Dancing with the Stars

Finally, a tiny, baby-sized, miniscule shakeup went down last night on the Dancing with the Stars results show when the bottom two stars, Marlee Matlin and Mario, were revealed. Marlee got the lowest score on Monday night, lower than the next two teams by three whole points, so it makes sense that she would be in the bottom two. But Mario did amazingly well, scoring a 28 out of 30, the second-highest score of the night. How is it possible that he ended up in the bottom two?

Well, I think it might have something to do with his voter base. At age 21, he's the youngest star in the competition, so it makes sense that the majority of his fanbase would also be young. While young people are certainly adept at texting or logging in votes, ensuring his safety on the show, there probably aren't too many of them even watching the show. Dancing with the Stars does have a reputation for being the domain of (ahem!) women of a certain age.

It was incredibly moving to watch Marlee say good-bye to everyone last night, especially when her long-time good friend Tom Bergeron told her how proud he was of her. But it's time to get to business now. We've passed the half-way point in the competition, and I'm ready for some real shakeups. As far as I'm concerned, every single one of the remaining couples has the potential of dethroning ice queen Kristi Yamaguchi from the top. Not that I'm not a fan of hers. I think she's amazing and awesome and talented and adorable, but I also don't want to see her resting on her laurels. I want each of the other dancers to give her a run for her money.

Coming off of the news that Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough (who is 12 years her junior, I must point out) are an item and like to make out on beaches with each other, it was a bit annoying to see the footage of the two of them complaining about the critiques they were given by the judges. Shannon, in particular, took Carrie Ann Inaba's comment that she didn't have any hip action to heart, whining tearfully, she did, she so did! All I can say is that, honestly, even though these two are a very telegenic pair and I really hope that they go far in the competition, even I noticed that she didn't shake her hips, not one bit. I'm no ballroom expert. I wouldn't know a heel lead from a – I don't know – toe lead? But I do have an appreciation for things that look good, natural, playful, precise, sexy and strong, and I also know for sure that her hips were not moving like they should have been. Fortunately, both Shannon and Derek apologized for their outburst, saying that they just got carried away in the heat of the moment.

The Dancing with the Stars drama will definitely be increasing next week when the six remaining teams must perform two routines each. This is usually the point in the competition when unpredictability takes over because the stars now have double the amount of choreography to learn in the same amount of time. I'm looking forward to it. Are you?



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