Whoo, finally a Hough free semi-finals!

I am not surprised but NOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Lil Kim probably did bring in some new viewers. I know people who would not watch DWTS at all but did this season because of her and love it now. Ty has the samba next week and I am thinking it will be failtastic.

The semifinals would be so much better with her in it. Pout.

Dude, totally called that elimination. Well, sort of. :P I knew that Ty had a decent chance. So I wasn't shocked, at least.

Damn. That was surprising. I knew I would be sad to see any one of the five pairs go tonight, but I really did expect it to be Ty. His face at the end was like "holy shit, how am I still in this thing?!"

YAY!!!! Ty is still here!!!!

And an even bigger WOO to a Hough-free semi-final! Bout damn time!

Dee! Marty! Nick! Travis! Taja! Love it, didn't expect to see y'all here!

w0w, Ty stays and Lil goes home, that was really shocking to me. Both Ty and Chelsie looked nauseous about it.

Is it Anna? of the pro-dancer of next season competition? She should take it, she was a great teacher, she's tall and she's gorgeous.

Damn, I love Ty.

I love Ty, he is the cutest bad dancer ever, but I feel bad that Lil Kim got kicked off, and I think Ty felt bad, too.

Lil' Kim was fucking robbed.

I love Ty, but he can't hold a candle to her dancing. She was a contender for the crown, IMO, & there is no way she should be leaving tonight. Ty or Shawn should've hit the bricks tonight.

This is wrong on so many levels. I'm so pissed.

Okay, seriously? The hell is wrong with people? Are they just trying to stick it to Len? Ty in the finals?!?!! He is such a crap dancer compared to the other four. I suppose this is what I get for not voting this week.

You've got to be kidding? Ty over Kim?

Hmm... at least I enjoyed Anna's dance with Maurice. Very nicely done. Mayo's still too much of an ectomorph for my tastes, and what was up with the orchestra *slowing down* "Walking on Sunshine"? (For the quickstep yet!)

"The biggest star ever on the dance floor." Shades of "Solid Gold."

Not looking forward to Ty in the semis next week. It really should've been Kim, Shawn, Melissa and Gilles.

What the hoo hah hell? I'm so done with this show and its stupid voters.

GAD. ZOOOKS. Lil Kim leaves and Ty stays on?! I am truly shocked at this moment. Sad to see Kim go, but clearly America loves Ty, which I have no problem with.

The pro-celeb dances were fun but all I could think was they went really easy on them with the music. Which I guess was fair but all I could think was yeah, you can choreograph a samba to Hips Don’t Lie or a tango to actually tango music; wait until they give you a Britney Spears tango or whatever that crap was they gave Maks this year for the samba. Or a paso to Thriller.

Sad to see Lil Kim go but not really surprised, her fan vote numbers on the sites have been low for weeks. I think all the eliminations are going to be sad from here on out.

Watching Melissa in the encore, I got a very Fran Drescher as The Nanny feel, what with that big white smile and big hair.

Show, you totally had me going trying to figure out who you thought was the "biggest star ever" on DwtS.

Y'know, I'm not surprised it was Lil' Kim, nor am I sorry. I don't dislike her, but I just love Ty a lot more. And, honestly, I've never found her dancing all that entertaining. (Sorry, Tom B.!) Her footwork was frequently off, more noticeably so than the other celebs. (Longer skirts can be a good thing, Derek.) Someone in the performance thread mentioned her stop and start action, like she was trying to remember the choreo, and I totally see that too. I suspect Lil' Kim peaked a couple weeks ago, and maybe Ty has, too, but I also suspect Ty's fanbase hasn't, that it's just kept growing and growing. I'm glad it's him who made it to the semi-finals, so we have him one more week, but no, he shouldn't make it to the finals, not based on dance.

All I have to add again is...

If Ty does not get eliminated next week and it's Shawn my response I will break dishes.

Lil Kim was definitely shocked. I just watched her reaction, again.

Although I was somewhat surprise that Lil Kim is the one to go, the idea of Ty staying wasn't far fetched. He does have a bigger fan base than her and their scores last night weren't too far apart that he couldn't have made it up with votes.

I guess we can all skip next week and look forward to a Melissa, Shawn and Gilles final. I love me some Ty and he has shown great improvement and willingness to work hard, but he's just not good enough to go up against those three. I was shocked to see Kim go and Ty stay, heck, even Ty and Chelsie were shocked.

Not surprised that Lil Kim went tonight. She is fun to watch but Ty is an audience favorite and fun to watch it. Their final dance was fun, an actual fun and I have a feeling their freestyle might have been fun. I wish I got to see Cheryl and Derek do a little dancing, as it appeared to be happening after their hug.

I like the Houghs and bummed not to see one of them in the semi-finals. Though they have pretty dominant but we did have season 6, a Hough-free semi-finals. Mark looked pretty bummed and surprised to see Derek go.

Anna FTW for the pro dance competition. Lisa is as annoying as I remember her on season 2. Mayo lost me on the costume choice (if that was his choice).

Dancecenter was funny. I particularly liked Ty described as being made of wood in his notes. I have noticed the weird facial expressions and mugging Mark's been doing off the dance floor, but seeing the clips on dancecenter, I reminded how freaky they do look.

Could Macy's have found a bigger star to remind people they are the sponsor? Eh, not even Travis could safe that dance for me.

Well, I love Ty, so glad he was top 5...but he shouldn't be top 4.

I wanted Kim in the top 3.

Gotta say, though, she went out with class, and really shocking...Derek went out with class! Color me surprised...

I hope Ty doesn't receive an American Idol type backlash. Yes, Kim's a better dancer, but her dancing had ceased to entertain me.

DanceCenter was kind of eh, as it's been for the past couple of seasons. They didn't even hit Kim's face, or Tony and Melissa's identical smiles. And if Chuck in tights wasn't enough last week, Len had to take off his shirt. What's next?

Er...I actually found Cody kind of hot tonight. He looks like he's grown a couple of inches. His eerie resemblance to Ellen DeGeneres was gone. I could do without Aftan, though.

I'm glad I missed Lisa Rinna's season.

Mayo is nice enough, but Maks, Tony, Jonathan, and Dmitry fill the height requirements quite nicely.


ITA, Fellaway, every word. I don't think Ty will make it to the finals, but I doubt Kim would have either, so it's all good.

I think the people who were the most shocked at Lil' Kim's elimination were Ty & Chelsie. They both looked as if they were fully expecting to be gone this week. Chelsie looked as if she was about to cry after they called Lil' Kim and Derek's names.

It really surprised me that LK & Derek are gone. Really, really didn't expect that result.

Careful Herky, that's what I thought about this week. TY??!! Sure he's a nice guy, but is dancing is not much better than Billy Ray. I'm having PTSD flashback just thinking about his wretched excuse for dancing.

Knew it would come down to Ty and Lil Kim, but as much as I love Ty, Lil Kim is a better performer. Sometimes Ty is a good dancer, but his stiffness and robotic movements (brought to mind by Kenny M.) hamper his performance. Love him enough to worry that he may not look good compared to the others.

Dance Center brought it all. "Sex on a stick" for Gilles. he he . Lil Kim has worked her ass-ets. Subsituting Tony as the "bad guy" in Melissas's life with clever clips. Not so much on Shawn, just that she was little than LK. Ty's dance music replaced by "robot music." I also love Kenny dissing Len. And the three of them stripped of their shirts in a tribute/contest with Gilles. Fun stuff.

No more Macy's acrobatics.

I don't care for Afton, but she brought it with Cody.
Mayo also did really well with Lisa. Hated her costume though.
Although I like Anna alot, she and Maurice were less polished IMO.

Skipped the singer but I had the feeling he was going to butcher Frank Sinatra. So just as well

NOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!


Lil'Kim was robbed!!!


but alas, thats the nature of the show.


Just. Darnit. Ty is NOT a good enough dancer to be in the final four. Lil'Kim was fun to watch (except these last two) I always looked forward to seeing her dance :(

I DID love her exit speech though. See Chuck? THATS HOW ITS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE! For someone who I thought was a bit raunchy before the show, she showed so much class and grace during the show that it completely changed my mind about her, now I'm a fan. :)

I'm not at all surprised in that I think Lil Kim has been barely hanging on in the viewer vote for weeks, but I actually feel bad for Ty because I think the backlash is now coming. The judges will likely be ruthless on him next week (unless they go the route of trying to lull his fans into submission) and the media will probably have a field day with another "shocking" elimination.

Of the pros, I'm still on the anyone but Afton train. However I think I'd prefer Anna. I have nothing against Mayo, but he's so tall and skinny I think it's going to be hard to pair celebs with him. The visual will just be off.

So Ty's still in this thing, huh? I predict next week the judges will score him way below the rest of the pack to get some distance that his fanbase won't be able to overcome. If he makes it to the finals over Shawn, there will be hell to pay.

ITA, Chelsie looked shocked, too.

I wasn't surprised Ty stayed, but if this compeititon were actually based on dancing, Ty definitely should've been the one to go.

Nevertheless, Lil Kim handled the elimination with class and dignity. Loved the way Derek twirled her around at the end. That was lovely.

I thought the pro competition was good, with Anna/Maurice being the strongest, then Afton/Cody. Mayo and Lisa really weren't in sync. I thought theirs was definitely the weakest.

OTT, and borderline cruel, showing the Genya elimination again.

Tony and Melissa's samba encore was great, better than last night's IMO.

Macy's Stars of Dance with "the biggest star ever" ::chuckle, chuckle:: was all kinds of lame. For a moment, TPTB faked me out and I thought Coldplay was actually performing.

Wow, that DanceCenter sucked too. Aside from being unfunny, I thought it was bizarre that each celeb at least got some positive commentary, and all they did for Shawn was focus on Mark's weird expressions and that bizarre chipmunk embrace (which was probably some kind of mating ritual). Mark/Shawn also didn't get any confessional or backstage clip, when all the others did. WTF?

That "I Get a Kick Out of You" number, complete with cocaine lyric, was the fastest quickstep ever. I thought the sancers were going to pass out. The musician is obviously talented, but...meh. I like Sinatra's version better, I guess.

I'll join you teevee, but I am confident my dishes are safe next week. I noticed Derek didn't look too surprised but Lil Kim sure did. Yeah, she peaked but I still find her entertaining to watch dance. I think 4th was her proper placement but I called her leaving 5th a few weeks ago. She probably came in with a small fan base and gained some traction but nothing like Ty. Also, I have noticed like Mario 2.0 in season and with Toni last season, but I just don't think R&B stars or rappers do well on the show. Master P doesn't count :p

Ty staying over Lil Kim though will probably get all the top 3 celebs' fan bases voting next week.

Yay! I sort of thought Ty had a chance to outlast Kim but I refused to get my hopes up too high. She just wasn't connecting with people in the same way he was even though she had some killer moments. The trouble was that in between those killer moments she was just kind of...there.

I though all along I would have been happy for Ty to be top 5 but I realized last night that I really didn't want him to go. He's not the reason I started watching the show this season but he is the reason I continued to watch. Chelsie said a few weeks ago that she really wanted to do the VW and if I'm right now she will get here chance. That makes me happy. I'm sure next week is the last gasp for them so I will just mute the judges and enjoy my extra week of Ty and Chelsie. I don't think Ty will go down without a fight though. During his interview footage before his AT he said that he didn't win 9 world championships by relying on luck and that he was going to give it all he had because he hates to lose. That was a whole new level of intensity from him that I haven't seen on this show before. He's going to leave it all out there on the floor for sure.

While I didn't think she'd win the whole thing, Lil Kim was my favorite dancer to watch this season (although I do like all the couples left). I'm disappointed to see her go. And as much as I adore Ty and his work ethic, I would have felt better if he'd gone home tonight and LiK had at least made the semis.

Ah well, each season must have its shock elimination.

I didn't really think Ty looked shocked at all. Christie put on a shocked face, but not Ty.

I think anyone who has watched this show before knew there was a very, very good chance of this happening. I was actually shocked that Ty was in the bottom two.

I didn't think Maurice's tango was that great, although I would like Anna or Mayo to win. I liked Cody's samba the best, but I really don't care for Afton at all.

ITA with this, especially since one of the lists I read is already welding the pitchforks mob mentality against Ty. Lil Kim lost me the week when her Jive was massively, massively overscored, and ever since then, I just think she's plateaued and it's not fun to watch. Meanwhile, Ty keeps entertaining me from week to week. The same thing goes for Cheryl and Giles as of late. They just don't do it for me anymore, and I'm hoping that Melissa and Tony win.

I'm thrilled that this year's finals are going to be Hough-free! I think both D&J could take a break next year, and nothing would really happen to the show.

I was relieved that they used the Coldplay version of Viva La Vida instead of letting the house singers have at go at imitating Chris Martin.

I'm not too disappointed with Lil Kim being eliminated, it was basically a toss-up between someone that has natural dance ability yet doesn't put in the reahearsal time necessary and someone with 0 dance ability but a good work ethic. I like Ty but he should go next week. He likes to say that the others can outdance him but they won't outwork him but to be honest, everyone that's left seems to be putting in their maximum effort and they are better dancers. I'm including Shawn because it's not her fault there's a law limiting her practice time.

I'm bummed. I like Ty a whole heck of alot, but I am with Bruno. Like-ability does not equal ability.

The only freestyle I would look forward to is Cheryl Homewrecker and Gilles. I am sorry it will be Lil Kim and Derek-less, I found her charming. Boooooooooooooo! I am having a bad reality week!

To the poster who said that Melissa looked like Fran Drescher, thank you! I was trying to figure out who she looked like. That is soooo true.

I gotta say that Jamie Cullum did a good job. My husband is a musician and he was impressed with Jamie's piano playing. Also, that was the fastest quickstep I have ever seen, but it worked.

I love Ty, but I think Lil Kim was eliminated too soon.

So, who was the 'biggest star ever on the show'? Because I must have missed it.

eta, I love me some Jamie Cullum and Melissa did look like the Nanny! Thank you to the poster who said that, it's spot on looks wise.

Well, that was not surprising. Frankly it just confirms what I've been thinking for a while--Kim was propped up with high marks to counterbalance low votes. She finally fell low enough with marks that her departure was unavoidable. She seems nice and I enjoyed her somewhat, but I can't really remember her dances well. Except for the NotJive Jive and the Diamonds-Are-A-Girl's-Best-Friend dance, the rest just blend together. Ty may not be great, but I can remember more of his dances. Not always for a good reason, but memorable nonetheless. Plus, I think he's very likable and that goes a long way on this show. Chelsie doesn't hurt, she's made a good impression.

Loved seeing Dance Centre make a return appearance. I had no idea Kenny was so pale! Wow. Nice tat, Len!

Jamie Cullum was pretty good. I actually enjoyed the mix of his performance and the pro dancers (who were terrific).

Pro Competition: Just hire Anna already. Seriously. She is getting all my votes. I love her. Mayo's dance was kind of a mess and Lisa Rinna needs to get over herself. As for Afton---no, just no. NO.

Macy's Stars of Dance was notable only for Travis Wall's appearance. Nice to see him again. I think I spotted Nick too (unfortunately), but I was too focused on Travis. Now someone book Danny on the show already!!

Ooh, I almost forgot: I was happy to see Gilles/Cheryl announced safe first. Yay! I was able to relax after that and enjoy things.

You did, and Denise Wall's student Taja Riley - and I swear Allison Holker as well - but I could be on crack. ;)

Oh, but that was the best season, in spite of Lisa! Drew....



Yes, that's the way I see it, too. A fair argument can be made that Lil' Kim is a better dancer than Ty in some regards, but I'd argue that Ty is better in others (for me, first and foremost, entertainment value). Neither are on the same levels as Gilles, Melissa or Shawn, though, so Lil' Kim before Ty or vice versa, as you say, it's all good.

I am not at all sad or sorry to see Lil Kim go as I have never liked her and I too an Woo Hoo for a Hough Free semi-finals.

What was the Macy "Stars of Dance" number, I missed the intro.

Shakira and Wyclef should cut a bitch. Good God what did they do to Hips Don't Lie/Dance Like This?

Thought the judge's critique was unnecessarily dismissive of Cheryl's work with Maurice.

I did forsee this elimination. Remember that Marie Osmond made the finals. Ty could make it into the finals and I think that is wrong. The final 4 should have had Lil Kim in it. I personally didn't want her to win but as someone who believes this is a dance competition I think Lil Kim deserved to stay over Ty despite people's emotional reaction to Ty. I would have no trouble giving him an award for nicest guy or something but this is as wrong as giving Lil Kim a bullriding award.

I swear give me a few months to lose some weight so I'm a little more flexible and even I could have performed the Macy's dance number and I have ZERO dance training. WTF?

Did anybody else get the feeling that Chelsie and Ty were still waiting for the results until they saw Derek and Kim hug each other and make for the stairs? They looked about as stunned as I felt.

Anna FTW on the pros. Not that I'm actually voting but I hope America doesn't hire Afton and while Mayo is likeable enough I'm just not feeling him. I blame Lisa Rinna.

Best scene of the night? The cut to Jerry, Kenny and Len topless. Bwahahahahaha

Oh, thanks. So I wasn't imagining it! I didn't see Allison, usually I can spot her hair. ;)

Ty should have left this week. He's adorable, likable, yadda yadda, but he should have left this week. But I expected this for a number of reasons. It's just the way it is.

That giant star on the dance floor. Yes, corny but that's DWTS.

Now a dance with Travis and Danny would save any Macy's performance.

The show will be fine with a Hough-free finals as there was one in season 6. But I really want Cheryl and Derek in the finals at the same time one of these seasons. I knew it would not happen this season but throwing it out there in hopes it happens. They are the two best choreographers IMO and would love to see what they could do competing against each other in that round.

Lil Kim is entertaining, but she did peak a few weeks ago. Her paso was good last week but her best dances were earlier in the competition (AT, quickstep, jive-lite). Len actually looked pretty disappointed. I figured Bruno would be because he along with Carrie Ann have said how much they love her, but I never thought Len quite warmed up to Kim.

Kenny, please put your shirt back on.

I am not surprised that Ty is still in it or might even go to the finals. I have been talking to people who never watched this show before but are big rodeo fans. They now watch and vote and there are alot of them out there I think. It isn't all that unprecendted to get a so-so dancer in to the finals. Jerry Rice beat out that really tall blonde chick and he wasn't much of a dancer at all. Sometimes attitude and a willingness to try go a long way with audicences.

I wasn't truly shocked that Lil Kim was voted off. Ty has stayed in it, week after week, despite low judge scores. It doesn't surprise me that he's still in it. But, nothing against Ty's fans, but I personally hope they don't put him through to the final 3. Like the quote above, he's not NEARLY as competent or comfortable with dancing as Melissa, Gilles or Shawn. Sure, this show comes down to the fan votes, but I hope next week is his last. He learned to dance, he proved his point, but I think he's ready to go - just like LT, Steve-O and Woz before him.

I can picture it now, next week the judges will pull out the 4 and 5 paddles, trying to eliminate Ty with low votes. Ty deserves better than that. Don't put him through a finale that we know will submit him to torture from the judges. It makes me cringe just imagining it.