “ready” yet.
"I'm happy and I'm grateful," she told People. "The show showed a different side of me, the mother side of me. And this whole experience has been so amazing. Everybody on the show is so amazing. I love them."
She also fought back tears backstage and said, "I'm really sad to say goodbye to everybody. I just wasn't ready to go yet."
CBS News notes Polizzi and Farber got a score of 27 from the judges after their samba but it wasn’t enough to keep them in the competition.
Amber Riley and Derek Hough, Corbin Bleu and Karina Smirnoff, Elizabeth Berkley and Val Chmerkovskiy, Brant Daugherty and Peta Murgatroyd, Jack Osbourne and Cheryl Burke, Leah Remini and Tony Dovolani and Engvall and Slater are still left in the running for the mirror ball trophy.
Polizzi will next appear on another season of MTV's Snooki & JWoww.
image: ABC