DWTS Six Weeks In - Who Goes Home?

Last week I slacked on the results show post so by now everyone knows Florence Henderson went home in Week 5.  She was of course, lovely and gracious upon her elimination.  And as much as I hate to see Mrs. Brady go, it was a decent choice.  I still wonder how Bristol Palin keeps hanging on but truthfully she probably has more potential than Florence, considering their ages and physical states and abilities.
Last nights results though...  I'm not so sure Bristol deserved to stay last night.  I understand that she's no kind of performer so all of this is very foreign to her and getting out there at all is very big for a young girl from Alaska.  However, this is an entertainment program and she's too shy to really throw herself into this competition the way I think she should.  And I don't think she's got as much skill & potential as two of the last three people sent home.  I said before I thought The Situation could show us more and give us more than Bristol.  I also said I was surprised that Bristol could get enough votes to stay, compared to a pop-culture figure that is on an MTV show.  I think it was clear 2 or 3 weeks ago that Bristol's fan base probably includes a lot of her mothers tea-party supporters, voting for her because of their feelings for Sarah.  I find it hard to believe she's got a lot of fans in her own right yet.  Though she is a cute girl, trying hard & doing much better than she was a few weeks ago.
So I said I thought two of the three people sent home deserved to stay over Bristol.  One was The Situation.  And like I said, I thought Florence was a good choice last week.  Which means the second non-deserving dancer to be sent home was last nights competitor...  Audrina Patridge.  It's unfortunate she went home last night since she's clearly got a lot of potential, is young & healthy and has been on top in past weeks.  With 4 points more than Bristol (and more points than 4 other of the couples), she clearly didn't have the votes to keep her in the game.  That's too bad and it makes me bemoan the 'popularity contest' that DWTS tends to be.  true, I'm guilty of voting for my favorites to an extent as well.  However, my favorites are influenced partly by who I liked before the season but also by who is dancing well!  It just blows my mind when viewers vote for a truly bad dancer, as has happened in past seasons.  This is a dancing show - don't they want to see good dancing?!  Already I hear a lot of people complain about the lack of "star" quality of the stars.  But no matter who they get for the show, at least the dances are skilled and entertaining.  If we can't keep dancers with some kind of skill on the show through to the end, what's the point in watching?  Ah well.  I'll keep voting for the good dancers and hopefully the show won't devolve.

Rock'n'Roll Week on DWTS!

It's Rock & Roll week!  But first we start the evening with some of our top ten competition dances of all time!  Viewers voted for their favorites from over 1000 dances and here were the results.  At #10 is Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas dancing their final season 8 dance, the freestyle.  Shawn Johnson became the youngest champion ever on DWTS at age 17.  Then in #9 was the oldest ever champion, Donnie Osmond, dancing his Argentine Tango with Kym Johnson.  #8 was Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough dancing The Quickstep in Season XX, then Julianne showed up again at #7, this time with Apolo Anton Ohno with their final freestyle.  Coming in at #6 was Joanna Krupa with Derek Hough, dancing their futuristic Quickstep.  Mel B and Maks landed at #5 with their season XX Paso Doble.  Nicole Scherzinger & Derek Hough made it into the #4 with their 50's style Paso Doble.  Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne Hough showed up again at #4 with their Samba.  The #2 pair was Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke dancing the Argentine Tango in Season 8, which was te first season the Argentine Tango was danced in competition.  Gilles is apparently destined for DWTS seconds.  He was 2nd in season by only 1% of the scores & votes combined, and then 2nd in top ten list by less than 1000 votes!  And the all time favorite dance is Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke dancing their Season 2 trophy grabbing freestyle.  I have to say I miss seeing Julianne dance.  She's always incredible and always entertaining.

Up first tonight were Audrina Patridge & Tony Dovolani dancing The Paso Doble.  My first thought was: It will be interesting to see such a sweet girl dancing something as intense as the paso!Her steps aren't crisp enough, I can see her thinking and she needs to be more fierce and larger than life - she's not.  No mistakes but it's not great.  Len said she's getting on his nerves.  Her dancing is clean & crisp without the character of the dance.  I totally agree.  Technicality with no musicality.  Bruno told her to imagine the man-eating Spanish beauty.  Carrie Ann agreed with the men but praised Audrina's improvement.  Nice of her to suggest something to work on.
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 8-8-8
Call 1-800-868-3401 to vote for Audrina & Tony for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.

Kyle Massey & Lacey Schwimmer were second, dancing the Tango and as much as I love Kyle he just doesn't sell those Latin numbers very well.  I think he has a hard time getting the steps as crisp & sharp as they need to be, but I thought his frame was great.  Bruno had some constructive criticism, he & Carrie Ann both agreed his hold was good.  Bruno said he worked hard, it was still a bit rough but a great improvement.  He made a very good point: Kyle's dances are performance driven and of course we don't want to see a technically perfect dance coupe with no style, but there has to be a balance.
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 8-7-8
Call 1-800-868-3403 to vote for Kyle & Lacey for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.

Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough were next with The Paso Doble (which should have been their dance last week with all her pent up anger).  It was pretty great but something funny happened there at the end.  Still the crowd is going nuts.  Carrie Ann says Jennifer needs to calm down because she's way out of control and going downhill.  Len again said dancing is about balance and she had a lot of the attack but trying to go with such gusto she lost some control.  Bruno enacted a furious fight with an imaginary skirt - it seems they all agreed she was out of control and headed down a slippery slope.
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 6-7-7
Call 1-800-868-3411 to vote for Jennifer & Derek for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.


Rick Fox & Cheryl Burke gave us a Tango next.  Almost his best dance et but he lost his frame pretty early on in the dance.  Len said he's always impressed with his hold & posture - shows what I know.  Bruno said a little more romance but good overall.  Carrie Ann said it was perfectly balanced but he needs to be careful not to be too stern. 
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 8-8-8
Call 1-800-868-3404 to vote for Rick & Cheryl for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.

Next up were Brisol Palin & Mark Balas dancing The Tango.  In rehearsal she decided to show more of the personality the judges have been asking for, they should do a little air-guitar mid-performance.  Well, it was cute.  And the dance was alright as well but I still think it's time for Bristol to go home.  She's just not entertaining in the least.  Bruno called it her best performance & best technique of the season.  Carrie Ann said it was great and she created drama.  Len said last week a chimp, this week almost a champ - though he will take of a point for breaking hold in the air-guitar moment.  Ah well. 
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 8-7-8
Call 1-800-868-3407 to vote for Bristol & Mark for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.

Kurt Warner & Anna Trebunskaya brought another Paso Doble next.  I was impressed though his joints looked a little wobbly.  Carrie An thought the dance lacked polish and Kurt looked uncomfortable.  Len said he could see what they were trying to do but it felt awkward & just didn't come off.  Bruno said they worked very hard but it looked more like karate than Spanish dance.
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 6-6-6
Call 1-800-868-3408 to vote for Kurt & Anna for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.

The last of the individual performances are Brandy & Maksim Chmerkovskiy dancing The Tango.  Her steps were crisp, her attitude was fierce, her movements were large & bold...  I loved it.  I have to admit early in the season I was skeptical of Brandy & said I'd never seen her do more than sway a bit.  But this was great.  Len said Maks is his hero, Bruno said they were Tina Turner and Mad Maks! Carrie Ann said she got goose-bumps watching... but also mentioned a couple tiny mis-steps.
Scores from Carrie Anne, Len & Bruno are: 8-9-9  (the only 9's of the nights individual dances)
Call 1-800-868-3406 to vote for Brandy & Maks for 30 minutes after air-time, or go to abc.com to vote online till the morning after.

For the competition marathon portion, all couples will be out on the dance floor at the same time.  They can dance steps from  The Jive,  Swing Dance & Lindy Hop.  Legal lifts are allowed, one tap on the shoulder means the couple is out and when they get down to 4 couples, the final 4 can break out of their spots and move around the dance-floor.  Out first are Kurt & Anna - I was thinking that should be the first choice since Kurt was standing and Anna was doing most of the dancing.  Bristol & Mark got cut next but I didn't see much of their stuff on camera.  Rick & Cheryl go next, followed by Kyle & Lacey.  Audrina & Tony were out next leaving Jennifer & Brandy to duke it out on the dance floor.  Jennifer & Derek were tapped next leaving Brandy & Maks with an extra 10 points in the end.

So tonight the leader board is as follows:
Brandy & Maks: 36
Audrina & Tony: 32
Rick & Cheryl: 30
Kyle & Lacey: 30
Jennifer & Derek: 29
Bristol & Mark: 28
Kurt & Anna: 22