This was a typical week of competition on Dancing With the Stars except for the added bonus of team dances with the judges. It was an interesting addition. It was cool to see the judges in their element.
Nyle DiMarco is nothing short of amazing. He and Peta Murgatroyd chose to do a short section of their Paso Doble in silence. It was stunning, so poignant. Without the silence, he nailed the Paso. With it, he took it to the stratosphere. He left very few dry eyes in the house. I've never seen Erin Andrews such a mess! 29.
Antonio Brown found out shortly before his Viennese Waltz that he was in jeopardy. Despite ABC's best efforts to rattle him, his dance was non-stop movement and he nailed every last second of it. He was charming, classy and adorbs. He put extra time in the rehearsal studio and it showed! 27.
Jodie Sweetin stepped it up several notches this week. Holy smokes, her Jive was super-charged. Keo Motsepe's choreography was out of control. This was clearly the most fun Jodie has had. She tapped into her confidence and it showed. They found out they were "in jeopardy" and they laughed in jeopardy's face! 30!!!! Carrie Ann Inaba announced the first 10 and Keo looked like he was going to puke. It was awesome. Then Jodie made me tear up when she screamed, "I did it, Mommy!" I love this show.
Paige VanZant rocked her Viennese Waltz despite Mark Ballas' little quirky stuff that did not add much. She is such a proficient dancer she needs no gimmicks. Bottom line, I did not dig the concept, but execution was flawless. 28.
I adore Ginger Zee. Having said that, I was anticipating some difficulty with her "embracing the character" in her Argentine Tango, but me oh my did she ever capture it. Val Chmerkovskiy's choreography was phenomenal. The judges' comments gave me the chills! Amazing performance. 30!!!
So so so disappointed for Wanya Morris. His Jive was out of control (in a good way) until he slipped on a prop bandana. He had been so comfortable with the performance. Lindsay Arnold was not messing around with her choreography. The judge's mentioned some missteps not associated with the bandana that I did not notice. Being that he was already in jeopardy, I have a bad feeling that, although he deserves it, he won't make it to the finals. 25. Big fat bummer.
And then, a twist! The Team-up Challenge. Each judge was assigned to 2 couples to coach them through a team dance. The judge associated with the dance didn't vote, but America did.
Team Bruno: Argentine Tango with Nyle and Peta, Jodie and Keo
Wowzers. This performance was something else. Everyone was so committed. Bruno changed up the pairing from the original teams, to boys with boys/girls with girls, to the stars dancing together. It was pretty amazing. They all stepped up to the challenge in a big way. 29.
Team Len: Samba with Wanya and Lindsay, Ginger and Val
Len's team did a ridiculous Samba. For the amount of time he spends complaining about dances being over-produced, this sucker had props and sparkle and pizazz like no other. I also love that Len always inserts himself into stuff like this and doesn't take himself seriously. Bottom line, this was fun fun fun. 29
Team Carrie Ann: Paso Doble with Antonio and Sharna, Paige and Mark
This Paso was intense. I was mesmerized. There was so much power behind every movement, it was really phenomenal. 29.
For every team, the judges scored 10s, America scored 9s. What's up America?
I gasped when Jodie got the boot. Again, it's so great that she's going out on top with her first perfect score, but argh! She was really coming into her own. Bummer. Wanya must have some fan base, because he was 5 points behind Jodie and had a tough time last week as well. Double elimination next week. My prediction for the finals is Paige, Ginger and Nyle.
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