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!

Jane & Tony are up next, and thankfully Jane is over her food poisoning. Having just come off of a bout of food poisoning myself, I feel for you Jane! She’s back and ready to dance the quickstep and the cha cha cha, though she declares having to learn two dances “insane!” She’s excited to dance the quickstep, because she was good friends with Johnny and June Carter Cash, and one of her sons was named after Johnny. Awwww.

Jane & Tony dance their quickstep to “Walk the Line.” It’s a beautiful and elegant dance, though it’s not very quick. It’s fun though, and afterwards Jane runs over and kisses her husband before joining Tony in front of the judges. Tom tells her Johnny would be proud. But what will the judges think?

Len says we’re getting down to nitty gritty time and as always she’s got that lovely grace and elegance, but they had a problem with a lack of body contact throughout the dance, and occasional poor footwork.

Bruno says Jane has natural class. Then he says it’s a shame her dress was run through a shredder tonight (it does look like that!) and it was a bit distracting. He also says we’re at the stage where they are looking at detail and it needs to work. It’s tough and the judges are going to be tougher.

Carrie Ann says her technique is fine, but she has to excite them and be outstanding to be a contender to win this competition.

Tom plugs tomorrow’s results show. Samantha asks Jane & Tony about the harsh criticism from the judges, and then says they have something very close to their hearts tonight. Jane is wearing June’s necklace, and Tony is wearing Johnny’s watch. They did this dance for Johnny and June. Jane is surprised and thankful to the fans that she is still in the competition.

Carrie Ann gives them an eight, as do Len and Bruno. They’re now tied with Mel & Maks with 24.

It’s time for Jennie & Derek! They’ll be dancing the Viennese waltz and the rumba. Derek tells Jennie they will have to convince the judges they’re in love. She seems somewhat uncertain about this, so Derek adds, “in the dance.” Jennie laughs.

She says dancing the rumba with Derek was a little weird, but he told her he could dance the rumba with his sister—which is a little more weird. He tries to tell her to think of the dance as a love scene, but that doesn’t seem to be working for her either. Derek asks her for more passion and she smacks him in the face with a cabinet door. Nonetheless, their rehearsals continue.

Jennie & Derek’s waltz is elegant, breathtaking, and classy. It literally gives me chills. They move so well together and Jennie looks gorgeous. Whatever Derek did to convince her to sell the romance part of the dance worked. Very well done!

Bruno says sometimes Jennie is so fluid she is like a water nymph in a magic lake. When she gets it right, she is absolutely great, and now she has to work at sustaining that level throughout the dance.

Carrie Ann feels like Jennie took two steps back from last week. She saw a lot of broken lines and she needs a little more strength in her core.

Len says there was not enough Viennese waltz—in other words, not enough holds. He continues that he is a fan of Derek’s choreography, but Bruno interrupts to say it was beautiful and the audience applauds. Len finishes by repeating that there were not enough Viennese waltz moves.

Samantha babbles some nonsense about Jennie being frazzled, and says everyone backstage was cheering for them against the judges’ comments. Derek says he choreographed an American Viennese waltz as opposed to an international Viennese waltz.

It’s time for the scores. Carrie Ann gives them an eight. Len gives an eight. Bruno gives a nine. Jennie & Derek have a total of 25.

Finally, it’s time for Cameron & Edyta to perform their ballroom dance! Cameron says they need to find more time to rehearse but he doesn’t know when they’ll be able to. They fly back and forth between New York and Los Angeles, somehow managing to fit everything in. This is his most important week ever. They’ll be dancing the quickstep and the jive.

Cameron & Edyta dance the quickstep and it sure starts off quick! Edyta looks beautiful in a red backless dress. Actually it’s almost frontless too. There are a lot of fun moves and it ends with a flair. I liked it!

Carrie Ann asks if Cameron drank a Red Bull before he came out to dance, she loves his exuberance but she felt it was a little wild. He was a bit out of step and out of sync but it was still really great.

Len tells Superman to calm down, and says he will put a bit of kryptonite down Cameron’s trousers. Admit it; you’d pay to see that. I know I would! He didn’t like the start, the finish, or the middle. When they were in hold he thought they danced great. He advises them to concentrate on the dance itself and add the flash later.

As far as I can tell, Bruno pretty much agrees with Len. He says something about Mr. Flash in a mad dash, and he forgot the steps.

Carrie Ann, Len, and Bruno all give Cameron & Edyta an eight, for a total of 24. Samantha babbles something about being in the bottom two being good for a couple, because it mobilizes their fans to vote. Whatever.

At the end of the ballroom round, the standings are as follows:

It’s time for the super sexy, hot and spicy Latin round, when Tom promises clothes will come off.

Helio & Julianna are up first with the samba. I can tell right away this is going to be one hot dance—Julianne is wearing feathers, and not many of them! Wow. I may need to step out into the rain after that performance! They both had it shaking in all the right places, and Helio’s Brazilian heritage definitely showed through in his performance. Very very well done!

Bruno is beside himself with delight. He proclaims it just what he likes to see. He is thankful Helio is not allergic to feathers and says this is his comfort zone. His smile lights up the room and this is what he does well.

Carrie Ann enjoys watching Helio doing the Latin dances. So do I Carrie Ann, so do I. She tells him to stick with them.

Len says just because Helio comes from Brazil doesn’t mean he is going to be good at the samba, and follows it up with a political joke sure to get his visa taken away. OK, not really, but Bruno seems to be hoping for that outcome, until he realizes he may be kicked out of the country too. Once the laughter dies down, Len simply says Helio was fantastic. Tom says the upside is, Len only annoyed 33% of the people. Ha!

Tom reminds us that there is a results show tomorrow. I still think he gets paid by the number of times he mentions that.

Helio & Julianne get a nine from Carrie Ann, Len, and Bruno, for a 27 in the Latin round, and a total score of 52.

Marie & Jonathan dance the cha cha cha as Marie holds a feather boa that makes me sneeze. Fortunately she drops it fairly quickly. Their dance seems very choppy to me and Marie seems somewhat tentative again. Her brothers clap, of course, but I don’t know how I feel about it.

Carrie Ann was worried when she saw Marie with the boa, but once again Marie toned the dance perfectly. But there wasn’t quite enough content for this late in the season.

Len agrees with Carrie Ann but there was too much “messing about” going on. Bruno liked the character but feels Marie may have peaked early on and now she’s having trouble living up to that.

Carrie Ann gives Marie & Jonathan an eight, as do Len and Bruno, for a total of 24 in round two. Their total for the night is also 52.

Mel & Maks are up with their paso doble. Although they are all dressed in black (and Mel not very much of it), their paso is nothing but hot, hot, hot! Wow. Talk about passion! They end with Mel throwing Maks to the floor in a move I suspect many ladies would love to imitate. Sorry, what was I saying?

Len says a lot, but ends by pointing at Mel & Maks and giving them a double OK sign. That about sums it up. Bruno says it was an adrenaline charge. Mel was a dominatrix and Bruno’s jaw was on the desk. He challenges the remaining couples to top that! Carrie Ann tells them they just kicked some serious booty.

And Tom once again plugs tomorrow’s results show. Samantha babbles some nonsense as Mel & Maks show off their cheetah paw tattoos, which are of course a show of support for Sabrina. As Maks shows his again, he demurely covers up his nipple.

Carrie Ann, Len, and Bruno all give Mel & Maks a 10, for another perfect score! Their total for the night is 54, moving them into first place. Maks pretends to pass out, and Samantha tells him it’s not even funny.

Jane & Tony are up with their cha cha cha. It may be a technically correct dance, but it doesn’t do much for me. Jane & Tony are smiling, and they may have hit all their marks, but I’m not moved by it.

Bruno says it was very well placed and executed. Carrie Ann agrees but says she wanted to see a bit more. Len says Jane needs to come out and give us a bit of fireworks. So it wasn’t just me.

Carrie Ann gives them an eight, and Len and Bruno each give them a nine, for a score of 26 on their second dance, and a total of 50 for the night.

Jennie & Derek dance the rumba. She’s wearing white lingerie. It’s a sensual performance, and they do a great job with it.

Carrie Ann says the last round was tough and it’s hard to come back from that, but Jennie did. She says it was a beautiful performance. Len says the only person who isn’t convinced that Jennie is a really good dancer is her. Bruno was very satisfied by the dance, the pacing, and the choreography. He thinks it was the best dance they’ve done.

Carrie Ann and Len each give Jennie & Derek a nine, and Bruno gives them a 10. Their second dance scores a 28, for a total of 53 on the night. Very well done for Jennie & Derek!

Last but not least, Cameron & Edyta dance their jive. Edyta has a schoolgirl thing going on. Cameron seems to have toned it down a bit, but still has the appropriate amount of energy for the jive. It’s a lot of fun, and they are both very excited at the end.

Len says normally the jive suits short, compact dancers, but Cameron did a fantastic job. Bruno agrees with Len. He says a lot more but it’s hard to make sense of it. Carrie Ann also liked it, and adds that Cameron has grown into a really fine dancer.

The scores are: Carrie Ann: nine. Len: nine. Bruno: nine. Their total score for the jive is 27, bringing their total for the night to 51.

At the end of our seventh week of performances, the standings are as follows:

It was a fun and demanding week! I still love Helio, but Mel is definitely giving him a run for his money. And Jennie is just a pleasure to watch. I’m afraid the low judges’ scores may spell the end for Jane this week, though if her fans rally behind her we may have seen the last of Marie on our stage.

Jill will be back tomorrow to bring you the results show, and I’ll be back next week to judge our five remaining competitors. I hope you’ll join me!

Sandy Lamparello is an Assistant Editor for Reality News Online and a Legal Editor/Correspondent for a publishing company in Crystal City, VA. You may reach her at realitytvjunkie@gmail.com. Ciao!