Episode Report Card Kim: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Anyone But Ingo
By Kim | Season 16 | Episode 16 | Aired on 05.13.2013
The first round is done! So now we get a clip package of Kellie's life story, most of which you're familiar with if you watched her season of Idol. She grew up poor with a drug-addicted mother and an imprisoned father, raised by her grandparents. Then she went on Idol and got a singing career. And now she's dancing the flamenco. Here's the problem: Kellie looks like she's really unsure of the steps most of the time. Derek is stomping and dancing all over the place and Kellie is mostly swinging her skirt around and clapping. She just doesn't seem confident or in character.
Judges? Len tells Kellie that she's just booked her place in the finals. Really? Bruno thinks Kellie got the character of the dance, but there were a few moments where she tightened up and lost the flow of the dance. Carrie Ann asks why Kellie tensed up halfway through, and Kellie says that her dress was really heavy. So then Derek scoops her up and carries her up the stairs. Holy shit. That's a man. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 10, and Bruno 9. Well, Len made it up to them. Bruno showed a 10 paddle, but he clarifies that his score was actually a 9.
Ingo grew up in Germany, and he's been a competitive athlete from a young age. His parents were huge hippies, so they moved to Australia to go off the grid, basically. He grew up and moved to California and got on General Hospital and bought a house in Hawaii, where he met his wife. And now, their Charleston. They spend a lot of time faffing about in the beginning, but the first third is pretty good. Then Ingo's hat gets knocked off in one of their lifts and he seems to lose the thread, because the middle section is a mess. He's kind of walking through the steps, but he's not putting any energy into it. It's a shame, because this really is the perfect dance for him.
Judges? Bruno calls it frothy and bubbling. Did he watch a different dance than me? Carrie Ann thought he hit a grand slam, although he had a few mistakes. Len thought it was his best dance. What? Did they just watch the same dance as me? He was totally out of sync with Kym for the middle section of the dance. Whatever. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 9, and Bruno 9.
I think everyone knows Aly's life story. She started training as a gymnast at a young age, and then went to the Olympics. I'm a little uncomfortable with these two whiteys dressing up like African bushmen and dancing around. I mean, I don't know how authentic their dance moves are, but I'm going to try to ignore the racial implications and just look at their dancing. And I have to say, Aly matches Mark move for move. She doesn't miss a beat, through all the jumping and stomping and whatnot.