I appreciate the different viewpoint in this (especially as, until last night, I've never really gotten the Trista-hate), but I just couldn't see what her issue was.

First, Louis-with-the-lace-shirt was very unlikely to be getting turned on by dancing with her--OR putting any moves of his own on her. It was dancing, very clinical dancing at that. Does she bring in Ryan for his approval when she sees the gynecologist?

Sorry, but there was nothing erotic about the choreography, the execution of it, or the total lack of chemistry she showed with Louis.

And her outfit was very...staid. Like if a cheerleader's uniform could be fancied up enough to pass for a ballroom costume. Is this the same woman who frolicked on television in her bikini with a bunch of horny near-naked hot guys?

The whole drama (and her bitch face while dancing) was ridiculous.

I -do- understand her refusal to do a flashy "dance off", though. She was p*ssed and was just going to give them little "we're dancing at a wedding" steps.

Good for her with that, since I always hate the exploitative AI "we're going to milk you for everything you've got, so lose, sing us out with all your heart, then we'll cut you off mid-note" send-off.

Trista's "I won't dance, don't ask me" ending meant DWS had to signal for -everyone- to get back on the floor so it didn't seem so lame a finish--and that was better anyway.

Mowgli - I disagree about the last dance. This is supposed to be a *fun* competition, isn't it? So she didn't get enough votes to stay another week? OK - move on with life and be thankful that you were crucified like Kelly or Evander (they said WAAAY worse stuff about them than they did Trista). If you can't pretend you're having fun then why are you there? She seemed miserable before she got elimated, didn't she? There was no reason to be so upset that she wouldn't do a "final dance" (IMHO, of course).

You're right, Mowgli, I don't believe Mr. Lacy Shirt Louie was turned on by dancing with her, but the particular clip where Trista said "Whoa, that's too close" was where they suddenly turned into each other's bodies full-on and it looked like she was, let's say nudged, by him.

The approval may have been sought because another dancer's pelvis in your own personal space is different than well, a speculum.

Well, I am a slave to this show. I am a big Strictly Ballroom and Dance with Me (original Japanese version, not crappy JLo) fan from way back, so I have been enjoying this immensely. And whoever it was that compared Louie to the little guy with the wig in the Japanese Dance With Me? Hee hee! Too true.

John O'Hurley is my new celeb crush. He is just amazing. I love watching him and Charlotte on the floor. The chemistry they have on the floor is palpable. In fact, for the first time, I actually voted on a reality show! They better win this.

Joey and Ashly are my second fave--they both have so much energy. Joey just needs to tighten it up a bit.

Kelly and Alec? meh. Bad song choice last night, and while I would kill for the girl's bod, she just doesn't have any natural grace, in my unprofessional and untutored dancing opinion. She struck me as awfully pouty listening to the judges--maybe she hasn't been on many live auditions as an actress, but c'mon, act, girl, grit your teeth and grin.

As far as famewhore extraordinaire Trista, I was so happy to see her go. Having never watched any of the shows that she or her automaton store-bought husband have appeared on, and still knowing who she is anyway, I have always been disturbed that she has been forcefed down my throat by the fawning Us/People,etc mags (which I confess I read). Good riddance, Trista, you vapid little nonentity. Hope you enjoyed your fifteen minutes.

Further added:

Yes, but now she is a "proper married woman" [/sarcasm]. As if we could ever forget that this is the woman who sold herself to the TV sponsors to find a husband and seek stardom despite being a no-talent.

I totally agree katiekaye! This was supposed to be a FUN thing, and both Trista's and Kelly's intensity came across as bitchy and pathetic. Relax already! Smile. The poor sports need to get a grip.

Yes, miak2, mtlchickie and I are on our way to let the air out of your tires. I do understand, though. On this show there was something unsettling about his smile. Still love him and always will, though. And you must admit, he can dance.

I figured out it was "fruity" after noticing Tina Sparkle's fruit motif on her costume - and after her last dance with her retiring partner, Les congratulates her, saying "Wonderful! The fruit...everything!"

Back to topic...this photo did a good job of capturing Trista's fake (but unconvincing) smile during the farewell dance.

ETA: it IS the fruity rhumba!

I'd be really happy if Rachel and Kelly follow Trista, leaving the three male celebrities and their partners. John/Charlotte and Joey/Ashly are by far the best dancers, IMO, and Evander has a really likeable quality about him. I just want to see him have one good performance before he leaves. Rachel, on the other hand, is pretty and poses nicely but I don't find that particularly entertaining, and Kelly/Alec do nothing for me (yes, it was 'sexy' but it wasn't so much dancing).

If she was in the bottom two despite being ranked second by the judges, I expect Rachel to leave next. So, hopefully, Evander's pity votes will beat out Kelly's soap opera votes. Who does she play on GH anyway? (It's been years since I watched; I'm assuming from comments here that her character is somehow tied to Sonny, Carly and Jason.)

re: Charlotte's name. The reason it's not spelled Charlotta is that the 'e' isn't pronounced as an 'a'. I don't know exactly how to convey this in writing, but the closest I can come is to say it's pronounced a bit like a very short 'uh'. As another poster mentioned, it's not uncommon for German women's names to have the final 'e' pronounced.

Trista's dance was horrible. She looked like a smiling, limp ragdoll. She also ignored her partner the whole time! My room mate leaned over and asked me if she was ignoring him on purpose. I had no clue. She walked straight ahead and stared into space, while her partner was making attempts to get her attention. Oh, and you look bad without your make up on.

Evander may last awhile.

See I've always thought Trista was a cold fish and she proved it last night. IT's called pretending and it's obvious she doesn't even know how.

Here's my favorite Tom Bergeron moment. He was guest hosting on GMA and was standing next to Shaquille O'Neal. He points out the considerable difference in their heights. Then, he and Shaq both sit down on stools that are the same height and he points out that, when sitting, their heads are the same height. And then begins to make fun of his own freakishly long torso and short legs. It was pretty amusing and nice that he could poke fun at himself.

I'm not really feeling the hate for Tom Bergeron. I enjoyed his Russell Crowe joke. I can't really say that I feel anything for Lisa Canning either. Who's in charge of her on-air wardrobe? Last week, she was wearing that very short green dress and last night, she was wearing that baggy brown/burgundy dress.

Thanks for the link archer1267 - I am so thrilled to find so many Stricty Ballroom fans like myself! I thought I was the only one who secretly loved this movie!

Shhh, not outloud! Heh.

While I won't go as for with the Peanuts comparison, I thought he was a bit too focused on the footwork (I can see him mouthing the words) to pay attention to anything else including his partner though she really challenged him on the routine so I wasn't surprised. I feel there was more focus on the partner and less on the footwork last week. All he needs is to find the balance of the two and he may be able to challenge John for the finale.

I love this show and this thread if only to know that there are a bunch of ballroom nutters out there like myself. Strictly Ballroom, Dance With Me, PBS, "Dance" "With" the "Stars" (tm someone I can't remember but it was hysterical and apt.)

Hey, I love a show that doesn't take itself too damn seriously and knows how to have fun... and yet still has enough in there that you can gleefully snark at. This show must come back. More sparkles! More sequins! More 'who the hell is that guy' celebrities!

RE: Trista I guess the reward (a trophy, not a trophy husband and mo' money) wasn't enough to make her pretend this was a contest even considering. She even drank ground up worms on Fear Factor, so it would seem she would do anything to Famewhore herself out more than most.

I have never watched the shows she's been on, but you'd think by now she would have realized that doing something like this doesn't come without a hitch. And while it a might be a little hard pretending that you're crazy in love with Louis van Amstel, realizing this is the way you're staying the the public's eye isn't exactly like doing a broadway play.

The other stars at least have had somewhat of a "real" career before this even if they're sort of washed up now. She's just some ditz that got caught up in the glitz of it all and now the fun might just be over. I give her a little kudos for doing it, but she definitely should lighten up.

That was Miss Alli. If we all beg, maybe this oddly compelling show can be promoted to a "real" TwOP show and she can recap it for us. There is no one more clever and insightful.

Ack! Well, you might as well stay for mojitos. Never let it be said that I'm not courteous to hooligans and lunatics. And yes, I admit that the kid's not a bad dancer.

I don't watch this show in real time so I can't call, but today I did it, I went & registered at ABC & voted. I never vote for this kind of stuff, never I tell you. What is happening to me? I'm being sucked into a votex of dance & being compelled to do something I told myself I never would do. I may watch & enjoy reality tv, but I stand strong & don't participate in voting when it's an option. Oh how easily I sell myself out. All over fancy footwork & sexy smiles. I am weak.

I understand exactly how you feel. I am appalled that I am watching this show; I don't even like dancing. I know nothing about it; I couldn't tell you the difference between a rumba or a cha cha to save my life. But I am strangely drawn to watching this. I think it's a combination of 1) absolutely nothing on TV, 2) the whole snark value and making fun of people like Twista and Evander, and of course 3) looking at the beautiful Rachel Hunter.

That wouldn’t surprise me at all, if she had.

Soap fans can vote (especially online) like very few other species.

I feel your pain HillMama. I just registered to vote as well and gave my vote to John and Charlotte.

I voted for Kelly, and I don't even know who the hell she is. I don't watch GH or any soaps and this show is the first place I've ever seen her. I just thought she got treated really unfairly by the judges last week so I wanted to vote for her and make sure she at least stayed longer than Evander.

On Joey's footwork and showmanship:



I think Joey just may win this. John is the obvious front-runner, but he may have peaked too soon. At this point, he has set an awfully high standard for himself. He has nowhere to go but down. And if viewers and the judges see Joey learning and progressing each week, he may get higher scores and votes, because we know that he is working so hard, whereas John is already making it look easy. (Not that it is easy for him-he obviously is working hard, too)

It might be in John's best interest to dance a really challenging dance next week, and flub it a little, so he has a chance to make a comeback. And so his fans won't get complacent and stop voting for him, thinking he has it in the bag.

At the risk of sounding like a complete ballroom geek, the Japanese ballroom dance that was remade into the American JL fiasco is called 'Shall We Dance?'. 'Dance With Me' was the Cheyanne/Vanessa Williams dance movie, which was thoroughly cheesy, but man - did Vanessa dance her ass off in that movie. As did that Aly McBeal girl.

:-D

I think you you might be referring to my post, except Charlotte is Danish not German - though Danish is a Germanic language to the best of my knowledge.

Hee, I see a lot of you are being sucked in by DWTS as was I when it recently aired in Denmark - I've never voted for anything or anyone on tv before this show but I am now fallen woman!

I'd vote for Kelly if only to see more Alec (oh, those splits...)

Oh, man, as if I didn't love John O'Hurley enough as J Peterman, now he has to be suave and handsome and funny and DANCING, and making me sweat just a little.

This show is fun! How I would adore a chance to learn to TRY to dance like this...oh, yeah, preferably John O'Hurley could teach me.

Ashford said:

There’s a line between sexy and trashy. She bounded across it. Rhumba is supposed to be a woman seducing her partner gracefully. She was athletic, but not graceful and “came on” to her partner rather than seducing him.

I nearly gagged when I saw what she was wearing. She could have shown just as much flesh without those damned flip-floppy things hanging from her tits, and it might have prevented her looking like a $3.00 hooker on discount night.

This I know. I was referring to Cheyanne/Vanessa liberally peppered with some of the dancers I remember from the PBS-aired competitions (Tony and Melanie! Jean-Marc and France!)

I have not seen the JLo remake of 'Shall We Dance' because... I don't care for JLo. Wasn't there a "Shall We Dance" Fred/Ginger movie? I know there was a 'Shall We Dance' number in 'The King and I.'

I'm such a nerd.

Topic: If Trista was wierded out being all 'close' and 'personal' during the rhumba she should thank her demonic overlords that she didn't have to do the samba. The samba is hoooot.

Ab.So.Lutely! I have NEVER gotten her appeal, and she has certainly had way more than 15 minutes in the limelight. Like herpes, she keeps coming back.

Also, the whining about her intro video was stomach turning.

Well, then I'm in good company. ;-) Yes to the Fred/Ginger movie, and as an added bonus? Please watch Easter Parade, if only to watch Fred and Judy Garland spoof Ginger by the intentionally doing the worst ballroom dance ever, complete with foofy feathers that kept getting in Fred's face.



Agreed - though I admit I laughed during her rehearsal tape, and she was mimicking the idea with the "I want you! No I don't! Come hither! No go away!" banter.

Though as hot as Alec is, I wouldn't push away any time soon.

An old crush for me. He's a handsome, dashing dandyman. And cheeky funny. Damn, if he weren't so cheesy I could actually crush on him romantically. But no, he's more a met-at-a-cocktail-lounge and [bleeped]-his-[bleepin' bleep] in my hotel room. We'd stay in contact but whenever I need some silverfoxworth, I'd call him. Hey, Johnny. How 'bout it? And I don't even mind corny '70s-style joking or the cheerleader faces he makes when we're "dancing". You can't stay overnight. But I'll call you.

Or we can pool our pennies and see if we can win it for the next Tubey's Kids auction (whenever that comes up.)

I confess. I have finally given into the power of cheese. Or should I just say cheeeezzze. I can't believe I enjoyed this as much as I did. Joey and John are pretty clearly the best dancers, and my favourites. Poor Evander was so out of place doing the quickstep, his partner might as well have been partnered with a dancing bear. Rachel and Kelly "danced" okay, and I was pleased that Trista was out first.

Will Evander float like a butterfly or fall flat on his face? Will Joey's youth and enthusiasm overcome John's experience and poise? Will Kelly's next outfit, in order to woo the massive straight guy portion of the votes, actually show nipple? Tune in next week for the spectacular cheese fest, Dancing? with the (D-list) Stars.

Those Sonny/Carly & Jason/Courtney fans can be crazy. I think my favorite part about the episode was when Trista had to do her last dance and you could tell she was pissed off. You could fit another person in between her and her partner. And she had on a pissed off face but when she saw the camera she plastered on a smile. The woman gets on my last nerve for some reason. She's probably nice, but I just can't stand her.

And I was under the impression that the dancers didn't choose the music -- I thought it was random based on whichever dance they were supposed to be doing? Does anyone know for sure? Just curious....

I saw a preview for this show last month and huffed to myself that it was way too cheesy, even for a reality-tv whore like me, and that I would never watch it. Then I noticed last week how fast this thread was moving, and did a little lurking. Y'all convinced me to try it, and here I am, addicted.
I'm rooting for Rachel Hunter, but have to admit it's mostly just the lust factor.
If anyone's interested, here's a link to a page where you can download a 2 minute clip of another version of the quick step done to "You're the One That I Want," performed by a rather different sort of couple:
She's got post-polio syndrome, he's a dog
(I ran across that on another TWOP thread).
And is it rumba or rhumba? I always thought it was rumba, but I'm too damn lazy to walk down the hall and look for my dictionary.

In my head, I’m seeing Adam Sandler as Operaman, singing, “Trista... she’s a pissed-a!”

My speculation is that she was so upset about the elimination because it was the opposite of the Sally Field “You like me” moment. Her scores were good enough that with a decent audience vote, she shouldn’t have been in trouble, but she didn’t get the audience vote. It’s a harsh thing to get the message on live television that, well, people don’t like you.

I think it goes something like this - the ranking given by the judges is averaged with the ranking given by the voting public. So, if Kelly and her partner were ranked #6 by the judges, and second in public votes, that averages out to be a 4: [(6+2)/2]. Someone who ranked, say, fourth by the judges and sixth by the public would end up with a 5: [(4+6)/2].




I also have never seen anything she's been on. I only know "who" she is from hearing about the TV wedding - which I didn't see. I don't do the magazines, either, so I could fall over Trista in the street and not know who she is. From reading all the Trista hate, I somehow feel blessed to have been living under a rock for years now!

PS - Don't know who Joey is either.

According to Messrs Webster, rumba is the standard spelling, rhumba is a variation, and either is acceptable and correct.

I don't recall this being mentioned earlier, but is anyone else bothered by the fact that the women are dancing slow dances and the men are shakin' it a bit. I think this might affect voting in one of two ways. Either we vote for the men because, although the waltz and r(h)umba were "beautiful," it's much more enjoyable to watch the cha cha cha and quick step. At least in my mind. Or, the men are being challenged more and don't look as practiced as the women (see: Evander) so the women get our vote. I'd like to see the women move a little instead of posing so much. Maybe they'll do the mambo. In the rehearsal video of my mind, I see Alec saying, "The mambo is a heartbeat. Ka-gung, ka-gung, ka-gung." Just me, then?

Fleeing madly from the crappy "Hell's Kitchen", I collided with this show. Once you start watching, it's weirdly addictive, and though I know very little about ballroom, watching Evander Holyfield try it is endlessly funny.

Love how they describe Rachel's laziness as 'lack of focus'. Now that's tact.

I do know enuf about ballroom to know that professionals, along with the cheesy costumes and cheddary smiles, have that 'pinned at the breastbone' look. This means they have some technique. John and Charlotte were the only couple who came close. That young guy tried hard, and didn't pretend he was too macho for it (for which I salute him), but his posture was terrible, the judges were right. He was bending forward throughout the dance; you should have a straight back. John mugged a lot, but he was obviously working hard. Evander tried, God love him. The three teams with women 'stars' obviously interested the audience not a bit, because Team Evander survived easily. Thank God. I wasn't a bit triste to see Trista go, and Rachel and whoeverthehellthatisthatthejudgeshate can take a hike and call it dance any time.

I'm completely sucked in. Not only did I drive to LA from SF in order to be in the studio audience (sat next to Louis Van Amstel's mother!), I ran back to the hotel from the studio so that I could see how different it looked over the boob tube from in person.

In performance order:

Jon & Rachel: there was much more apparent dancing in the studio than was shown on tv. The camera angles and the persistent focus on faces instead of long shots (as noted by many of you) completely distorts the appearance of the routine. She was beautifully on time, as opposed to Kelly, and performed the same number of basic rumba moves as Trista (despite the distressed mutterings issuing from the seat beside me about basic rumba and the lack thereof).

Joey & Ashly: yes, he has posture issues...big deal! After 6 weeks of training, it would be shocking if he didn't have posture issues. He did have great energy and performance and looked better in person. Camera angles again, I think.

Louis & Trista: I had to ignore the mutterings coming from beside me. Louis' mom wasn't too impressed with the quality of the dancing. This is the only performance I thought looked better when I saw it later on tv. She appeared even stiffer and less animated in studio...

John & Charlotte: easily the best of the night. She is elegant, he stood up straight, and the choreography was appropriate without being overly simplified. Again (there may be a theme here), the cut up camera work and focus on faces or feet only made it hard to get a sense of the true flow of this performance.

Alec & Kelly: there was a lot of gyrating and no rumba here. Alec is a good dancer, but Kelly did nothing and managed to do it off-time. She barely even moved (and the agitated muttering about rumba basics beside me got louder). Equally dull on tv.

Evander & Edyta: what a trainwreck! full of energy and good intentions, and probably nothing like what the choreography was intended to be. Sitting in the audience I wanted to cover my face and then peek between my fingers (rather like watching a horror film). It was slightly less painful on tv, but probably only because I knew what was coming.

The judges, by the way, were entirely on point and very fair in their comments. I'm liking Bruno. The floor is really small for dances like waltz and quickstep. The people in the front rows of tables are connected to the "Stars". From the audience response, Kelly had the largest number of fans actually present in the audience. Totally fascinating to see the mechanics of a live broadcast. While Lisa is doing her little interview in the backstage area, the judges are all happy and chatty. Then they put on their totally serious game face just prior to the "show your scores" announcement. That made me giggle the hardest.

My contacts inside this cheesefest let me know that the pros are given the music for the next week directly after the broadcast; they have no choice in the pieces that they are given. Thursday is choreography day. Next week Rachel & J Peterman are dancing tango; the others are dancing jive.

Evander + jive = ????? This. could be very scary.

I thought she looked sensual, and no more trashy than any of the Dirty Dancing numbers. She wasn't fantastic, but even if she had been, the judges would've trashed her.

Great stuff zigletto. J. Peterman should be great doing the tango. Now he'll have an excuse to be a bit dramatic with his facial expressions. I wonder if one of them will clutch a rose in between their teeth?

Joey should do well with the jive. I love the jive--I hope they pick appropriate music for it instead of say Britney Spears' Toxic or some such nonsense.

I can just see John doing a great Tango. He and Charlotte should be fabulous.

The Jive could be one hell of a hilarious trainwreck. I can't wait to see Evander & Edyta. Bwah!

I agree Charlotte looked great without the make-up. On the other hand, Trista looked shockingly ugly without hers during the practice session. She looked seriously old without it. Does anyone know how old she is?

All in all, this weeks episode was great!!

I agree - I'm all for being supportive of the dancers, but come on. Equally ridiculous is the random applause during the dance routines. I have been to many a dance performance, and I tend to applaud for things that are technically difficult (like, say, thirty two fouettes in Swan Lake) and I know that audiences like to applaud for flashy things even when they aren't difficult (big crowd favorite that always elicits applause: any sort of kickline), but on this show I have noticed that the audience spontaneously bursts into applause during the routines when the dancers usually haven't done anything interesting or difficult. Is there an applause sign lighting up off camera?



Hee, I thought the same thing! After she got voted off, I had a brief moment where I thought yay, off my tv biatch! Then I realized she probably had them put a clause in her contract that says as soon as she's voted off she becomes one of the hosts and must interview the contestants every week and do the commercials and annoy me as much as possible. I just know she and Ryan will be sitting in the audience all schmoopy. I did love Louie's open chested lace leotard though!

I agree with the women looking older when they are made up for the competition - all the fake eyelashes and heavy shadow/liner make them look so much older in the closeups.

ETA: dogcrazy, Trista's imdb profile says she was born in 1972.

On how the audience votes work, there's another option that would allow for huge movement up and down in the standings.

That's to divide the total number of audience votes by 60, and then allot one point to each star for every 1/60th of the audience vote they received. Under this system, then a runaway audience favorite could pick up 55 points in one swell foop (if all the other stars only got enough votes each to make up 1/60 of the total.) Then add those points to the judge's points and rank by number of points out of 120.

Perhaps the judges would given Kelly higher numbers if she had been able to twirl thosr tassle things on the front of her dress in opposite directions.