by David McAlpine

Last week on Dancing With the Stars, it was decade night as each of the five remaining couples had to perform a ballroom dance and then a latin dance choreographed to a certain era. It was comedienne Niecy Nash who fell to the bottom of the scoreboard and lost in the viewers' votes, eliminating her just before the semi-finals.

Tonight, the final four pairs battle it out for a spot in the final dance-off and a shot at the famed mirror ball trophy. Each couple was again performing a ballroom and a latin dance, but the latin dance had to include a solo from the celebrity. This episode had a lot of hype and a lot of build-up to every dance and, for the most part, all of it was worth it. The performances were:

Celebrity: Erin Andrews
Professional Partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Dance: Viennese Waltz
Breakdown: Erin and Maks started things off tonight with a softer tone: a waltz. Erin was clearly nervous in practice because, the closer she gets to the end, the more she wants to win it. Meanwhile, Maks is being a perfectionist and taking things to the tiniest T, which is probably making her even more nervous than before. When she actually dances, she looks graceful, but still nervous. A couple times her ankles wobble and she's not as smooth as we've seen her before, but still a great way to kick off the night.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9  Len: 9  Bruno: 9
Total: 27/30

Celebrity: Nicole Scherzinger
Professional Partner: Derek Hough
Dance: Argentine Tango
Breakdown: Misfortune strikes! Derek is having trouble with his neck and back, and you can tell he's in pain throughout rehearsal. And, with such a technical dance like the tango coming up, Derek needs to be on his A-game to do it well, especially with his and Nicole's fates hanging in the balance. Cut to them on the dance floor and it's like he never felt a thing. Everything is precise, tight and well-performed--it's almost as if Nicole is showing up the pros themselves.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10  Len: 10  Bruno: 10
Total: 30/30

Celebrity: Chad Ochocinco
Professional Partner: Cheryl Burke
Dance: Waltz
Breakdown: Out of the four left, I'm definitely all for Chad going home, because it's clear that, at this point, the scores that he's getting are because he himself has improved, but he's not necessarily on par with Erin Andrews, let alone Nicole or Evan. Still, he continues his flirty ways with Cheryl and they seem like the cute "are they or aren't they?" couple. There's something about the way he dances that just makes him uninteresting to watch, especially on these slow dances like that. Yet the judges still praised Chad, telling him how much he's grown. Sorry, but I think if Chad gets a 27, it should be because he danced just as good as someone else whom you gave a 27 to (*cough* Erin *cough*). And the bottom line is that he didn't.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9 Len: 9  Bruno: 9
Total: 27/30

Celebrity: Evan Lysacek
Professional Partner: Anna Trebunskaya
Dance: Foxtrot
Breakdown: Evan and Anna always seem to be one beat behind the 8 ball that Nicole and Derek are clearly riding to the end, so this week they're taking their practicing up a notch. Evan is using his famous focus skills that he used to win Olympic gold to secure himself a spot to fight for the mirror ball trophy (because, let's be honest, the mirror ball is much more impressive-looking). Their foxtrot is definitely light and airy and enjoyable to watch, but not quite as good as Nicole and Derek. I think Len realized that when he made a very small critique, showing once again how stingy he is with the 10s.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10  Len: 9  Bruno: 10
Total: 29/30

After the ballroom round, it was celebrity solo time!

Celebrity: Erin Andrews
Professional Partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Dance: Paso Doble
Breakdown: I didn't really see the point of a second montage prior to all these dances because we already saw the celebrities rehearsing once--do they really need to be showing us again? Well, it's not quite that this time. Instead it's an out-of-the-blue, fairly emotional montage about how Erin came on the show to show that she wasn't a victim of sexual harassment. Is this ABC's way of fixing Elisabeth Hasslebeck's comments? Who knows, but Erin comes out and dances a mean paso doble that, once again, is ruined by Len's nitpicking.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10  Len: 9  Bruno: 10
Total: 29/30
Grand Total: 56/60

Celebrity: Nicole Scherzinger
Professional Partner: Derek Hough
Dance: Cha-Cha-Cha
Breakdown: More like chair-chair-chair! Nicole starts off doing some very sexy moves on a chair and it's clear that she is in this competition to win it. Then out steps Derek and they're using this chair like they've danced with it their whole lives. It's so well choreographed and it looks so smooth, I really don't know why Nicole shouldn't win the competition at this point. She's just that good. Len had another little comment to throw in there about her footwork at the end, but a very solid close to a great night for Nicole.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10  Len: 9  Bruno: 10
Total: 29/30
Grand Total: 59/60

Celebrity: Chad Ochocinco
Professional Partner: Cheryl Burke
Dance: Samba
Breakdown: Is it me, or does it seem like Chad is always doing the same moves every ballroom dance, then the same moves every latin dance? It's like he can't distinguish between each one. Now don't get me wrong, I understand he's not a dancer, but it's coming off as if he's not even trying anymore, which is pretty disappointing if you ask me. Chad's solo was even worse and it completely relied on him taking his shirt off. Now, it worked when former So You Think You Can Dance-turned DWTS pro Dmitry Chapin did it, because he had some personality to it and the moves to back it up. Chad, instead, shook his ass at the camera very poorly. The judges kept pointing out that he has no dance training, but he's still not learning much and improving as well as the other three are.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 8 Len: 8  Bruno: 9
Total: 25/30
Grand Total: 52/60

Celebrity: Evan Lysacek
Professional Partner: Anna Trebunskaya
Dance: Paso Doble
Breakdown: Evan definitely brought his own name to the EVANescence that was going on during his Paso Doble (sorry, I'm just chock full of these tonight). It made a lot more sense for him to have his solo during the paso because the male is supposed to be the lead, the bullfighter. And when Evan ripped part of Anna's dress off and make it look like a cape, it was perfection. Their dance was edgy, sexy and full of emotion. If I were a betting man, I'd be willing to guess this gets tomorrow night's encore performance.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 10  Len: 10  Bruno: 10
Total: 30/30
Grand Total: 59/60

Tune in tomorrow to Dancing with the Stars' results show at 8/7c on ABC to see which celebrity is the next sent home and which three will be dancing for their lives and shot at mirror ball gold next week!

(Photo courtesy of ABC)

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