Dancing With The Stars season 5 finale
There’s a line that Michael Kors often uses on Project Runway when he is describing someone’s creation. That line is – I’m underwhelmed. That is exactly how I felt about the finals tonight on Dancing With The Stars. I think that the dancing last week, by far, was much better than the dancing this week. Perhaps the celebrities were so concerned about their freestyle routines that they lost a bit of focus in the judges’ choice round. Maybe I am completely wrong about that. I personally think the dancing in the semifinal round was 100 times better than the dancing tonight. Here’s my opinion of the couples and their dancing tonight.
Mel and Maks. The judges chose the Cha Cha Cha for their first performance. It was the first dance she and Maks performed on Season 5 and they showed a clip of the performance. Let me just say that she was certainly wearing a lot less costume this time than the first time. Don’t get me wrong, she looks fantastic and if I had that body I would flaunt it too. This is not a criticism of her costume, merely an observation. I thought the dance was nice but it did not speak to me. The judges liked the routine – Len and Carrie Ann gave her 9’s while Bruno gave her a 10. Their freestyle routine was a hip hop influenced number to Timbaland’s “Way I Are”. I love that song, but I think that they might have made a different choice of song to perform the freestyle number to. Or maybe they could have taken the choreography a bit further to really make it work. Again I thought it was nice but I was kind of disappointed in the number. Maks did not look comfortable dancing this style of dance. The judges really gave her some harsh criticism but then gave her 9’s across the board. They ended up in first place at the end of the night, with a total of 55 out of 60.
Marie and Jonathan. The dance they performed in the judges’ choice round was the Samba. Marie joked that it was chosen because the judges never got to critique her first performance because that was the dance after which she fainted. Again I thought it was a nice number, good but nothing really outrageously special. The judges said that while she is technically the weakest dancer in the finals no one can out perform or out entertain her. They got a 24 for their first number. Their freestyle routine had Marie portraying a doll and Jonathan the doll maker. It was a good gimmick I thought – a great way to be able to disguise the lack of technique by having Marie assume a role – but it just ended up being kind of bizarre. She did do some challenging lifts, and I don’t think it was right for the judges not to comment on her lifts and such. All the judges did was say that they did not get the routine, that it was a creative idea that was really a mistake, and Bruno even compared her to the Bride of Chucky. They got a 22 for their freestyle, leaving them in last place for the night with a total score of 46 out of 60.
Helio and Julianne. Let me first begin by saying how good Helio looks in pink. That out of the way, I thought their Jive was amazingly entertaining and while the judges said he made some errors with his footwork I did not see those errors. I think I might have gotten caught up in the overall performance, especially Julianne’s performance. The judges gave them a 25 for their first dance. Their freestyle routine was definitely the best of the night – it was really entertaining and I think that Helio did a good job with doing the lifts. Carrie Ann gave them a 9 for the dance, while Len and Bruno gave them 10’s. However, Carrie Ann did give Helio a nice compliment, saying that he combined the best of Marie and Mel – a great performer with strong technical skills. They ended up in second place this evening, with a total score of 54 out of 60.
First thing tomorrow night we will find out which couple had the lowest combined score. From there the two remaining couples will perform for judges’ scores to be combined with the scores received tonight. Fan voting will still count for 50% of the score. All of the celebrities from this season will perform, along with Celine Dion.
I think it’s tough to say who will be going home. I think that it is all going to come down to fan voting, not judges scores. That’s how it played out all season and I think that’s how it will play out again tonight.
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