How exactly are the scores computed for the eliminations? I know the judges' and audience both represent half of the total score but does anyone know specifically how they come up with the totals? If I remember correctly someone on this forum a while back mentioned something to the effect that as far as the judges' scoring goes, the contestants are grouped together by the rankings (the top two or three teams are given say 3 points, the next three teams two points, etc.) I wasn't sure if that was just speculation or confirmed.

The places are transferred into "ranking points".

For example, with 8 couples left, the top scorer tonight will be in first place and receive a ranking point of 8. The last place scorer will get a 1. The audience score is done the same way. The combined "ranking scores" are what determines the final score, with the audience score breaking ties.

So let's say Stacy gets first place tonight. She would get a ranking score of 8. Master P places last, with a ranking score of 1. However, when the audience votes are tallied, P comes in first place, while Stacy comes in last. P would get an 8 from the audience, while Stacy gets a 1. The two of them would tie with a 9. In that case, P would actually rank above Stacy in the overall rankings since he got a higher audience score.

Thanks for the quick response! You did give me a panic attack though with your example; the voting has been so screwy so far P ranking ahead of Stacy could just happen!!

That system gives a strong edge to popularity over dancing skills, but would be improved if at least the judges were the tie-breaker, rather than the audience.

Since we never know how the audience votes anyway, I don't think that giving judges the tie-breaker would make people angry (except in a John/Kelly situation, where people will be irate at the judges either way).

Anytime you have a system where one is allowed multiple votes for their "favorite", you sre going to have potential problems. This because, out of perhaps nin competitors, only two ro three are going to be "favorites"; regardless of the qualities of the rest, they are not going to get any votes. Then, when you have an organized campaign (or random, like all the "poor Ashly" voters out there) to deliberately promote the worst competitor, you are going to have possibly five who have given their all, accomplished a lot, and then watch as all of their effort was in vain as a clearly inferior competitor is continuously voted to go to the next round.

We saw it firsthand on "American Idol", when both John Stephens and Scott Savol were beneficiaries of an organized campaign called "vote for the worst" to DELIBERATELY make a mockery of the competition.

There are those out there who don't take this show seriously, and apparently are having great fun by voting for a non-dancer, while competitors who are working seriously and very hard are being eliminated. Just like they did to FOX, they are making complete fools out of ABC because of how ABC set up the voting system.

A couple of OFF-TOPIC comments about ABC:

(1). They allowed "Emily's Reasons Why Not" and the return of "Jake In Progress" exactly ONE airing before replacing them with a rerun of THE BACHELOR! Their explanation was that the Batchelor did better. Well, it did do better than the COMBINED results of Emily and Jake, but Emily actually did better by itself than the Batchelor (the Jake return was abysmally rated), but they decided to STOP production of Emily (this sounds like FOX!). Learn to read Neilsen ratings, ABC!

(2). Our LOCAL ABC affiliate has PRE-EMPTED ABC's NATIONAL broadcasts for local programming THREE times in the last two years. They COMPLETELY replaced ABC's programming on Halloween night in 2004 (due to "Halloween-based themes", if you can believe it!), and they did it AGAIN last year. Last TUESDAY they replaced ACCORDING TO JIM and RODNEY with a Billy Graham Crusade!

This isn't some podunk little station in the middle of rural Alabama, this is WFAA, the ABC affiliate for DALLAS, TEXAS!

Since ABC alowed it, you can see why I am NOT impressed one iota with ABC!

It did strike me as odd that audience votes would be the tie-breaker. I suppose it just goes to show that ultimately the show is more about entertainment than the integrity of the competition itself. That's why we have "stars" competing rather than being limited strictly to the pros.

I, too, have been frustrated by people deliberately ruining AI by keeping the worst people in by their votes, and now it looks like it's happening to DwtS. However, I am watching because I want to see the pros and for the occasional two or three amateurs who actually do improve their dancing, which is a pleasure to watch.

I truly think that P will wear out his welcome soon. If Tatum hadn't been so downright sour last week we might have seen the end of P. His popularity had gone way down since the first week because he wasn't even in the bottom two the first week and he was there last week.

Even charming, engaging, hard-working Evander couldn't make it work with the audience one they saw that quickstep.

The problem is when one of the lower ranking couples isn't doing much to garner a fanbase. Tia probably escaped the bottom two last week because people saw she was in trouble. That's why I give my 10 cell phone votes to the couples I think are on the fringes and my 10 land line votes to my favorites. I don't want my favorites to get screwed, but I don't want the likes of P to go forward because I didn't vote for Tia or Lisa.

At least I'm glad that DWtS took an unpopular step to -improve- on AI by actually making the judges' opinions count. Hopefully, it won't take Master P becoming the champion, in order forDWtS to give the judges an edge (at least until the final two) as the tie-breakers next season.

I hope what I'm going to say is on topic.

Our ABC affiliate (Channel 9, WCPO in Cincinnati) was going to postpone "Hope and Grace" last Friday night to air a local special on beauty tips. (I kid you not). The ABC pre-emption of "Hope and Grace" for the expanded DWtS put a monkey wrench in Channel 9's plans. They delayed the beauty special until this Tuesday. It showed at 8 PM, and "According to Jim" was delayed until 2 AM.



And also by limiting the number of votes allowed per telephone line. Of course talent is in the eye of the beholder. My favorites the past two years on American Idol were John Stevens and Scott Savol.

That does not translate over to DWtS. I'll do anything to vote Master Penguin-on-the-dancefloor out.

I really doubt that P will get that far. Kelly was never in the bottom two - not even the night that Joey was kicked off - that night was the only time Tom didn't say that those two couples were the bottom two. The producers pretty much admitted that Kelly had been the top audience vote getter for the entire season. If P ranked that high with the audience, there is no way he would have made bottom two last week.

Oh, I agree with you. I was just speaking hypothetically. Because hypothetically it could happen the way they're doing it that someone who couldn't dance could be chosen the winner.

Which makes me wonder if the contestants are told how the votes are coming in. If the audience consistently has the same clear favorite from the beginning to the end...and the audience vote is the tie-breaker....there's not a whole lot of suspense for anyone, is there.

I can understand there might be fans of Master P voting for him no matter what, but has anyone heard anything about an actual "movement" for lack of a better word trying to screw things by voting for the worst dancer?

Tia is definitely vulnerable this week since I don't think she has the pre-existing fanbase plus the judges have been critical. Of course she doesn't deserve to go just yet but judging by the results so far that doesn't count for very much. Right now with eight couples remaining the anti-P votes are spread relatively thin among all the other contestants; all his supporters can concentrate all their votes on him. I'm starting to feel like the audience vote should be changed to voting for the person you want to see ELIMINATED. P and other future wastes would be gone in the first round; right now its just his relatively small support group keeping him in against the wishes of the vast majority. I doubt they would change the rules though since it sounds so negative for the audience to be voting for the person they like the least to be voted off; maybe in later rounds once the wannabes are gone it can go back to voting for your favorite.

Oh absoultely. That's the same way that a Scott Savol could actually win AI. However, the voting public usually straightens that sort of thing out when the votes get less diluted by the number of people in the competition. A small amount of organized power dialers can only rig the competiton for so long when there are so many people voting.

Kelly's small rabid soap-fan base was not the reason she won, but they were probably the reason she made it through those first few rough weeks.

Tatum was on ET and she was giving some info on what has gone on behind the scenes. SHe said that Drew and Cheryl are doing very well, Lisa and Louis took some time off becuase he was sick and she did the Golden Globes. She says that master P has a big fan base and is talented. She thinks that Master P will be the next to go home. Tatum is going to be on ET tomorrow to tell them what she thought of tonights performances. She is going to be there Dancing With the Stars correspondent!

Oh Jerry, I have to agree with the judges on this one. That was my reaction as well, low energy. Hopefully he'll have a chance to come back next week.

How many votes per phone line do you get? According to the website, we only get eight votes per phone line. And last week, the website said nine.

Lisa Rinna, SHUT UP!!!

I love them Lachey boys! Seriously, Drew is just a cutie, and he can really dance. Lisa Riina on the other hand, is not attractive at all. That woman is downright scary and nasty looking.

Am I the only person who thinks Jerry Rice's partner looks like Marie Osmond? I spend the first half of each of their dances reminding myself that it's someone else.

Has anyone written down the scores?
I was keeping score and forgot this was on....

Lisa Rinna, at 40 something, is looking great from the neck down, I'd have to say. But she really needs to learn how to slip punches properly if she's going to keep boxing. I mean, she has been boxing hasn't she? How else do you account for those glistening, lumpen, dew-wormlike lips?

The Tango and JiveTurkey

There should be a ban on dancers saying they are in the competition for their grandmother’s sisters, their children, their dogs or anybody else. This is a competition, not therapy> It’s a real downer to acknowledge that celebrities have problems. We’re watching to mock you not empathize and there is a distinction.

This week they let the contestants pick which dance they wanted to do apparently because George did a tango and Lisa did a jive. For Lisa than ended up being a smart thing. Somebody decided to SPLURGE on the music tonight! Big WHOOP.

Lisa and Luis: Dear GOD her lips are BIGGER? It’s the attack of the killer hot pink boobies.
Love the staged crying. I love Luis where can I buy one? She was smart to do the jive. I think its a lot easier to impress the judges with the Jive than the Tango. She was great! She went against the grain and I think she is going to score higher than the other women. Carrie Ann is jealous of Lisa OH for the love of God she is doing it for the dogs and her daughter. She almost sucked me in and then she laid it on just a little too thick.

Stacy and Her Stalker: Its was good. She is a really good actress. Either that or she really hated him. Her partner/stalker is creeping. “ It hurts! I don’t care!” Creeeepy. Anybody else disturbed?

Percy and Ashley: aka A&P. I like the blue suit. This week we saw a kinder gentler Percy. Ashley be careful don’t let me drag you down to his level. First it’s the free sparkly hat with your initial and then you’ll be selling rocks on the corner. Okay most improved award goes to Percy, but its hard to fall off the floor. Wow Lin really smart move. Doing it for your grandmother’s sister?

Jerry and Anna: Jerry as always was sexilicious. It sucks that he went first because you know the scores are always depressed for the first couple. There is something about his posture that is not right, but I can’t put my finger on it. Its almost as if SHE is leading HIM. I luuuuv me some Jerry, but if I can see you thinking your way through the dance then its not working for you. I still am going to vote for him because he is cute and in a dancing competition THAT’S what really matters.

Giesle and Johnathan: Her earnestness is getting annoying. I know that’s bad of me to say, but nobody likes an overachiever. Is that bad of me? It’s okay to be an overachiever as long as you don’t tell me that you are an overachiever. She’s like the polar opposite of Tatum yet the same. It is almost as if the competition means TOO much to her. Kinda like the difference between people who do a good job, just because it is in their nature to do a good job and people who do a good job because they crave the approval of others. But I loved the way her dress looked during the dance.

Drew and Cheryl: Loved the dance. THAT is the way it should look! Eagerly anticipating Percy.. And can one of the dance people explain what constitutes a LIFT? And if it is a rule, shouldn’t that have been put in the contract or something.

George and Edyta: Why does he get to do a tango? I guess he is entitled to a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. OH the campaigning was hysterical. I wonder if the folks at the old folks home are still up to vote. I loved that he mocked Giselle as well. I want Edyta’s body. Where can I order one? George is so tan he’s brown.

Tia and Maksim: Tia looked awesome. Maksim you SHUSH! Is it me or does Tia dance on the side of her feet?

What about Lipschitz?!

Hoorah for proper tango music!

Wow, Tia looked amazing. She and her dance were just beautiful. My favorite of the night by far, and I loved the acting in Stacy's, but Tia's was much better.

Drew had another great night. That was tremendous. His footwork. Luis/Lisa did Drew a favor by giving me a standard to compare him too and I couldn't really distinguish between the star and the professional. Bravo, Drew!

And poor Jerry Rice, he wasn't moving his hips at all.

Hopefully all of Ashley's fans will see that she has been corrupted by Master P and vote to get rid of them. Those hats. Sheesh. P has improved, but not enough to stay in this competition. It's time for him to go. Dead Great Auntie or no, buh-bye.

Tia and Max were stunning, simply stunning. And she is so down to earth. No dying dogs or complaints about having a newborn. Good for her! Also, she bore that ridiculous question about her weight with tremendous grace. I would have punched the fuck out of that idiot.

Tango:

1. Tia, by far. She was the only one who kept me watching. Didn't she use the same music she did in True Lies? I thought so and so did my fiance. She looked lovely and.... loved it. I think she was actually best of the night overall.
2. Giselle? Stacy? Around the same. Fine, a few obvious mistakes. Stacy is beautiful but overrated. And I am getting sick of hearing the host guy and my fiance comment on how long her legs are. Giselle is sort of a nonentity for me.
3. George. Was entertaining, but did the easiest choreography by far. He is so charming though... I love it when he mocks P.

Jive:

1. Drew. He's gonna win this thing, easy.
2. Lisa. It breaks my heart to put Fish Lips ahead of my Jerry, but she was great and her costume was adorable and she's got a fabulous body. But someone needs to tell her Tina Turner hair doesn't work for white girls.
3. Jerry. I think he was underscored and didn't see what was wrong with his dancing, but he wasn't as flashy as the other two couples. But man, did he and the girl look pretty.
4. P. Augh. He actually tried and if possible, sucked even worse. I hate myself for smiling when I saw he was trying a little bit. The man has no rhythm. How can you be a rapper without rhythm?

Tonight during my break I watched Lisa, Stacy and Percy (P Miller. Whatever dude.)

The more I watch Lisa, the more I want her to make the finals. Finding out you have to put your dog down definitely doesn't put you in a great state of mind and I thought her jive was fun and was something that she needed. (Also I want Louis as my BFF.)

Stacey: I didn't mind her tango, I didn't love it. And Len and Carrie Ann were right when they said up until the end, she wasn't registering emotion on her face, which you need in order to sell it.

Percy: Len basically said "Man, you suck hardcore. Begone!" Sadly, I think this is going to be an American Idol style save despite the fact that he was VERY offbeat especially with his kicks at the start. Don't buy into it America!

After giving Stacey two tens for last week, Drew deserved a TEN this week. At least one! I am beyond mad they awarded her for her substandard (IMO) dance last week and he has tie with her this week.

I also think Tia did a MUCH better Tango than Stacey this week, and deserved to get the same score if not higher. In fact, I just think Stacey is overscored. For every dance. I thought Tia and Lisa both did better jobs.

Tia and Maksim wuz robbed. That was the dance of the night. My TV screen started to smoke.

Liked Drew and Cheryl. Apparently Miss Judgie-poo wasn't listening to the lyrics of Stacy's song. That detachment was perfect to convey the song.

If Jerry goes tomorrow instead of the Walrus, I'm gonna be pissed. I cast all my phone votes for Jerry as soon as he was finished.

Nice show.

I absolutely loved the music tonight. Excellent choices.

All the dancers did quite well. Except Master P of course. And I swear, had I not seen him the previous two weeks, I'd fine him quite likeable.

Me too!

Tia is looking like her cucumber and whatever the hell masks she used to get daily are diminishing in there effectiveness.

P can't dance for crap. My God, and he was a rapper?

Can they bring back Kelly Monaco? Pleeeeeeease!

Once again, George will be getting my vote. No matter how awful P was tonight, I can't count on America to not vote for him, so I'm protecting my favorite. If P doesn't go home tomorrow, someone's going to pay!

Only saw the end of Drew's dance, but I'm sure it was amazing. I saw Stacey's dance and I really thought it was terrific. I couldn't agree more with Bruno that her facial features were elegant and it conveyed the point of the music.

Felt bad for Lisa, but thought her Jive was great. Glad to see she received good scores. It's about time. And I thought her lips looked okay tonight. Almost normal.

Good episode tonight.

Jerry & Anna: slow, lacked energy, the footwork didn't seem crisp

Giselle & Jonathon: Their routine seemed fine to me. I didn't quite get the judges' criticism. That last jump/lift was really impressive. I would have been scared witless.

Drew & Cheryl: Their dance was fun, had great energy, and fast footwork. Did the footwork seem just a tad sloppy though to anyone else?

George & Edyta: Fun and charming dance but not much substance.

Lisa & Louis: It was fun, sexy, energetic with good speed and control.

Stacy & Tony: fantastic lines, dramatic in some parts but the judges were right that she lacked expressiveness in great parts of the dance. They had a great song to do it to with "Jailhouse Tango" from Chicago.

P & Ashly: He is still wearing the wrong shoes but I saw actual effort being made out their on the dance floor. While I was pleased to see the effort made, I have to agree with Len who rather harshly but correctly said what needed to be said.

Tia & Maksim: The best tango of the night! They seemed to maintain a good closed hold throughout the entire dance with dramatic and excellent choreography.

I liked tonights show. Once again though they scored Stacy too high! To me Giselle and Tia had the best tango's. If Jerry hadn't been so stiff he would have done better. Drew was the best tonight and should have gotten 10's(like Stacy did last week!). I love George and I loved how Giselle stepped in and translated it to say vote for her. That was funny(at least to me). Lisa was good but something about the way she put her legs looked incorrect to me. Master P is going to stay around again becuase of these two reasons: His grandmother passing and becuase the one judge was SOO hard on him. I thnk Giselle will be gone tomorrow night and that makes me sad.

Anybody got the numbers handy for Tia and Jerry? I've never voted before (can't stand Kelly Monaco so did not watch last season) but I feel the need to throw some votes at those two to help get rid of Master P. He needs to go. Now.

Drew/Cheryl and Stacy/Tony are clearly the most talented (or perhaps just the most experienced, in her case?) dancers in the competition. I do agree that Stacy looked like a robot in her facial expressions, but her lines were gorgeous. Drew has rhythm and is just great overall.

Wasn't as impressed with Tia/Max as the judges were. I thought she did very little actual dancing. I know that Giselle/Jonathan were very good, but I just didn't feel anything. It's one of those situations when you know someone is doing a technically proficient job, but it doesn't go beyond that. But holy cow, she is toned!

I think George is absolutely hilarious with his comments, but I don't like how he keeps getting held up by the judges because of his age. He does so little actual dancing.

Great job by Lisa!

Jerry was off tonight, and I think Anna should have choreographed something faster for them because I'm pretty sure he would have been able to do it.

But those couples, as well as Tatum/Nick, are SO far above P in both dancing and personality. When the judges diss his performance P tried first to pull the Katrina sympathy card, and then the sick relative sympathy card. I don't even believe what he said tonight about his sick relative. Interesting that we didn't hear anything about it during the preview to the dance. It sounds like a pathetic excuse he pulled out of his butt.

I have always viewed Tia as nothing more than a Hollywood bimbo, but I'm really starting to like her. She's so likable and normal. In her bimbo days she was Paris Hilton-ish.

Now LISA, ick. I just can't get on board with that chick. The face is so fake - the lips... yikes. And she really needs to lose that tossled hair look. Hasn't she been wearing it that way for about 15 years?

Oh, and if Giselle brings up that dumb Rosarita thing one more time - I want to punch her.

Wow! Tia was great. She surprised me tonight. I really felt her dance. I've always like Stacy but tonight I think Tia was the best. I give kudos to her partner as well. Their choreography was excellent.

George--- he was funny and I enjoyed his performance for the sheer entertainment value.

M P.---- he went in to dance and I'm glad he made an effort but yeah, he soo need to go.

As for the rest, eh, ::shrug:: BTW, is it just me or Lisa's partner kinda look like her husband?

George Hamilton & Edyta Sliwinska 800-VOTE4-01 (800-868-3401)
Lisa Rinna & Louis van Amstel 800-VOTE4-02 (800-868-3402)
Stacy Keibler & Tony Dovolani 800-VOTE4-04 (800-868-3404)
Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke 800-VOTE4-05 (800-868-3405)
Tia Carrere & Maksim Chmerkovskiy 800-VOTE4-06 (800-868-3406)
P Miller & Ashly Delgrosso 800-VOTE4-07 (800-868-3407)
Giselle Fernandez & Jonathan Roberts 800-VOTE4-08 (800-868-3408)
Jerry Rice & Anna Trebunskaya 800-VOTE4-09 (800-868-3409)

************

Hi... my hubby who makes fun of me for watching these shows actually called in and put all his votes towards Jerry cause he thought the judges were too harsh on him.

Len just became my hero for point blank telling P to hit the road. Meanwhile Carrie Ann continues her auditioning process as P's personal assistant by applauding him for finally showing the slightest sign of effort in week three of the contest.

I agree that it was a bit annoying that tonight turned into "can you top this personal tragedy for sympathy votes" for some people. Not trying to belittle genuine emotions, but its not really necessary or appropriate to bring them up in a talent competition.

Jerry's was 1-800-VOTE-409

I gave him all my votes.

Here are all the numbers. All the couples keep their number throughout all the weeks, unlike in American Idol.

1-800-VOTE4-(last two numbers)

Jerry/Anna: 09
Giselle/Jonathan: 08
Drew/Cheryl: 05
George/Edyta: 01
Lisa/Louis: 02
Stacy/Tony: 04
P/Ashly: 07
Tia/Maxim: 06

BTW, what's the deal with no lifts? Last season Alec practically carried Kelly the whole time. Are they going to allow lifts later in the season?

I loved Bossy Tony. "Did I turn you? Then why are you moving?"

I didn't think Stacy could pull off the tango, she is so darn cheery. But then the music started and she put on her serious face and I thought "wow, she is taking this seriously". And how adorable was it when she broke character as soon as the dance ended, and hopped up and down squealing. I don't want to like her, because she is tall and gorgeous and I am not, but I just have to.

Tia and Maksim were also excellent - happy to see them finally getting good scores.

Two teams broke the rules - did the dancers not get a manual, or a memo, or a posty note or something?

George really shouldn't have been trolling for votes at an old-folks home that caters to those with memory loss. They'll never remember to watch the show.

I thought Jerry's main problem was the choreography as well.

That's what I'm sayin'! If her rumba was worth a 29 last week, lord knows Drew deserved the same score tonight.

If it works anything like American Idol - the contestant that gets the biggest criticism never leaves. I cringed when he told P to hit the road, because I knew that a bunch of morons would vote for him just because of that.

I think Master P will stay in becuase of the comments. Also I think the comments were made purposely to keep him in the competition. This show is so full of BS when they ask you to vote becuase it doesn't count for very much like they say! Someone good(probably Giselle) will go tomorrow while P get's to stay another week! I am so tired of being screwed around with by this show and once Giselle goes I am gone as well.

I really think all the couples should do the same style of dance. It is impossible for me to compare a tango to a jive.

I;m worried for Jerry. I agree that the choreography, of which there was none, seemed to be the problem. I'm assuming Anna isn't good with the jive or Jerry was having problems with it. I sadly agree with the geriatric comment.

I'd be willing to bet on my dog's life that Master P is safe. Let's face it, he's pretty damn charismatic(when he wants to be) and he actually put forth an effort this week. Plus he'll have sympathy on his side.

I love George. He will be getting one of my votes, all the rest will go to Jerry.

Edyta is HOT!

Can someone post the ranking of the couples? I know D/C and S/T were at the top, then what was the order in the middle?