KEY POINTS:
It was murder on the dance floor for the first victim of Dancing with the Stars.
Former model Geeling Ng said the TV show's over-critical judges had "stomped" on her heart and should hold fire on their "mean" comments.
"Everyone says don't take it personally, but it's really hard not to," she said. "They are talking about you. You put so much into it; you put your heart and soul out there. Then they go 'there's your heart' - then stomp! That doesn't feel good."
Geeling, who starred in the music video for David Bowie's China Girl single, was the first celebrity to be eliminated after dancing a rumba last Tuesday.
But she criticised judges Craig Revel-Horwood, Paul Mercurio, Brendan Cole and Alison Leonard for being too harsh after her first performance two weeks ago.
She said it took two or three days to get over the first show, when her waltz with partner Brian Jones was slammed by the judges.
"I felt like I'd been torn down," the 47-year-old restaurant manager told the Herald on Sunday.
All four judges were negative about the waltz. Cole said it was hesitant, Leonard said she had mixed feelings and Mercurio said Geeling hadn't taken him on a journey.
But the performance was savaged by Revel-Horwood who said the choreography was lacking, the timing was out and Geeling looked like she was being pulled around by Jones.
The couple got the lowest score of the night, 17 out of 40, and didn't fare much better on Tuesday, with the third-lowest score of 23.
On Tuesday's show, Geeling said the comments after the first performance had left her in tears for most of the week.
She told the Herald on Sunday judges on an American version of the show were told to be encouraging and constructive on the first night and the same should happen here.
"Be critical, absolutely, but try to end on a that-was-good note."
Geeling said she would never criticise employees in the same way during her day job at Auckland's Soul restaurant. "I want to keep their spirit, not break it."
She said she was expecting to be the first celebrity voted off.
"After that first week, it was almost a foregone conclusion. It just seemed the wall I had to climb was much higher than the others."
She was almost relieved after Tuesday's episode but went out to "drown her sorrows" afterwards. "Everyone's been wonderful, and the people who count thought I was great, so who cares what the judges thought in the end?"
The busy mum was back at work on Thursday, and looking forward to going for a run on Friday. It didn't take her long to return to the dance floor, either. She was in action when Auckland club Boogie Wonderland reopened on Thursday.
Geeling plans to visit her boyfriend overseas this month but will return to dance a tango in the final episode of Dancing with the Stars.
