Actress Monique Coleman and her professional partner Louis Van Amstel were booted off Dancing with the Stars last night, after three weeks of flirting with elimination in the bottom two. That Monique made it this far might be considered a minor upset; I thought at least two of the women (Vivica A. Fox and Willa Ford) were better dancers than she was. Nonetheless, Monique’s removal from Dancing with the Stars was surprising to no one, and sets up what should be the best final three Dancing with the Stars has yet seen in its short existence.
Actors Mario Lopez and Joey Lawrence had been pegged early on as the two favorites and have not failed to deliver on their potential. They will square off against NFL legend Emmitt Smith, who has to be the biggest surprise of the competition. Emmitt has opened some eyes over the past three weeks, displaying a ridiculously improved dance prowess and making fans believe that he might even have a chance to win this thing. Dallas Cowboys fans must be having conflicted feelings over this predicament, what with their all-time greatest running back receiving the most screen time of his career on a dancing show. Joey Lawrence, in my mind, will go down in this tournament as “Mario Lopez Lite”. Joey is athletic, he can dance, he’s been improving, but everything Joey can do, Mario can do better. This isn’t Joey’s fault, its just not easy dancing in Mario’s shadow. They’re the same kind of dancer, which hurts Joey severely. There would be no legitimate rationale if Joey ended up winning over Mario. Emmitt, on the other hand, could actually win this thing. His style is wildly different from the two younger heartthrobs. He is mature, he’s smooth, he’s a man’s man. If Emmitt’s partner Cheryl keeps the choreography simple and lets Emmitt’s personality do the heavy lifting, we might be looking at one of the biggest upsets on celebrity dancing reality show history. Dancing with the Stars airs every Tuesday and Wednesday at 8PM ET/PT on ABC. -Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer