Dancing with the Stars

Last night on Dancing with the Stars, all 12 couples danced their hearts out for the second time, doing their best to appeal to the judges and to voters at home.  Kristi and Mark quickly identified themselves as the marquee team this year, with Mario and Karina close on their heels.  At the bottom of the pack were Penn and Kym, and Monica and Jonathan.

Two weeks' worth of votes have been counted, and combined with the judges' scores, and tonight, we'll have the first-ever double-elimination on Dancing with the Stars.  Keep refreshing your browser throughout the hour, as I will be providing you with live thoughts.

We start out the hour with a recap of last night's performances.  I'll skip this part, since you can just read my recap from last night.  Len Goodman was so impressed with Jason Taylor, whom he has dubbed the Mambo King, so Jason and Edyta Sliwinska get to encore their mambo from last night.

All of the six male celebs and their partners are brought out to the stage to reveal the first safe couple of the night.  Tom Bergeron announces with genuine surprise that Steve Guttenberg and Anna Trebunskaya are safe!

After commercials, the super successful Jonas Brothers take the stage with a remix of that '80s classic "Take on Me" by A-Ha.  Tony Dovolani, Anna, Jonathan Roberts and Edyta perform as well.  I love this song!  But I'm not sure I like a bunch of little kids singing it.  Does that make me a fuddy-duddy?

Backstage, Samantha Harris interviews some of the men.  Steve is so happy to be safe, and again, his enthusiasm for everyone else is so winsome.  Adam Carolla makes a crack comparing his own eyebrows to those of one of the Jonas brothers.  I have to say, Adam's dead pan delivery is really growing on me.  He can be quite funny, that guy.

It's time for some ABC cross-promotion with a small shout out to Oprah's Big Give.

And now, the next two couples continuing to the next round are Jason and Edyta, and Mario and Karina Smirnoff!  Well, we all figured that these two couples would be safe.  They had some of the highest scores, duh.  After commercials, we get to find out who is the next couple saved.  And that couple is Adam and Julianne Hough!!  Really?  Well, yeah, I guess, people really love Julianne, so it makes sense that people voted for them.  Unfortunately, Penn and Kym are voted off.  Sad!  He was so fun to watch!  Penn makes a funny speech that he's not going to stop dancing, and that they'll keep performing out in the parking lot.  In any case, that means that Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke are safe.

Now, it's the ladies' turn to see which among them is going home.  But first, the safe ones.  The first couple safe are Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough.  Derek wasn't kidding; he has come back a man, man!

We get a Cameron Mathison-themed interlude now.  He's back wearing his Superman outfit from his famous paso doble from last fall, and he hits the streets of New York to ask random strangers who their favorites are this season.

Now, we have a gravity-defying performance choreographed especially for Dancing with the Stars by the Cirque du Soleil guy.  Ooh, it starts out on aerial fabric, which was Jenileigh's talent, the girl who won Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants.

The Jonas Brothers, plus Louis van Amstel and Cheryl Burke, are back again, performing "When You Look Me In the Eyes."  Those brothers have very big hair, especially the one on the guitar.  But eh, I can see why they are so popular with the tween set.

Backstage, Samantha has Adam and Julianne, and Shannon and Derek.  Adam makes a joke that Julianne and Derek are the Stepford siblings.

The next two couples who are safe are Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez.  They high-five each other.  Joining them on to the next round are Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas.  Priscilla Presley and Louis are also safe.  It's down to Monica and Marissa.  The lowest scoring couple are Monica Seles and Jonathan Roberts.  This is really no contest.  I feel really bad for Monica because she did try so hard.  She accepts the decision gracefully.

Next week, the ten remaining couples will dance either the tango or the jive.  Two of my favorites!  Don't miss it!



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