Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars returns for another week.  There are five couples remaining in the competition: Jennie Garth and Derek Hough, Cameron Mathison and Edyta Sliwinska, Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts, Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough, and Melanie Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.  The couples who make it through to next week will have a master class  with Len, so there is more at stake here.

Of course, we all know the sad news from last week that Marie's father died on the morning of the last results show.  She ended the night in fifth place, with a score of 49 out of 60.  She and Jonathan started out the night with a very tame rhumba, which earned them a score of 24, and ended with an only slightly less tame jive which score a 25.

One point above Marie are Jennie and Derek.  Jennie and Derek danced the jive and the foxtrot.  The judges gave them a 24 on the jive and a 26 on the foxtrot.  Jennie got a surprise pep talk from Richard Simmons during rehearsal, and it seemed to have work because she seemed slightly more confident about her dance abilities this week.  Too bad her arms are floppy and her posture isn't great.  If she wants to continue on in Dancing with the Stars, then she really has to make some huge improvements.

Next in the judges' rankings are Cameron and Edyta.  They got a 27 from the judges for their Viennese Waltz, and a 24 for their cha cha, for a combined score of 51 out of 60.  Overall, he's improved a lot from his hyperactive dances from last week, but Cameron's not taking any chances.  He needs to make sure that hordes and hordes of people vote for him, so he took time away from rehearsal to meet with thousands of soap fans who got veritably weepy to pose with him for a picture.

Mel and Helio have really stepped up their game and have proven themselves to be the ones to beat in this season of Dancing with the Stars.  This week, Mel and Maks got a 27 out of 30 on their tango.  Mel's husband joined them in rehearsal to help turn Mel into a fierce, intense and passionate dancer.  It seemed to have worked, and her sexy leather corset certainly helped.  Their mambo earned them two tens and a nine, giving them an overall score of 56 out of 60 for both dances.  It was a fantastic performance that the judges and I raved about.

However, the night belonged to Helio and Julianne.  Julianne brought in a team of three "dance mechanics" to help out the Brazilian racecar driver, and the effort was definitely worth it.  They scored a 27 on their paso doble, and finished the night aglow from the perfect 30 they got on their quickstep.  Their overall score was an impressive 57 out of 60.

But, as we all know, excellent performances are not always enough to continue on in Dancing with the Stars.  The celebrity dancers must convince everyone to vote for them too.  Marie had the worst performances tonight, but she may make it through if she gets the sympathy vote.  Mel might have had a stellar night, but if audiences are put off by her prickly attitude, she might not make it.  Tune in tomorrow night at 9pm for the Dancing with the Stars results show to find out who goes and who makes it to the top four.


-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)