by David McAlpine

Last week on Dancing With the Stars, it was a hero's sendoff when Astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the latest celebrity casualty. The Bachelor's Jake Pavelka just survived the bottom two and, to many people's surprise, ex-TLC star Kate Gosselin made it through yet another week.

Last night's performance marked another milestone for the show: the first time ever the judges gave two scores, one for performance and one for technicality. Now, this may sound like a crude attempt to rig the competition for Evan Lysacek because it's so similar to what figure skating scoring used to be, but it seems to me it serves two other purposes.

One, it fills time. Yes, Dancing With the Stars is still two hours long, and with the number of celebrities dropping every week, they have to fill that extra two or so minutes. Spread it out amongst the rest of the contestants by giving them an extra score and, well, there you go!

Two, it makes the audience voting much more important. If you look at how the scores are actually tabulated, 50% comes from the judges and 50% from the at-home votes. However, the judges score is the actual percentage of points you earn from the judges, or the total number of points the couple receives over the total number given out.

But if you inflate that total number of points given out, the discrepancies between the couples decreases, meaning it truly comes down to viewer votes. Could ABC be doing this so people like Len and Carrie Ann can give 5s to Kate Gosselin and she can magically survive week after week? We'll see tonight. But last night, it was "passion week," as stars tried their best at the rumba or the tango.

Celebrity: Erin Andrews
Professional Partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Dance: Tango
Breakdown: This week, Erin was a lot more expressive. You could tell she really got into the dance, but perhaps almost too much. She was really, really thinking about the steps, because Len yelled at her last week about her footwork. And the result? Even sloppier footwork. The judges came down on her hard, but gave her props for trying. Sidenote: I would not want to be Maks' partner and ever let him down after the looks he gave to the camera when they got their scores.
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 6  Len: 6  Bruno: 6 (18)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 7  Len: 7  Bruno: 7 (21)
Total: 39/60

Celebrity: Evan Lysacek
Professional Partner: Anna Trebunskaya
Dance: Tango
Breakdown: Never before did I think I would hear the words "Double Score Showdown" more often than I did during this segment. We get it, he's a figure skater. And we get it, that's how scoring used to be. His dance was definitely an improvement from last week, though I still thought he looked a little awkward. Maybe it's because he's so tall? You could tell he was really trying to point his toes and be aggressive and it definitely came off well.
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 9  Len: 8  Bruno: 9 (26)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 9  Len: 8  Bruno: 9 (26)
Total: 52/60

Celebrity: Niecy Nash
Professional Partner: Louis Van Amstel
Dance: Rumba
Breakdown: I thought Niecy would have been really good with the rumba, because she seems like the type of person who is really comfortable with her body, and she can move it however she wants. However, Louie had to go in and throw in another emotional twist, so all Niecy did was cry during rehearsal. I love her and I'm all for her to win, but she needs to stop playing the heartstrings card. On the dance floor, Carrie Ann was spot on: it seemed like she was dancing bigger in her head than she actually was. Still, I think the judges were a tad too harsh on her.
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 6  Len: 6  Bruno: 6 (18)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 6  Len: 6  Bruno: 6 (18)
Total: 36/60

Celebrity: Aiden Turner
Professional Partner: Edyta Sliwinska
Dance: Rumba
Breakdown: Aiden is still nervous about dancing, especially the rumba, which is very slow, because week after week he's not getting the results he wants to see. However, it seems like Edyta is working him really well, because he's a lot more out of his shell this week than he ever has been. He looked really good in the rehearsal videos, but on the dance floor it seemed like he withdrew a little bit. Again, I thought the judges were too harsh on him, but when you have someone like Evan who comes out and dances, it's hard not to compare
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 5  Len: 5  Bruno: 5 (15)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 6  Len: 6  Bruno: 6 (18)
Total: 33/60

Celebrity: Nicole Scherzinger
Professional Partner: Derek Hough
Dance: Rumba
Breakdown: To me, rumba just screams Nicole's name. I'm not saying it's an easy dance, but Nicole seems so incredibly comfortable with her body and has the ease and ability to inject sexy into anything. But you could tell that the criticism she got for something that she enjoyed so much last week really shook her up, so when she got on the dance floor, she looked nervous. And the nervousness carried throughout the dance. She looked beautiful and she hit great lines, but she was hesitant with several moves, which really made the dance jerky.
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 9  Len: 8  Bruno: 8 (25)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 8  Len: 8  Bruno: 9 (25)
Total: 50/60

Celebrity: Jake Pavelka
Professional Partner: Chelsie Hightower
Dance: Tango
Breakdown: Oh, Jake. How I'm not a fan of you, and how I want you to be eliminated next. I love how Chelsie keeps pushing him and he keeps pushing away, furthering my point that he's a giant a-hole. Is it so bad that I want him to crash and burn? Well, I got my wish last night when, after a really good performance (I have to admit it), he catches his foot and trips. Trips! He almost goes flying, but he saves it--just long enough to watch the entire performance go downhill from there. One thing: what is up with Len's love for Jake? Since when does he like anyone?
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 6  Len: 7  Bruno: 6 (19)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 7  Len: 6  Bruno: 6 (19)
Total: 38/60

Celebrity: Kate Gosselin
Professional Partner: Tony Dovolani
Dance: Tango
Breakdown: Granted, this is a dance where Kate can walk around and kind of get away with it. But first, we had to watch her cry on video. Now, these past three weeks, she hasn't bothered me. In fact, I've been rooting for her because I think she can be one of those stars who really learns to dance on this show. But this week, all she did was make it about herself, how sorry she was Tony got stuck with her, blah, blah, blah. I hate to say it, but the people who already feel bad for her, do, and those who don't, don't. As for the dancing, well, she actually kind of danced this time! There was still a lot of walking, but the end was fantastic, when Tony flips her over his knee. If only we could see more of that!
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 4  Len: 5  Bruno: 5 (14)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 6  Len: 6  Bruno: 6 (18)
Total: 32/60

Celebrity: Chad Ochocinco
Professional Partner: Cheryl Burke
Dance: Rumba
Breakdown: NFL player and rumba don't exactly go together in my mind. However, Ochocinco looks like he's getting into it, especially since it's a dance of love and it's clear that he's trying to get with Cheryl. He even gives her this huge diamond ring…what? It's only week 4! I'd be very creeped out if I were Cheryl. But she eggs him on, making the dance about him chasing her, so to each her own, right? I'll give him the most improved award of the week because it was truly fun to watch and showcased a lot of moves that I didn't think he could do.
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 7  Len: 6  Bruno: 8 (21)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 7 Bruno: 8 (23)
Total: 44/60

Celebrity: Pamela Anderson
Professional Partner: Damian Whitewood
Dance: Rumba
Breakdown: Pamela Anderson is obviously a sex icon. But in rehearsal, it's pretty clear she doesn't even know where to begin with the rumba because it's so slow. I always pictured Pam just doing what she did the first week: shaking it all around and hoping that, even though it was a little messy, the sex covered everything up. But I was very proud of how raw she looked on the dance floor and how much she tried to exude the rumba. It was evident that she was thinking of the steps as she went, and that she was worried she might miss one, so I think that affected her performance, but overall a solid job.
Technique scores: Carrie Ann: 7  Len: 8  Bruno: 8 (23)
Performance scores: Carrie Ann: 8  Len: 7  Bruno: 9 (24)
Total: 47/60

Tune in tonight to Dancing with the Stars' results show at 8/7c on ABC to see which celebrity is the next one to go!

(Photo courtesy of ABC)

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