by David McAlpine

Last week on Dancing With the Stars, Melissa, Louie and Michael all fell to the bottom of the pack. However, instead of the regular axing of one celebrity, two were slated to go home in the super-twisty double elimination week. Essentially the celebrity with the least amount of points/votes would go home along with the 2nd to last or 3rd to last celebrity that lost the judges’ dance-off. Long story short, Melissa was automatically sent home and Louie soon followed, leaving seven left to compete for the mirrored ball trophy.

This week, each couple gets to pick their own dance as well as perform a group dance at the end of the show, either a paso doble or a tango. Not going to lie, after seeing 16 couples dance versus only seven, I was ecstatic to hear that there would only be two group performances tonight. I think this season is lacking a little something. I don’t know what, but it feels a little off. This is how the performances broke down:

Celebrity: Michael Irvin
Professional Partner: Anna Demidova
Dance: Foxtrot
Song: “Sunny Afternoon” by The Kinks
Breakdown: After being in the bottom last week and escaping by the skin of his teeth, it’s really evident that Michael is working twice as hard. I mean let’s be honest, everyone expects him to go home this week, but he doesn’t want that to happen—and it really showed. I was skeptical, I’ll be the first to admit that, but he showed me that he can really work at this and improve. He’s still a little clunky and looks awkward, but he moved so much easier and flowed through the dance, and the judges agreed.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 7 Total: 23/30

Celebrity: Donny Osmond
Professional Partner: Kym Johnson
Dance: Quickstep
Song: “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Louis Prima
Breakdown: Why they picked a fast dance is beyond me, especially after Donny clearly struggled to keep up with Kym last week. Regardless, it looks like he wants another go at it, so he’s definitely going to get that this week. This week, he has a lot more room to be a performer and it doesn’t look like he’s trying so hard. Yes, there are mistakes where he falls out of sync and looks clunky, but he hides it so well that you almost want to miss it. The judges agreed, saying that he needed to work on his footwork.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 8 Total: 24/30

Celebrity: Mark Dacascos
Professional Partner: Anna Trebunskaya (standing in for an ill Lacey Schwimmer)
Dance: Samba
Song: “Switch” by Will Smith
Breakdown: Not only was Lacey sick this week, but Mark also had to train with DWTS pro (and Kathy Ireland’s former partner) Tony Dovolani because Anna was unable to travel with Mark. I think the new partner really threw him for a loop, because the dance was all over the place. Seriously, I was thinking Mark could be the dark horse, but his faces and movement were all off. He over exaggerated many of the moves and seemed really jerky, which is terrible for a samba. The judges agreed, but I think the sad part is that they were probably being nice with their scores.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 6 Len: 7 Bruno: 6 Total: 19/30

Celebrity: Mya
Professional Partner: Dmitry Chaplin
Dance: Foxtrot
Song: “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby” by Diana Krall
Breakdown: Mya is super excited to be doing an elegant dance, which the pair hasn’t done since the first week. Flashback: Len gave them a 5, which he hasn’t done to many other people before, or at least dancers of Mya’s caliber. This time was much better, obviously, but it was still very show-offy and a little loose, so when the camera panned to Len, I was not surprised with the look on his face. And, lo and behold, he had a snide comment. Surprised? I’m not. And apparently neither were Mya and Dmitry, sadly.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 7 Bruno: 9 Total: 25/30
 
Celebrity: Aaron Carter
Professional Partner: Karina Smirnoff
Dance: Jive
Song: “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister
Breakdown: These two are doing a upper-fast jive tonight, which I’m looking forward to. Aaron is having trouble with the speed of the footwork, but I’m really not concerned because I have a feeling he’ll be able to pull it off. And when they actually hit the dance floor, it looks amazing. Probably not worth a 30, but compared to everyone else, it looked much better. Everything was sharp, Aaron and Karina were, for the most part, in sync and it was great choreography. After the judges’ scores, which I think may have been a little inflated, I think it’s pretty clear that Aaron is here to stay next week.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 10 Bruno: 10 Total: 29/30
 
Celebrity: Kelly Osbourne
Professional Partner: Louis van Amstel
Dance: Salsa
Song: “Good Lovin” by The Young Rascals
Breakdown: It seems like Kelly is not having a good week this week because she’s already crying on the first day of rehearsal, nervous about how well she’s going to do with the dance. However, she’s able to look back on it and make fun of herself, so maybe she’s ok this week. Her expression is a lot better, but she still breaks it several times throughout the dance. She always looks so pretty when she smiles, so I don’t understand why she doesn’t do it more often. Not to mention the pants on Louie…wow. Ruffles galore, that’s all I have to say. The judges thought Kelly was great, she just needs to find a character to emanate while she’s dancing.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 8 Total: 24/30

Celebrity: Joanna Krupa
Professional Partner: Derek Hough
Dance: Rumba
Song: “The Look of Love” by Dusty Springfield
Breakdown: Leave it to Joanna and Derek to dance the dance of love. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Joanna and Derek definitely know how to appeal to their demographic, and I definitely give them props for doing it well. Joanna just has a movement about her that’s mesmerizing, even if she’s really tall and really thin—for some reason, it just seems to work with her. She does have a little stumble, which the judges mention, but otherwise she did pretty well.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 9 Bruno: 9 Total: 27/30

Now it’s time for the group dances. Each group will perform their dance and the judges will assign all of them the same score based on their whole dance. Tricky, huh? I’d be upset if I had Michael or Mark in my group. And, of course, the first group (the paso doble) has both! How upsetting.

At least, until they all hit the dance floor to “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” Michael, Mark, Mya and Aaron are all really powerful dancers and, when they’re all together, they all look really solid. Both Mark and Michael get commendations, which seemed to surprise everyone.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8 Bruno: 8 Total: 24/30

 
Last up is the tango group, Joanna, Donny and Kelly. Not judging here, but I think this group has an infinitely better chance of getting a good score. They dance to Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” and absolutely nail it. Of course, Len has to nitpick and have something small to say, but overall much better than the first group.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 9 Bruno: 10 Total: 28/30


Be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 9/8c for the live results show to see how many celebrities will be in danger of elimination only on Dancing With the Stars on ABC!

(Image courtesy of ABC)


Follow David on Twitter: @DavidMcAlpine