Hey there fellow Reality TV addicts! Happy Cinco De Mayo! Your favorite Average Joe Dennis is here again and I was told by my sponsor to limit myself to 1 reality show for the night, as I appear to overdosing on reality TV. I tried to avoid reality TV altogether tonight but I started shaking uncontrollably and had to turn the TV on to ease my pain. The show that was on at the time, was Dancing with the Stars! I am starting to feel calmer again but then I realized there's only 5 couples left!  Anxiety is peaking for everyone! And tonight the couples are being allowed to add lifts into their routines!  OY! Pass the valium please.
 
Again, tonight we have 2 dances (1 ballroom & 1 Latin) for each couple with the opportunity to do lifts. Not every couple elected to do a lift in both of their routines. Kristi & Mark kicked things off with their Quickstep ballroom dance and were technically good, just not perfect and they had a great lift at the end. Their Samba on the other hand, got unkind words and voting scores from the judges. The audience and I disagreed on that thought, we all thought their Samba was full of life, intricate steps and great showmanship.
 
Mario contradicted himself tonight. He improved drastically with his partner Karina in the ballroom dance but then fell very flat in his Latin one. This is unusual because the judges have been saying Mario is more comfortable shaking his moneymaker for Latin style stuff then trying to be stiff and elegant for ballroom. He danced the Viennese Waltz and then the Jive. He had good lifts in both numbers but really did look flat footed in his Jive. It doesn't matter if you have all the energy in the world now like Mario did here in the Jive, when you're down to the last few couples, everything is being looked at.  
 
And that previous mention of "everything being looked at" also hurt Marissa with her partner Tony. Marissa danced the Fox Trot for her ballroom and the Mambo for her Latin. The Fox Trot did really resemble an Ethel Merman Broadway style number and that is where Marissa feels comfortable but to the judges there was not enough Fox Trot in there to satisfy them. A lift was done here which was good. Her Latin Mambo was just ok. The judges liked her shakes and shimmies and admired her throwing her all into each dance. She was in the bottom 2 last week and sorry to say, I feel like she will be in the bottom 2 again tomorrow night.
 
The new scoreboard leader from last week is Jason with his partner Edyta. They both did a great job on their dances tonight. They danced the ballroom Tango and then the Latin Samba. There were awesome lifts in both and for their Tango they were rewarded with praises of their beautiful looks from Bruno. Someone better ice Bruno down quick!  Jason's Samba however did fall a little flat from their first dance, but it still was a pleasure to watch the big football star try to get as much of a flamboyant character out of himself and onto the dance floor.
 
The absolute knock out surprise for the night came from Cristian and Cheryl's 2 dances. The doctor's gave Cristian permission to continue on in the competition which makes it that much harder to compete if you only have 1 arm to use. Cristian would have been royally up a creek without a paddle without his partner Cheryl there to choreograph both numbers with as much flair, speed, intricate footwork AND avoid using Cristian's left arm.  They danced the ballroom Tango and then the Latin Mambo. Both numbers were great with great energy and even somewhat of a lift was done in their Mambo at the end that just capped off a great night for the both of them.
 
So tomorrow night my fellow reality addicts, is Dancing with the Stars 100th episode. Another couple will be voted out, but there will be quite the list of past dancers from past seasons gracing the dance floor to celebrate the special night. Rascal Flatts will be the musical guest of the night.   My final thoughts on the couple leaving are that Marissa and Mario are both used to the evil red light shining down on them, let's keep it that way. 
 
Ciao for now!
 
Dennis
 
www.dennisluciani.net

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