As soon as Kelly was spared before the bottom two, it was pretty clear Trista was getting the heave-ho. To her credit, it looked like she knew it was coming.

I do think Rachel and her partner were the other pair in the bottom two, though. Bergeron said before the final cut that those two teams left up there were the lowest two vote getters.

Add me to the list thinking there's a little hubba-hubba with J. Peterman and Charlotte. Well...wait. I think she's 100% obsessed with him, and he's just having fun dancing with her. Everytime they showed them, she was draped all up in his shit and staring adoringly, and he was just smiling at the camera. I think she's got a little crushy-crush.

I completely agree that this is a two-team race to the finish: Joey & J. Peterman are making the rest of them look like amateurs. Wait, they are. Oh well.

cavalier, thanks for your answer. I really don't know, having only sporadically watched the PBS ballroom stuff and just watching for the clothes and the guys. But when I think of "Latin ballroom", I'm kinda primed for sensual, omg!, look-at-the-hubby-and-sigh-kind of dancing. ::shrugs:: What you described would be cool to see, though.

eta: I just Googled "rhumba", and cavalier is correct. What we saw was some sort of "polite" rhumba (aka son.) The original rhumba is like sex. ::sighs and shakes fist at FCC::

Watched this for the first time tonight after reading all the fun comments you all had on last week's show.

John/Charlotte and Joey/Ashly are definitely the couples to beat in my book.

So happy that Trista got the boot. And the "husband approval" thing was totally a ploy to get Ryan on camera. It's like they are always a package deal. Like when Ryan was on Celebrity Fear Factor, I think they had a little segment showing Trista supporting him even though she wasn't competing. You're a happily married couple - we get it.

As for Kelly vs. Rachel, Kelly and her partner had the chemistry (good lord, the room was about to combust after their dance!), but honestly I think Rachel is a better dancer than Kelly. True that both their dances were just a series of poses, but the difference is that Rachel's poses are way more impressive than Kelly's. Her extensions are lovely. And the female judge is right, Kelly is a little bit awkward in her steps. I don't know if it is because of the heels or because of her nerves, but Kelly is just not as graceful.

I'm not even going to comment on Evander. There are no words.

I have to ask here, since the question came up while I was watching with Mr Rabrab tonight:
Have the standards for ballroom Rumba changed radically in the last, oh 20 years or so?

Thing is, he was a kickass dancer until his legs started to give out, and he taught me some; and he couldn't find a rumba rhythm in any of the three songs that the women used. They didn't seem to have that 4/4, accent on the fourth beat rhythm, and they certainly didn't sound like they were anywhere near 24 to 27 bars to the minute. So, were we looking for the wrong things?

YES! I thought I was the only person who saw that show! Talk about your late-night/Sunday afternoon guilty pleasures. I've only just found a replacement of equal cheesiness ("Dance 360"?). It's glorious.

In no particular order:

Joey and Ashley - I'm really enjoying them. Adorable chemistry and to my non-professional eyes, at least the dancing's been pretty good, meaning it's been entertaining and not painful to watch.

Rachel and Mr. I'm The Bestest - I'm warming up to them a little. But yeah, they (well, mostly, she) need to throw more dancing into the mix to go with the pretty posing.

Kelly and Alec - I'm glad they survived. It'll be interesting to see if they can manage to come back with some decent dancing, and chemistry next week. If they do, but still get hosed...I'll probably start hearing the American Idol theme in my head.

The EEs - OK, tonight they were the EEKS. However, they're still one of my favorite teams because of the interesting pairing. Their performance (OK, Evander's) was pretty much what I expected. I'm usually in awe when I watch the pros dance the Quick-Step because it looks to be brutally difficult to my fumble-footed self. So, I'm glad they (OK, Evander) got through it as "well" as they did.

Trista and "The Other Man" and Ryan and Puppy - Can Puppy, at least, come back and serve as the show's mascot?

John and Charlotte - I watched this episode on a five-inch, black and white, tv which suffers from the electronic equivalent of MPD. Yet, I thought their performance was lovely, even with some unavoidable "special effects". They're easily my favorites at this point.

Word to all of that, hendersonrocks. I think she's been much too "touchy feely" both weeks. He just looks like he's having fun, but if I were Mrs. J. O'H, I'd want him to create a little more "distance" when they're not dancing.

Joey--I was impressed. He and John had a -lot- more to remember and execute than the women did. He worked hard and did well.

Edyta--got to give her props. From her drapy costume to her dancing (and trying to follow his "lead") she was knocking herself out to make Evander look as good as humanly possible. But...the quickstep? What a brutal choice for him. That was sad.

Kelly gives me kind of a "bitch" vibe, although I like her "scr*w you, judges--it's tough, and I work hard" attitude when she gets the inevitable low, low scores --and the rude comments from Bruno.

And who's that gorgeous, personable guy who's partnering her? He doesn't even look like the same person as last week. Props to her for somehow -really- melting the ice man.

Rachel still does fewer actual dance steps than anyone (except Evander and he doesn't count) I agree with Len Goodman--where is the dance?

And Trista? I can understand that she doesn't want to dance sensually with a man who isn't her husband, but then what's she doing on this show? From the moment she stepped on the floor to "rhumba", she looked miserable. She should be happy to be leaving.

And, not that I care, but I don't see any way the voting could have produced a Trista loss unless TPTB took a lot of liberties in doling out the 60 pts from the internet votes.

I was thinking the same thing. She seems to choreograph to play to his strengths. Yeah, he totally hams it up, but he knows that he can't keep up with a young man like Joey, so he does what he does well, and I'll be darned if it isn't working. These two are totally winning me over. J. Peterman is the only one who looks like he's having a good time.

Joey and Ashly are a close second. If he can polish some stuff up and bring more personality like J. Peterman does, I think they will do very well.

The rest - meh.

SO glad Trista is gone. I never watched any of the reality shows she was on, but I was tired of her constant mugging for the camera and her freaking over the rumba. Seriously, darling, that was pretty tame compared to other rumbas I've seen.

I believe Rachel is the best dancer, in fact I think the "leaderboard" was right on tonight. None of the women did much more than posing, but I agree that Rachel had the best extensions, but more importantly her TRANSITIONS from one move to another were the most graceful and "professional". All littered throughout Kelly's and Trista's routines were these awkward little hops and sharp moves and whatnot to get their bodies 'back into place'. Rachel did everything flowingly. That is the difference, IMO. Plus, I didn't count the time, but it seemed like the last whole minute of Kelly's routine was nothing but mutual face-fondling with her partner. It was kind of weird, I was wondering if they forgot some steps!

All evening I was thinking how skeletal Trista's face was looking (those cheekbones could hurt someone!) so I thought it was more than a little interesting at the end, when she said "At least I got back into shape!" Maybe a little TOO in shape, Trista. When the judges were slamming her performance she seemed ready to cry the whole time under her wooden smile. I think maybe she really expected to be the best novice dancer there, being as she is an ex-cheerleader. Poor little Stepford Wife.

Dude, John O'Hurley is several decades my senior and was never attractive to me on Seinfeld, but on this show? In that tux? Dapper, dashing - AND he can dance well? He is one sexy mofo.

Completely off-topic, why the hell hasn't John O'Hurley ever been cast as Steve Martin's brother? Because dude, they could so pass for brothers. (With John being the sexay dancing brother and Steve being the really-needs-to-get-someone-else-to-vet-scripts-for-him brother.)

In non-John news, Joey was quite good, and I can't get over how adorable Ashly is, it's like she's set on Permanent Squee.

Evander was TERRIBLE but I dig Edyta.

Rachel improved, but they're seriously blowing a little smoke up her ass there, she wasn't better than Joey, like, AT ALL.

Kelly did improve, and I'm glad the judges recognized it, but I think the harsh scores given are in no way proportionate (based on performance) to the scores given to some of the others. It's like the judges score Kelly in miles and everyone else in kilometers.

Twista? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I love it. Made my friggin' night.

Rabrab, you're not crazy -- they weren't even trying with a couple of those rhumba numbers. One (I was watching during commercials for The Inside) had almost no rhythmic pulse at all, much less a latin beat.

Thoughts (as a prechampionship ballroom dancer who's not nearly as good as any of the pros on the show but has 6/7 years of training).

First in regards to the questions about rumba, I didn't really pay attention to the pace but that means it was about "normal". International Rumbas run about 25 bars per minute, American Rumba as they taught at chain studios run slightly faster but still slow compared to e.g. ChaCha which is > 30bpm. Also today the other dance was quickstep, which is typically 50-52 bpm so is twice as fast which might've made the rumba seem slow by comparison.

That said, it's slow musically but in competitive dancing the pros will still move with extreme speed to showcase the contrast between movements.

As for the dancers...

* Rachel and Jonathan -- good for her she's flexible, very little rumba dancing, a lot of rumba poses. So, impressed by her ability to do poses pretty well (far better than the other two anyway in that regard). Still, some _dancing_ would be nice. It's not "posing with the stars".

* Joey and Ashley -- ho hum. His posture is not good, but, he's been dancing only 5 weeks. Some missteps here and then, your typical 5-week (if getting free nonstop training for a top pro is typical) dancer.

* Trista and Louie -- typical Louie, he showcases himself and not his partner. With pro partners that fact still was clear and earned him demerits with the judges, now with an amateur girl like Trista who's not that talented to begin with, it became painfully obvious. Like the judge, I appreciated the inclusion of _actual rumba_, though Trista didn't exactly pull them off well. Edit to add: oh and also the concern about their routine being "too sexy"...oh please. Besides the fact that it wasn't, anyone who knows Louie also understands the ludicrousness of that conjecture...let's leave it at that.

* J Peterman and Charlotte -- he blew me away. Most gold-level dancers who've been dancing 2-3 years don't look as good as him. Of course he's been getting serious coaching for weeks from one of the top girls in the history of modern ballroom, still the guy's got serious dancing talent. He's already dancing better than many people will ever be regardless of time/money spent on training. Awesome, fabulous, I was actually clapping when he finished.

* Kelly and Alec -- this sounds bad but, I guess her playboy video training paid off. I actually like her, she dances well in her playboy video kinda way. It just wasn't a rumba, basically she was gyrating to rumba music while the pro does rumba-ish stuff. The times she did execute dancing stuff it came out awkward and sudden like Trista was last week with the waltz poses. I was cracking up...

* Evander and Edyta -- Evander is the opposite of J. Peterman. He's just a lost cause. He dances like your typical bad newcomer with limited potential (the levels go newcomer->bronze->silver->gold->prechamp->champ for amateurs). I mean it's only 5 weeks, but once you've seen J. Peterman who's somehow pulling off what I would classify as gold level dancing in the same amount of time, Evander really pales by comparison. FWIW, I think Joey's dancing like a low bronze dancer.

Personally I would've ranked...

* John and Charlotte: 9 impressive stuff, John danced well enough to make it almost look like a _couple_ dancing

* Rachel and Jonathan : 7...for doing the poses well

* Joey and Ashley : 5...maybe a 5.5, he just really paled in comparison to J. Peterman

* Louie and Trista : 5...actual doing _dancing_ was nice, but needed to have been done better. Also Louie was being typical Louie, shows off himself but not the girl.

* Kelly and Alec : 5...besides the gyration, she also screws up a bit too often

* Evander and Edyta : 3...maybe even a 2. Like the man's heart, but the dancing is honestly just quite...bad. Edyta looked in pain.

Yes, but something clicked when I watched them tonight and I started to wonder just how much dancing John's done in the past.

Somehow, I think he may have had a lot more "time on the floor" than any of the other amateurs. (But whatever..I'm glad he's there. He and Charlotte are the only ones good enough that I can relax, not worry for them, and just completely enjoy watching).

C'mon...Joey's got experience, too. Don't you remember that little side-to-side step NKOTB did in "The Right Stuff" video?

J. Peterman danced wonderfully but the mugging has got to stop. And lordy was Charlotte doin' a lotta clinging. I did like the way they used the whole floor, dancing right up to the edge of the stage.

Joey I thought did great too. The judges seem to hate Kelly, I thought her outfit was horrible, the dancing was average, but the chemistry was sizzlin'.

Evander, why are you still there? Has to be a crowd / producer favorite. He shuffled Edyta around while she quick-stepped. I

Rachel is okay.

And Trista, don't let the peeenk door hit you on the way out. Oh, and leave Ryan and the furball behind. They're cute, you suck.

Very tame. What was she afraid of, that she might rub up against him and give him a hard on? Don't think so girl...

You are not lying.....I literally had tears in my eyes. Evander is horrible, but he makes this that much more worth watching....LOL. I really do enjoy watching him trip over his own two feet trying to keep up with his partner. Anyway, he's bad, but i'm not ready to see him leave just yet. As a matter of fact, i'd rather see Rachel or Kelly leave next. I just don't care for either of them. I was glad Mrs. reality show queen, Trista got the boot tonight...she's so friggin annoying. So the real competition here is between John O'Hurley and Joey McIntyre(and their partners). I thought John was GREAT tonight...

Great post, pasodoble. Can you show me how to do the Bogo Pogo?

Boyfriend of the Chef and I were giddy with anticipation once we knew Evander Holyfield was going to be doing the quickstep, because quickstep + plus big clumsy dude = trainwreck. It is clear to me that they are working strenuously to keep Evander around for awhile because that performance? did not warrant above a two. And yet they got a total of 14 (higher than stiff as a board Kelly and her partner last week).

I lurve O'Hurley, man. He has great posture and is the only one of this motley crew who looks like a social dancer. Now, some theories are being floated as to (hidden) past dance experience, but I believe that it is his training as a comedic actor that is helping him to carry this off. He is completely unembarrassed to throw himself into a new situtation and to make an utter fool out of himself, which, ironically, is precisely what preserves him from looking foolish. Watching him, I am reminded of advice my college Italian teacher gave me; she exhorted us to act like idiots mimicking Italian speech, gesture, inflection--to be as exaggeratedly Italian as possible. And it works. Because even if you are a little de trop, that is better than being woefully inadequate. So, yes, Johnny O errs on the side of flamboyance/mugging, but in the world of ballroom dance? that's not necessarily a bad thing. And much better than being stiff and disconnected.

Oh, and I love his dance partner. She is like the Grace Kelly of dance. Sigh. Also, I think they have a little crush on each other, which is pretty freakin' cute.

Did Louis remind anyone of the guy in Shall We Dance (original recipe Japanese version) who dons a wig and dances bombastically? Glad that skeevy, showboating ninny is gone.

I can't believe I voted tonight. All five votes went to John and Charlotte, natch. Go, J. Peterman and Grace Kelly!

Thank you, mrsdalgleish and pasodoble! Mr Rabrab thanks you, as well; he was beginning to wonder if his mind was shot as well as his legs.

On the question of Johnny O and past dance experience, there's two things that make it highly likely, to my way of thinking.

The first is his age: he's old enough to have been subjected to dance lessons as a boy, even if they were limited to square-dancing-as-rainy-day-P.E. or Mrs Herlihy, an old record player, 25 third-grade girls and 15 third-grade boys at the Elks lodge, Tuesdays after school. He's only a bit older than I am, and I just barely escaped that (still had to square-dance in P.E. class, though.)

The second is that he's a serious, working actor. Not a model, not a boy-band singer, not a reality-show princess. Some of the first and best advice would-be actors should get is -- Take dance lessons! Even if you never intend to audition for a role where you have to dance, they improve your sense of your body, your sense of timing and rhythm, and your sense of "center" , and all of those will improve your ability to sell a part.

Also, two of his offhand comments tonight say a lot about how serious he is at doing what he does well: "Let's do it again. Because thirty times isn't enough," and "I'm trying not to show that I'm on the brink of death." He knows that you've only done it enough times when you can do it right, and he knows that a big part of performing is making it look easy. Kelly doesn't seem to have either of those down pat, yet

Thanks for your answer, too, pasodoble!

First a note to the cameramen/producers of the show: I realize you want to show all of Kelly's sexy facemaking and Peterman's mugging, but is it asking so much that when the dancers are actually doing footwork that you show their feet? [/dance nerd rant]

I agree that Rachel and Kelly did a lot of posing (as opposed to dancing) but as someone else pointed out upthread, Rachel was able to move between the dancing and the posing much more smoothly and naturally. Kelly seemed more herky jerky and you could see her moving from one to the other (which may be partly due to the choreography or her partner's lack of instruction as to how to get from one pose to another). Rachel also has more grace, poise, and presence, which all contribute to more attractive execution. For example, when she did her final pose, her arm was fully extended. When Kelly did a similar move, her elbow was a little bent. I know it's a small thing, but it makes a difference. Rachel has better lines and presentation. Rachel's routine was also choreographed better. Kelly's routine consisted of hip circles and face licking. I definitely bought the chemistry between Kelly and her partner, and although the rhumba is supposed to be sexy, there just wasn't enough dancing in her routine. On a shallow note, I hated her costume.

I liked that Joey's partner challenged him with the choreography. She could have given him a watered-down Evander style routine, but she pushed him and he kept up pretty well. He looked like he was just past the point where he had memorized all the steps but wasn't quite sure that he would remember them all so he was spending more time concentrating and less time having fun. He looked like he was just on the cusp though, so it seems like if he's had a few more days to practice he would have been able to throw himself into it and show more personality.

John, on the other hand, was obviously having a great time. I think that even if he encountered a dance where he wasn't sure of the steps, he knows how to exude confidence and sell the routine to the audience. He looked like he was having a lot of fun with this one though.

I am glad that Trista is gone. That whole routine about how she didn't feel comfortable was so lame. I have taken ballroom classes where we had to switch partners constantly and even when I was dancing with someone I didn't like, I didn't act like a baby and say I was uncomfortable. It's not like she was forced to give him a lapdance or anything. You're dancing fully clothed, so STFU.

Evander showed improvement from last week, and I appreciate that he's making an effort. This week he didn't seem any worse than half the guys I was forced to dance with in my classes, but he had the misfortune of being compared to Joey and John which only made him look worse than he already is.

Do the couples draw to see which pairs do the rumba or the quick step? From a scoring standpoint, it would seem more fair if the couples all did the same dance each show. In the first two episodes, the male celebrities have peformed the more intricate footsteps (cha-cha and quick step), while the women celebrities get the easier (to a layman like me) waltz and rumba. Somebody hep' me here.

My mother and I got totally sucked into this show last night. It's so delightfully weird. We did decide it should be called "Dancing" "With" the "Stars."

My favorite part was probably Evander Holyfield. I recommend that while watching him quick step, you do what I did: just keep saying out loud, "Galump! Galump! Galump! Galump!" Because that's just what he's doing: galumping around the floor. Galump, galump, galump!

We didn't even know who Kelly Monaco was. I don't think we feel like we were missing anything, all things considered. We did think John was clearly the best, although he's also rather creepy.

She asked me who the host was, because she recognized him. "Who is that guy?" she asked me. "He does... this, basically," I said, with a dismissive wave.

This show is keeee-razy.

As it should be.

This show? Is cheesetastic!

I read somewhere that before the show John and his wife were wanting to take ballroom dancing lessons so when this opportunity came, he snatched it up. Since this seems like something he actually wanted to learn; it doesn't surprise me he's giving his all.

John is a suave, sexy man. I wonder if Eva La Rue is watching this and saying "damn! I left that?" I never vote for crap like this but I'm going to keep voting for John, just in case. Especially since I know there's rabid GH fans to compete with.

Yeah, John said he was coming on the show for his wife....can you imagine how proud she must be? I would love it if my husband could dance like he did last night.

That said, Charlotte does need to stop with the clinging a bit...I would hate to see this show lead to "Divorcing With the Stars".

Does anybody know of a place to go and download the performances from last night? I want to show my friend at work.
And back On Topic...John ruled.

Okay....my opinion of this show has totally changed from last week. I found myself bored last week but for some reason, I loved it this week!

I thought for sure once Evander was safe that Kelly was a goner but was surprisingly happy to see her stay. She's not great but they rip her apart every week so I'm sure the sympathy vote is keeping her around. I'm so sensitive that I'd probably be in tears if the judges said that to me. But then again, I"m no celebrity or ballroom dancer either.

While agreed that J. Peterman is the best, I find myself pulling for Joey and Ashley....I just enjoy watching them. I tried to vote last night (for Kelly cuz again I feel bad for her) but couldn't get thru. I can only vote once online so I guess I'll vote for Joey.

Oh...and Kelly? When good ol Tom B asks you how you thought you did when standing in front of the judges, never admit you messed up. They probably still would have ripped her a new one but I cringed when I heard her say that because it doomed her.

Trista and Louis were my entertainment for the night. I loved the part where the judge tells them there was no heat going on and Louis gets all agitated and says "Well I felt it!" while poking himself in the chest. Just reminded me of a schoolkid determined to get good marks for himself while leaving his science project partner to fend for herself. What a total skeazeball he came off as hehe.

But then Trista, did you all see the faces she was making at the end, during their final dance and the credits rolling? Once in a while she would do a fake big smile, but mostly, her face looked painfully severe, she looked pretty ticked off and was not holding that in very well. Those two totally hated each other, loved it.

As for O'Hurley, he's made a career out of being cheesey with a wink and a nod, love his mugging, loved his dancing. Also, the joke he made about his hair cracked me up. That man has the most perfectly coifed hair in Hollywood.

Meant to add, loved Kelly's partner, tasty. They totally did it.

Trista's partner reminds me of the fitness professional with the raspy voice, who yells a lot (He's currently in a Geico commercial). In fact, when I started seeing promos for the show, I thought he was a contestant. Trista's partner looks much more handsome with his hair down, in my opinion.

I read an interview with JM yesterday at TV Guide Online. In it, he stated that the couples don't always have control over the music they dance to.

Speaking of the music, Hero should never have been a duet. I thought the woman was awful.

In terms of scoring, Is it cumulative over the run of the whole show, or will next week's score just be combined with this week's?



Not a stupid question at all: Elaine's boss on Seinfeld.

WORD.

Ok, I know nothing about the technical aspects of dance, but I do know that the two teams that really look good together are John and Charlotte and Joey and Ashley. Both of these teams have great chemistry and seem to really enjoy each other and it shows in their routines. They're the only ones who make me feel like I'm watching a real couple, not two people doing moves on the same dance floor.

But, Joey? Step AWAY from the hair grease. You look like one of those birds that washed up after the Exxon Valdez spill. Or David Schwimmer. Shudder.

Miss Alli, can we get you to recap this? Pretty please?

Thank God that Twista, The Famewhore Who Will Not Die is gone.

I don't know if Kelly and her partner were in time to the music or not, because the minute I heard Enrique Iglesias I had to hit the Mute button. HATE!

Forgive a really stupid question, but who is this J Peterman you keep referring to?

On Seinfeld, John O'Hurley played J. Peterman, president of the catalog company Elaine worked for. There really is a J. Peterman and a J. Peterman catalog. It hit its stride in the early '90s, and the Seinfeld writers just picked up on that.

On Topic: Loved John, facial expressions notwithstanding. And I'm thrilled Trista's off my screen for a while.

So much WORD. Even though I'm about the furthest thing from a dance nerd, this also really bugged me to no end. I was thinking that the show should send some camera people to tape the couples' dress rehearsals so they might know when to focus on certain aspects of each of their dances during the live telecast (like legs and feet during footwork). If any of you regularly watch figure skating, you'll also find that the camera people often show skaters' upper bodies only during portions of their straight-line, circular or serpentine footwork.

John O'Hurley's facial expressions didn't bother me so much this week. I've seen televised ballroom dancing a few times (not enough to be an aficionado), and I much prefer a little winking and mugging to some of the grotesque faces that some of the pros make. And isn't he the epitome of suave and debonair? He seems quite a bit more charming than his smarmy J. Peterman persona.

The main thing that hurt Joey and Ashley is they were to ambitious. No way they should have tried to do a number THAT fast. Yes it's the quick step but that was waaay to fast. That aside they looked good. John and Charlotte RULED last night. They looked effortless and fun.

I thought Kelly didnt look fluid in her slinky shimmy deal, and several times she seemed like she wasn't sure where her hands should go and her partner had to move them in place for her. Kind of jerky in their movements. That being said her body is so smokin hot I hope she sticks around for a long time. YES, I dove right in the shallow end of the pool and almost hit my head on the bottom but I don't care.

Can someone please explain to me how it's determined who get's booted? They were very shifty on that. "We've got people in the back room working on it."

Do the judges marks effectively mean anything? The final results certainly didn't look like they did.

I must admit I spent much of the show saying, "Make Evander do the quick step. Oh, Please make Evander do the quick step." Can they get Mike Tyson for season 2?

Heh heh. So true.

I'm not voting and, aside from JPeterman, I don't really have a preference, but no matter how she danced, I wanted Trista gone this first week. Reality "stars" on other reality shows is just too ridiculous. Stop it.

I've got to think that Evander is hoping to be eliminated before they make him do the Jive or Pasa Doble. Yikes.

I think the judges have been too harsh on Kelly Monaco. She'll keep getting pity votes if they don't ease up a bit.

I really wish they used traditional dance music all the time instead of mostly pop tunes. If the rhumba is a "hot Latin dance", they should use hot Latin music, not Endless Love. The music is detracting or, perhaps, distracting from the dancing. Maybe that's the plan.

Even as this was going on I felt like the whole "I'm uncomfortable being thisclose & sensual with someone" was a set-up to bring on Ryan. Maybe I'm jaded in regard to Trista/Ryan, but it felt contrived. BTW, was Louis mouthing the words to the song at one point, or was that odd mouth moving supposed to be sexy. If so, just, ick!

That's where I am too. Judges: not sexy enough, not feeling it, where's the seduction... Judges: too much sex, only seduction, not feeling it... It's like they had to pick out one couple to hate on & Kelly/Alec are it. So I take it you've watched the new & unimproved General Hospital. I’m not a Sam lover on GH, but I don’t hate her like the judges seem to hate Kelly.

Evander/Edyta just sucked IMO, she couldn't save him. I thought last week he was okay, not great, but this week he went downhill fast. It was entertaining in a cringe-inducing, I kind of feel sorry for him sort of way, but I really felt sorry for Edyta. I don’t think there was anything she could have done to save him.

Rachel/Jonathan seemed better to me. They looked a little bit better matched (did she wear lower heels?) & her dress was much more flattering. She surprises me with how truly nervous she seems.

Let me third that. I did enjoy them & she is just pure fun IMO, but it did get a little out of hand. He does seem to be enjoying himself which makes the dancing seem even better than it is.

John/Charlotte: Just wow! They do stand out from the rest. HillPapa told me Peterman looked like he had done this before & I know what he means. He seemed more relaxed & at ease with himself & his partner than anyone.

Actionmage can I just tell you that I love the fact that you took notes & I may have to emulate you & break out a notepad.

This? Was my pet peeve of the night. And it wasn't just the face shots that screwed things up to me, but those weird overhead! weird side angle! wow aren't we artsy! shots that were thrown in during the middle of a dance routine. How can we see how the "celebrities" are dancing if we can't see them dance? Dang, just hold the camera on the couple doing the dancing, this ain't Emmy material.

Overall, still loving this cheese sauce, it’s tasty & low calorie. I am seriously considering voting & I never vote for this type of stuff.

For last night's show, the combined judges marks from the first show and the second show counted for 1/2 of the overall score. The other half was based on audience voting for the last show.

Major word! During Kelly's dance, I yelled "Speed it up!" at my television. I was trying to do the count in my head, and the damn song that was picked was aggravatingly slow. Poor Kelly. She wasn't John-licious, but I think they undergraded her....and overgraded Rachel Hunter. Judges always have their favorites.

This nightmare vision of Tyson in a tux two-stepping to "Putting on the Ritz" will not leave my thoughts.

John and Joey were uber-impressive with their dancing. It is NOT easy to quick-step like that, and they did it almost flawlessly! Wow.

Rachel did a really nice job, as well. And she looked fab with her hair up, a lovely dress. Super footwork, and very elegant moves.

Evander? Oh, Evander. Yet, he TRIED and did the best he could. He WAS improved over last week.

Kelly? Hey, I'm no Trista fan, but that's ridiculous that Trista was sent home & Kelly (total skank non-dancer, who didn't even ATTEMPT to do anything but ooze sexuality during the 'dance') gets to stay? That was just wrong, IMO.

Eva La Rue was married to John O'Hurley? I know she was married to John Callahan, her on-and-off co-star on "All My Children". But I didn't know she was with John O'Hurley. If so, yuck. What an odd looking couple they would have made. He looks like he could be her father.

I think he mugs too much but I'm sure he's the fan favorite based on his efforts and his comedy in the training clips.

IIRC, Eva was married to JOH and John Callahan was married to his former wife when the two of them met and they divorced their current spouses to be with each other.

John is 10 years older than Eva - she was born in 1966, and he was 1956.

John did a lot of musicals (Guys and Dolls, Pirates of Penzance, Brigadoon) so he must have had some previous dance experience, plus I think any actor thinking of going on Broadway would want to take some sort of dance training.

Wow, this is such a fun show! I'm not surprised I'm enjoying it - I've always loved ballroom dancing.

ITA about Evander being clunky. Yuck.

I also don't understand why the judges hate Kelly M. Yes, she still has work to do on her dancing, but you could see that the effort was put in.

Love Joey and Ashly and John and Charlotta. I'm not surprised that those two guys are doing so well - both have music backgrounds. We all know Joey's, of course, and in a recent issue of Soap Digest, John (doing a catch-up type interview about LOVING) was talking about the piano compositions which he writes. Obviously, you still need to learn the steps to dance properly, but I imagine that having natural rhythm and a feel for music would help in this case.

I hate the judges. And I don't understand their scoring. I know a little about Ballroom dancing since my parents competed well into their 60's.

Evander should have received a 0. He was downright awful.

I'm guessing the judges are scoring on whom they like personally and not necessarily on technique. These judges are a joke and at least in my mind have no credibility.

Interesting. That detail was always left out of their love story when the two of them were hosting those wedding specials. Ironic now that they too are divorced.

John is adorable and so fun to watch. The exact opposite of Evander. Although I will give Evander an A for effort!

Yes, I vote for my girl Kelly. I probably would have thrown her a vote or two due to being a fan of GH but all the hate the judges throw her way only increase my votes for her.

I am so happy that Trista is off my TV!

I was looking at the official website and I was blown away that Charlotte was only 33! Maybe it's being paired with JOH or the severe pulled back white-blonde hair, but I thought she was older.

Here's the age breakdown on the other couples

John and Charlotte - 49 & 33
Evander and Edyta - 43 & 25
Rachel and Jonathan - 35 & 31
Kelly and Alec - 29 & 27
Joey and Ashly - 32 & 22
Trista and Louis - 32 & 32

It also blew me away that Rachel married Rod Stewart when she was only 21 and her oldest kid is 13.

Okay, am I the only one who kept giggling whenever someone said "rhumba" because I would think of the dance competition emcee in Strictly Ballroom and the goofball way he growls "the fruity rhumba!!!" into his microphone?

I watched John and Charlotte's segment again (thanks, DVR!) and was impressed not only by how fluid they made the dancing look, but their ability to stay relatively in sync when doing a quick-step or skipping across the floor. A lot of the other dancers aren't able to mirror each other's movements very well (Joey did his best, but he was off a couple of times), but J&C can and it makes them look all the better. If they don't win this competition, I'm going to be pissed.

Add me to the list of people snerking over Trista's pouty face during the final dance. And her partner's stretch lace shirt? Heeeeeeeee.

EW.com has now added the show to its TV Watch. (Some of you may not be able to see it though.)

And almost forgot: who else said "It's JOEY dammit!" when one of the judges called him Jonathan instead?



Dancing With The Stars: Oscars edition! Me like.



And a glass of fine champagna with it.

Wow, I'm surprised that Charlotte is only 33 as well. Joey is 32 and Charlotte looks like she could be his mother. Ouch. I thought she was early to mid 40s.

Does the announcer bother anyone else? I hate the way he has to read off the judges' names as they announce their scores. "CARRIE ANN INAHWAY." As if they were the three most important people ever in existence. Nobody cares about the judges' names!

Which one of these three is trying to make a name for themselves as the dancing Simon Cowell? Is it Carrie or that hyper Italian guy?

My gadar was ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinging last night over Louie and his lace ensemble. However, Triscuit is just conceited enough to believe any man would get hot dancing with her. The girl is so delusional it's ridiculous. Thank doG she's gone.

That said, loved the show last night. Go Peterman!

Joey's all kinds of cute, but please remove the hat. Seriously? A baby blue cabbie cap is not a good look.