by David McAlpine

It’s been a long two days, and the 16 competitors on this season of Dancing With the Stars have trained long and hard so they can avoid this moment: the first elimination. Sure, there emerged some early favorites last night but, more importantly, it became a close race to see who could avoid being in the bottom of the pack. Tonight, we get to find out who gets sent packing.

First up in the judges’ choice, which turns out to be Kelly and Louis’ Viennese waltz from last night. It’s definitely a great choice, because it was so unexpected, but I still thought they would pick something spicy from Joanna or Mya. Props to them for acknowledging that Kelly has some hidden talent, though.

The men are the first to get the good or bad news. Louie and Chelsie are the first ones safe, followed by Aaron and Karina. Mark and Lacey are next to be safe, followed by Chuck and Anna, then Donny and Kym, leaving Tom and Cheryl, Michael and Anna, and Ashley and Edyta. Sad, but I think most people knew that it would be between these three for elimination this week. The first one called safe is Tom DeLay and Cheryl, which secretly made me happy just because I get to see him dance for one more week. He gets a lot of hate, but I really enjoy his enthusiasm. The other pair safe is Michael and Anna, thus Ashley and Edyta, my favorite pro, are headed home. I’m disappointed to see Edyta get last again, but Ashley really deserved it. I mean, who is he even?

Another highlight: the world premiere of Miley Cyrus’ new music video “Party in the U.S.A.” I enjoy the song, the video was a little weird for me. But it still made the segway from men to women enjoyable.

The women’s results are next: Natalie and Alec and Dmitri and Mya are both safe this week. After a brief interlude by the Broadway cast of “The Lion King,” Melissa and Mark, Joanna and Derek, and Debi and Maksim are all safe. Then, the pro dancers give a nice tribute to Patrick Swayze, including the last scene from “Dirty Dancing.” Back to the elimination: it’s down to Kelly and Louis, Macy and Jonathan and Kathy and Tony. Kelly and Louis are safe (which I would hope they would be), as are Kathy and Tony, leaving Macy and Jonathan as the last place couple. No more live television fumbles for Macy! Sad. At least she had a good, memorable run.

Tune in next week to Dancing With the Stars, Monday at 8/7c on ABC, to see which stars will shine and which will fail as they attempt their next set of dances!

(Image courtesy of ABC)