Dancing With the Stars 2009: Week 5

Performance Night:

Entering Week 5, there were high expectations. The audience was looking to be dazzled after being treated to some phenomenal dancing the week before. The stars have all been improving every week, and so they wanted to see that trend continue. Sadly, we were all disappointed. The top dancers didn't really shine while performing the Viennese Waltz or the Paso Doble, and the worse dancers seem to have run out their learning curve.

Of note:

The Paso Doble, a strong, bullfighting dacne, is usually a high point of the season, with lots of fun routines and an in-dance character that is easy to appreciate. Gilles was good as usual, but not dazzling. Ty, the rodeo champion, wasn't able to bring his livestock mastery to bear on the dance, and looked particularly uncomfortable. And Lawrence, who has been lost pretty much this entire season, missed a chance to show his power. Instead, he was led around by his partner Edyta like a bull with a ring through his nose.

The Viennese Waltz is usually known for being the epitome of grace and precision, but no one really captured the storybook essence. Melissa fell from grace after giving it her best effort, earning a meager (for her) 25 from the judges. The weirdest theme choice of the night belonged to Steve-O (naturally), who tried to incorporate a mime routine into the proceedings. He did add three points to his previous week's score, but that still puts him at the bottom of the leader board.

Overall, the weak performances might give the second-tier dancers hope that they can break into the top, while the bottom dancers can now reasonably shoot for the middle of the pack.

Here are the scores. The number in parentheses indicates the change from their previous performance (if any):

1st. Gilles and Cheryl: 29 (-1)
2nd. Lil Kim and Derek: 26 (-1)
2nd. Shawn and Mark: 26 (+1)
4th. Melissa and Tony: 25 (-4)
5th. Chuck and Julianne: 23 (+1)
6th. David and Kym: 22 (no change)
7th. Ty and Chelsea: 21 (-4)
8th. Lawrence and Edyta: 20 (+1)
9th. Steve-O and Lacey: 18 (+3)

Elimination Night

The short version: the bottom two couples were David/Kym, and Lawrence/Edyta. They had a dance-off which underscored the difference in ability between the two celebs. David is really much more graceful, and has clearly learned the routines better than the stumping Lawrence. Sadly, this didn't save him from elimination.

David looks very young for his age, and so it's easy to forget how good his dancing really was considering that, at 54, he was old enough to be the father of most of the other contestants.

This means that Steve-O is pulling an awful lot of votes.

The Pool:

Once again, three players picked Gilles for TS, and got 10 points apiece for their efforts. Everyone but Paul correctly chose Steve-O for the BS, which was worth 5 points. Carl, Lisa, and I all earned the maximum number of bonus points.

David's elimination surprised no one, with everyone but me losing 10 or 20 points (I lost the most with 30).

Rank: Name Current Score (+/- David elimination, +/- TS, +/- BS)

1st: Matt 954 (-30, +10, +5)
2nd: Kim 893 (-10, +0, +5)
3rd: Vegas 886 (-10, +0, +5)
4th: Lisa 856 (-20, +10, +5)
5th: Paul 848 (-20, +0, +0)
6th: Carl 840 (-20, +10, +5)
7th: Dawn 770 (-20, +0, +5)

The standings didn't change much, other than Lisa overtaking Paul for fourth place.

For next week, please send me a Top Scorer (TS) pick, a Bottom Scorer (BS) pick.