Dancing With The Stars fall season brought back the All-Stars. Who got voted off during “Guilty Pleasures” Team Dance Week? No one! All of the star celebs who were still competing on the shows that aired Oct. 22 and 23 got a reprieve from the dreaded elimination round. After the show was forced to cut its episode air time in half to accommodate the last presidential debate of the elections 2012, the producers decided that all the couples would get to dance and a team each performed on the show on the separate evenings. But despite the fact no one was left in jeopardy, there were two couples who stood out conspicuously as not being particularly safe as the competition advances. Who will be voted off next and who is likely to win the Mirror Ball Trophy in the coming weeks? Keep reading…
On the second night of “Guilty Pleasures” dance week all the stars seemed a bit off their mark — including those who danced on the team. The show episode that aired on Tuesday left many viewers with a lackluster feeling compared to seeing the dances of the previous night despite the very real fact the scores were equally high. Could it be because nothing overwhelmingly dramatic happened except for the celebrity judges fighting a bit over performance quality and scoring?
Click here to read the recap of DWTS Team Dance Week Night One…
Night two kicked off when Melissa and Tony danced the Tango first. The celebrity couple scored three 9s on the reality television dance competition despite the fact she had a neck injury. The soap opera star told Brooke Burke that it was probably the worst dance they could have drawn considering her injury but that they pushed through it and she was extremely pleased to still be competing. Tony asked her to hold her frame and he steered her through the rest. She was hurt while practicing for the team dance, a routine she performed while heavily medicated the previous evening.
Shawn and Derek danced a Rumba that left her looking vulnerable, sensual, and appealing. While they do not make the most attractive couple in the world, the pair are both so athletic they manage to overcome any of their height difference and her natural stocky physique with sheer determination. Bruno said their ever-changing shapes emotionally connected both her to Derek and the couple to the audience. Carrie Ann said she feels like a proud mama with the exception of a lift. Len panned the dance so badly Bruno never even got to comment. They scored the couple with a 9 – 8 – 10 after all three disagreed about the performance quality.
Apolo and Karina slipped up last week when the dance pro literally slipped and busted her but during the performance — costing the couple points and votes absolutely. Dancing the Samba, Carrie Ann noted the leg work was fantastic but it was not his breakthrough dance. The chemistry was stilted she said but Len totally disagreed with her and said it was good. Bruno said there was a fire going for sure and said the Olympian did a really great job. The Rick James hit was not really fabulous. Still seeming to disagree, they gave the couple an 8.5, 9.5, and 9. You could see the look on the athlete’s face and in the pro’s body language that they both know they are not in the running to win the Mirror Ball Trophy.
Sabrina and Louis are not doing as well on the leader board as many of the more famous couples but argument can be made that she’s dancing equally well. Dancing a Cinderella waltz with her pro, the Disney princess really looked like a Disney princess during Guilty Pleasures week. Sweet and sensual but not in any way raunchy, the dance they did was perfect for a family show. LGBT rights activist Louis really did look like a world-famous prince. Len loved the flow so much he said the story they told was charming. Bruno said the routine was cartoon-ish and delicious in the best sense. Carrie Ann said she never actually got to vulnerability. They gave them a 10, 9.5, and 9.5 for the fairytale performance based on the storybook romance.
The second team dance included Emmit and Cheryl, Maksim and Kirstie, Kelly and Val, and the absolutely gorgeous Gilles and Peta. Doing a “Gangnam Style” comedy dance routine, Len laughed and proclaimed the dance fun. Bruno made Gilles strip down to his underwear. Obviously, Carrie Ann was delighted. The celebrity judges gave the team solid 9s all the way across the board, noting the group was a “hot mess” but loads of fun to watch while they did their best to dance naughty to invoke riotous screams of laughter and live studio audience applause.
After all was said and done, some very real impressions were left on the viewing audience. Kirstie Alley, while trying her best, is not the best dancer of the all-star cast. Her will to thrive may outlast her chance to dance live — as she’s likely to be the next celeb to face the threat of elimination. What’s more, Apolo Anton Ohno is (surprisingly) not stepping up to the plate in the competition. While he won the Mirror Ball in the past dancing with Julianne Hough, this season he seems to be tanking dancing with Karina Smirnoff. She’s an absolute bundle of nerves and her choreography is just not as interesting as Julianne’s was; falling on her butt hard on live TV then breaking down crying also really hurt the Olympic athlete’s routine.
Emerging as a clear frontrunner duo is Gilles Marini with dance pro partner Peta Murgatroyd. The handsome and charismatic French actor and the blonde dancer not only make a stunning couple to look at visually, when you mix her talent for choreography with his alpha male confidence level and machismo and you have reality television gold. If he keeps up the good work he’s likely to earn the highest judges scores as well as the most viewer votes from home. Other stars giving him chase up until this week were Derek Hough and Shawn Johnson — the couple in hot pursuit and Kelly Monaco and Val (who are riveting to watch dancing together because of their chemistry but she’s overworked on the soap opera set and the pair is flailing). Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke can’t be counted out yet and are likely to make the semi-finals. Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani might have gone all the way but she’s suffering from a neck injury. Underdog Sabrina Bryan and her partner Louis Van Amstel are great but not famous enough to draw huge fan votes. As such, unless Apolo and Karina step up and pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat to dazzle us with a magical performance, barring any unforeseen injury Gilles Marini is the man most likely to win the competition.