Tom reminds us that in addition to the big celebration of the 100th episode tonight, one of the celebrities will be going home. Aw, can't they give them a week off like Idol Gives Back? It's like, "Hey, welcome to the party! Grab some cheese and crackers and maybe some of the bacon-wrapped scallops. Yeah, open bar! Totally! All of you celebrities, enjoy! Except you, Marissa. Yeah, you're going home.
We open with a routine with past and present pros dancing. I spot Kym, Ashley, Cheryl, Karina, Anna, Derek, Louis, Maks, Jonathan, Alec, Fabian, and one woman that I totally don't know. She must be from the first season or she got eliminated first in one of the later seasons or something. Seriously, no clue. Anyway, it's a cool routine with lots of high-flying stunts and even some gymnastics by Derek and Louis. In my mind, Louis is like fifty-two years old (I know he's much younger) so I'm always surprised when he can do a back handspring or whatever.
Before we get to walk further down memory lane, Tom and Samantha introduce the recap of last night's routines. The most notable part for me is that we learn that Jason helped Cristian rewrap his elbow so that he could perform his second routine. Aw! Bromance! As we go to commercial, Sabrina Bryan says that her favorite moment from the show was seeing Emmitt Smith bust out the MC Hammer dance.
When Tom returns, he explains that they got 100 fans in the audience by bringing in two people from each state. ["Is that like Noah's Ark?" -- Angel] I get totally distracted by the fact that there's a woman behind Tom who seriously does not know how to clap. How do you not know how to clap? What is wrong with her? Anyway, Samantha is backstage with the remaining contestants to ask them if they feel safe. I know this is going to be a shocker, but none of them feel safe.
Rascal Flatts comes out to sing a song. Why does their lead singer look like the love child of Larry Bird and Michael Rapaport? Apolo and Julianne come out to dance to the song. Aw, I've missed these tiny people. Ooh, they do a sexy move where they roll around on the floor on top of each other. Julianne! I think Adam rubbed off on her. I didn't mean that to come out as dirty as it did. Now I've grossed myself out. They do a spin that really shows off Julianne's athleticism and then she does a leg extension that shows that her legs are just as flexible as Edyta's, even if they are only half as long. This is a really beautiful routine and I'm glad they chose Apolo to do it instead of Helio. I wonder if Julianne had anything to do with that decision. All of the stunts and lifts in this routine have been really impressive, and the chemistry with these two is really amazing. Well done.
Lisa Rinna says that one of the most memorable moments for her was when Kelly Monaco nearly lost her top and managed to still finish her routine without getting the show yanked off the air by popping out a boob.
Tom is going to talk to some of the former contestants. There's jokes with Stacy Keibler about George Hamilton. Lisa Rinna plugs the cardio ballroom dance class she started with Louis. Jerry Springer jokes that his hips still hurt. Vivica A. Fox talks about her work on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Joey Fatone says that he got work from being on the show so he can't be bitter. Kenny Mayne plugs his new book. Sabrina doesn't get any time to talk. I notice that she's sitting to Shannon Elizabeth; I wonder if the two of them go on double dates with Derek and Mark. I hope not. That kind of makes me want to puke. Can you imagine four people you'd like to hang out with less? Although Derek and Mark probably have good gossip about the dance world. But there's about two hundred percent too much enthusiasm in that group.
Tom asks Len who he thinks might be going home, and Len says that the three at the bottom of the leaderboard are probably most vulnerable. At the bumper into commercial, Helio remembers the first time he saw Apolo dancing the paso doble, and how it made him want to do the show too.
Tom lists off all of the show's alums that have gone on to Broadway, and tonight we have a special performance by Mario Lopez and the cast of A Chorus Line. When they bust out the hats for the kick line in "One," it cracks me up to see the three judges in the background totally geeking out. Bruno is practically standing up on the desk to join in. Their kick line is good too; I don't know if any of you have ever participated in one of them, but between the cardio workout and trying to make sure that all of your legs kick up to the same height, it's not as easy as it looks.
Rascal Flatts return to sing "Life is a Highway" while Mel and Maks dance. Yay! This song just makes me think of the movie Cars because I have nephews and thus I have seen that movie more times than is healthy. I miss when they were younger and we got to watch Mary Poppins. There's a lot of song before Mel and Maks come out; I wonder if that was a contractual thing, like the record label said that the band needs to have so much time just singing before everyone is distracted by the dancing. And Mel and Maks are awesome. One thing I love is that they incorporate some of the most popular bits from their routines last season, like the splits from the Viennese waltz. And they just look like they are having so much fun. I seriously can't believe they didn't win last season.
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Backstage, Samantha asks former winners who they think should win. Kelly wants Kristi, because she wants another female winner. Apolo says he roots for athletes, so he's thinking Jason and Kristi. Drew says that after last night, he wants Cristian. Samantha points out that it's probably not coincidence that Cristian is partnered with Cheryl. In the bumper to commercial, Drew reminds us of the most dramatic moment from the show -- when Marie fainted.
Now we get to see a clip package of what the current contestants have learned from past contestants. Kristi thinks she can learn the most from Joey Fatone, because he's "a master showman." Marissa wants to learn how to bring it like Mel B. Oh, Marissa. You couldn't carry Mel's jock. Mario thinks he could learn from Mario Lopez. Yeah, learn how to bed Karina, from what the gossip pages say. My theory is not helped by Mario saying that he wants to take it to the level like Mario Lopez did. Jason says that he can learn a lot from Emmitt Smith, because he made it cool to dance with style. Cristian relates to Helio, because they are both Latin American. Well, that seems obvious.
Finally, it's time to reveal two couples who are safe. And the first one is...Marissa and Tony. What? Wow, I totally thought they were going home. Man, where is her fanbase coming from? The second couple that is safe is...Kristi and Mark. Backstage, Samantha talks to the safe couples. Marissa can't even talk, but at least she's toned the screech level down. Kristi is like in a coma compared to Marissa, but she also has trouble forming a coherent sentence. In the bumper to commercial, Kelly says that her shocking moment was when Sabrina was eliminated. Did they put that in this break to let us know that the upcoming elimination would be shocking? Like it is Jason, the golden boy? I hope not.
Samantha tells us that they are going to reveal another safe couple "in no particular order." How can one couple be in order of anything? I guess that means that they're not necessarily the third place couple. Anyway, the safe couple is...Cristian and Cheryl.
Tom says that Jason and Edyta and Mario and Karina are not necessarily the bottom two. Why did we go back to not revealing the bottom two? I hate that. Anyway, we finally get to see who's going home this week and it's...Mario and Karina. Wow, Jason looks relieved! He's really into it.
Mario says that he's had a great time performing on the show and loves his partner and his competitors. He's the youngest person they've ever had on the show. Mario thanks Len for his constructive criticism and then sort of weirdly segues into talking about how the real brave young people are those serving overseas. I mean, sure, but the timing just seemed weird. For Mario's dance out, they play "I Will Survive." They should play an upbeat song every week. It's much more enjoyable to ask than the typical junior high slow dance songs. Anyway, see you week!
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