Watched with Mr Rabrab again tonight, and he pointed out that Jive (in its heyday) had several different styles (kinda like swing, what with East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing and Southern Swing all having different 'feels' even though they're the same dance,) and he said that Joey was doing nearly perfect 40's USO Jive; a little less crisp and precise, but more enthusiastic and acrobatic than Hollywood Jive, Show Jive, or Club Jive (listed in decreasing order of crispness and structure required.) The judges apparently were looking for Hollywood or Show Jive; so they didn't see quite what they were looking for.

Is Kelly practicing in heels? I couldn't tell for sure, but at least a few times it looked like she had on either flats or at most an inch or so of heel, rather than the three-inchers she was performing in. If that's the case, girl's making a big mistake, she needs to know how to handle the heels. And she still needs to keep her hair out of her face.

On the other hand, I liked Rachel's dress. It flowed beautifully with her movements, enhanced her extensions, and fit the dance.

The judges destroyed my joy. Evander's gone. Sure he was lead footed and had the goofiest dance face ever but he was trying like no one's business. Couldn't they have at least give them another week, even at the risk of breaking Edtya's feet from the constant stepping by Evander.

Dunno...I kinda get the feeling that JOH is rather enjoying (and reciprocating) the attention he's getting from Charlotte. My wife saw them making eyes at each other tonight and said, "They are SO gettin' it on in the trailer backstage."

Rachel is still stunning and beautiful. She and Jonathan looked great.

Kelly was much better than last week. She really worked hard.

Evander! Ha ha! He looked stunned that he was eliminated. Like he was completely surprised he could have even been considered the worst. Simply horrible. And his response of "I don't know" to "will you continue dancing" just struck me of the "o woe is me" variety. "I feel so disheartened, I just don't think I could ever do it again!" Goodbye, lead toes.

The hair has been so bad on this show. Is Jonathan Antin backstage?

I'm not sure that the survival of Kelly and Alec is purely because of rabid GH fans. I think they may have gotten some votes because people felt that they weren't as bad as the judges' comments and scores made it seem. With that being said (sorry for that phrase, but I'm anticipating the return of Big Brother), I do feel that they are clearly the worst team remaining on the show. I appreciate that Kelly has apparently worked hard to stay, but I believe that it is time for them to go.

My top two teams are John and Charlotte, and Joey and Ashley because I feel that they are the most consistent teams. I was pleased that Joey and Ashley incorporated the idea that this is a performance. This is where John and Charlotte had been showing up the other teams. The combination of youth, athleticism, technique, and showmanship may allow them to surge ahead.

On a personal note, I took ballroom classes with a friend who tended to go her own way like Rachel. As a result I developed a very strong lead which has led subsequent dance partners to say things like "I love the way that you lead because I always know exactly where to go."

I thought John and Charlotte's tango was smoking hot and sultry, something that I found lacking in Rachel and Jonathan's. I love John's hammy faces, which, IMO, add to his performance. I also thought GI Joey and Ashly were puppy dog cute and I liked that they added a story to their dancing.

Oh, I forgot to say that I appreciated the demonstration at the beginning showing us what the dances were supposed to look like, and the voting explanation.

Aight...watched it with a bunch of ballroom friends tonight, it was fun but too much commenting and hollering, might've missed some of the details with all the distractions...

To other fellow dancers out there....was that tonja garamella demo'ing jive with louie?

Anyways, thoughts about the dancing:

Evander & Edyta: ballroom dancing is clearly not just in the man's blood. What he did wasn't a jive or anything close to it, much like his chacha, and the terrible posture doesn't help...if you take away the music and edit out Edyta, then from watching him I would've thought he's performing some kind of weird strutting dance, or some type of bizarro mime routine.

Rachel & Jonathan: ugh, I wonder if the judges, after seeing rachel coming in 2nd to last in popular vote last week, deliberately overcompensated. It was alright, Rachel expectedly has good posture and she has shown she's capable of doing some really nice leg extensions, but the frame was terrible to the point of distraction with the constantly quivering shoulders and elbows. An undeveloped frame is to be expected out of a beginner and all, but then that doesn't deserve such high scores.

Monica & Alec: she really is a very awkward dancer, so jive works for her because the fast movements helps hide her glaring weakness: she's terrible at hitting lines and then holding them. Rachel's poses last week were great because rachel hits a line with good extension, and then develops them further: that creates contrast, adds fullness to the movement, and gives illusions of speed. Monica meanwhile tends to throw her limbs out wildly (Trista incidentally does the same thing but with better posture), add that to her questionable balance it makes any lines she (attempts to) hit ungainly to say the least.

That said, jive thus suits her well because she didn't have to hit any lines. The side by side sequence however was just asking for trouble, and I wonder if Alec would not have been better off throwing it out...that was just evander bad.

(side note: Alec sure toned his own speed way down for the kick sequences with monica. It would've been funny if Louie and Trista had advanced, Louie would've went "screw her, I want to show off my kicks on national tv" then everyone would get to see something truly comical whereas the girl does ugly kicks while some guy right next to her performs them at 4 times the speed...)

John & Charlotte: his frame was a bit "short", and ditto with the posture compared to the exquisite quickstep he did last week. However, it was still way better than Jonathan & Rachel's. Maybe charlotte can add more difficulty to the routine, but it's not surprising a dancer of her caliber would prefer that her students do simple things well, rather than do complex things ugly.

Joey & Ashley: with regards to the other poster's comments, jive is probably the most eclectic dance of all. Whereas for every other dance you'll see the competitors basically "stick to the structure", only in jive can one take elements from big band swing, West Coast, and even breakdancing etc. and perform them in competition without penalties (or as one would hope). In short, anything goes as long as you don't overdo the "extraneous" elements. I remember Ashley with her ex-partner Rick Robinson used to have in their routine a sequence where he does a full split--while sliding backwards--under her legs and then proceed to do the "worm" 3 times; it was an incredibly acrobatic and crowd-pleasing move that a conservative judge may frown on but would draw thunderous cheers all over the ballroom, though in the strictest sense it wasn't jive.

That said, Joey and Ashley bordered on doing "something else" the whole dance. It was ~90% big band swing and 10% what appears to be jive. Can't fault the energy, albeit very much out of control at times.

How I would've ranked them:

John & Charlotte: 8.5, only because it wasn't as good as his quickstep...but it deserved a high score.

Monica & Alec: 7, might've merited higher, but then he needs to keep her away from doing kicks. Basic elements were done acceptably well, if too east coast-ish.

Rachel & Jonathan: 6, she needs to develop her frame.

Joey & Ashley: 6, as eclectic as jive is per se, some basic jive would've been nice. This is not go-crazy-dance. Also he was sometimes out of control...compare that to John, who always seem calm and collected.

Evander & Edyta: 2...entirely for his heart, not for his dancing.

Great show. Can't help feeling bad for evander though, the man does have heart.

I wasn't impressed by most of the dancers tonight. I think the hideous background music is disorienting me.

I don't know if I've Rachel do any actual dancing, or if she is just carried around like a Barbie doll. Why was it that Kelly was criticized for being "stiff" and Rachel is passed off as flawless? The only reason they're giving her those high scores is because they know she can't survive based on the public vote.

Joey seemed to be having a spastic fit, and the movements felt fake. John also seemed to be forcing himself through his dance, but he was the best of the group. Kelly had good chemistry with Alec, but she seemed really uncoordinated and nervous.

I'm glad Evander is gone. He wasn't even a passable dancer and I didn't enjoy laughing at him. It was a mercy for him to leave this early.

I hope next week is better.

I totally agree. But huge props to Jonathan because he's really turning her into a dancer as much as he can. She did more steps than posing this week--much better (in spite of the god awful music they didn't get to choose).

I can't stand Kelly. I'm glad this isn't a popularity contest like AI. The judges will make sure she isn't the winner.

Love Evander's attitude (sob). But...I'm sure he's done great PR for himself here--by even getting anti-boxing people like me to love him.

John confirmed my suspicion that he's done lots of dancing in the past---i.e. NOT the tango. His lack of experience showed with this one, I felt. He was -trying- hard, but it just wasn't as "spot on" as the past two weeks.

In a way, that's good because it emphasizes that Jon's still got a big "beginner's challenge" to overcome when he gets out there at times, just like the rest of them.

And...Nice shout out to TWOP with the "Intro to the Dances"! Now, as someone said upthread, please please fix the music!

The judges continue to please.

I actually thought Rachel did a terrific job on the tango. I've watched tango performed in Argentina, and Rachel and Jonathan's movements were very reminiscent of the ones I have seen. And I agree with Carrie Ann what's-her-name, Rachel's lines are gorgeous.

John and Charlotte are very good. I thought their tango was very nice, but (and I think I may be the minority on this one), I enjoyed Rachel and Jonathan's tango more than their tango. Why, though, are they always the ones to get more "traditional" sounding music? Their song had a tango rhythm while Rachel and Jonathan were stuck performing to Britney Spears.

I also really enjoyed Joey and Ashly's performance. Yes, Joey needs to tighten up his moves a little bit, but I absolutely love his enthusiasm. If he has better control over his movements, I think he could truly be great.

Kelly is just not that great a dancer. She did improve from last week, but that is not saying much. I find her footwork and movements are still really awkward. Granted, she's doing great for being 3/4 deaf, but despite her popularity with GH fans, I really think she should be the next to go.

Does anyone in the Atlanta area know where the swing club he visited in the candid segment is? Or was it a dance studio that sometimes hosts a "club"?



I think it may be as much a reflection on what they did the previous week as this week. I'm guessing their numbers will be higher next week because the routine they did, combined with the fact that they came in next-to-last may help to pull them up. Rachel was almost eliminated last week but avoided it this week, probably because she did a better routine overall. I suspect that Joey, Rachel and John will be safe next week because they all gave fun performances.



Nothing to add on the female host, but during one of Tom Bergeron's early segments, did anyone else notice the guy seated just over his right shoulder who was reading along with the teleprompter? The camera moved off him fairly quickly, but it was pretty amusing none-the-less.



I think he's been concentrating more on his acting lately.

I missed the first episode and the first half of last week's repeat, so I don't have much of a node of comparison on previous performances. Still, I'm no dancer and even I can spot who's really doing well and who isn't. I'm not expecting Kelly to last much longer, unless she really has a huge fan base who's fanatically devoted to moving her forward. Her's was one of the performances I saw from last week and I did think she improved slightly, but I could still see breaks in steps and overall she just didn't seem as polished.

I'm rooting for John, Joey or Rachel at this point and probably John or Rachel overall. I like the fact that even though she's getting many compliments, Rachel is still worried about her performance.

I'm so addicted to this cheese-fest.

J Peterman and Charlotte are still doing great - I agree that they didn't quite flow as well as they did last week, but I still think they have the best overall package.

Joey is learning his lesson though - he finally looked like he was enjoying himself instead of just concentrating on the steps.

Rachel does have nice lines, of the female celebs, I definitely like her the best. Kelly just doesn't do it for me. She does okay, I just don't feel anything from her.

I will miss Evander's goofiness, but he deserved to go. He may be fun in the club, but he isn't a ballroom dancer.

I kinda hate the popular vote, because I would rather see this be between the ones who deserve to be there, not the people who get the pity votes. Kelly deserves to be the next to go.

This really should be between J Peterman and Joey.

Biggest snark of the night for me? The absolute huuuumoonguus sign in the "jive club" proclaiming it to be in actuality a FRED ASTAIRE DANCE STUDIO. The corporate sponsor for DWTS, at least on the web...Arthur Murray, Inc.

I seriously doubt that this is anything more than a "club" within a FADS, like Hobby Club at AMI...and is it really in Atlanta? Did they fly out to Atlanta to film a 30 second clip?



That was Anna Trebunskaya, Jon's wife & partner. She was supposed to be on the show, but her celeb wanted more $$$, so... Anyway, Tonja is brunette, taller, older and currently judges on the east coast.



Sorry to disappoint, but these clips were filmed weeks ago. I saw them or clips similar to them as part of one of the early commericals for DWTS.

Tonight's performances were better than the last week, surprising only because they had so much less time to prepare. Was it just me, or did Joey look way BETTER than Ashly?

I really liked Jon & Rachel's tango. Jon is doing a superb job of choreographing to her strengths and presenting her well. Similarly, I thought John & Charlotte did extremely well. Although he had a rough beginning, John really worked it out. His dance, IMO, was technically the most challenging of the night; it was chock full of difficult steps and tricky timings. Joey had great energy and presentation.

Kelly...sigh...it was better, but...(guilty sigh)...well, she's just...well...(please don't strike me dead).....awkward.

Zigletto, is there any way you can reveal who the greedy celeb was, or are you under some sort of confidentiality agreement? I'd love to know!

Thanks for making me laugh about 20 times over that snark barkley! If he were, we'd be "treated" to lots of lame shots of him styling the hair and flirting with the women. UGH.

I really liked the intro to the dances, it at least gave me some idea of what was expected. Plus it was nice to see 2 professional dancers doing what they do best.


zigletto, I can't let that go without at least giving it a shot and asking---who was the celeb partner? I'm intrigued.

---apparently travelerkaty and I have the same enquiring minds!

Unfortunately, the audience vote is the tiebreaker not the judges' votes. So, if Kelly/Alec come in first in the audience vote all season, they'll win - no matter how good or bad they are. Which sucks. Because if Kelly/Alec outlast Jonathan/Charlotte or Joey/Ashly, I'll be mighty annoyed.

I thought Joey's attitude (to get involved in helping Ashley with the -drama/presentation- aspect of the choreography) was so cute.

And his going for a WWII GI look was a great idea. I see why he and John feel competitive--they both really throw themselves into this--including trying to get a competitive edge with style/presentation. I like the attitude.

But would it have hurt TPTB so much to have helped Joey/Ashley "storyline" out with some genuine jive music that was actually played in WWII? They would have -really- gotten the crowd going if they had.

And John and Charlotte (again) got the most traditional music for their dance, which hardly seems fair (even if it was an -awful- version of "Fernando's Hideaway").

Do the producers have a philosophy that "old music = bad and boring music"? Because a lot of good recordings are in public domain (or could be had cheaply). Why not use them?

These people are working hard to give DWTS their best performances. They -deserve- the support of the best music!

"Toxic"? That says it all.

lol is that what really happened? On one dancesport gossip site it stated:

- Anna Trebunskaya (Jonathan Robert's wife) was to have been in the show but her celebrity became ill and they had to scratch.

Low bank accountitis?

*****
Interestingly the site also mentioned

- The Perils of Celebrity Pro-Am. Reportedly Louis Van Amstel suffered a hernia while training his celebrity partner, but is okay now.

ooook. possible tho, for a dancer who has never done proam to have to spend weeks logging trista around like a sack of potatos.


- Nick Kosovich was slated to possibly be the DanceSport judge on the judging panel. It turned out that Len Goodman from England, who was a judge on the English version of the show, was chosen instead.

wouldn't have minded he replaced the very much under-qualified carrie ann inaba.
Guess they wanted a woman for the "Paula" role...


- A lawsuit has apparently been filed by Hollywood producers Christie Jenkins and Steve Binder asserting that the premise for the show Dancing With The Stars was taken from a concept they originally pitched to the BBC and ABC in 1997.

A letter was printed on the site too, guess it's public info or the person just really want to get the word out...

I'm so glad I caught last week's repeat! Such a fun show, I'm an amateur dancer, so it's great to see ballroom in primetime.

It's a bit hard to compare the tango & jive performances because they're so different, but for me I would rank them:

1st Rachel & Jonathan:
Rachel has amazing lines, and great arm & back extension, very beautiful to watch. Her steps look solid, well-balanced and placed -- compare this to Trista & Kelly, and she has a classic point to her toes in all her movements. I enjoyed their tango tonight, I thought it was smoother than John & Charlotte's. It doesn't hurt that she is quite flexible. I would like to see better connection with her partner -- partly I think she doesn't completely trust her body yet or her partner, so she seems like she's thinking too much instead of developing chemistry.

2nd John & Charlotte:
The reason I place them 2nd is because there were some noticeable breaks in the smoothness of their performance, parts were they nailed it, then parts were John's heal lead looks awkward. I think this is what his partner was telling him earlier during practice, when he steps with his heal, he needs to extend his back on the ipsilateral side (same side as the foot stepping) backwards, not lean forward -- this would give him the extension instead of the hunch! Their connection though is definitely there, and I love how he defers to her instruction, such a sweet couple!

I think Rachel and John both needed more exagerrated, sharp head turns when transitioning from close to promenade positions.

3rd Kelly & Alec:
I place them higher than Joey & Ashley because I think they attempted more of a competition style Jive, the crisp sharp leg kicks that the judges were looking for. Kelly has great hip movement but her steps appear unbalanced. I understand where she's coming from though in asking for constructive criticism vs. just hearing that it's awkward or brittle. What I think they mean is that she seems always unsure or nervous with her steps, a hesitation in the mind leads to unbalanced steps, lack of follow though with the weight transfer. In ballroom, esp. Latin, you need strong legs, when you place your step, it needs to be solid, stuck to the floor supported by the contraction of leg muscles until your next step, and the weight transfer needs to be balanced over the supporting leg otherwise it looks wobbly. This was more obvious in the Rumba, but she improved in the Jive and she was really trying those leg flicks. Just needed more bend in the ankle and softer knees to give her the bounce her partner had. But for a week I think she did a fab job. I agree with one of the judges though that she needs to hear the music, she was looking too much at her partner for a cue. But I must say, they have smoldering chemistry, very sexy. Alec is hot.

4th Joey & Ashley:
While their performance was high energy, fun and would look great at a swing club, Joey needed to listen a bit more to his partner about technique. I think maybe that irked me a bit during their practice. That leg of his was hanging there and not really flicking, which comes from extending your knee, and that toe is definitely not even trying to point. Stylistically, he's legs and arms were loosely hanging -- like peeing on a hydrant, more big band swing, a little lindy, not competitite Jive. Joey listen to your partner a bit more, good technique and appealing to the crowd are both important facets! I do think he's a much better dancer than Kelly. He definitely hears the beat -- he is a singer, and can improvise and feel the music.

Evander & Edyta:
Poor Evander, I will really miss him. He's just such a big guy it's hard to move around. One of his big problems is that he tends to be back-weighted, distributing his weight mostly above his heel -- maybe because he is so top heavy, but this leads to a static look. To be more nimble and cat-like, and have a dynamic feel, he needs to distribute his weight more over the balls of his feet and move that weight forward over his pelvis when he steps, and activate those achilles tendon for some kinetic movements. He also always looks like his weight is distributed evenly between his feet, instead of doing a complete weight transfer.

And though she's gone, Trista's "I'm feeling uncomfortable, blah blah, I'm married" crap really irritated me. Get over yourself woman, it's a dance and you freaking chose to compete. Too bad since I wanted to see Louie dance. She didn't have Rachel's elegance and extension, nor Kelly's charisma and flavor, nor either girls' hip movement. But I do think she dances better than Kelly. But she sometimes looked very repressed, maybe it's the nerves, but she just needed to let herself go and enjoy the moment.

As for the judges, I think they had better constructive criticism this week, but everytime any one (Bruno or that lady) tries to give good technique advise they cut them off. Less flowery comments more advise! Maybe that's just not as entertaining to people watching. But I love the demo in the beginning.

Evander bent his ankles! Evander bent his ankles! When I saw that I was all ready to vote for him, and then he got kicked off the show. Awwwww. I loved him! He can't dance competition ballroom, since this show doesn't operate like a real dance competition anyway who the heck cares?

Kelly just annoys me. The costume designer is dressing her like a hooker, and I swear her hair ended up in her mouth this week. That said, her dancing has improved every week, so I can't totally hate her. And Alec seems to be getting the hang of how to choreograph for her. He's growing on me...you all should see him in a dance competition with Edyta sometime. Your heads will explode with the fabulousness of it all (especially if Jonathan is also there dancing with his wife Anya, whom zigletto mentioned). Anyway, Kelly was wobbling a lot less, and pulled off some respectable kicks-and-flicks (the hoppy leg swingy stuff that she and Alec were dancing side-by-side). I'm still not voting for her though.

John crossed the campiness line tonight with his hammy facial expressions and I was not amused. His dancing is great, though, but I wouldn't say that that Tango is his dance. He seemed more suited to the Quickstep. I hope he gets a Latin dance for next week. Actually, I guess people will be getting one of each? That would make sense. Oh, and the thought of seeing him in a Speedo of any color upsets me to the point where I'd consider voting for Kelly just to prevent it from happening.

Joey weirded me out tonight. Maybe it was the socks. Maybe it was the open-legged duck-butted jive. Still, I'd rather see him in the top three than Kelly, but I have the feeling either Rachel or Joey is going home next week. Given a choice, I hope it's Joey, just because I'm clinging to the hope that Rachel will triumph over Kelly in the end (but with John & Charlotte winning the whole thing).

I'm voting for Rachel this week, because I thought her presentation of the tango was better than John's (although from the neck down I liked his dancing better). The one thing that really bugged me was that at first her neck and head were okay, but then about halfway through the routine she dipped her head forward for a drag or something and then it never really recovered again and she danced the rest of the song with her head lolled forward. Jonathan did a good job with "Toxic," he seemed a bit dismayed last week to have been assigned it, but he's very creative and he put together something convincing that Rachel could actually pull off. Last week in the green room he mentioned that Rachel is shooting a movie and so their practice time for this week would be curtailed, so I'm even doubly impressed by what they've put together for this week.

Overall: so exciting! So fun! It makes me want to go dance!

BTW, I sincerely doubt that Ashly is pregnant.

BTW #2, Anya Trebuskaya's partner was named at one point, I'll see if I can dig it up. Unfortunately I can't remember who it is, but I'm bummed because (1) you all would have loved to see her dance, especially all you Edyta fans out there and (2) if he had stayed in, would the show have gone another week? I'm so sad at how quickly this is all going by.

Can anyone tell me what the "prize" is for the winners of this show? I've been watching for the last two weeks and no one's ever mentioned it. And I searched all over the ABC site and couldn't find any info which seems odd. I would think that the prize would have to be something pretty great for all of these celebs to be putting so much time and effort into their performances (of course, the media exposure is probably what most of them are after.)

This is probably old news to everyone else, but I was highly amused to read on the ABC site that judge Carrie-Ann (sp?) played Fook Yu in one of the Austin Powers movies. Hee! I thought that she looked familiar.

Does anyone know when last night's episode will be repeated? I had to skip it for Veronica Mars.

The thing that struck me was how Tom B kept interrupting the judges, with "okay, okay", as if to say--your turn is up, so shut up now. Which was really annoying because they would be in the middle of a good sentence, and then we did not get to hear all of what they planned to say. It is not like they were going to go on and on, it was clear they only had a sentence or two more to go, and I would much prefer to hear that then Tom's stupid jokes.

A trophy. They all got paid a lump sum to participate, but the prize is a trophy.
Just a small nit-pick, but it's actually Hernando's Hideaway. I agree that John and Charlotte's music has been the most suited to the dancing. I wish everyone had better music.

Was anyone else screaming with laughter at Kelly and her partner doing the "jive"? They looked like a cross between Pinocchio and a couple of hyper ponies prancing across hot coals.

Probably the funniest thing I've seen in a while.

ETA:
Mrs OldManBalls


Yeah, that was hot. I really liked their dancing the best last night, and loved the idea he was going for (jive as a "period" dance). However, Ashly's costume and their music could have been better suited for that. Something like "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", or even Squirrel Nut Zippers or Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

I don't think Kelly's hearing loss should be affecting her dancing. My mother is partially deaf in one ear and is a fabulous dancer. I think its just that some people "feel" music and others just hear it.

Also, I heart Alec, he's simply beautiful, reminds me of a darker Jude Law, yummy.

I'm really enjoying this show alot. I'm hoping TPTB decide to do another round. It could be a summer series every year. It's just perfect for this time of year.

Total WORD. She's beyond useless, and she must have done something truly horrific to the wardrobe people, because girlfriend hasn't worn a decent outfit yet. Her sloppy posture no doubt doesn't help.

I'm not much of a ballroom dancing fan but last night's episode was interesting. Joey is the only one worth watching or maybe he's the only one I recognize (other than Trista). I'd like to see him do the dance steps from The Right Stuff video before he's kicked off or the show ends but he seems to hate all things NKOTB. Heh, Trista's partner is a poor man's David Beckham. This show is a retread of The Lawrence Welk Show, what will be resurrected from the vault next? Sing Along With Mitch?

The music/band is awful (I felt like I was at one of those music video booths at an amusement park); that female host is awful (but fun to snark on); and I'm not a big fan of dance shows.

And yet.

Me and the missus are hooked. We watched for the first time last night and really enjoyed it. I cannot believe I can say I'm loving something with these "stars," but it's fun to watch. I agree with a lot of the posts here: we really like John and Charlotte and I thought Joey & Ashley did great last night. Kelly's partner Alec skeeves me out, but I don't hate them.

It took me a while to understand this voting/point system thingy but I think I have it now.



How jaded have I become with all of the million dollar prizes that my first thought was "a fucking trophy? That's it?" Heh. But that's kind of cool in some odd way.

I'd never heard of or seen Kelly before this, but yeah, I felt sorry for her. I'm too jaded to vote, but if I did, I'd give mine to her just because I think the judges have been unduly harsh. To my eye, she's simply not that much worse than Rachel. They both have different flaws, but I prefer Kellys' energetic trying to Rachel's elegant passivity.

It also occurred to me that Kelly's partner probably should think about toning it down a bit -- especially when they were side by side doing their steps facing the audience, he was so much better/crisper than she was that he actually made her look worse by comparison.

I realize that the professionals are also being judged and would be loathe to do anything that might detract from their reputations in the dance world, but let's face it, the show is about the "stars." I kinda think that the professionals' first obligation is to make their partners look good. Most of them have been doing a good job modifying the choreography to accentuate the positives, but sometimes the difference in the dancing itself is just too glaring.

Although...maybe it's good that the audience sees what the steps are supposed to look like so they can better evalaute the stars' performances. I dunno.

Kelly needs a friend to help her with her costumes. Honey, if you're doing the jive you need substantial support. I was so distracted by the bouncing bosoms, I could hardly notice how she was off the beat for 3/4 of the dance.

WORD, MiniDriver. I held my own chest and winced watching that. Totally distracting and ridiculous-looking. I bet it would have helped them overall quite a bit to tie those puppies down - they made her look even more out of place.

Joey's "John, I KNOW what you're up to!" had me squeeing. That's my funny Boston boy!! Was it my imagination or did he slip in a little NKOTB spin move in that performance? I laughed out loud. LOVE HIM.

I was pretty much in agreement with the judge's scoring last night. Really, Evander had to go - it was just painful to watch. Actually, the funniest part of the show to me was Kelly's face when they announced they'll have to do two dances next week. And speaking of that, I wonder if that's how they'll get around it being so much of a popularity contest. If they include the judge's rank for both dances, that means the audience votes end up counting for 1/3 rather than 1/2 of the score.

Joey clearing his partner's head impressed me almost as much as her trusting him to do it.

Yooge shout-out to oakgal, she totally called that last week!

I mentally renewed my membership to the Joey Mac Fan Club during his "rehearsal week" video. See that's what I love, he knows he's not a pro, so he's gonna bring what he knows - unabashed showmanship & pure fun. I'm willing to give him props for that because he pairs it up with some natural talent.

And it might be that Kelly is bringing the only thing she knows how, her sex'ual chocolate, but it seems different for her somehow. Or maybe I'm just insanely jealous of her body and I'm in Bittertown, pop. 1. But Kel, for the love, put your damn hair UP and another thing: sports bras - look into it. That, I'm sure I'm right about.

Rachel had gorgeous lines this week, she and Jonathan really nailed the slow deliberate steps of the Tango, with her legs and beautiful feet it really worked. I was focusing on that instead of the hideousness of her hair and dress. Just... what?

I almost had to watch it on mute. That must be the music they play in Hell. Hope Satan's not too pissed they're sampling his playlist.

The only reason I'm sad Evander got voted off is that I won't be able to stare, openmouthed, at Edyta's SLAMMIN bod anymore. Da-yum! She was inspiring.

Joey's baby blues on top of that uniform made me wish he was making movies a long time ago. Paul Newman era. (Newman's teensy, too - 5'9 or something). Go Joe!!

THANK YOU. I thought I was hallucinating when I saw that spin. Which made me regress to a 12 year old once again. I'm squeeing right along side you! Hee.

Was the Brian Setzer Orchestra busy? Because that would have rocked or at least made the jive music that much better. Or at had the band there perform "Jump, Jive and Wail."

And word to Rachel's hair. She's quite beautiful, but the hair takes away from it.

For some reason Alec last night looked like a slightly cleaner version of Kevin Fedeline. Where did the hotness go in one week?

I thought it was "Dance With Me" by Debelah Morgan, which is, IMO, a total rip-off (music-wise) of "Hernando's Hideaway".

She's AWFUL! I still don't know her name, so I refer to her as the 'Dunkleman.'



He totally did! He gave me a case of the giggles- silly G.I. Joey!

I was kind of annoyed at the way the pacing of the program ran last night. Sure they were down one couple so they had a lot of time to fill. Why does Bergeron feel the need to shut down the judges' comments like they're using up all the time in the world, so that Tom and that nutcase woman commentator can, instead, remind us 80 times about things they've already told us 170 times?

I'd much rather hear more extensive critiques of the dances than the mindless, aimless chatter of those two. I was actually flipping between this and the Sports Moms and Dads show on Bravo, unless there were dances or scores being awarded.

During Kelly's dance? I was waiting for the inevitable 'wardrobe malfunction'. Live show, and all that? It was certainly looking a little dangerous for her.

As an GH fan/hater, I do love Kelly. We GH fans like to imagine Michael Bernard's utter hatred of all the attention she is receiving.

BUT I do not want Kelly to win. I would prefer she beat out Rachel Hunter and after that she must go.

I love John but sometimes I think he needs to tone down the mugging for the camera.

Never though much of Tom, but I did like his snarkiness when his co-host repeated the same line on the teleprompter. I also appreciated his courtesy/kindness honoring Evander Holyfield's hard work.

I did enjoy some of the lighthearted trash tacking between John and Joey.

As for possible future contestents, how about Ian from last Survivor. He did particpate in dancethons at Penn State. Trouble would be find someone who would look ridiculous against his 6'7" height.

It was "Dance With Me" indeed. Always hated that song.

Eh. I'm thinking that Kelly's comfortable enough with her looks that she's willing to take that chance. On the other hand, all that bouncing has got to at least slightly interfere with trying to dance.

On the other hand, I don't think Kelly's all that comfortable with the way she's dancing, and her fiesty comments are probably her way of dealing with that self doubt. When I thought of it that way, it made me like her more.

Having said all that, I'm rooting for J. Peterman. He's good, working hard, and genuinely likeable.

Yeah, John and Charlotte danced to "Dance With Me", because the hubby and I LOVE "Hernando's Hideaway" and DWM totally took the music, just changing the words, not too unlike Gwen Steffani's "Rich Girl" using "If I Were A Rich Man" as a musical base, but using different wording.

The ladies looked okay, but I agree with the majority here_ put Kelly in something other than PastieWear! Yes, she's pretty, but Ashly was more covered and was still hot-looking, ignoring the Pepto pinkness of the outfit.

I also agree that it is John/Charlotte and Joey/Ashly's to lose. Those two couples are so much better that the other couples, no matter what I think of them. Yes, Kelly is improving and finally getting support from the judges. Yes, Rachel is lovely to watch and is able to do lovely extentions. Both ladies are just not as good as the J's. The guys got a teensy bit sloppy- John's weensy breaks and Joey's floppy legs- but their overall performances were so fun, I didn't mind it not being "perfect."

I am sadly thinking Kelly may not make another night opposite the "Love Goddess" (tm Bruno).

I hope they continue the explainations and example of the dances; that was a nice surprise from last night. *sigh* It's gonna be over too soon.

I LOVE this show - but by the end of the hour my muscles are all tense from preparing to cringe at someone's mistake or just really bad dancing (Evander? is that you?)!

Rachel has grown on me so much over the last two weeks because I really wasn't thrilled with her the first night. I think it was the dress. and the hair. But she really seems into the competitveness of it now. My vote's for her. And her partner's so cute.

LOVE John and Charlotte and Joey and Ashley. They're so much fun to watch.

Kelly is eh. I know she's trying but just eh. I seriously thought we'd see some boobs falling out of her costume right at the end of the dance. THAT would have been interesting!

Evander was definitely cringe inducing. He's so sweet but I really think there's some drain-bramage in there some where. But he tried!



Totally caught this! I found those people behind Tom VERY distracting! And then I saw them talking to someone behind and off to the right of Tom at one point and I was trying to figure out where that someone could be - on stage?

I'm going online and voting as many times as I can!

According to the people who design the ladies costumes, the stars don't have much say in their attire (I braved the ABC message boards for that tidbit).

Alec lost the hot with the scrufy beard, and the hat - that's what made him look Federlineish. Anything that reminds me of Federline is so not hot.

Evander & Edyta: This was just painful to watch. He was so lead-footed.

Rachel & Jonathan: She looked incredibly graceful and actually did dance steps.

Kelly & Alec: She improved this week as so many others have already stated. But their synchronization was off.

John & Charlotte: They did their usual bang-up job but there seemed to be some slight awkwardness last night. I am sure others here can better explain it.

Joey & Ashley: Their routine was lots of fun and I loved his WWII GI costume. It would have been great if her dress had put forth the same story. They really seem to go all-out and put lots of energy into but it seems somewhat uncontrolled.

My Rankings:
1) John & Charlotte
2) Joey & Ashley
3) Rachel & Jonathan
4) Kelly & Alec
5) Evander & Edyta

I was relieved to see Evander eliminated. While I appreciated his effort and attitude, he just wasn't doing it on the dance floor. I haven't decided who to vote for but it will most likely be John & Charlotte again.