Nick Lachey is teaching his five-year-old son, Camden, an important life lesson: don't quit.
The father-of-three has discussed ongoing frustrations with his partner Peta Murgatroyd, but says he was willing to stay committed even when things get difficult.
"I'm frustrated because I feel like we come in here and we work as hard as anybody else and the results just don't happen the way I want them to happen," the 43-year-old singer said. "I feel like I just don't know what I'm doing there."
For week six, the pair was tasked with a difficult Western-themed samba, which didn't help the 98 Degrees singer.
"I feel like a buffoon," Lachey admitted to his pro partner during rehearsals. "To me, I don't feel like a dancer. I feel like an idiot trying to be a dancer."
In spite of being down on himself, Lachey knew that he had three young children looking up to him. His five-year-old son Camden, 2-year-old daughter Brooklyn and 10-month-old son Phoenix were his inspiration to keep going.
"I came into this competition to challenge myself. I tell my 5-year-old: "˜Once you commit to something, stick it out.' I would never want him to look at dad and think dad was a quitter," he shared. "It's not an easy thing to be confident doing something you're not in, so I have to come out and sell it as if I'm the best dancer in the world."
And that's what he did, but didn't get the results he was looking for.
After their Movie Night performance, the pair received mixed reviews form the judges. They ended up walking away with 26/40.
"It hurts me to hear you say that it's hard for you to come out here because you're worried about how you look. I think you're cutting yourself too short because when you did that breakdown tonight, it was fantastic "” you nailed it," judge Carrie Ann Inaba said. "That's what we're here for. Everybody has a different growth trajectory. Yours is slow and steady."
Even though Lachey tried to have a positive outlook going into jeopardy against Terrell Ownes and Cheryl Burke, he was eliminated from the show.
"Of course you're disappointed. You don't do something like this and want to go out earlier than the championship. That's human nature," Lachey said. "But If I had to measure this in terms of effort and in terms of commitment I know that I gave it everything I had and tried as hard as I possibly could so that's why I could walk away with this feeling of success and accomplishment."
But he isn't too upset about not being able to take home the mirror ball trophy.
"I think I'm most proud of the fact that we laid it all out there every week. I came in not a very good dancer, I'm going to leave not a very good dancer, but I'm proud of the effort we gave," Lachey said after being eliminated. "That's all I can ask. Honestly, it was a blast."
"The toughest part of the show is having two parents be so busy with the show. If there is a silver lining it is that I get to be a dad again and take the kids to school. My son will be very happy that I'm around more, so I'm excited about that," Lachey said.
He continued. "Look, in a perfect world I'd still be in it and we'd still be going, but that's the nature of the beast. I went into this thing knowing I wasn't the best dancer, knowing that it was going to be an uphill climb and I'm very, very proud that we gave it our all and I'm proud that we got to this point."
Even though Lachey will no longer be hitting the dance floor on the show, he'll still be in the ballroom each week to support wife Vanessa Lachey, who is partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
"I'll be here. Now I get to play dad again. I get to support my wife and cheer them on," said Lachey, who added about Murgatroyd, "I can't say enough wonderful things about this woman."