ABC The rumba can be rough on everyone, even rock 'n' roll royalty.
Priscilla Presley was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars Tuesday, leaving seven celebs to vie for the venerable disco-ball trophy.
Although throughout the competition the 62-year-old actress and former wife of Elvis Presley had poise and grace to spare, it was the perennially perplexing rumba—danced to perfection only twice before in DWTS history—that exposed what she was lacking in technique.
"This has been an incredible experience…I learned so much about myself and all the things I could do," the famously private Presley said before leaving the ballroom.
But although the competition ended for her, the Naked Gun star had one more trick up her sleeve: To all those fans (and apparently there were quite a few) who couldn't wait to contact Presley after finding out she was running her own psychic hotline, she reminded them that she had revealed that bit of background info on April 1. Therefore…April Fools!
And with that, it was on to the requisite post-elimination appearance on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Meanwhile, competent almost didn't cut it for Cristián de la Fuente, who found himself in the bottom two after his rumba only garnered a 23 from the finicky judges.
"It didn't blow me away—well, it didn't!" Len Goodman, taking a page out of the Simon Cowell playbook, insisted upon hearing the boos from the audience.
Safe right off the bat, as usual, was Kristi Yamaguchi, who broke the curse of the encore after her fantastically fluid rumba earned both a leaderboard-high 29 and a request for a do-over to kick off Tuesday's elimination show.
Clad in coordinating lavender outfits (with Yamaguchi's containing more flowing chiffon and revealing more skin), the Olympic gold medalist and partner Mark Ballas Jr. struck one perfect pose after another, earning their first 10 from Len and just missing perfection from Carrie Ann Inaba, who thought Yamaguchi lost a step while simultaneously upping the emotion factor.
So, although the 10s have started to fly, at least in a few people's direction, there have been no perfect 30s to speak of yet this season.
Tied for second were the resurgent Mario and the curiously agile Jason Taylor, who is easily rivaling season-three champ Emmitt Smith in the best NFL star-turned-dancer department.
Shannon Elizabeth, already saddled with a suddenly fragile partner, was punished for being a Skinny Minnie, however, with the judges raking her across the coals for skimping on the hip action during a not-sexy-enough samba.
"I don't really have any [hips]," the rueful American Pie star said after being slapped with a 23, her lowest score in three weeks.
On the plus side for Elizabeth (apart from avoiding elimination), Derek Hough is back in action after his second trip to the hospital in as many weeks, this time for a nasty case of food poisoning that had him tossing his cookies all morning before show-time Monday.
Marissa Jaret Winokur, meanwhile, has stormed back from the brink of irrelevancy, turning in a 24-caliber samba that Len said had "more bounce to the ounce" than any he'd seen before.
"More shakes than a cocktail bar!" Bruno Tonioli added.
Also hanging in there is Marlee Matlin, who moves very well and is beyond great for someone who literally can't hear the music, yet had more than a few stumbles dancing the samba last night, earning only a 22 in the process.
The pros and stars shared center stage Wednesday with another couple of cute-as-can-be junior ballroom competitors; James Blunt, who sang his latest single, "Carry You Home"; and the L.A.-bred, world-fusion rockers Ozomatli.