by David McAlpine

 

Last week on Dancing With the Stars, it became evident that the men were the favorites this season, with several of them landing near the top of the leaderboard. Debi and Maksim and Kathy and Tony found themselves in the bottom two, and it was revealed that Kathy and Tony would be the third team going home.

 

Tonight, everyone is in their frilly best for latin night! Honestly, some of the costumes I saw on these celebrities and their partners…I knew we were in for an interesting night. What mde it even more interesting was that Tom DeLay’s pre-stress fracture is now a real one, so he might not dance tonight. He has to dance, though! It makes the show that much more entertaining. Anyway, the performances were:

 

Celebrity: Mark Damascos

Professional Partner: Lacey Schwimmer

Dance: Rumba

Song: “Don’t Lie” by Black Eyed Peas

Breakdown: From the rehearsal tape, it seems like Mark is having trouble understanding that Latin dancing doesn’t always mean fast an energetic. He can’t seem to contain himself, even for a passionate, sexy dance like the rumba. When he hits the floor, though, there was nothing there—it was barely a flop because there was hardly any dancing at all! The judges definitely hit him hard for his lack of movement and Carrie Ann called it straight up awkward.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 6 Bruno: 6 Total: 18/30

 

Celebrity: Joanna Krupa

Professional Partner: Derek Hough

Dance: Samba

Song: “La Bomba” by King Africa

Breakdown: Joanna is starting to have legitimate concerns this week—she’s finally realized that her fan base isn’t (and never will be) as big as other frontrunners’. So, instead, she figures that beefing up her dancing might up her vote count a little. Brilliant, no? However, she also seems very bouncy and all over the place, not to mention the fact that she mouths the words as she dances. Newsflash: this isn’t “Say What Karaoke,” so just dance. The judges also hit her for lack of fluidity, but they liked the sex appeal.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 7 Len: 8 Bruno: 8 Total: 23/30

 

Celebrity: Mya

Professional Partner: Dmitry Chaplin

Dance: Rumba

Song: “Underneath Your Clothes” by Shakira

Breakdown: Because they aren’t feeling that romantic vibe (which I personally have a hard time believing), Mya brings in rose petals and candles to soften up the mood. When it comes to them on the dance floor, their dance is hot an unstoppable. Carrie Ann looks like she might faint after the dance, but Len knocks them for having too much content that it made it too busy. Honestly, this is a little ludicrous how the points broke down, but Len is Len, I guess. Props to Mya for the first perfect 10s of the season!

Scores: Carrie Ann: 10 Len: 7 Bruno: 10 Total: 27/30

 

Celebrity: Melissa Joan Hart

Professional Partner: Mark Ballas

Dance: Samba

Song: “Turn Me On” by Kevin Lyttle

Breakdown: Melissa is really feeling the pressure now, because I think she’s been openly criticized about her footwork the most of any of the contestants left. Since the samba is so footwork heavy, it’s clear that she’s trying to master the steps—and not doing so well. When the music starts, she’s really trying to make all the steps work, but something just doesn’t seem right. The judges hit it home when they say her top didn’t move with her bottom, and the judges go to town on her footwork once again.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 6 Bruno: 7 Total: 27/30

 

Celebrity: Louie Vito

Professional Partner: Chelsie Hightower

Dance: Rumba

Song: “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler

Breakdown: Well, it’s finally here: the obligatory DWTS “crush” of the season: Louie and Chelsie. Louie is getting into the sexy moves a whole lot more than I thought he would, but you can see that he wants Chelsie—and he wants her bad. Their passion goes a long way on the dance floor, but it still can’t hide how awkward Louie can be on his feet. Carrie Ann acknowledged there were problems with his feet, but Len didn’t like it at all.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 5 Bruno: 7 Total: 21/30

 

Celebrity: Debi Mazar

Professional Partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Dance: Samba

Song: “Love is In The Air” by John Paul Young

Breakdown: Last week, these two were in the bottom and it was fairly clear that neither of them were happy. Maksim brings Mel B in for a talk (kind of a backhanded, but sly, way to tell Debi that that’s how she should be?), and Debi takes it to heart. Still, this dance seems really slow, which the judges agree with. Bruno also goes after her missteps in the dance, docking them serious points.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 5 Bruno: 6 Total: 17/30

 

Celebrity: Donny Osmond

Professional Partner: Kym Johnson

Dance: Rumba

Song: “Endless Love” by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross

Breakdown: Don’t get me wrong, Donny is a great performer and so far his dances have been great, but coming into Latin night, I’m fairly skeptical about how well he can move his body. Instead, Donny seems totally comfortable with it and even has a hip solo of his own! Bruno said it looked like “Swan Lake,” at which point Donny runs over to the table and gives him a kiss. Then he dips Bruno…and makes an awkward comment about not going back to Utah. Weird.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 7 Len: 7 Bruno: 7 Total: 21/30

 

Celebrity: Michael Irvin

Professional Partner: Anna Demidova

Dance: Samba

Song: “Hard to Handle” by The Black Crowes

Breakdown: After the first week to the second week, I thought Michael had the real potential to improve. It seemed like he got his stuff together and he was seriously making progress—but now it looks like he’s gone completely backwards. On the dance floor, it’s obvious that Michael is smiling and having fun, but it’s also clear that he’s banking on using that façade to mask the dancing. Bruno calls him out on it, saying he was on the wrong foot almost the entire dance.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 5 Len: 4 Bruno: 5 Total: 14/30

 

Celebrity: Natalie Coughlin

Professional Partner: Alec Mazo

Dance: Rumba

Song: “In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins

Breakdown: Surprisingly, Natalie has a hard time handling the closeness and the chemistry. She gets embarrassed so easily, which is so endearing to watch! Alec brings back his wife, Edyta, to show how much that connection is needed to do the dance, then Edyta “gives her permission” to go all out. I mean, if I were Natalie Coughlin, I would kind of do what I wanted, you know? Regardless, her dance is incredibly sexy and she does very well with the eye contact (without the intense face!). The judges loved it!

Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 8 Bruno: 9 Total: 26/30

 

Celebrity: Chuck Lidell

Professional Partner: Anna Trebunskaya

Dance: Samba

Song: “Mas Que Nada” by Sergio Mendes

Breakdown: So not only does this spell disaster for heavy-footed Chuck, who needs to be incredibly light on his feet for the dance, but remember when I was talking about the costumes? This is one where I was shocked: Chuck was covered in ruffles. Covered. Luckily for us, he gets rid of them right away, but that’s kind of the best part of the dance. It seems like he’s stalking Anna as she dances around the floor, though you can see that glint in his eye that he’s still trying really hard. I liked Bruno’s description most: “a samba from Zombietown.”

Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 5 Bruno: 6 Total: 17/30

 

Celebrity: Aaron Carter

Professional Partner: Karina Smirnoff

Dance: Rumba

Song: “Spotlight” by Jennifer Hudson

Breakdown: Aaron, like the other guy stars, seems to have a problem controlling himself. It always seems like he’s too excited and the dance never comes off as real, but rather very unfluid and jerky. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better from the rehearsal to the dance floor, because he seems to be making the same mistake over and over again. The judges commented that, between the musicality and the jerking, it was fairly off.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 6 Bruno: 7 Total: 21/30

 

Celebrity: Tom DeLay

Professional Partner: Cheryl Burke

Dance: Samba

Song: “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by War

Breakdown: Alright everyone, I know this is what you’ve all been waiting for. Let’s be honest, this is always why Tom DeLay is near the last one to go. Tom reveals he will be dancing (which makes my night that much better, obviously). Again with the costumes: he has a Republican elephant on his suit and she has a Democratic donkey on her dress…nice with the music, but still super weird. Tom even gets to do some solo hip action! I’m totally digging it, but the judges were not. They congratulated Tom for a great effort, but the performance was pretty bad.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 4 Bruno: 5 Total: 14/30

 

Celebrity: Kelly Osbourne

Professional Partner: Louis van Amstel

Dance: Samba

Song: “LoveGame” by Lady Gaga

Breakdown: Yet again, Kelly is the featured dancer of the night, this time because she wants to be the comeback kid. Week 1, she was the underdog who outshined almost everyone. Last week, she was the dancer who peaked too soon when she could barely do a backbend. Now, she’s out to prove everyone wrong, which is evident when she steps out onto the floor. She’s got a kick to her, something that was missing from last week, but she licks Louis’ face, which is kind of awkward. The judges reassured her that, as long as her self-confidence continues to grow on the floor, so will her dancing.

Scores: Carrie Ann: 7 Len: 6 Bruno: 7 Total: 20/30

 

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 9/8c for the live results show to see which couples are in the bottom and who will be the next pair eliminated from the competition, only on Dancing With the Stars on ABC!

 

(Photo courtesy of ABC)

 

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