Dancing with the Stars is in full swing and was back Monday night for the second week of the season. Monday night’s scores will be added to week one’s and one couple will be eliminated Tuesday based on the combined judges’ scores and fan votes.
Without further adieu and because there are still 11 couples to review, I will jump right into the recap.
There was a three-way tie with 23 points for first place tonight. One of those first place scores belongs to two-time Super Bowl winner, Hines Ward who flashed his signature smile and charmed his way all around the dance floor in a quickstep to the tune of Stevie Wonder’s Part-time Lover.
The judges unanimously drooled over him. Bruno Tonioli gushed: “Forget about part-time lover; it’s more like full-time dancer! You lead with ease and confidence. I particularly liked the fun details you put in there…and the chemistry with Kym is sinful.”
Carrie Ann Inaba who used to love on Season 3 champ Emmitt Smith went a step further: “I think Emmitt Smith just had to retire his title of ‘tinkle toe!’ That was amazing…your posture, your technique…I loved it.”
Len Goodman agreed: “Your frame was terrific. It is hard to maintain that but you did it. I was very impressed, well done!”
Watch the newly-crowned Tinkle Toe for yourself:
The second couple tied for first place after Monday’s judges’ votes with a score of 23 was Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke who also danced the quickstep to Ella Fitzgerald’s I Got Rhythm. Len complimented the wrestling star’s improvement over last week: “Chris, I take my hat off to you. Don’t take this personal, I don’t wanna get in a headlock or something. My expectation was, here we go, it’s going to be a big lumbering lumb, but no, it was bright, breezy and light at foot!” Bruno also admired the dance but for a whole other reason: “Chris, I like a man who responds well to strict discipline, and the dominatrix has transformed the beast into a gazelle…We even got that bum under control!” He finished, “You were sensational!”
Carrie Ann couldn’t agree more:“I’m loving me some Chris Jericho right about now. Light on your feet. Compact, great form.”
Watch Chris and Cheryl in action:
Also tied for first place at 23 were Romeo and Chelsie Hightower. This dynamic young duo played the king and queen of a 60’s prom. When Romeo got silly during rehearsals, Chelsea realized her task for the week prior to the performance would be to “Teach Romeo the difference between flirting and being a gentleman!” Whatever Chelsie did worked because the judges swooned over Romeo.
Len proclaimed: “THAT, was the best dace of the night. I loved it!”
Carrie Ann: “You have a certain style when you dance that stands out.”
Bruno: “Romeo you are the one to watch! Seamless, great musicality. You got everything it takes to make a brilliant dancer!”
Watch the king and queen of the ball dance to You’re the One That I Want off the Grease Soundtrack:
Ralph Macchio who came in first last week, did not fare as well with the judges this week and placed fourth for week two with a score of 21. The lower score did not mean Ralph is not damn exciting to watch. Because he is. His dancing makes me so giddy I feel like I am back in high school again. His Jive with Karina Smirnoff to Nobody But Meby The Human Beinz was seamless and mesmerizing.
In the video pre-roll, Ralph could not hide his excitement about being a part of Season 12 of DWTS. The baby-faced actor gushed about his experience last week, saying: “The crowd was amazing, we did that double turn and they just roared! It’s just one of those moments in my life and career that I –I will never forget that!”
Bruno: “You have a huge huge huge likability factor. You inhabit the character 110%…but your kicks weren’t as sharp as could be. There is work to do, but obvioulsy you are pleasing to watch.”
Carrie Anne: “You dance very well, but if you want to go further, you have to be sharper. You work at a level of 8 as opposed to 10 on every movement, but you are just so much fun to watch.”
Len: “It was OK, you over did it. You attacked the dance a little too much. You got frenzied.” When the crowd booed at Len’s negative comments, he shot back, “I liked it!”
Watch Ralph in action below:
Kirstie Alley had some trouble sustaining the crazy energy required for the quickstep but she did not lack the necessary stamina at the end of her dance to stop her from planting a big kiss on Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Who can blame her? The duo danced to KT Tunstall’s Black Horse & Cherry Treeand got a total score of 20 for the night.
Len: “Most was light and fluffy. You lost energy near the end. The posture went. It was good, but it wasn’t great!”
Carrie Ann: “You are so in your element. I love watching you dance. You’re so in tune with every movement. The connection between you and Max is gonna be unstoppable. It was fabulous!”
Bruno: “Don’t worry about weight, you don’t need to worry about that when you have talent. You started beautifully…believe in yourself. Be yourself”
Watch Maks and Kirstie below:
Louis van Amstel really wanted his partner Kendra Wilkinson-Baskettpre-roll video, saying in tears, “It’s so stressful for me. I don’t feel beautiful, I feel like a boy. Everybody thinks I’m that Playboy sexy girl that is confident. I am not that.”
This week’s quickstep to Gotta Work by Amerie obviously didn’t come as easily to Kendra as her cha cha did last week. She did not have the same ease of movement, but she was still fun to watch.
Bruno: “You tried your best, but you were very tight!”
Carrie Ann: “You’re very good at learning choreography. And I really saw you taking a step forward. There was a new found elegance.”
Len: “Your posture was a bit hit or miss…occasionally your chesticles [note: I think that’s what Len called Kendra’s chest!] were pushing into poor little Louie. Overall I think you did an excellent job.”
Watch Kendra dance like a lady below:
Disney Channel star Chelsea Kaneand Mark Ballas wanted to take a risk so they danced an “out of the box” kinky-circus style Jive to I Write Sins, Not Tragedies by Panic! Their risk didn’t pay off as they earned an 18 and landed in 7th place for the week.
Bruno loved the efforts and compared the spastastic number to “Marcel Marceau desperately seeking Lolita in A Clockwork Orange.” Pretty well said Bruno! Sadly, Bruno was the only judge who liked the antics.
Carrie Ann said: “I love choreography like that, but there’s a time and a place for that, and I don’t think it was right now. I wanted to see your jive Chelsea, but in that choreography, it was hard to see your jive. There was so little jive in there.”
Len, who hates props during ballroom dancing complained, “Once I see doors and things, you’re on a sticky wicket..there was too much messing around. This girl has got fantastic potential, and she’s gonna go a long way but not with dances like that.”
Here are Mark and Chelsea clowning around:
Petra Nemcova complained while learning her assigned dance, “The jive is hard for taller people. What am I supposed to do, get shorter?” Petra and Dmitry Chaplin danced to Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love and landed a score of 18.
Bruno: “Oh My God! This girl can go from uptown girl to a floozie at the drop of a hat! And they’re both equally beautiful.” Bruno did give Petra some good advice: “What you have to do is work on your core strength and that will help you with your precision and your placement. But your performance was great tonight.” Len: “Short skirt, long legs, bad technique. But I must say, she did it beautifully!”
Carrie Ann: “You’re just so stunning to look at, it’s ridiculous. Your kicks were tight and sharp…I think your core you have to really work on, you get a little funky on your shapes.”
Watch the beautiful Petra go from uptown girl to floozie below:
There are three couples left to write about and all three tied for the lowest score of the night at 17. They are Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya, Wendy Williams and Tony Dovolani, and Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer.
Sugar Ray danced the jive to Sweet Soul Music by Sam & Dave but the judges were not too impressed with the skills even though they enjoyed the performance.
Len: “Tomorrow, somebody is going home. On that performance, I have to be honest, you’re in jeopardy. It lacked refinement and any true dance quality. But the entertainment was fantastic.”
Bruno: “Sugar. It was definitely sweet and it was definitely pleasant to watch…it was softer on the edges. It needs some punch in the feet…sometimes you seemed stuck like a piece of gum.”
Carrie Ann: “If I just watched your face alone, it’s borderline a 10…but the whole body was too spastic.”
Watch Sugar Ray for yourself:
“Psycho” Mike Catherwood tried but he just couldn’t pull himself out of the bottom spot for the second week in a row which inspired all kinds of bug references to his dancing style from the judges. Mike started week 2 rehearsals by bringing partner Lacey Schwimmer flowers as an apology for his horrible and last-place performance last week.
Len: “Good news, it’s better than last week, but don’t get excited. You were flying about like a wasp in a picnic. Bits and pieces sliding everywhere. But I was smiling all the way through it!” Bruno: “Some moments your kicks were very very good. You looked like a fly stuck on flypaper. You can do it, maintain it. Don’t throw it away.”
Carrie Ann: “When you were side by side, I was impressed. Your technique was great. Your form was good…you have to think of the routine as a whole.”
Watch Lacey and Mike bug out to Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back in Town:
Wendy Williams said about last week’s disappointing performance, “It was an emotional evening and an emotional flight home.” During rehearsals, it was obvious Wendy had listened to the judge’s critiques and wanted to make changes. She also was worried about the jiggling in her boobs during the jive. Tony Dovolani wanted to make sure that Wendy would not be timid again during the performance this week. Wendy did better, yet still landed in last place this week.
Len: “It’s an improvement.” Bruno: “It was good to see a little of who you really are. You’re sexy.”
Carrie Ann: “Thank you, that’s what we wanted to see, we wanted to see Wendy Williams having a little fun, showing a little sass, giving a little sauce…It got a little dull but bounced back in the end.”
Watch Wendy and Tony dance to Do Your Thing by Basement Jaxx :
Here’s the leader board showing tonight’s scores first and then the combined two-week score second. The couples are listed in order of combined scores for weeks 1 and 2, from best to last:
Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff: 21, 45 Hines Ward and Kym Johnson: 23, 44 Kirstie Alley and Maks Chmerkovskiy: 20, 43 Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke: 23, 42 Romeo and Chelsie Hightower: 23, 42 Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas 18, 39 Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett and Louis van Amstel: 19, 37 Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin: 18, 36 Sugar Ray Leonard and Anna Trebunskaya: 17, 34 Wendy Williams and Tony Dovolani: 17, 31 Mike Catherwood and Lacey Schwimmer: 17, 30
Tune in Tuesday to see who will be the first celebrity to leave Season 12 of Dancing with the Stars.
