Six couples are left and tonight brought back the popular team dance portion of the competition. Two teams of three couples compete and each team’s score is added to each individual couple’s total score.
Tonight we have Team Mambo: Melissa and Tony, Shawn and Mark, and Chuck and Julianne.
And Team Tango: Gilles and Cheryl, Lil’ Kim and Derek, and Ty and Chelsie.
Unfortunately, Melissa’s rib injury kept her from competing tonight, though she is expected to be able to return next week if the fans bring her back. In place of their live performance, we were shown Melissa and Tony’s recorded rehearsal from this morning. In the team dance, Melissa was replaced by Lacey, though she and Tony were excluded from the judges scoring for the team. (Melissa and Tony will still share the score for their team.)
With the combined scores from tonight’s team dances and Melissa’s injury, we could be in for an upset on tomorrow’s result show.
* Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke
Lindy Hop: 27
Who knew Gilles could pull off comedy? Actually, over the weeks, I’ve begun to suspect he could bring the funny, especially after he walked out in that Victorian bathing suit last week. I wish their jive had taken this wacky approach, but they were limited by the music. As Tom said, Gilles hair gel gets an unofficial 10!
* Lil’ Kim and Derek Hough
Paso Doble: 28
I thought this paso might pull off a perfect score, but not quite. Lil’ Kim is winning me over more each week and this dance was wonderful. She had some great paso arms and really worked that skirt. At first I wasn’t sure that Lil’ Kim’s dress did justice to her hourglass curves, but the cut out back was gorgeous in motion. Derek may have a shot at another mirror ball trophy.
* Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough
Cha Cha Cha: 26
Purple sleeveless pajamas. Chuck is really getting into the power of the silk shirt and matching satin pants! Whatever is going on, Chuck does seem to be having more fun and I like when it feels like he’s enjoying himself instead of trying so hard to impress Julianne and the rest of us.
* Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas
Samba: 27
Good dance, not so good samba song. I love the DWTS band, but this felt like it was playing on slow motion. They were dancing in time with the music, but it felt like they weren’t. Almost as if they had to contain their energy to keep from racing ahead of the lagging music.
* Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani
Jive: 21
This looks like it could have been a great jive, unfortunately Melissa’s injury meant we were stuck watching (and judging) their morning rehearsal footage. I doubt Melissa will go home over this, but you never know how the fan vote turn out. I hope she’s able to continue.
* Ty Murray and Chelsie Hightower
Salsa: 24
I love Ty! I know he’s the weakest dancer left, but I’m not ready to see him go yet! He brought so much power to this salsa. (and those arms!) Ty’s shy boyish smile, genuinely nice personality, great sense of humor and actual dancing improvement have led me to have quite a crush on this cowboy. He and Chelsie are adorable together. Two of my favorite moments of the night: Ty explaining Len’s comment to Chelsie (Ewww!) and Ty’s tolerant expression while submitting to a spray tan.
* Team Mambo -- 25
Wow -- I did not see those manly leotards coming. (I guess Chuck really is over his fear of losing his man card!) I admit, that ending had me laughing out loud. Literally. The rest of the dance was good. It was fun to watch, there were no obvious mistakes, but it didn’t really reach out and grab me. Until the end. I may dream about those white leggings and sparkly black leotards. But will I wake up laughing or screaming?
* Team Tango -- 28
Team Tango takes it! They really did attack this tango and the unison at the end was fabulous. My only wish was that the solos had been a tad shorter so we could have seen some more team dancing. I’m not sure that any of the couples stood out over the others. They all kept up the intensity throughout the routine. I loved the dresses and watching Ty and Gilles busily untangling Chelsie and Lil’ Kim during the voting.
Leaderboard:
56 -- Lil’ Kim and Derek (28 + 28)
55 -- Gilles and Cheryl (27 + 28)
52 -- Shawn and Mark (27 + 25)
52 -- Ty and Chelsie (24 + 28)
51 -- Chuck and Julianne (26 + 25)
46 -- Melissa and Tony (21 + 25)
It’s getting to the point where it’s difficult to know who should go home next. Chuck is a better dancer than Ty, but I’ve liked Ty from the beginning (who wouldn’t?) and I’ve only really started enjoying Chuck in the last two weeks.
Melissa’s injury left her so far below the others that she will need the fan votes to bring her back. But if fans throw all their votes to Melissa (or Ty), it could leave one of the top contenders without enough votes to stay in the competition.
It should be an interesting elimination. And isn’t it about time for Dance Center to make an appearance?
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