Dancing with the Stars 5, November 5: The Show Must Go On

Hello dance fans! Welcome to another exciting week of fancy footwork! Jill is unable to watch this week’s performance show due to football in Steel City, so I’m taking a break from my usual judging to bring you this week’s action.

Last week was the end of the road for Sabrina & Mark on Dancing with the Stars (but apparently not for their off-stage romance), but the rest of our stars and their professional partners are raring to go. And so is my faithful sidekick, my dog Ally!

Tom recaps last week for us, with all of the appropriate drama and angst. You’ve read both Jill’s recaps so I’ll spare you the details. Samantha joins Tom and reminds us that our stars will dance two individual routines tonight—one ballroom dance and one Latin dance.

As the couples are introduced, it’s nice to see Jane is back to full health and looking gorgeous as usual. Everyone looks excited for the night’s performances.

Up first will be Helio & Julianne. We revisit last week’s cha cha cha with a retro flair. During rehearsal, Helio wears a t-shirt that says “We Heart You Sabrina,” as Julianne tells us they are doing the tango and the samba.

Helio says the samba is the dance of his country, Brazil, and shows off some of his moves. He loves the samba, the tango, not so much. Julianne shows him a video of his parents telling Helio how proud they are of him, and what a good dancer he is, and if you’re not tearing up right about now, well your heart is just made of stone! His mom tells him not to give up, that they are supporting him, and Helio’s heart is definitely not made of stone.

Helio & Julianne’s tango is dramatic and their footwork appears to be right on. Julianne’s dress, however, appears as if it’s about to fall off at any second. Fortunately, it does not, and they finish with a flair.

Tom gives it up for the band. Director Harold Wheeler is absent once again, and try as I might, I can’t hear the name of the wonderful man who is standing in for him. Sorry.

Tom asks the judges for their comments. Len compliments Helio’s jacket and says the race for the finals starts now, with two new dances. He continues that they had drive and attack during the dance, but then criticizes some very technical things that go over my head. I do catch that they didn’t have the tight hold they were supposed to. The audience boos and Len says he does not lie. Well that’s good, Len! Julianne looks uncomfortable.

Never one to be overshadowed, Bruno says they are a great combination, they are like thunder and lightning, and they went for it like thunder and lightning. The audience cheers, but Bruno says that Len was right. It’s getting towards the end of the competition and they are looking for more polish. He tells them to work on the details.

Carrie Ann simply says, “I liked it!” Helio & Julianne applaud and smile. She continues that she doesn’t know if it’s because she’s younger, or if the men are just a little bit stiff tonight, but she thought it was a nice twist on a tango. They were right with the music and even though there were a few missteps it was a good performance.

Samantha blathers on about their workload and asks how much Helio is looking forward to the samba. He says he’s looking forward to it a lot, and Julianne is an excellent dancer. And he adds that he remembered to smile tonight.

It’s time for the judges’ scores! Carrie Ann gives them a nine, Len gives an eight, and Bruno also gives an eight. Helio & Julianne have 25 after their first dance. Samantha reminds everyone that the reason Sabrina is no longer backstage is because not enough people voted for her. So, if you want your favorite to stick around, vote.

Next up are Marie & Jonathan. Marie is trying to rebound from her low scores last week. She’ll be dancing the cha cha cha and the quickstep. Jonathan wants to get her back to selling her character and her personality. Marie wants to get her hips to move “more girly—like yours!” she tells Jonathan, who promptly tells her to shut up. Ha!

Marie’s eight kids come to watch her rehearse. While everyone else is getting tired, she’s used to it so she’s doing fine. Her kids are her motivation, and she wants to make them proud of her.

Marie & Jonathan are dressed in military-uniform-like outfits, and they dance the quickstep to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” They both have great big smiles on their faces and they salute each other before beginning their dance. Marie definitely gives a stronger effort than last week, and appears to be having a lot of fun! Her footwork is fast, and at the end she sits on the judges’ table and plants a kiss on Len, leaving a bright red lipstick mark behind. It’s fun! I liked it!

Bruno stands up and salutes, and says Marie’s dance was morale-boosting. She raised the roof and when she gets it right, she does get it right.

Carrie Ann agrees with Bruno and says sometimes when they go for a character it can come across campy, but there was nothing campy about this performance. They’re looking for every detail—technique, footwork, posture, and it has to come alive—and she thought it was wonderful. Marie & Jonathan celebrate as her brothers clap in the audience.

Len says entertainment runs through Marie’s veins like Chianti does through Bruno’s. She brings a little twist into all the dances and this had the most twist of all the dances.

Carrie Ann gives them a 10, and Len and Bruno each give them a nine, for a total of 28. They are very excited. Marie tells Samantha her hairdo is her mother’s, her parents met when her father was in the military, and when he came home they used to dance to make money to eat. So this was for her parents tonight.

Mel & Maks are up next. Yum. Maks. They’ll be dancing the foxtrot and the paso doble. Maks doesn’t have time to explain things twice. Mel has Dancing with the Stars and she’s learning 20 songs and 20 dance routines for the Spice Girls tour. Oh, that shouldn’t be confusing at all! Maks doesn’t look happy.

Maks gives Mel a kiss on the cheek as they wait to start their foxtrot. They look very elegant but the dance seems a bit slow to me. Even Maks, who is usually spot on, seems a little off to me. I wasn’t wowed by it. Mel ends by calling Tom out to the dance floor and giving him a hug and a kiss.

Carrie Ann says they saw perfection from Mel & Maks last week, so they know what it looks like when they are in sync, but this week they seemed a bit out of sync. I’m glad it wasn’t just me! She continues that it was still lovely and their posture was beautiful, but their footwork was off at times.

Len says Mel had lovely arms during the solo part, and he knows it’s tough doing two dances, but the footwork was off. Whenever he looked down and was expecting a heel, he got a toe. I hate when that happens! But it was a good dance and he enjoyed it.

Bruno says the foxtrot is very hard. It requires incredible control but they have to make it look easy. They performed it very well but the footwork needed a little more finesse.

Score time! Carrie Ann gives them an eight; Len also gives them an eight, as does Bruno. Mel & Maks have 24 points, and they bow to the audience. Samantha is shocked, and must remind them that this is the lowest score they’ve gotten since week two. Mel says it’s about the viewers and they have their paso doble to go. Maks promises their next dance will kick some serious ----. He doesn’t get to finish because Samantha starts babbling.

In a remarkable showing of clarity and understanding, Samantha says she knows this is the part of the show where we start to tune her out, but if we don’t vote, stars will get kicked off. So vote, darn it! I guess this week instead of Tom’s repeated reminders about tomorrow’s results show, we’re going to get Samantha’s repeated threats about what will happen if we don’t vote. She throws it back to Tom, who has tuned out. Ha!