When they waited to call Shawn and Mark until the last three my thoughts were going, "If they get eliminated, this season and I are done professionally!".

That being said... I have resisted liking Melissa because she feels like a ABC plant but she looked so sad today. :-( The looks on her and Tony's faces broke my heart. I will probably go back to being annoyed with her next week, though. I even felt bad for Chuck and Julianne but then he started talking...

Chuck is a jerk. Buh bye!

Did that really happen? No more Upchuck! Score! I am so psyched about that one. So happy that Ty outlasted Chuck.

I thought it was rather assy for Chuck to bring up Melissa's amazing fans saving her in his departure speech.

Okay give me a break. Chuck leaving was neither shocking nor dramatic.

I think they thought they could call it that cause Ty was safe. Anybody but Ty fit that definition.

Some baaaaaad sketch ideas tonight, but the performances for "PETA" were good.

I would like Tom NOT to stage manage what people are saying. If Chuck wants to talk about the team dance doing them in - LET him. Don't interrupt and lead him away from that. And Len shoveling a lot of bull. I like Tom being supportive, but in a sort of general way, not a judges suck way.

Yay! I was scared for Ty/Shawn/Melissa for a bit there.

What was up with the filler tonight? It was worse than some of the crap we get on SNL or an American Idol finale.

I'm so glad Chuck left. "I think the team dance did us in"? Really?


I could have done without seeing Derek sans his shirt.

So who thought TPTB were going to pull the old "NOBODY is leaving tonight" trick?

Okay, the Ballroom Dancers of Genius was the lamest filler yet.

I also thought it was hilarious that the judges used Lil Kim during the facial expressions bit, since we've been complaining about her expressions here.

Don't need an image of a naked Derek in my head, thank you very much. Wasn't I traumatized enough last night?

And finally, WOO HOO at Chuck's ouster. Although, 'most dramatic elimination' ever? Are you kidding me, show? When they started with that 'shocking!!!' crap, I actually started to get worried about Shawn, because IMO she would have been a truly shocking departure because of her fanbase. But I shouldn't have given TPTB that much credit.

Oh, goooooooood!

Okay, when they were recapping last night's dances and got to Team Tango, did anyone else notice Bruno picking up Ty's shirt from the judges' desk and sniffing it? ::g::

Watching Team Tango in the encore, it occurred to me that that team benefited from having both Cheryl and Derek as members. To me, they're the best choreographers in this lot of pros.

Understandable that Melissa wasn't included in that Genius Dancers comedy bit, interesting that Chuck was not.

No, show, Chuck went from 6s to 9s because, for whatever reason, you wanted to prop him up. CA is on crack, must be, to be feeling so much Chuck love.

Oh, so much yay! Yay! Ty is safe! Guess I'm gonna get my wish for a Shocking!Elimination, after all.

DanceMatch? Gads, they're getting desperate for filler. People for the Ethical Treatment of Dancers? Much better. Loved the difference in size between Derek's and Tony's mirror balls. LOL!

Yes! Chuck is gone! Okay, from here on out, I'll be cool with how the eliminations shake out. I'd prefer Lil' Kim to go before Ty, but, if not, I'll still be cool.

Aw, I felt bad for Melissa. She seemed really shaken up there at the end.

Goodbye Julianne. And your little dog too.

As much as I don't really care for Melissa, if she'd gone on this particular week I would've been pretty pissed. I'm just glad Lil' Kim is safe after her awesome paso.

On the pro side, I'm on Team Anna D

Robin Thicke sounded horrible and I'm not sure what to make of his dancing either.

Yay, good riddance and don't let the door hit you on your way out Yuckianne. I felt bad for Melissa, but I'm not sure that her staying is for the best interest of her body.

And double yay for Ty staying for another week. Good for him and Chelsie.

I totally called that bottom 2. It made perfect sense that Melissa would somehow be one of the last called since she had the lowest score of the night, making it easy for the audience to assume she'd be the one eliminated. With Chuck, he's probably been in the bottom 2 for awhile now but was always called earlier on in the elimination. That said, I'm happy that he's long way out of the competition.

Did anyone notice that Chuck wasn't in the parody about "giving up your real job to become a dancer"? (Or did I miss him? Surely I wouldn't have missed him...) I thought maybe that was a hint...but then he and Julianne showed up in that "Dance Match" crap. :(

Glad he's gone! Yee-haw! Only one more week of Ty, more than likely, but that's still one more week!

Glad to see Chuck leave. Honestly, all of the remaining five have their virtues, and I wouldn't mind seeing any of them win.

Also glad to see Tom smack Chuck down for the cracking on the team dance (although I agree that the team dance wasn't so hot). Par for the course for Mr. Wicks.

Of the pro dancers competing, I'd like to see it get down to Genya and Anna, with Anna winning.

Despite what I said earlier about fairness, I fully admit that I'm a hypocrite. Melissa can drop out midweek and I'd be fine with it since Chuck was the one eliminated. Not that I want Melissa to go. I hope she can continue on. But in that sense I won't be calling foul that someone was ousted on her behalf.

I love that the last two men standing are probably the two that were the last known coming into this season.

Dear TPTB: THANK YOU FOR PASHA AND ANNA! Would enjoy having them back again.

I loved this episode! I've never really heard of Alan Thicke but yeah, I'm diggin him! I think one of the better live performances this season.

LOVED the Samba in yellow with Dimitry, Tony, and Alec! I actually clapped at the end!

I will admit that the music has shown a marked improvement this season. Not as many weird tango/paso songs anymore and a noticeable reduction in the cringe-factor at my house.

The end - by far the most tension I've felt this season. Tony almost cried yesterday and I think Melissa had a couple chin quivers there. I really did feel sorry for Tony especially. I've also fallen in love with him this season.

Liked that the show starts off immediately with dancing. No chatting or whatever it is that Samantha is employed to do with the mic.

This episode reaffirms my addiction.

Helluva show tonight! Woo!!! So many good things happened.

1. Anya and Pasha showed up! Woo! Not sure what was happening with Anya's hair and I've seen the blue dress too many times already (retire it Anya!), but having them on made my heart sing. Too bad that guy was singing in the background and "dancing" and taking up too much camera time.
2. Anna and Mayo made it through, danced and wiped the floor with the other two. It wasn't even close. Please, I want them to advance. They are so much better. Ashly's sister isn't even that good. And her personality is already bothering me.
3. Pro dance NOT involving Julianne! Yay!! The return of Kym and Dmitry. Woo!
...and best of alll....
4. CHUCK IS GONE!! FINALLY. Only 3 weeks late. But he's gone. He's gone! And Julianne is gone. I already feel better.

Happy days.

Sketch wise, I admit I did laugh during the first one. That SNL type parody singing always does me in. And the PetD one was funny.

Chuck is gone! Hee hee...yay!!

First *YAY* Melissa is safe!! *jumps up and down*

WaltzinSpringTm you were right, Ty was called safe early was spot on. He was called second tonight in comparison to the last few weeks of waiting till the end.

Also no way will I believe that Melissa was B2, one she and Chuck were left I knew Chuck was a goner. Melissa and Tony also looked scared as all hell, that was a bit mean on the producers side. Glad I split my votes last night.

So far the eliminations have been appropriate, and now its gonna be hard because I like everyone left.

Love Mayo and his partner, their Jive outshined the Quickstep by a mile. I thought Genya was a bit off in the Quickstep.

ETA: PASHA!!! and I still find it funny that Mr. Seaver (Alan Thicke's) son Robin is an RnB singer

Well I'm shocked. I figured Melissa was a goner and if she miraculously didn't get eliminated I was sure it would be Ty.

Buh Bye UpChuck. You were an ass right up until the end. And here's hoping we don't have to see Julianne anymore this season either.

I'll be okay with Ty being eliminated next week as long as they keep him around for commentary. Love him.

Samantha did get off a good one though - when Anna (Anna?) kind of smiled and said that what she looks forward to in training the celeb is sharing her world with someone new to it. And Samantha said it's getting like a pageant back here.

I give her a point for that, especially her delivery, which was brisk but chipper.

Yay! Chuck is gone and Ty stays! All is well in my world!

ETA: AND I got to see Anya and Pasha again! Can it get any better?

OMG, it's Pasha. I long to see Pasha dance w/ Lacey and Dmitri dance w/ Anna.



Wow, I thought that was so gracious to say that her fans counteracted lower scores. It was a compliment. He knows from Julianne how many votes it takes to turn around a lower judge score.

And Tom was right about Chuck coming out of his comfort zone and getting pretty good at dancing.

Ty , as much as I love him, needs to be the next vote out, if Melissa can keep on dancing. If Melissa can't , then Ty can stay.

Thank you WaltzinSpringTm. You told me it would be like this. I will never doubt you again.

Bye Chuck. Go off and be wondrously happy with Julianne and sing sweet songs together. Somewhere far, far away....

I would have been gutted to see Melissa go home, but I think the network would have had to put Tony on suicide watch.

As much as I wanted Melissa to stay, I would have hated to lose Ty or Lil Kim, and if we had lost Gilles someone would have to put me on suicide watch.

Man, did I laugh. And then, I was jealous.

Loathed that singer guy and his songs. Loathed the yellow dance which just looked sloppy and frenetic. Wasn't that impressed with Pasha and Anya either (both of whom I love from SYTYCD). They were on stage for all of 15 seconds in 2 different shifts and Pasha was making guppy faces as if he was Mark of 2 seasons ago. Yech.

Changed allegiances TOTALLY from Anna to Afthon [or whatever her silly name is].

Liked the PetD ad.

And Upchuck is gone. Ding, dong the witch is dead.

I figured Shawn was safe, no matter what Tom said. She would be the only real shocking elimination and not seeing that happening. If it did happen tonight, I'd be done with the show. Especially after a rough dance for her. Watching that short clip of her samba tonight, she was dancing while it looked like Mark was having a seizure next to her with his overdancing. Poor girl. While I hated seeing Shawn wait it out a bit, I was so happy for Ty. He was called safe second!

The fake ads were lame, but I agree with waltz, that at least the spoof-PETA ads were acted well. Though I could have done without the shots of Tony, Mark and Derek. Though the audience seemed to enjoy the shots of Tony and Derek.

Ugh, teevee, agree with you completely. I thought he'd leave with class but then he started talking.

I am on Team Anna for the pro dance competition. But I would like to write in Anya and Pasha. I am looking forward to seeing which celebs will be participating in the next week. If the show was mean, they would give them the Kenny Maynes and Tucker Carlsons. I am not impressed by the DelGrosso sister and hope she's eliminated.

What did Bruno say to Melissa at the end there, when they did the tedious and pointless "let's ask the judges what they think about the two couples before we announce who's leaving" thing? We were flipping back and forth between this and the infuriating Bulls/Celtics series (with officiating as shady as DWTS judging), and I came back right as Bruno was winding down and Melissa looked teary-eyed. What was up there?

And Chuck? Yeah, bye now. I can't believe we actually have a season where the final 5 couples are my favorite 5 couples. I'm stunned. How the hell did that happen?

Robin Thicke, Alan Thicke's son.
I would not want to see Alan Thicke sing on this show, but Robin does bring the pretty. Altho , when Pasha is dancing, Robin should stop.

HAPPY DAY! Good riddance, UpChuck, and your girlfriend, too. Now here's hoping she means what she says about not coming back next year because after this season I've had it with Miss Hough and her sense of entitlement. Chelsie Hightower can take over the young-perky-blonde role just fine.

KerleyQ, he got all inflamed that Melissa was in that position (fake bottom 2) and pretty much started yelling at the audience/viewers that she is one of the best dancers the show has ever had and she shouldn't be up for elimination. It was stupid because everyone knows she wasn't really bottom 2 (yeah right), it was just for drama. Calm down Bruno!

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but when it was down to the final two couples did Samantha say - "we will now reveal, in no particular order, who is safe and who is going home." wft!?!? There were only two couples left! One couple is safe, the other is going home! There is no order, it is one or the other! What the hell is wrong with her? How much are they paying her for this?

Chuck is finally gone!!!!! I cannot believe I don't have to watch that smarmy grin anymore!! It also helps that I am not a country music fan and I don't ever have to see his face again.

Did Robin Thicke's backup singers actually, you know, sing? Wasn't impressed with his singing, but did love the reappearance of Kym, Dmitry, Edyta and Alec.

Cringed at the DanceMatch "ad" (so saccharine!) but liked the "I'd rather be naked" PetD ad.

Was happy for Ty & Chelsie being called safe early and happy for Melissa and Tony in general--Tony's looked so sad the past two days. Didn't think that Chuck's elimination was especially shocking.

Liked everyone in the pro competition tonight.

On to next week!

I too caught Bruno sniffing Ty's shirt. I laughed so freaking hard at that. The little PETA like ad was cute and I loved the Real men of Genius spoof. When Tom said the results were shocking and dramatic I thought Gilles/Cheryl were gone for sure. I'm so happy they are still here. It was Chucks time to go.

I thought the exact same thing! I didn't really notice it last night, but I watched for it tonight in the recap, because so many people here had talked about it. Good lord. Those head shakes probably gave the boy a headache, he was doing them so hard!

Ok, I am not joining team Mayo and Anna. Last week, Mayo made some comment about how he had to change how he danced because he was dancing "for the public", and this week Anna did it. What, are we not smart enough to figure out dancing if you do it "the right way"? Just dance. We'll keep up.

I didn't vote at all last week, this week I voted for Genya. Last week, he kind of came off like a jerk, but this week he settled down, and if Alec is his brother (which would make Edyta his sister in law, right? Unless I've got the wrong Alec), he's got talent, pedigree, and premade connections to the show, and in the world of ABC, that's a knock out of the park!

Bye, Chuckles! *waves*

I was shocked. I fell for their machinations, if they were machinations. I never thought Julianne and her real life boyfriend would go this early. I thought they were going to be a big golden couple for this season, hell or high water.

Anyway, I'm glad they left with some class. I'm mostly just glad they left.

I am happy both Kim and Ty stayed. I know I shouldn't call Kim an underdog with the generous scores she gets, but I do see her that way at the moment.

This is my favorite top five ever! I know it's probably going to be difficult from here, and I'll probably be in for some disappointments, but it's so nice to see five talented and nice and engaging people make it to the end. I never thought it would happen.

I think it might have shocked the judges.

I still have a soft spot for Julianne, thanks to her amazing season with Apollo, but Woo! They are gone.

ITA that anyone who wins this one now will please me. I like them all for different reasons.

You heard correctly, Finley. She's brilliant. Oy.

Didn't Alan Thicke sing the theme song for "Different Strokes"? I did wish Robin stopped singing when Pasha danced. Love you Anya, but please retire that blue dress. Please! I agree. They are the best choreographers and know how to work to celeb strengths. To me, they know how to get it done and that is one of the reasons why they are pretty successful on this show. Loved team tango tonight and it looked cleaner than last night. It was also the first time Lil Kim did not have that open mouth (as much) in a dance.

I heard this too and was like.... "???" I knew someone on the boards would mention this lol

Me too. As soon as he and Cheryl were called safe, I could turn off the TV. Which I didn't. He's the only one I *really* care about, but I am pretty satisfied that Yuckianne are gone.

I am so glad Ty was safe! Though, to be honest, if everyone does their best next week, he would probably be the weakest of the pros. If he gets voted out next week, can he take over Samantha's hosting duties, please?

It is really weird to have a Top 5 where I genuinely like everybody, not to mention one where they are all pretty decent dancers to boot. I feel like there is always somebody to root against and from here on out I think the eliminations will be tough. Ty, as much as I love him, I don't think he should win. But I fully support him making it at least this far and for sure I support him outlasting Chuck. I would be fine with any of the other four winning.

I know! My husband said the same thing, I was too busy peeing my pants of laughter of her stupidity.

I mostly agree spanana. I prefer some celebs over others bu like them all. Even if it is for different reasons. They each need to bring their A game, next week. The next show should be great if they all do.

ETA: It's best to just ignore Samantha during these shows. I tune her out so I miss any stupidity.

Once DAG and Woz and Denise were gone, it became a competition where I liked everyone a little and some people a whole lot.

OMG, did I get Alec, Dmitry and Pasha in one hour.

Wonder who the former celebs are that are coming back to work w/ the prospective pros.

Chemistry wise, Alec and Edyta still are the sizzle, but Mayo and Anna made the jive sexy.

Ding dong, the Chuck is dead! Even a hurt Melissa is 1,000 times better than watching that jerk.

Hurray for an Anya and Pasha performance. I wonder if they've ever been considered for being one of the pros.

Robin Thicke wasn't very good.

Neither were Afton and Genya. Genya looks like a deformed freak. And his dancing isn't much better.

Anna and Mayo completely DESTROYED Team Baby Sibling. I want them to move on, especially Anna. We have enough short pros already.

I gotta add my 2 cents...I thought the exact same thing. I am sure it is a situation where she just says the same wording all the time, so she said it without thinking. But that just goes to prove what a Stepford-bot she is. Very pretty, but adds very little to the proceedings. I am still voting for them to bring Drew back as Tom's sidekick. Those were good times.

GoldenWoman, I was nervous for Gilles since he was the last of team tango called safe. Phew!

Word. For me, now that Chuck is gone, each results show will be sad. I do like all five remaining celebs including Melissa who I was lukewarm to at the start. Now if Ty outlasts Shawn for some reason, then I'll be a bit irked despite liking Ty.

Surprisingly of the pros, I like all most of them. Of the ones I don't care for, it's indifference or they may annoy but it is not enough to make me want that celeb eliminated next either. I see Shawn winning this in the end so the order of the elimination does not matter as much to me at this point. I just didn't want to see Ty or Lil Kim leave before Chuck. But I am still hoping for a Gilles/Melissa final 2. Melissa impressed me with her attitude and loving Tony this season. On dance, I think these two would be the closest final 2 since Joey and Apolo.

I like all of the celebs remaining but there are still some pros left who I either don't like or don't care about, so now I'm basing my feelings on that, lol. (Completely aside from who deserves to win the show.) I'm surprised but based on likability, I'd prefer to have Melissa/Tony win over Gilles/Cheryl. It's surprising because I never would have said that prior to the season since Tony annoyed me so much. He still does to a degree, but I'm over Gilles and Cheryl at this point (although I won't be pissed if they win either). Out of everybody remaining I'd rather Lil Kim and Derek get cut next, even though I know that it should really be Ty and Chelsie.

Anna & Mayo >>> Afton & Genya

First impressions tend to stick, so I still think of Genya as a dick.

If they're paying her anything other than a handful a peanuts, they're paying too much.

Another poster mentioned that she did get one small funny in today - her "pageant" remark to Anna. So that's 1 in her favor and approximately 527,000 against.

Happy to see Chuck gone! I just hope Melissa is able to remain in the competition now so that people don't complain about Yuckianne unfairly leaving early. Because you know that's coming up in their exit interviews.