Dancing With The Stars 2009: Week 6

Performance Night:

This week, we were treated to the Jive and the Rumba. The Jive is notoriously freewheeling and fun, while the Rumba is the epitome of sexy hip-wiggling. So, there was some real potential to shine, but not many of the stars took full advantage.

Here's a little rundown:

Lil Kim and Derek performed the best Jive of the night; it had a challenging, fun routine with lots of energy. Lil Kim did great, but I have to credit Derek for choreographing it perfectly. They also went with a classic, iconic song choice in Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock." Lil Kim nailed the best score of the night, and has now firmly established herself as a finals contender above Shawn.

Shawn, meanwhile, has started to look a little rough around the edges the last couple of weeks. She has a short and stubby physique, and that really detracted from her Rumba. They went with a John Mayer song, and for the first time I would say that I really noticed her failing to get some of the technique down. She's less awkward than most of the celebrities, but she really needs to step it up if she wants to be there for the finals.

Ty and Chelsie went with a countrified jive, featuring lots of hoe-down in a dance style that is really way more hip and urban when it's done right. The judges came down hard on him, and gave him his lowest score since Week 1. I think we're at the stage in the competition where the judges are really focused on culling out the below-average dancers, speaking of which:

Steve-O and Lacey did a Rumba in their pajamas. As Bruno noted, Lacey looked hot, but that didn't really distract from the fact that Steve-O clumped around to the music, transforming a dreamy choreography into a nightmarish performance. He just looks dopey stumping around out there. That being said, I think he should have earned sixes and sevens. Carrie Ann gave him a 7, but Len and Bruno gave him a 4 and a 5, which I think is probably unprecedented for this late in the season. I can't decide whether they're being unduly harsh against Steve-O and Steve Woz (both of whom had proven voting blocs), or whether they've just revised their scoring standards this season. At any rate, it seems unfair compared to previous seasons.

Lawrence gave the Jive a shot, and even had a visit from previous contestant Warren Sapp to try to get him in the mood. But he just never looks comfortable enough out there to give a good performance. Once again, it's painfully obvious who is leading who, and Lawrence is just treading water until he gets eliminated.

Melissa and Tony did the best Rumba of the night, with a Beyonce song to boot. I didn't think that the routine was challenging enough, but she hit all the right steps and looked comfortable doing it, so she probably deserved her high score.

For the first time in the competition, Gilles didn't get the top score of the night. He and Cheryl tried an amazingly difficult Jive, set to a modern song by Fall Out Boy. The song choice was a bad one, because it took all the fun out of the dance. It tinted everything so that all of the super-fast moves came off as frantic or even angry, and that just didn't gibe with the Jive's spirit. The judges criticized his technique for the first time, and I think that was because the illusion was compromised.

Chuck and Julianne did a Rumba that had plenty of steam, but not enough technique. It seemed like Chuck was more interested in nailing Julianne than nailing a high score. Their clips package showed that Chuck has a hard time taking direction from his instructor/girlfriend, and I think that's hurting their overall chances.

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

1st. Lil Kim and Derek: 28 (+2)
2nd. Melissa and Tony: 27 (+2)
3rd. Gilles and Cheryl: 26 (-3)
3rd. Shawn and Mark: 26 (no change)
5th. Chuck and Julianne: 23 (no change)
6th. Lawrence and Edyta: 22 (+2)
7th. Ty and Chelsea: 18 (-3)
8th. Steve-O and Lacey: 16 (-2)

Elimination Night

The last two dancers standing were not necessarily the bottom two. I'm not sure what they're implying by stressing that, since the bottom two were the lowest-scoring Ty and Steve-O. Are they trying to mask Ty's enormous voting bloc? That seems doubtful.

Steve-O finally got the boot in 8th place, and so we won't have to watch him suffer any more. I don't know that I've ever seen a young contestant try so hard for so many weeks with so little improvement.

To me, Steve-O cleaned up his image a little bit over the course of the season. He went from a stomach-turningly reprehensible person to a kind of nerdy, vulnerable personality. He seems to be making a good effort to put his sordid, drug-riddled past behind him. I know his fans will all be happy if he gives up the drugs; the problem is, they probably don't want him to give up farting paint out of his ass. And those two things may be inextricably linked.

The Pool:

The top score of the night went to Lil Kim, who was picked by no one in the pool. So instead, the TS points go to those who picked Melissa, who earned the second highest score of the night. That means 15 big points for Dawn and Paul, who kept the faith in the Bachelor reject over the last several weeks. BS points go to the five pool members who picked Steve-O for the lowest score-- next week, you won't have old Steve-O to kick around, so the choice will be a little more difficult.

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

1st: Matt 950 (-10, +0, +6)
2nd: Kim 889 (-10, +0, +6)
3rd: Vegas 862 (-30, +0, +6)
4th: Lisa 842 (-20, +0, +6)
5th: Dawn 835 (+50, +15, +0)
6th: Paul 833 (-30, +15, +0)
7th: Carl 806 (-40, +0, +6)

Kim and I are making it tough for anyone else to break into the top two. We lost only 4 points apiece. The player who had the best week by far was Dawn, who hit the Steve-O elimination right on the chin, and thereby picked up a big 65 points for the week. It was an incredible gain, but since she was in last place going into the week, it just gets her into the middle of the pack. One more week like that and she might be a contender. The good news for her was bad news for Carl, who slumped into last place after picking Steve-O to be out in 12th place (instead of 8th). Meanwhile, Lisa narrowed the gap between herself and the Vegas predictions, meaning that she may have a shot at a career as an oddsmaker one day.

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