As a special treat, we get MORE Motown! I'm not complaining. The show opens with a medley of Motown hits and dancing by the pros. Oh, it's the troupe. I thought it was going to be the actual pros. Oh, wait. Val and Peta are dancing to "Let's Get It On." And Louis is there as well. I enjoyed how fast they cut away from Val when he started doing some extremely suggesting pelvic thrusting. I wish they had incorporated more Motown type moves in that routine.
Backstage peek and review time! William didn't know what "raunchy" meant. Of course, he didn't. Derek tried to help Maria recover when she stepped onto the lip of the orchestra, but she didn't even know what happened. Derek told her that it happens, and she handled it like a pro. I don't know if I gave Jaleel enough praise last night for really capturing that Motown feel. I have to laugh at how shocked they were to get such high scores when usually people are bitching that their scores weren't high enough. Maks thinks he and Melissa were successful since she looked beautiful, enjoyed herself, and didn't get a concussion.
So out of those four contestants (William, Maria, Jaleel, and Melissa), who is safe and who's in jeopardy? Jaleel and William are safe, while Maria and Melissa are in jeopardy but may not be in the bottom two. I would love to hear what Derek is telling Maks right now.
Inspirational story! A girl was born in war-torn Sierra Leone. Her mother died of starvation so she was taken to an orphanage. She has vitiligo, so they called her "the Devil's child." Yikes. She was adopted by an American couple and they enrolled her in dance class, and now she dances with the American Ballet Theatre. She's dancing to Natasha Bedingfield singing "Wild Horses." How can you have a song called "Wild Horses" and not have it be the Rolling Stones song? That is some bullshit. I was all excited to hear that song. Anyway, the ballet is beautiful.
Clip package about how difficult this competition is for the stars. Maria broke a rib and fractured her foot. William tore a ligament in his ankle. Gladys says that she wakes up in the middle of the night and runs through the dances in her mind. They are all surprised by how mentally draining it can be. THE END!
More dancing by people I don't know! There is a lot of fog on the dance floor and the women are all dressed like Tori Amos. And there's a string quartet playing. Ooh, one of the ladies just went flying up in the air into the clouds! That was exciting. Is she in heaven? What the fudge is going on with this dance? Now she just floated back down and all of the men caught her. Now she is twirling and the men are dancing like crazy! And now they are all on the floor and leaping about like woodland nymphs. And that lady went back to heaven and one man joined her at the top of the stairs and lifted her up and now she's floating in the air and caressing his face. Seriously, what just happened? Was there a story there? Did someone die? Was it magic? Did it have something to do with Twilight?
Boyz 2 Men is reunited and singing on stage! And Anna and - holy shit, is that Dmitry! Where in the hell has he been? I feel like there should be a Hall of Fallen Dancers. Jonathan and Dmitry and Edyta and Alec could hang out there in little glass cases and someone could bust them out with a hammer if Derek's leg falls off or something.
More results! Donald really wanted a 10 from Len. I thought maybe the judges didn't notice that Donald almost fell down since none of them mentioned it, but Bruno did notice it, yelling, "He almost fell over." The dancers in the waiting area thought Roshon's scores were kind of bullshit. Katherine was shocked by the 10s from Bruno and Carrie Ann. The hair stylist who sprayed Gladys's hair was also holding a marshmallow which confuses me. Is there some sort of makeup trick involving a marshmallow? As Gladys left the studio, she said that she knew she'd probably be in the duel but people might just give her enough votes to stay out of it.
So out of these four (Donald, Roshon, Katherine, and Gladys), who is safe and who is in jeopardy? Donald and Katherine are safe, and Roshon and Gladys are in danger. No surprises there.
And now we get to find out which of the four couples in jeopardy will be dancing in the duel. I feel so dumb calling it the duel. What they do on Real World/Road Rules Challenge is a duel. When CT picked up Johnny Bananas on his back and carried him out of the ring? That was a duel. Doing the cha cha or whatever is not really a duel. But anyway, Melissa and Maria are safe, so Gladys and Roshon will be in the duel.
Tom interviews Gladys first, and Tristan says that they were kind of hoping to get the duel because Gladys opened the show yesterday and now she will close it, whatever the results. Roshon confirms that they rehearsed for the duel for a long time. They have to do the jive. Ooh, Gladys is in trouble. The jive is pretty intense.
After a clip package showing us how hard they rehearsed this morning, the two couples are changed and ready to face one another in the duel. There's a dramatic music sting as they take their positions. Okay, I have no idea who won that duel. Gladys and Tristan did the basic jive step pretty much the whole time without any showy movements, and I didn't see any kicks or flicks, but it was smooth and controlled without any obvious mistakes. Roshon had a lot more energy but his arms and legs were flying all over the place. I mean, it was a microcosm of how both couples have been throughout the competition. Gladys was lower energy but a pleasure to watch. Roshon attacked the dance HARD but maybe it was too hard. This is why I hate the dance duel concept; it could go either way and really, the audience should be the ones to decide.
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Carrie Ann says that she respects both couples, and they brought out their own styles. Roshon was vibrant but out of control at times, while Gladys was controlled but maybe didn't have enough content. Len thinks both couples handled the pressure well. Len thinks Gladys dances from her heart and puts her personality into it, while Roshon comes out full on and flat out. Bruno tells Gladys that she's unique and special, and she made a difficult dance look easy. He tells Roshon that his timing was immaculate, and he brought his energy to the floor and sold the dance.
Time for the judges' decisions. Carrie Ann votes to save Gladys and Tristan. Len votes to save Roshon and Chelsie. So it all comes down to Bruno, and he votes to save Roshon and Chelsie. Gladys has a huge smile, of course, because she is awesome. I mean, look. She was not going to win. I can't imagine her doing two full routines in a week, but it has been a HUGE pleasure to watch her dance. And GOD, I hope Tristan gets a young partner season! He has put in his time with Nancy Grace and now Gladys. Everyone comes down and hugs Gladys because they love her. She's the real deal, y'all. No one e-mail me with a story about how she kicks her dog or something because I want to keep my impressions pure. See you week.
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