Lots of Contenders on Dancing with the Stars
Although Monica Seles and Penn Jillette have been eliminated in Week 1 of Dancing with the Stars, there are still lots of contenders in Season 6. Marlee Matlin continues to amaze with her dancing ability. Try turning your TV on mute and dance a fast paced jive to unheard music. Unreal. Steve Guttenberg improved with the help of temporary dancing partner Jonathan Roberts, but unless he can muster support from a limited fan base (Wilford Brimley and the cast of Cocoon, where are you?), the Gutt is gone this week.
The break through for this week has got to be Cristián de la Fuente. Although he and partner Cheryl Burke didn’t receive the highest scores of the night, they achieved personal high scores with an 8, 8, and a 9 from Bruno. You could see it in their dance – the fun and the energy, and you could hear it with the crowd’s response. Cristian is now in the game as a contender. With a busy week promoting his upcoming music, Mario couldn’t dedicate enough practice to his tango, and Head Judge Len Goodman called him on it. While Mario and Karina’s tango to Roxanne by the Police was dramatic, the pair received their lowest scores of 7, 6, and 8, but still good enough to keep them around for another week.
Looking like a 1920’s flapper, Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough delivered a spunky jive. Choreography by Boy Hough was superb as usual. Adam Carolla and Girl Hough, Julianne Hough, also reached personal high scores with all 7’s as Adam actually did okay and also managed to insult gays and Mormons at the same time. His comments and quick retorts endear him to fans and should provide a (short lived) safety net. How does Adam feel about learning the passion and intensity of the tango from a 19-year old girl (Julianne)? He took his grandfather’s advice and learned the Argentinean dance about prostitutes from a Mormon.
The slam of the night goes to Marissa Jaret Winokur. The judges were brutally honest saying her performance was too safe and recommended that she tap her Broadway performance skills to wow everyone. Even with the lowest score of the night, I have a feeling she’ll be spared one more week to see if she can bring it. Priscilla Presley continues her surprising success with a well acted tango. She’s fit the personality of her current dances (foxtrot, mambo, and tango), but the challenges of the quickstep, cha cha, and jive await.
The leaders, Jason Taylor and Kristi Yamaguchi, finished off the show strong as ever. Initially, I thought Jason Taylor was in trouble seeing Edyta dressed in Victoria’s Secret’s finest, relying on her looks to distract people from dancing miscues. But Jason did okay with his overall fluidity. Can an Asian self described as an introvert and reserved dance the passion/hate combination of the tango? Eh, so so, in my opinion, but again Kristi Yamaguchi scored well with all 9’s for technical superiority. Bruno even implored Kristi to be a “dirty girl,” and she’ll need to in order to achieve perfection.
My guess for Week 3 is that “The Gutt” is gone.
Related: DWTS Season 6 Recap of Posts
Technorati Tags: Dancing with the Stars, television