And then there were six.
A spooky—in several ways—sextet took the floor on tonight's Dancing With the Stars, which, as promised, was a Halloween-themed performance show.
So, did the remaining contestants make a little magic out there, or was it a veritable horror show? (And which Kardashian showed up to support Rob?!)
For starters, David Arquette started out just being a guy dressed as a magician while his assistant did the cha-cha, but he eventually relaxed, got with the beat and did pretty well—for him.
"You've got the prestige!" raved Bruno Tonioli, who then proceeded to call Carrie Ann Inaba, who was dressed up as a cat, a "naughty little [bleep]."
"Pussycat!" he insisted when the audience sounded shocked. (Chaz Bono should be content in knowing that, often times, Bruno doesn't seem to know what he's saying.)
You don't see a tango to the Ghostbusters theme every day, but J.R. Martinez made it work—almost.
"Dammit!" the still-smiling actor and war veteran said in mock outrage after Len Goodman called his performance "substandard" compared to what he'd seen in the past from the perennial first-placer.
For the first time, the show aired footage of J.R. and Karina Smirnoff mixing it up backstage, with Karina getting pissed enough to drop an F-bomb. But in the end, it only made J.R. more endearing as he encouraged his miffed partner to give him some love. "We need hugs. Bring it in," he encouraged her.
But barring a Faustian pact, this has to be Nancy Grace's week to go. The TV host and partner Tristan MacManus both wore costumes to go with the "Devil Went Down to Georgia" theme, but Tristan was the only one really jiving up there.
Nancy can just stick to raising hell from now on. No need to channel it through dance.
Before they had taken a step, Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke were definite winners—for best costume!
The duo were adorable as Gomez and Morticia Addams, and their tango, dare we say it, totally topped J.R. and Karina's. Kourtney Kardashian, Scott Disick and Mason held down the cheering section tonight after what surely was a trying day for the whole family. (Better yet, Mason was dressed like a wee Native American, and he looked so cute.)
"Rob, your best dance so far," Carrie Ann said appreciatively.
Ricki Lake, however, turned in her best dance, too, a paso doble that showed no evidence of the nagging nerve injury behind her rib cage. No 10s were handed out to anyone tonight, but Ricki definitely stole the show.
Capping off the solo dances before the group round, Maks "Wolfman" Chmerkovskiy and Hope Solo did the samba. And although Maks wore wolfish facial hair, he didn't manage to be more disturbing than Hope dancing the samba.
It was better than the rumba, and her footwork was pretty precise—she is a soccer superstar, after all—but her performance gave off zero heat.
Moving on, both David and J.R. got do-overs as part of Team Tango, which also included Nancy. Len called the group portion "excellent" and each individual performance "a disaster."
Sure enough, Ricki, Hope and Rob of Team Paso Doble got the better scores, propelling Rob and Hope over J.R. on the leaderboard for the first time. Len also complimented Rob for holding his own with Maks and Derek during all the cape-whirling.
Here's how the leaderboard stacked up (solo dance, group dance):
Ricki Lake & Derek Hough: (27, 26) 53
Rob Kardashian & Cheryl Burke: 25, 26) 51
Maks Chmerkovskiy & Hope Solo: (24, 26) 50
J.R. Martinez & Karina Smirnoff: (25, 23) 48
David Arquette & Kym Johnson: (24, 23) 47
Nancy Grace & Tristan MacManus: (21, 23) 44
Justin Bieber and Boyz II Men perform on Tuesday's results show.
Who glided like a ghost and who lumbered like a zombie tonight? Sound off in the comments section!