Belinda Carlisle eliminated first in season 8 of Dancing With The Stars
The produers of Dancing with the Stars wasted no time tonight in getting things started. I’ve always complained that the show is boring and drags on. Well, if they keep going at the pace they did during the first nine minutes of the show I’ll be complaining no more.
Right away we were treated to a performance by six of the professionals from the show – Tony and Cheryl; Derek and Julianne; Mark and Lacey. They performed an upbeat jive to a song by Bib Bad Voodoo Daddy. A great performance, but then again I don’t expect anything else from these pros. They are great week after week. Samantha interviews Steve-O backstage next. He’s dressed in costume, hoping he doesn’t have to participate in the dreaded dance off. There’s no fractures or anything like that with his back. Lacey had warned him to not do the front flip. Tom Bergeron kids that it’s interesting that Lacey is the voice of caution. And then we go to the first elimination announcements – four couples are safe. Laurence (LT) and Edyta, Shawn and Mark, Chuck and Julianne and David and Kym are safe. I’m glad that David and Shawn have made it through to next week.
Right after commercial we get even more action. The next elimination announcements – Denise and Maks, Melissa and Tony, Lil’ Kim and Derek, and Gilles and Cheryl are safe. Needless to say I’m very happy I’ll get to see Gilles next week. It should be a Latin dance for him so hopefully we’ll see him almost shirtless again. I’m also happy that Lil’ Kim and Melissa are safe. From here we get a cute segment about Cameron Mathison’s survival guide for celebrities. On to the Macy’s Stars of Dance number choreographed by Michael Rooney. He’s done Bjork’s “It’s So Quiet” video as well as choreographing a tour for Kylie Minogue. It was nice, but I always prefer to see the professionals from the show performing, not people who come in from the “outside” so to speak.
After commercial we have a performance by Jewel (who would have been dancing had she not broken her Tibias) and the pros who accompanied her were Dmitry and Chelsie. I think it’s cool that it was these two professionals – Dmitry would have been Jewel’s partner and Chelsie is dancing with Jewel’s husband Ty. She sang a rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” that was beautiful. The dancing was so great too. I loved the fact that they danced almost for the entire song – usually the camera focuses more on the musical performer than the professional dancers. They got a standing ovation from the crowd and the judges at the end of their performance.
A bit about the celebrities sizing each other is next, but I think it’s mostly to fill time so Chelsie and Dmitry can get changed. They are still not sure if they’ll be competing in the dance off. We go to the next elimination and find out that Holly and Dmitry, Ty and Chelsie and Steve-O and Lacey are safe, leaving Steve and Karina and Belinda and Jonathan to compete in the dance off since they landed in the bottom two this week.
And here comes the Dance Off. The two couples with the lowest combined scores will dance again for new judges scores. The scores from the Dance Off are combined with the viewer votes (which still count for 50% of the score) to determine who goes home. The couples had their choice of dance. Belinda and Jonathan performed first, doing the Salsa. It just didn’t move me. Len and Bruno commented that her hip action was better than last night but she did make some mistakes. Carrie Ann said it was not an improvement from last night. The judges gave them 17 out of 30, which is one point lower than the score they got last night.
Steve and Karina dance after the commercial break, performing their Quickstep. I thought it was better than last night, and so did Carrie Ann. Bruno said he is not a good dancer, and Len agreed but said he was the best for fun and entertainment. They got 17 out of 30 for the Dance Off.
In the end it was Belinda and Jonathan who were eliminated. I guess there were more computer geeks voting this week than fans of 80’s music. But I have to say that Steve looked completely shocked that he made it through this week.
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