Dancing with the Stars – The Dance-Off Results

Have you ever experienced déjà vu? When I turned on tonight’s episode of Dancing with the Stars: Dance-Off, I felt that way. Perhaps it’s because we’ve done this once before; we’ve seen Kelly Monaco and partner Alec Mazo go up against John O’Hurley and his partner Charlotte Jorgensen, with Kelly being crowned the winner while the judges were recognized with a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment; however, we’ve already discussed why this dance-off was a good idea and why it was a bad idea, so I won’t harp on that. Instead, let’s start the show.

On Tuesday, Kelly and John each performed three routines. Our distinguished judges, Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli, critiqued the performances, but had no direct influence on the final outcome; that would be left up to the viewers.

To begin tonight’s program, all four dancers shake it to “Don’t Stop Me Now.” We also see clips of their performances from Tuesday.

Lisa is now backstage with Kelly and John. Both tell us more about the causes they are raising money for through the dance-off. Kelly’s charity is the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund while John is raising money for Golfers Against Cancer.

Alec dances with his girlfriend and professional dance partner Edyta Sliwinska. They perform to “Ain’t it Funny.” (I cringe as I type the word “ain’t.”) As I watch these two professionals dance, I can’t help but be impressed with how well the stars did throughout this program. Of course the professionals can pull off the tricky moves; they’ve been dancing for years. The celebrities, on the other hand, only had a few weeks to learn their moves, yet they made it look so easy and beautiful. I applaud them.

It’s now time to go to judges for their overall critiques of Kelly and John. Wait; didn’t we do this already on Tuesday night? OK, I’ll play along. We really don’t learn anything new though. Len tells us he is in a good mood, Carrie explains that Kelly is herself when she dances while John takes on a character, and Bruno says that Kelly seemed nervous.

After the commercial break, we watch clips of the most memorable performances from the show. Basically, this equates to a clip of each of the stars dancing with their professional partners. I actually forgot that Trista Sutter was on the program. Thanks for reminding me, ABC.

Charlotte is now performing with Nick Kosovich, who has won various professional competitions, to ”Ain’t No Sunshine.” (There’s that word again.) The performance is very elegant and dreamy. While I watch Charlotte and Nick, I’m reminded of how much acting is involved in ballroom dancing. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think these two were hot and heavy with one another. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We’re now treated to interviews with fans of the show and various demented souls. A woman pulls out a tiny dog that I swear isn’t real until it moves. Yikes. She then tells us his name is John O’Hurley. (With that I’m giving a shout out to my dog Yoko who kept me calm throughout the competition. Regular readers know all about her!)

It’s now time for the results. Tom informs us that the victor won by less than 1%. Ooh, ah. Kelly looks absolutely ticked, Lisa looks like she is going to vomit, and John appears to be ready for more disappointment. Let’s put them all out of their misery. Drum roll, please… and the winner of the Dancing with the Stars: Dance-Off is John and his partner Charlotte! Cue the confetti and cut to a shot of Kelly, who looks absolutely miserable at this point. She is very gracious though and says the whole point of the evening was to raise money for a good cause. She can be proud to know that she helped to raise $124,000 for the Katrina relief fund, while John helped to raise $126,000 for Golfers against Cancer.

Tom reiterates to us that Kelly and Alec were the true winners of Dancing with the Stars, but at this point, nobody really cares. Kelly & Alec and Charlotte & John take to the dance floor one last time (perhaps) as “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” plays. As the evening ends, Tom informs us that the show will be back in January. John very playfully picks Kelly up and spins her.

I hope everyone is happy. Both stars proved that they are excellent performers and wonderful individuals. I just hope the dance-off ends the competition once and for all. Déjà vu the third time around is just frightening.

Jill is an east coast mama who loves sharks, zombie movies, and reality television. She welcomes your comments about these and other subjects, and can be reached at jilljones@verizon.net.

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