Last night's Dancing with the Stars performance show featured a hodge podge of different dance styles, plus a big country-themed group number at the very end.  After the middling Latin performances of last week, the hodge podge was much more entertaining and well-executed.

But tonight, it's all about the results.  Millions voted from home, and the audience votes combined with the judges' scores will determine who will be the sixth couple to be sent packing.  Read on to see what happened in the Dancing with the Stars results show.

The important stuff first.  The couples who will be returning for at least one more week of Dancing with the Stars, in the order that they were announced, were:

Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough
Marissa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovolani
Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke
Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas
Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska

The bottom two couples were:
Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez
Mario and Karina Smirnoff

Now, this was actually a bit surprising.  Marlee being in the bottom two makes sense because she scored the fewest points out of all the performers, but Mario was in second place with a score of 28 out of 30.  Not too shabby, if you ask me.  Maybe the voters at home thought that he was definitely safe and neglected to vote for him, not learning from Sabrina Bryan's fate last season.

Given their respective scores, it was virtually impossible for Marlee not to get eliminated tonight.  She needed 3.9 percent more votes than Mario to be safe, and considering that millions of votes were placed, that's a pretty lofty goal.  Indeed, she did not receive enough votes, and so she and Fabian danced their last dance tonight.

The Ballroom Kids competition was better than ever tonight.  It was the 13 and under category, and both young teams were amazing.  First, 13-year-olds Brandon and Brittany danced a precise and energetic cha cha, and next 12-year-olds Austin and Liza performed a highly entertaining samba.  The judges voted 2-1 to keep Brandon and Brittany in the competition.

Next Monday on Dancing with the Stars, the difficulty of the competition is increasing two-fold, as the six remaining teams must learn and perform two routines in two different styles.  Don't miss it!



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