Last week, everyone was sad when David went home instead of Hope or Nancy. But this week, the remaining couples have to do two dances, one pre-rehearsed and then everyone will do an Instant Jive. In case you're a newcomer, that means they know they have to do a jive, but they don't know what song they will have, so while they can rehearse steps and sequences, they will only have like thirty minutes to fit those to music.
Tom and Brooke introduce the first couple to dance tonight, Rob and Cheryl. It cracks me up because as Tom introduces them, Cheryl is busy gabbing away with Tristan, and Rob has to tap her shoulder like, "Uh, Cheryl? They're talking about us. Smile and wave to the camera."
Last week, Rob's Addams Family tango got high marks from the judges and ended up in second place. This week, they have to work on the quickstep and the instant jive. Rob wants honest feedback from Cheryl to improve and she quickly rattles off a bunch of things he needs to do for the quickstep: keep his frame solid, move his feet in sync with hers and work on the butt-sticking-out problem that Bruno mentioned last week during judging.
Their quickstep is to "Take On Me" by A-ha? Which seems like an odd choice. And yet, it works! Overall, the routine is really good. If you'd told me in week one that Rob Kardashian would be dancing this well (or still be in the competition at all) in week eight, I wouldn't have believed it. His frame and arms look great, and his butt does seem to be tucked in. His footwork is mostly good, but there's something weird with his feet. When he has to take a big step, it just looks really awkward, and I can't figure out why. Maybe he's not bending his knees? Imagine walking and taking huge steps but not bending your knees. That's what it looks like. But overall, it was really, really good.
Judges? Len says that the opening section was awful, but once they got into hold, it looked great. Len loved the frame and his posture, and calls it his best dance so far. Bruno said that once he fixed his butt problem, everything else fell into place, and his lines were fantastic. Bruno can't believe the improvement. Carrie Ann (who has terrible bangs, maybe a wig?) says that Rob is the perfect DWTS contestant because he was not great when he stared out and he has shown amazing improvement. Tom cracks that Rob has had the best week of any Kardashian. Ouch. But also, ha. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 9 and Bruno 9. They choose their jive song and get "Maneater" by Hall and Oates. Ooohhh-kay?
Hope and Maks have the quickstep. Oof. This will be...interesting. Before they can start rehearsing, Maks wants to have a chat about last week. He admits that he was overly rough with her, and thinks that they both got overly competitive. Hope has figured out that anything goes when it comes to her sports role, but in the ballroom, she has a lot of insecurities and needs a different kind of coaching. So they decide to tone down the intensity of their relationship and try to enjoy one another. Maks explains that he's trying a gentler approach, but it's taking a long time for Hope to get the steps. So Maks takes her to meet his family. Maks's dad says that Maks looked like a girl as a kid and he cried a lot. Hope gets a BIG kick out of that. Look, this might be all fake and whatnot, but I'd much rather watch Maks's family rip on him than watch the two of them fight in rehearsals.
Their quickstep is to "Valerie", the Amy Winehouse version, which is kind of a bummer for me. I was still waiting for Amy to release another album. Sigh. Anyway, it starts with a long messing about period with umbrellas, but then they get into hold and the first pass down the floor is actually really good. Hope has such long legs, and a dance where she has to travel the floor this much really shows them off. Then she seems to get a little behind and it feels like Maks is either pulling her along or she's running ahead. She just has no rhythm. But she's much more graceful than usual, although she wimps out on her arm movements near the end, doing this weird T-rex thing instead of pushing them way out like she should. I think she screwed something up there in the middle and then was just marking time until the routine was over. Her dress is pretty, though.
Judges? Bruno says it's the night of miracles, and he thought they were re-energized, light and breezy. Carrie Ann wants to give her a hug, because it was so amazing, and she loved the joy and love in their routine. Len thought it was a blend of speed and control, and Hope finally fulfilled her potential. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching a different show than the judges. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 9 and Bruno 9. Man, I would have given that dance an 8 at best, maybe a 7. Their song for the jive is "The Best Damn Thing" by Avril Lavigne. Neither of them know the song.
Brooke checks in with Rob and Cheryl as they work on their instant dance. Cheryl says she's never done one of these before, but she knows Rob will kill it. Rob's shirt is too small. Someone needs to fix that, stat.
Ricki took the top spot last week, even though the judges told her that her shoulders were too high. This week, she has the waltz, and Derek works with her during rehearsals to keep her shoulders down. Ricki hosted a charity event last week and got the chance to talk to Jennifer Grey, whose big advice was "Keep having fun." Somehow, Ricki finds that incredibly helpful.
Their waltz is to "Natural Woman," but more like the Carole King version than the Aretha version. I think I figured out what my problem is with Ricki's routines. They're boring. She and Derek have no chemistry. I can admire them technically, but they don't even hold my attention for the two minutes or whatever that she's on the floor. Zzzzz. So it was fine, but I was bored.
Judges? Carrie Ann noticed a tiny stumble at the end, but she loved Ricki's lines and how she loses herself in the dance, even if her shoulders did come up a little bit. Len says it was more of a river than a lake, and it was beautifully executed, although he can't give her a 10 because her footwork wasn't perfect. Bruno thought it was beautiful, especially how she finished her lines. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 9 and Bruno 10. Their jive song is "Land of 1000 Dances" by Wilson Pickett. They both look puzzled but I bet if you sang them the "Na na na na na" part, they'd know it.
Last week, Nancy and Tristan got low scores, but their fans saved them. In rehearsal, Tristan jokes that their dance is about a love-hate relationship and he doesn't know where they'll get that from. Because they both love and hate one another. Nancy admits that she sometimes won't shut up in rehearsals and won't admit that he knows more than her about dancing. Tristan gets really frustrated because she won't listen, but they put in a ton of rehearsal time for their tango.
Okay, I don't know what the hell that tango was about. Nancy got all of the moves down, but her technique was terrible. Her footwork was listless, when it should have been sharp. When she should have been leaning back, she was leaning forward. I don't even know what to say anymore. Why is she still on this show? She's like your maiden aunt who thinks she's an awesome singer and so you let her sing a song at your wedding to be nice and everyone cringes but then claps politely and so she continues thinking she's awesome.
Len says that Nancy has plateaued since week two, but he saw improvement this week, finally. Bruno calls her a brazen jezebel and says that she had the right attitude for the dance. Carrie Ann loves her spirit and thought her moves were sharp (they were?) but she needed to point her toes more. Scores: Carrie Ann 8, Len 8 and Bruno 8. Their jive song is "Upside Down" by Paloma Faith.
Last week, JR didn't get great scores and ended up in the bottom half of the leaderboard for the first time. Karina wants to work hard in rehearsals, but JR is naturally goofy and she gets frustrated. So how does that translate to their waltz? It translates to wow. It is gorgeous and unlike Ricki's waltz, it was interesting to watch from start to finish. JR was incredibly graceful and the choreography was amazing. Great job, Karina, and great job, JR.
Judges? Bruno says it was like a musical Valentine's card and he made beautiful music with Karina. Carrie Ann thinks that JR always has natural grace but in this dance, he made magic and everyone in the room felt it. Len thinks that JR came back all guns blazing this week like the soldier that he is. Weird that Len didn't say anything about the technical parts of the dance (other than that JR should be wearing a tie? Which seems like a weird thing to pick on, but maybe it's a ballroom rule). Scores: Carrie Ann 10, Len 10 and Bruno 10. They did it! They got the first perfect score of the season. I'm so happy it was them and not Ricki and Derek. They pick "Tutti Frutti" as their jive song.
Rob and Cheryl are up first on their instant dance. Rob did the jive in the second week and he's having a hard time remembering the steps from then. Cheryl is more worried about keeping their energy up for the full routine. So watching their routine, I think their biggest positive is that Rob seems to do well with the basic jive step and his kicks and flicks are sharp. Their opening is a disaster but once they get into the actual jive steps, he does better. I recognize one sequence from his first jive, which is expected, too. The problem is that Rob looks like he has no clue what he's doing, instead of performing the dance and having fun with it. No one expects perfect technique or steps in this, so go for performance and energy. Rob looks self-conscious to me.
Len saw no glaring mistakes, but small incidences. He wanted more flick and sharper feet, but overall, he thought Rob did a good job. Bruno liked the pace and youthful energy. Carrie Ann was impressed with the transitions, but advises him to work on his feet, as Len said. Scores: Carrie Ann 8, Len 8 and Bruno 8. That's more than fair.
Hope and Maks work on their routine, which Hope screwed up when they did it previously. Hope wants to do the same two steps the whole time, but Maks says he can't do that. We learn that Hope doesn't learn routines by counts; she listens to the lyrics of the song. That explains so much about how she dances and why she's always lagging behind and then rushing to catch up. But Hope is determined to do better this time. I'll say this about their routine -- it's fast. And they keep up the pace the whole time. Hope's posture is HORRIBLE. She's leaning way forward and it throws off all her lines. But she keeps her feet going and doesn't seem to miss any steps, so that's something.
Judges? Bruno says it was fast and furious and he gives her a few specific things to work on but says it was very good. Carrie Ann thinks it was an improvement on her jive, but she needs to work on her hands. Len yells that it was fantastic and everything a jive should be. WHAT? LEN? He calls it bloody brilliant. I am in Crazytown. Scores: Carrie Ann 8, Len 9 and Bruno 8. Seriously, has Len been drinking?
To prepare for the instant dance, Ricki and Derek rehearse their jive to three different songs so that they can focus on the steps and not worry about the actual song. That's smart. Derek is smart. My one issue with Derek and Ricki's routine is that Ricki stops doing the footwork from time to time and just marks the beat, which makes it easier for her than it was for, for example, Hope, who kept doing the footwork the entire time. Derek also wisely put in a lot of stunts and things that also meant Ricki didn't have to have as much stamina. The first half looked really great though -- I just thought, despite all their tricks, Ricki lost the plot about halfway through and was just marking time.
Judges? They all have a good laugh over how hard Ricki tried to keep her feet on the floor so that she wouldn't get points taken off for a lift. Carrie Ann says it was great, but there were a few times where Ricki stopped and Derek kept going. Len agrees, and so does Bruno, and he thinks it made for less flow. They all agree that this was a difficult challenge. Scores: Carrie Ann 8, Len 8 and Bruno 8.
Tristan thinks it's great that it's his first instant dance too, but Nancy isn't comforted by that. Nancy had the jive last week, and she reminds Tristan that she has twins and a full time job on top of being in this competition. Oh, poor you. I'm a little worried about this jive, though. Here's the biggest problem I have with Nancy's jive: she's barely lifting her feet off the floor. That's even before you get to the part where she screws up most of the steps and Tristan has to push her into position.
Judges? Len says he commends Nancy for making it this far, but he thinks it's time for her to go home. Everyone boos. Ooh, Nancy is holding back her sharp remarks, and you can almost see her biting her tongue. Bruno tries to be nicer, and Carrie Ann compliments her chemistry and trust with Tristan. But I don't think these are going to be good scores. Scores: Carrie Ann 7, Len 6 and Bruno 7. Ouch. But deserved.
JR and Karina are the final couple to dance. Last time they did the jive, they got penalized for a lift and Len said they did too much Lindy Hop and not enough jive. So they're trying for redemption. And I think they did it. JR's kicks and flicks are PERFECT. That is how you do it. And he's got so much charisma and confidence out there. It was amazing. Hard to believe it was an instant dance.
Judges? Bruno screams that JR's flicks were sensational and his timing was impeccable. Carrie Ann says that they're in a class of their own and no one else is coming close tonight. Len thinks that JR mixes the X factor and the feel good factor, and on top of that, he did a fantastic jive. I think these scores will be high, and they should be. Scores: Carrie Ann 10, Len 10 and Bruno 10. Wow. That was deserved, but that's crazy. And how can you not be happy for JR?
And here are your final scores:
JR and Karina: 30 + 30 = 60
Ricki and Derek: 28 + 24 = 52
Hope and Maks: 27 + 25 = 52
Rob and Cheryl: 27 + 24 = 51
Nancy and Tristan: 24 + 20 = 44