Dancing with the Stars

It has been a long season, but now, we're only one week away from learning who will be the sixth winner of the coveted Dancing with the Stars mirror ball trophy.  It's down to the wire, with only four teams remaining.  It's really anyone's game.  Who will make it to the finals next week, and who will have to say good-bye tonight?

Read on and keep refreshing your browser; I'll be on hand providing you with live thoughts throughout the entire hour-long broadcast.

Live!  From Hollywood!  This is Dancing with the Stars!

We begin the night with recap of last night's performance show.  I'm sure most of you have watched it, so you can occupy yourself during this time by taking BuddyTV's latest Dancing with the Stars personality quiz: Which Dancing with the Stars Celebrity Are You?

Here is the judges' leaderboard from last night:
Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas - 57
Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke - 56
Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska - 55
Marissa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovolani - 52

Len Goodman requests for Kristi and Mark to encore their tango from last night, the same performance he thought was "too hectic."  Interesting.

Yay!  It's now time for the Ballroom Kids competition.  First up are Rashell and Aaron, in the nine and under category.  They dance the cha cha cha tonight.  Golly, these kids are so adorable, I can't take it.  Kym Johnson shows up at their rehearsal to give some pointers.  Len says something about their "bums flying," and Bruno screams about their great arm placement.  Carrie Ann calls them cute little munchkins.  Viewers at home will have a chance to vote for their favorite ballroom kids team, and the winners will be announced next week.

Tonight, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with a performance by Omarion, choreographed by Travis Payne, to a medley of classic Michael Jackson hits.

The final round of the ballroom kids competition continues with Jaryd and Cara, the winners of the 10 and under competition.  It's cute how these kids are getting recognition for being on TV.  Maksim Chmerkovskiy coaches them a bit, and Cara sighs, "He's so cute!"  Sing it, sister!  They dance the samba tonight, and it's amazing how accomplished they are, at such a young age.  And plus, their song choice is impeccable; they dance to They Might Be Giants' "Istanbul."  Wow, their routine was flawless.  Cute!  Tom Bergeron asks Cara for her autograph, and she's like writing a novel.

Next up, are Brandon and Brittany, who won the 13 and under division.  They dance the paso doble to "The Phantom of the Opera."  Is it really fair to pit them against eight-year-olds?  I mean, all of them are really great, but Brandon and Brittany clearly have much more experience and are really amazing.

Backstage, Samantha Harris tells the kids that they are all getting a trip to Disney Land with their families.

Now, it's down to get to business.  Having combined the judges' scores with the audience votes, the first couple who has secured a place in the finals, in no particular order, are Kristi and Mark.  After a long commercial break, we find out that Jason and Edyta are also coming back to dance in the finals next week.  Now it's down to Marissa and Tony, and Cristian and Cheryl.  The couple with the lowest combined total is Marissa and Tony.  Not terribly surprising, since she has consistently been the lowest-scoring of the bunch.  Cristian will be back next week.



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