Not Kevin Federline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joey & Ashly: They were very good in the samba. He still lets his mouth hang open but his posture has definitely improved. Their Viennese waltz was not impressive to me. Those "pull Arabians" or whatever are not what I associate with waltzing, Viennese or otherwise. I snickered at his "going all the way" comment!

Rachel & Jonathan: Their dance was rather slow for a samba and there were parts where it got boring. Their Viennese waltz was okay.

John & Charlotte: Their samba was pretty good but no hip action on John's part. Her costume was ghastly. From what I could see of their Viennese waltz, they were divine!

Kelly & Alec: She improved by leaps and bounds this week. It took me a bit to figure that the reason she was clutching her breasts was because her dress broke. I totally understand her "stocky" comment. I feel that way too given my height and body measurements. The Viennese waltz was nice. I completely admire her work ethic and determination to do her best each and every week.

I was aghast that John & Charlotte were in the bottom two! They have been consistently doing a great dance every week with the quickstep being the pinnacle so far. I'm so glad that I voted for him last week. I like to think that I helped save him for another week. The music selections were horrible as usual. But I did like Tom Bergeron's closing joke about doing the foxtrot to Ludacris. On this show, they probably will. One can only hope now that ABC has seen what a hit they have on their hands that next time they will shell out the dough for real dance music and a better band. I mean who on God's green earth dances a Viennese waltz to "I Got You Babe".

They probably had trouble getting tune clearance from Johann Strauss.

Hee. I can kinda see how they picked "I got you babe" for a waltz because like a waltz it sounds like it is in 3/4 time. But really, the tackiness of that choice should have out-weighed that.

This happened to me too, but instead of a message saying it didn't go through, all I got was dead air. This happened twice, the other three wnet through fine. I'm not sure whether the first 2 counted or not as votes.

Anyway, I really fell in love with Kelly last night. The chick has moxie and makes me laugh. Unlike Rachel, who I was glad to see go, she oozes personality. And yet until last night, I thought that a potential win by her would be all kinds of wrong. But last night, she was amazing. Unlike the other couples, she actually danced. The twirls and spins simply put other couples to shame, especially the posy splitty crap that Rachel brought every damn week.

I just knew that Rachel wouldn't be able to pose her way through the faster samba, but I was proven wrong. It was a horrible performance. I'm surprised no one else has commented on the bitch face that Rachel had during the announcements. It was very reminiscent of Trista's reaction. Thankfully she got it together to be gracious minutes later.

eta I really wish ABC would repeat this ep next week.

I wish she'd bring it to my house.

This is the show that set a tango to Britney Spears' Toxic. I'm thinking that tackiness is not their #1 concern!

I wasn't on the Rachel hate train, more like the Rachel WhatTheHellIsSoGreatAboutHerYouStupidJudges train, but I'm much happier that John, Joey and even Kelly are still in. Even when John and Joey aren't at their best, they're great performers and always fun to watch, and I love their partners; and it's been fun to watch Kelly try so hard and improve. Rachel got boring because she was such a poser (literally!). Her long lines were her strength, but they overused them. In her bird dance last night, I could practically see her counting, and she was grandstanding more than dancing. I felt bad when she cried at the end...I know that all of these guys are working to death and it must be frustrating to get voted out of what is essentially a popularity contest, but as long as Joey and John are still there, I don't feel that bad.

BrainyBlonde you can find Kelly & Alec's Rumba, and all others here. Also best to download rather than stream:
RaphaelPungin'sBlog

Kelly & Alec's Rumba has become my all-time favorite perfomance, maybe the technique is not all there but who cares because, the sensuality steams up my screen everytime. I just wanna lick Alec. He can be Green Lantern, he's still effing hot. But yeah, more sleeveless shirts please.

I'll miss Rachel, too bad their music was so lame, and I don't think Jonathan's choreography was that dynamic. I was rooting for her and Kelly, so now Kelly has all my love. She was so cute with her oompah-loompah comment. I know exactly what she means, I think she is referring to being thick, because I'm even smaller than her but I also have thick muscles so you don't quite get the long lean extensions. It's harder to have the Standard/Smooth look, but once she has the arm extensions and pointed toes, her figure will be an advantage in Latin -- where she can shake what her mama gave her. My partner also tells me it's much easier to lead me than his previous much taller partner, so hope that works for them too.

ETA: I didn't know of Kelly before, but I became a fan because of her spunky personality and willingness to take the criticism and use it to improve. She has an unfair advantage though in having such a damn hot partner, heh -- because I'm motivated to give extra votes so I can see him longer.

Heh. Me too.

But I don't think the "twins" are why Kelly is getting fan support. I don't think the Playboy crowd watches this stuff a lot. Yes, there's the underdog factor, but Kelly has a lot of fans from the soaps, more people see her every day on GH than anyone sees all of the other "stars" combined. Soap fans can get very attached to actors (or conversely hate them on sight). I hate GH and I hate Kelly's character, Sam, but I was rooting for her too (not her fault what the writers have her do).

I have a question. Since they announce that results are in "random order", does being in the final two really mean that you were in the bottom two? Couldn't the first place finisher be there with the lowest, since its "random"?

They have always said that the last two standing are the ones with the lowest combined scores. The "random order" thing only goes for those who aren't in the bottome two. I think the quote this week was "In random order the couples who will be staying with us next week" or something like that.

I agree that Kelly's Rumba is great on the 1st, 2nd, or 22nd viewing because it's just SO HOT. Alec's arms are amazing. *DROOL*. I do wonder what would have happened with Kelly if she had Louis as a partner.

That's actually an interesting question. I mean Trista was already complaining and Louis just barely looked at her, what if she had to dance Rumba with Alec, hah. Thank our lucky stars Kelly & Alec were appropriately paired together, because they sizzle together.

Do any of you know how the partners were chosen? It doesn't seem random, because Rachel seems to have gotten paired with the tallest, Jonathan and John & Charlotte by age? But it also seemed like they took personality into account: Joey & Ashly, Kelly & Alec, John & Charlotte -- I can't imagine dancing with other partners, they have great chemistry.

zigletto or ziglettospal... would you say Joey is at a bit of a disadvantage with Ashly as his partner? She is gorgeous, bubbly, a great dancer, but not as experienced... do you think whoever gets to partner with Charlotte has the advantage?

This from the girl who had to have her husband ok the most puritanical rumba ever? He probably was pissed at her. I know I would be. If Alec's hair weren't in his face and dripping with oil (or so it seems), he might be more attractive, but otherwise, he just doesn't do it for me--much.

Alec & Kelly do have very good chemistry. Sizzle.

Imagine Rachel coming out in the whole feathery outfit the Samba Queen was wearing. BTW, the waltz outfits were 100% better than the samba outfits. I like that Kelly's wasn't a frilly, but I like the frilly ones, too. Tuxes!!

Somewhere deep in this thread, someone mentioned that she's only in her 20s, so it's not by age.

I think they tried to do it more by personalities that seemed to match up better. Though I guess that means they thought that Trista was skeevy...

Charlotte is 33.

Personally, I think the producers wanted Trista to go further than she did and put her with Louis to make that happen. Evander and Kelly were the "hooks" to get people to watch (especially Kelly with the daytime audience).

I was watching Citytv this morning (Toronto, Canada) and when I tuned in to check the weather they were talking to a woman in cottage country Ontario who got hundreds of phone calls from viewers of this show trying to vote for a certain team. They didn't mention which team but apparently one of the times the number was up on the screen they gave the wrong number. You'd assume that your average person would look on the website to find out the right number after being informed of a wrong number, however who knows how much this actually effected voting.

As someone mentioned upthread, Rachel was merely sliding from one extreme pose to the next in the Samba. And that move that Bergeron said could be used to land planes at the Playboy Mansion (or whatever) - was just so tacky and out of place.

John was just "off" somehow - I don't know whether it's rhythm, or not enough practice, or what, but he doesn't look as smooth and polished as he did the first week. And the missteps abound.

Kelly really brought it this week - she was, IMO, the best of the 4 celebs.

So, am I the only one whose 1st thought, the minute they announced that Joey/Ashly were advancing to next week, was "Yay! Less competition for Kelly!"? -- 'Fess up - I know you're out there.

I was glad to see Bendable Posable Rachel go, but I think Joey deserved to go more.

One question: they've mentioned several times that the couples had only one week to learn the dances for weeks 2 and 3, and only one week to learn both dances for this week; so did they spend the 1st 4 practice weeks before the 1st show (I think it was 4 wks) learning the one dance they performed the 1st night? Or were they working on all the different dances, learning basics, until a particular dance was assigned?

And another question - Len was adamant the 1st week when he told us that the only kiss of death move would be a lift - anything else was fair game. So were the rules ignored for the Viennese Waltz (I realize the judges weren't scoring), OR is it like ice dancing, where it's only a lift if the liftee is raised above the partner's waist (at least, that's my faint memory of ice dancing rules...)

Acutally, the rule in ice dancing is that the man's hands cannot go above his shoulders in a lift before it's declared illegal. Also, there cannot be any sort of release move. Actually, the partners cannot separate for more than, I believe five or so seconds. They must stay in contact at all times, and a pairs upright spin (where one foot and hand are continually connected) is now required. Only in pairs skating can the man fully extend his arms above his head while lifting. /figure skating lecture

What I find interesting is that no one has mentioned the willy-nilly, puke-inducing, out-of-control spinning lift that Kelly and Alec did in the spotlight of the Viennese Waltz. Geesh, he damn near slammed into one of the other pairs as the whirled by.

[QUOTE]zigletto or ziglettospal... would you say Joey is at a bit of a disadvantage with Ashly as his partner? She is gorgeous, bubbly, a great dancer, but not as experienced... do you think whoever gets to partner with Charlotte has the advantage?[/QUOTE]

In all honesty, getting Charlotte as a partner is a huge advantage to John as it would be to any student; she's an incredibly gifted teacher with a knack for eliciting more from a pupil than the pupil knows is in him/her.

Louis, although a genius, is a great teacher for students who already have a good idea of what they're doing. I've never seen him on a lesson with a beginner, so I have no comment there, except to say that teaching beginners is a different skill from teaching advanced dancers who live, breathe and sleep dance.

Jonathon is an extremely experienced pro/am teacher, another huge advantage in this format. Alec and Edyta have until recently only taught children, yet another skill set, in group class settings. They are beginning teachers, and while talented, are not the best judges of what a student can do and look good. Although I admit that Kelly really notched it up this week.

Ashly was a solid, middle of the pack competitor in the pro latin. This means that she did well, was consistent, and in the real world is a hell of a dancer. In the dance world, she's OK. Because she's based in Utah and is not a traveling coach (before DwtS it would be impossible to book her, although now...who knows?), I have never seen her teach and I don't know what her teaching experience is. It is clear that she's just not as good a dancer nor a teacher as the other pros on the show. She does have the brightest personality which is enjoyable.

[QUOTE]And another question - Len was adamant the 1st week when he told us that the only kiss of death move would be a lift - anything else was fair game. So were the rules ignored for the Viennese Waltz[QUOTE]

It seems that way. All international style competitions ban lifts altogether. American style restricts lifts to those that can be performed in one measure of music, which in VW is pretty quick. But this is.NOT.a.ballroom.competition.

[QUOTE]they've mentioned several times that the couples had only one week to learn the dances for weeks 2 and 3, and only one week to learn both dances for this week; so did they spend the 1st 4 practice weeks before the 1st show [/QUOTE]

I don't know how this worked, but since they've only told the pros on Wednesday the dance(s) for the next week, I assume that the first few weeks were spent imparting as many basic concepts and patterns as possible while also focusing on the first 2 dances. I know that would be my approach to the format.

I usually get suckered into feeling sorry for the underdog, but in Kelly's case, it ain't happening. Part of my issue with her is the bitchface she has consistently exhibited. She looks like the unholy lovechild of Holly Marie Combs and Sandra Bullock but slapped by the bitchiest bitchface ever. I'm glad that her partner is beginning to challenge her with choreography outside of the "hip roll with sexy face" genre, but she's so sloppy that I think he's pushing her a little too hard. She was barely spotting at all during the eight turn sequence that he was so proud of, so why didn't he cut it down to four or six so that she was more in control? I do appreciate that she has improved a lot, but the judges are so far up her ass with their comments and their scores for her now that by awarding her such high marks for improvement, it seems they are essentially punishing the other contestants for not sucking at the beginning. I do love that her role in BASEketball is listed as Pole-Dancing Cheerleader Sharon.



I had the same problem. There were a few times when the call didn't go through, which means it shouldn't count as a vote, but I got that "you already called five times" message before I actually got through five times.

Regarding pairing the stars and pros: The way I heard it was that while the stars were being cast, a bunch of pro dancers tried out for the show. A pool of dancers was chosen, and from that the stars who were signed were matched with pros based on looks, personality, projected audience appeal, that sort of thing. (Not every pro was matched, but perhaps we'll see some of them the next time around!) So, you can surmize that Joey & Ashly got put together because of her NKOTB fan girl crush and their all-American cuteness. Rumor has it Kelly was put with Alec so that people would speculate about a love triangle between her, him, and Edyta.

If I could dance with any of the pros it would be Charlotte (she can lead, so no problem there). If I could dance with any of the stars it would be John (because he seems to be able to actually lead some, too). But then I'm a standard (ballroom) girl, I'm not into latin. Being able to do both without feeling completely stupid is not easy, so that's more brownie points for our intrepid stars out there. I suppose if I *had* to dance latin I'd do it with Jonathan because he knows how to teach adult beginners and is a nice guy, or Evander because we'd both suck equally but I could bask in his warm-hearted enthusiasm.

Actually, the "no seperations longer than 5 seconds" rule got thrown out a while ago, and there are now required moves that have the ice dancers seperate for fairly lengthy periods of time.

Topic? I still love Joey and Ashly. I hope they "go all they way."

After the Samba, Bruno commented that John's mugging was welcome - something about it adding to the entertainment value of the "show" John was putting on. So I'm guessing we'll have to endure even more of that shit next week.

As an former amateur male competitor I have had the opportunity to dance with a few female pros. In ballroom John has such an advantage with Charlotte it isn't even in the same league compared to the others. Charlotte is very strong, well-balanced, and above all, grounded and connected to the floor in everything that she does. She also has quite a mass of muscle, and when you dance with a partner like that you have no choice but to look very smooth and fluid on the floor because your partner will "damp" any of your tendencies to pop up or look unbalanced. Unless John was not capable of holding even a rudimentary frame, they would win on elegance alone in the ballroom dances.

As far as John "leading" Charlotte, get real! She is one of the best female ballroom dancers of our generation, and she is going to dance her part in these well-rehearsed routines even if John forgets his (as we have seen in both the Tango and Samba). John is mostly going for a ride, and couldn't possible look the same with Ashly, who does not have the power, knowledge, experience, or command of the floor in ballroom that Charlotte does.

Even before this competition started, I picked John and Charlotte to win just because of Charlotte's abilities, experience, attitude, and teaching skills. People outside of ballroom really have NO idea of this lady's impressive credentials. However, sometimes John looks like an actor playing the part of a ballroom dancer, and his exaggerated facial expressions and mugging is getting to be a bit annoying (particularly in the Tango). I cringe to see what he does with the Paso Doble. Will he play the part of a matador, with nothing but mugging and acting, or will he demonstrate the incredible connection to the floor and body strength of a real Latin dancer?

Unlike the QuickStep I do not think that you will see John in closed position much in the Fox Trot. Slow Fox Trot is the most technically demanding of all of the Ballroom dances, and it requires a skill from the man that can take years to acquire; primarily, learning how to use the shape of your body and your poise to influence the direction of the lady's energy. It is very subtle and hard to teach. If they attempt to use Reverse Turns, we will see if John "invites" the lady to a heel turn, or if Charlotte just "dances" one. There is quite a bit of difference. I don't think either Ashly (or is it Joey who determines what will be danced?) or Alec will opt for Ballroom Slow Fox Trot and expect to teach it in a week! Expect a lot of open work from both of them.

JMHO

Michael

Great post bornonce. Might want to review the Rules/FAQ though. Wouldn't want you to get in trouble with the mods for signing your name.

Actually, you could quite clearly see Charlotte follow some flubs in the Quickstep and Tango. As I pointed out earlier, hewing to the routine when the man is messing it up makes it look worse, not better. This was part of Edyta's problem with the Quickstep.

I agree that whoever was partnered with Charlotte was going to have an advantage, as long as he was willing to listen to her (so I'm not sure Joey would have gotten as much from her as John is - but maybe he wouldn't pull the prima donna act with a more experienced coach). Not so much because she is one of the greatest female ballroom dancers ever, but because she is one of the best coaches ever. I've seen her work with US champions and with raw beginners, and she has the ability to motivate and explain better than anyone else I've ever had coaching with (including Stephen Hillier, Christine Harvey, and Michael and Valerie Houseman). It actually would be really interesting to see what she could do with Evander.

Hate to disappoint, but John is leading more often than not. And that IS an
informed tidbit.

John was on one of those entertainment shows tonight--I think it was Extra!-- and he said that Charlotte had a "wardrobe malfunction" with her costume in rehearsal and he said he saw "the promised land"--whatever that means. Oh my....

Don't necessarily agree that charlotte is a big advantage anymore.

In fact, IMHO John gets bounced next week based on audience polling of his samba performance this week. He was one of the bottom two this week for a reason.

John can be an elegant, refined ballroom guy with lots of potential in ballroom but he doesn't have much latin action going on and his samba was pretty pathetic.

But he wasn't helped by Charlotte nearly as much as the other celebs were helped by their pros (all of whom have much more experience dancing latin, which Charlotte hasn't done in ages). Given that John's never been as popular as Kelly or JOey and considering the show's younger demo, I think once he stops performing well he goes. (His VW wasn't exactly impressive, either).

also, I just don't buy all this Charlotte advantage/worship from the rest of the ballroom community. Charlotte was a great international standard style competitor, but there is almost none of that very restrictive competitive style being done in this show, thank god. And there's the latin, or lack of it.

That leaves Kelly and Joey in a face off.

I'm betting the judges are going to be split, with one couple (Kelly and Alex) winning latin dances and the other winning ballroom (not that Joey is better at ballroom but Alex has almost no ballroom training and won't help kelly there the way a pro guy can. His arms were down around his waist in the VW ). Kelly's only hope in the foxtrot is if someone choreographs for them a fred and ginger style open routine in which Alex can use his latin training to strike lots of interesting lines and poses.

If the judges split that makes it entirely up to the audience. Advantage Kelly. Who would have thought she would have such a chance to win this show?

I don't know how I am supposed to get any work done now that I have this mental picture in my head. Alec in a Speedo-Momma like.

Thank you, I'd forgotten that...A gyno move as we've been calling them in skating fandom. That would've lost points on my card right there.

I couldn’t believe the way the announcer was pronouncing the Samba. You would have thought that he would have made sure that he knew how to say it before the show. It really annoyed me.

Word. However, I am also wanting to see he and Joey "get it on" for a few more weeks. Hee.

I was all excited to see Lisa Canning when this show began because I hadn't seen her in so long and thought she was great on Entertainment Tonight. But IMO she is not a good fit on this show. Just awkward and really not that great all around. She used to be all perky and cute.

It might be a good idea to get rid of both her and Bergeron next time around, but I have a feeling it will only be Lisa to get the boot.

I actually like Bergeron on this show. Sure, a few jokes have fallen flat, but he keeps it light and slightly sarcastic.



It must be the British way of pronouncing it - Len Goodman says it the exact same way.

Yeah, no kidding. After the samba, didn't I hear her say "O'Reilly" instead of "O'Hurley" when she was talking with Joey about a Irish face-off in the VW? Moron.

John not in the final two? Surrprising analysis, teora, but I can see how that might be.

Hope not, though. Hopefully, he'll be helped greatly that the Latin is Paso Double and then do at least better than Joey and Kelly with fox trot. Also, I expect the judges to give him #1 in order to minimize the viewer popularity voting as much as possible. But I didn't think Rachel could be leaving, mathematically, this week either. With only three left...you could easily be right. :(

I like Tom--at least better than anyone else I can think of. He combines slightly sarcastic with pleasant and supportive--not easy to do. And he's nice to the dancers without seeming to take himself or the show very seriously. And I like that he throws in the jokes, which are funnier than I expected.

As for Lisa...she's very adorable-looking, and I like that they have a black co-host rather than white...white...white everything. Maybe she could stay but they could start writing better questions for her? I mean...."How did you feel out there?" and "So, what did you think of what the judges said?"....Zzzzzzzzzz. She should also talk more to the pros.

Imo, keeping the hosts and judges and basic lighthearted tone, but change the music and camerawork.

I could swear, though, that I heard her refer to John as John O'Reilly once last night, I think while she was talking to Joey after the Samba.

I had this problem also.

BWAH! I would love to see this. Are you listening ABC?

I was hoping against hope that Rachel would stay--I don't know why, I just liked her more than Kelly or Joey (maybe because she dumped Rod Stewart all those years ago, and was pretty cool on The Real Gilligans Island last year). She was definitely posing more as time went on whereas Kelly seemed to be dancing more so it was a deserved boot, at any rate. Joey's posture and open mouth bug.

This show is so much fun to watch. I never expected to like it as much as I do, or care about the contestants. I love Charlotte (she looks older than 33, IMO) and John and hope they pull it off. I do agree, though, that Alec is smokin' hot and John needs to stop mugging for the camera so much. I can't wait to see what happens next week!

Flash! Aaaaa-ahhhhhhhhh!! He'llsaveeveryoneofus!

You absolutely did. Another nail in her suck-ass-host coffin for me.

I wish she'd stop the whispering. This isn't a hidden camera show or a Taster's Choice commercial. Speak up, lady!

The baby-talk to the contestants needs to stop as well. She's really quite annoying.

Ha! Excellent, skeevo666.

I'd like to see Joey and Kelly in the final two simply because I like their dancing best. John is good, but not my favorite. IMO Joey is doing much, much harder choreography than the others. So while he doesn't look the best, he's also got farther to go. John is smooth and whatever, but I don't care about that as much as being entertained, and Joey and Kelly entertain me more than a technically better but less flashy routine from John. And I'm really, really happy to see he didn't mug as much the last few weeks. Good for me.

If John wins, I'll say good for him and that he deserves it for all his hard work. I've really enjoyed the show.

ITA regarding Lisa Canning...not very impressed. Tom is witty & fun IMHO. Just the right amount of cute jokes & sarcasm.

I was a dancer & dance teacher for 15 yrs. Not ballroom, but ballet, tap, modern, hula, etc.

I really think this show is refreshing compared to the other "reality" fare we are being inundated with. It's fun, fast-paced & flashy without a lot of Drama! and chopped up editing to create more Drama! It's also kinda great to see the "stars" show such pride & amazement at what they have accomplished each week. Anything that will give a boost to the wonderful world of dance...the fun, great exercise, and teamwork it offers...makes me do the "happy dance". (tm Snoopy)

I really loved the scenes from where everyone was rehearsing the Viennese waltz...they were playing around and having fun, everyone seems to like each other even if they are competing.

Talk more? She doesn't let them talk AT ALL! Ashly tried a few weeks back to say something and Lisa moved the mic away mid sentence and asked Joey a question. This past week Ashly didn't even make an attempt to speak!

De-lurking to say: Love! this show and that I hope that, if it returns for another "season", they replace Tom Bergeron with John O'Hurley. IMO he's funnier than Tom and now having gone through it, he'd be able to both empathise with the celebs and ask good questions of them. Also, they should replace Lisa with Nia Peeples or Debbie Allen.

Exactly! I think that one reason this show is so popular is because it and most of the people on it are just plain nice. People usually expect reality shows to be backstabbing and conniving, and obviously that can be fun too, but this is a sweet change of pace from the norm. It's fun to watch rivals Joey and John O'Hurley (Get it together, Lisa! God.) laugh and make funny but respectful remarks about their competition instead of getting angry and deliberately trying to cut each other out.

I got the impression that Joey was a little desperate and had to take it upon himself to add some spice to their routines. I don't think of him as a "prima donna" but as trying to make up for the creativity his partner, Ashly, seems to lack.

I would love to see Joey dance with Charlotte! I'm curious as to how much better he would do...

She used to be "all perky and cute" because she was reading from cue cards. Now she has to try and speak for herself and come up with some interesting comments on live TV... I guess she should stay with the scripted shows.