Whew! Sorry, I just had quite an adventure involving a stray pit bull nearly getting hit by a car in front of my house, my daring rescue, and then attempting to find the owners even though the dog had no ID tag. We did find them, and Lucky is now home safely, but I just wanted to use my bully pulpit to remind people to spay and neuter your pets, and put ID tags on their collars!
Anyway, enough of the Bob Barker PSA, on with the show. Tom and Samantha welcome us to the show and Tom promises "the most dramatic elimination so far this season." So that must mean it's not Melissa. Or is it Melissa, and that was a nod to The Bachelor and Chris Harrison? Anyway, the encore performance tonight is the team tango. Derek is really an amazing dancer. He's really come into his own this year. He doesn't annoy me like he did with Shannon Elizabeth. I always like the encore because I think the dancers do better because the stakes are not so high and they can let go a bit. Ty really needs to learn a facial expression though -- even in the tango, I think it's okay to show some emotion in your face other than terror. I like Cheryl and Gilles's section better tonight; maybe only having to concentrate on one dance helps. And the ending section is as good as it was last night as well. Good job, everyone!
Tom begins the review of last night's performances as he reminds us that Melissa couldn't dance last night due to her injury, and the judges had to critique and score her rehearsal footage. It wasn't even a dress rehearsal, so they weren't going all out. Len was very honest in pointing out that he thought Ty should go home this week unless he showed something spectacular in the team dance. And then he did do spectacular in the team tango, so I guess Len takes it back?
Then there's a ripoff of that bit that every morning radio show had done where they make fun of the "Real American Heroes" campaign that some beer company ran a few years ago. Basically they make fun of each of the remaining celebrities and it's not funny AT ALL so I'm just going to pretend it never happened and you should too. Bring back DanceCenter!
Tom and Samantha introduce Robin Thicke, who's singing while three couples dance. It's Edyta, Cheryl, and Kym dancing along with Tony, Alec, and Dmitry. I like Robin Thicke. I'm an old school Growing Pains fan, and Robin looks a lot like his dad when he was younger. Plus, he's actually singing and not lip-syncing, which I always appreciate. And the song is relatively short. But man, Robin Thicke is sweaty afterwards. It must be warm in there.
Samatha's backstage with Melissa (who is in a dancing costume). Melissa says it's very difficult when the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. But she's started a new treatment and thinks she'll be able to dance if she's sent back. Lil Kim is back there as well, and she reiterates the common refrain that it doesn't matter where you are on the leaderboard, since no one is safe.
Tom's ready to reveal a couple who will be continuing on week. And that couple is... Lil Kim and Derek. I like them, but I'm still boycotting the unnecessary apostrophes in her name.
Samantha introduces another clip package. This one is about the perfect attributes of a perfect partner. The judges explain what you need. You need to be physically coordinated and good-looking. Chuck has the right mental attitude, unless we're talking about making him feel like less of a man. Actually, he's laid off on that a bit lately. Gilles has the sizzle that's necessary. Ty has great core strength, which helps with his posture and frame. Leg control and strength is important, and Melissa excels there. Good feet produce good movement, and Shawn has precision in her footwork. Facial expressions are important, and the judges feel Lil Kim does that well. Really? Because she kind of always has the same facial expression. Anyway, if they could combine all of those elements, that would produce the perfect partner.
It's time to find out another couples' fate. The safe couple is...Ty and Chelsie. So I guess Len was wrong! I kind of thought Ty would go too, but I guess his fanbase pulled through. Before the break, there's a fake commercial with Chuck and Julianne pretending to be clients of a dating service called DanceMatch, run by Melissa. It's actually kind of cute. I mean, it's no SNL commercial parody, but it's not bad for this show.
Robin Thicke is back to perform his new song, and he's joined by Pasha and Anya from So You Think You Can Dance. And if you've ever read one of my weecaps before, you know that I don't watch that show. I do moderate the forums for this one, and those two names pop up all the time on people's wishlists for potential new pros, so I know there will be a lot of people very excited to see them. [Pasha!!! Count me among the wishers that he'd be a pro on this show. He'd give Maks a run for his money! -- Angel] Watching Robin Thicke's moves on stage, I think he should be a contestant on this show in the future. He's got good footwork. Or how about Alan Thicke? My dreams of Rick Springfield have been dashed since he just got cast on Californication. I still think he would be awesome, though.
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Samantha's backstage with the previously-announced-as-safe couples. She asks Ty how he feels about Len's pronouncement last night. Ty says he's been determined all along, and it doesn't come easy. Samantha asks Kim who she would be shocked to see go, like she's going to answer that. Derek takes over and says that the scores are so close at this point, that the leaderboard doesn't tell you anything about who's going home.
Tom's ready to reveal one more safe couple, and it is...Gilles and Cheryl. So it's down to either Melissa and Tony, Shawn and Mark, or Chuck and Julianne. Tom points out that all of Team Tango is safe. As we go to break, there's another parody, this of the "I'd Rather Go Naked" PSAs that PETA did a while back. Except this time, the pros would rather go naked than continue to see professional dancers get hurt for the show.
So the remaining four potential pro dancers are back to compete again. We have Genya, Afton, Mayo, and Anna. Except for the last one, those are some weirdo names. Tom reminds us that the judges will give some critiques, but no scores. Genya and Afton will be dancing the quickstep, and Genya confesses that he has done a lot of Latin but hasn't done ballroom in a long time. Afton is there to help him out, because she's been trained in a lot of different styles. They're both kind of goofy in rehearsal, which I enjoy. So how's their quickstep? Well, their steps are definitely quick, and they cover a lot of the floor. The pace is good too, although I think the footwork could actually be more complex. But who cares about what I think; what do the judges say? Len noticed a small blunder, but he thought it was fast and had lots of energy. Bruno liked their characterization, and how they showed their personality. Carrie Ann says she couldn't tell that Genya hadn't done the quickstep in a while. Backstage, Samantha gives the numbers for voting.
The couple will be Mayo and Anna, who also danced together last week. They both have a lot of ballroom experience, and not as much Latin, but they're excited for the challenge. Mayo's body still freaks me out. He's just so tall and lanky and skinny. They begin their jive. Something about their jive doesn't quite work for me. The technique looks good, from what I can tell, but they don't seem to be feeling the music or something. It's like when trained ballerinas try to dance to pop or rap music and it's not quite right. Something about the way Anna does it reminds me of Lisa Rinna's weird legwork. Anyway, Carrie Ann was pleasantly surprised by how well they did. Len says he was proven wrong, because tall people can dance Latin well. Bruno thought it was clean and sharp, and he tells Anna that she dances like an angel. Len cringes away from Bruno's exuberance. week, Tom explains that the remaining potential pros will dance with a celebrity partner. That's what I'm talking about! My vote goes to, I guess, Genya and Anna still. Although Afton kind of won me over this week.
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Tom is ready to reveal one more safe couple, and it is...Shawn and Mark. Shawn looks really surprised. I guess she thought she was out. That means that either Melissa and Tony or Chuck and Julianne are going home. At this point, I figured it was probably Chuck, since it wouldn't really be a shocking elimination if Melissa went home since she had the lowest judges' score by far.
After the break, it's finally time to learn which couple is going home this week. Samantha is careful to reminds us that the out of the two remaining, one will be safe and might not be the bottom two score-wise. Carrie Ann says that she hates to see anyone go, especially when Chuck has improved so much. Bruno can't believe that Melissa might go home when she's one of the best dancers they've ever had. Len thinks if you base it on last night alone, Melissa should go, but if you look at the whole competition, Chuck should go. Well, that was diplomatic. No one can really disagree with that one. So who's going home? Chuck and Julianne. Melissa looks genuinely sad for them. In his parting words, Chuck points out that Melissa has a lot of strong fans to save her from a five-point deficit. [To me he sounded more than a bit bitter about it... --AC] Tom gives Chuck a little pep talk and says that he's what the show is all about, someone who went from nothing to something. Chuck and Julianne take their final dance as Tom and Samantha bid us goodbye. See you week!
This season is almost over, but we've got our wish list for future foxtrotting celebs.
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