Dancing With The Stars Week 9

PERFORMANCE NIGHT:

The four semi-finalists performed two dances apiece this week, with their combined scores determining who would be eliminated before next week's finals.

Tonight was supposed to feature the most polished and accomplished dances in the competition, but it actually wound up being notable for the loads of mistakes that the dancers brought to the floor. That, and some really cool costumes.

In the first round, Brooke fumbled her way through a jive with her zoot-suited partner, Derek. Her timing was off right from the get-go, and that led to a few very noticeable errors. It would have been a decent performance a few weeks ago, but the judges acted like Brooke had hiked up her skirt and taken a dump on the dance floor. Carrie Ann said that she felt personally disrespected by the presence of an illegal lift. The judges gave her three 7s for a total score of 21-- Brooke's worst score of the season.

Julianne came back from surgery to rejoin her celebrity partner Cody, and they busted out some army uniform-themed costumes to convey the power of the Paso Doble. The music was modern and not very rhythmic (Le Disko), which I thought really detracted from what might have otherwise been a decent performance. As it was, Len predicted that Cody would "get his marching orders," and the judges gave him a dismal 22. Better than Brooke, but still terrible.

Warren and Kym did a Mambo that was pretty unremarkable. It had some good moments, but there were also some spots where it seemed like Warren wasn't too sure of what to do. The judges gave it a 24, which was, amazingly, the highest score of the night at that point.

Performing against a backdrop of some bad opening acts, Lance came out with a Mambo that was, by comparison, awesome. He and Lacey wore matching blue/black outfits that looked cool, and Lance's build is just perfect for the kind of curvy, energetic poses that the dance requires. After trashing the first three dances, the judges were starved for something they could lavish praise on, so they fawned all over Lance. They gave him a 28, which basically assured him good placement on the leaderboard.

In the second round, Derek and Brooke performed a Salsa that wowed the judges. Brooke wore an outfit that was covered in fringe. I don't like that from a personal aethetic perspective, but I have to admit that it accentuated her rapid-fire dance moves. The dance earned her a 28 from the judges.

Cody and Julianne next performed a serviceable salsa, which the judges praised verbally but scored poorly. With a 24 added to his first round score of 22, he's starting to look pretty vulnerable.

Warren and Kym came out to perform a Jitterbug in my favorite costumes of the night. Warren was dressed like a casino worker and Kym was dressed like, well, a roulette wheel. It was cheesy and over the top, but that's what the Jitterbug is all about. Warren isn't flexible or fast enough to pull off a really professional jitterbug, but he always looks like he's having fun and feeling the music (a well-chosen "That Old Black Magic"). The routine contained some amazing lifts that took advantage of the fact that Warren is very big and strong, while Kym is very small and light. He scored a 25 out of 30, which feels about right.

Lance and Lacey also had the jitterbug, and they chose some fun navy-themed outfits. It was high energy, full of great content and complex moves, and contained lots of Lance's trademark mugging. Just seconds after it began, Lance flicked his foot so hard that one of his shoes came off, and he did the rest of the dance wearing only one shoe. He pulled it off, but I thought it was a little bogus that he then got 29 from the judges-- wouldn't part of a perfect dance include tying your shoes?

Here's what the leaderboard looked like after performance night:

Lance: 28 +29 = 57
Brooke: 21 +28 = 49
Warren: 24 +25 = 49
Cody: 22 +24 = 46


Elimination Night

Aretha Franklin and Julianne Hough sang (not at the same time), and both of them were a little embarrassing for the singer in question.

There was a ton of filler that I won't dignify by mentioning.

The final judgment came down on Cody, who didn't generate enough audience votes to get him out of the cellar. He and Warren were battling for that last spot in the finals, and Warren had a better week. So long Cody! Hope we don't have to read about you stalking Julianne in the tabloids!



Next week: The finals!

The Standings

This was a great week for people to pick up bonus points for TS/BS scores, and Rick did that in spades. He was the only one to correctly predict that Lance would take top honors, a prediction that netted him a whopping 40 point bonus. Combine that with 16 points for correctly pegging Cody as the BS, and he had a pretty great week. He's not exactly a top contender, but he did manage to climb out of ninth place and into seventh.

Dawn also had a great week for hitting the Cody elimination on the head for a 50 point bonus.

Paul and Lisa were the only ones who predicted that Cody would go out early in the competition, and they paid accordingly. Paul now has the bottom spot, and Lisa's not doing too much better.

Pool leader Carl lost only 10 points on Cody's ouster, and is going into the finale with a decent lead and a shot at the top honors in the pool. If Lance comes in second next week, he may be unbeatable.


1st: Carl 913 (-10 +0)
2nd: Experts 895 (-20 +0)
3rd: Matt 887 (-20 +0)
4th: Mike 880 (-10 +0)
5th: Dawn 872 (+50 +0)
6th: Kim 823 (-20 +0)
7th: Rick 797 (-10 +56)
8th: Lisa 740 (-60 +16)
9th: Paul 712 (-70 +16)

Good luck, everyone!