DWTS Standings: Week 8

The 100th episode spectacular delivered on its promise of bringing back a whole host of returning stars, although most of them got only seconds in the spotlight.

Highlights included performances by Apollo Ohno and Mel B., while lowlights included a Chorus Line performance headed up by Mario Lopez.

The show threw us a curveball by not revealing the bottom two, which will make next week's elimination more difficult to predict.

Despite her low judge scores (and even a harsh comment from Bruno that basically said, flat out, that she shouldn't be in the semi-finals), Marissa pulled in enough votes to stave off elimination. She's become the Marie Osmond of the season, lagging behind in talent but apparently dazzling the audience with her winning personality.

Marissa's gain was Mario's loss, as he was bounced from the competition despite his third-of-five judge score.

Early on in the season, I mentioned that Mario was one of the most divisive stars, with people putting him out early or late. 5th of 12 is somewhere in the middle, so it wasn't a slam-dunk for either faction, but it meant lots of points flying around in the...

Standings

1st: Matt 1027 (-30)
2nd: Lisa 1006 (-50)
3rd: Dawn 926 (-50)
4th: Kim 892 (-20)
5th: Mom 878 (-20)
6th: Carl 861 (-40)
7th: Paul 754 (-60)

I dropped 30 points after predicting that Mario would be the second place finisher. That's not a great week by any stretch, but I did gain ground on Lisa, to expand my virtual tie into a slight lead.

Lisa lost a hefty 50 points for predicting Mario out in 9th, but it was actually a pretty good week for her. She's still very close to first place, and more importantly, she got the Mario elimination off of her back. Every week he was in was costing her points, so the 50 it cost her this week means it won't cost her 60 next week.

Dawn also lost a big 50 points, which represents a missed opportunity for her to make up some ground on the pool leaders. She also had Mario going out in 9th, which cost her, but at least she managed to hang onto third place.

Kim predicted that Mario would last until third place. She lost a scant 20 points, which ties Mom for the best score of the week. She didn't climb the standings any, but her good week did bring her to within striking distance of third-place Dawn.

Mom was the only one to climb the standings this week. Like Kim, she lost only 20 points after predicting Mario out in third, and this allowed her to squeeze Carl out of fifth place. She remains close to Kim, so another good week could result in another bump.

Carl knew Mario would do well, but he put too much faith in the young rapper. Carl lost 40 points after pegging him to win the season. Losing the 40 points hurt and cost Carl fifth place, but losing his first place prediction might cost him even more.

Paul remains in the crapper, which has been the one thing you can count on in this season's pool. Whether predicting Steve to last until 4th, Penn to last until 8th, or Mario out in 11th, Paul has found many creative ways to lose points in this competition. He may be the Amazing Race Genius, but those reality show prediction skills don't seem to translate into dance.

Next week is the semi-final competition, which will take us down to our three finalists. When we know who the three finalists are, everyone will have a last chance to rack up some bonus points by predicting the finishing order on the last show. This should give almost everyone at least an outside chance to win the pool. For now, though, just send me your pick for next week's top scorer.

Death to me!