ABC/KELSEY MCNEALAnother performance, another chance to keep hope alive of hoisting the disco ball at season's end.
The judges raved and ranted alike on Dancing WIth the Stars Monday, though the scores didn't always reflect the caliber of critique, or vice versa.
One couple got it especially hard, albeit in absentia. Steve-O, hospitalized with an injured back and not in studio tonight, was graded on his not ready for prime-time dress rehearsal—meaning Lacey Schwimmer was the sole recipient of the judges' pummeling.
Meanwhile, the stars who shined last week continued to do so, and even some of the less stellar celebs showed improvement.
Shall we dance?
Holly Madison: Looking like a little platinum-blond doll bouncing across the floor, the Girls Next Door star managed the footwork of the notoriously difficult quickstep, but more often than not looked as if she was barely keeping up with Dmitry Chaplin. Carrie Ann Inaba observed that Dmitry "was just dragging [Holly] around the floor," while Len Goodman ingeniously noted that Holly's posture was tilted "a bit forward."
Score: 18
David Alan Grier: At first, the pencil-mustached comedian looked as if he couldn't decide whether he wanted to play the showman or be a serious dahncer, although he has the potential to be the latter. His footwork was OK, but the salsa requires far more fire and Kym Johnson totally stole the show. "All sizzle and no sausage," Len lamented.
Score: 17
Denise Richards: First off, Maksim Chmerkovskiy didn't make her cry this week—already a major improvement. And the quickstep helped mask Denise's biggest issue from week one: stiffness. Still looking a bit terrified from the neck up, the actress made great strides—literally—in her quest to break out of her plasticized shell. "I think there's a good dancer out there, hidden somewhere, and starting to come out," exclaimed a pleased Bruno Tonioli.
Score: 21
Belinda Carlisle: The soft-spoken Go-Go's frontwoman still cuts a striking figure, but her dancing appears clunky and she's in danger of turning into another Marie Osmond (minus the drama). Jonathan Roberts put plenty of tricks into their salsa, but all of them, including the handstand, only furthered the Marie comparison. "I found it a bit lacking in grace," Carrie Ann said.
Score: 18
Ty Murray: A tux did Ty's body good. Despite a few steps that were more gallop than trot (and that flubbed high-five), the rodeo cowboy made it a whole new ballgame with tonight's quickstep as his obvious charm traveled all the way into his feet. "You showed her a thing or two," teased Bruno, referring to Ty's partner, Chelsie Hightower, whose debut run may last longer than we previously thought.
Score: 20
Shawn Johnson: We already knew she had strength and flexibility to spare, but now we know Shawn can shimmy across the floor as well as she waltzes. The 17-year-old gymnast, tricked out in a flirty little dress and a gold-medal-caliber spray tan, turned in a sharp little salsa with partner Mark Ballas. Carrie Ann applauded the part where "those hips went bam-bam!"
Score: 24
Steve Wozniak: He sure looks like he's having fun, doesn't he? But are the voters? The lumbering billionaire, who's been sporting a removable cast on his foot when not performing live in front of millions, didn't improve much from last week, and Karina Smirnoff already looks distracted by her imminent vacation plans.
Score: 17
Chuck Wicks: The country singer cut a striking figure in his salsa black, but it was a Julianne Hough-centric performance. That wasn't to be enough for the peeved judges, however, who decried the wasted opportunity for Chuck to showcase his potential. "A mishmash of Latin dances," Carrie Ann called the performance, although, to be fair, it shouldn't really be Chuck's fault if it was.
Score: 20
Lawrence Taylor: News flash: Edyta Sliwinska looks great fully dressed. Other than that...the NFL Hall of Famer performed a sprightly, elegant quickstep, although at times he appeared to be concentrating so hard on his footwork he forgot to dance with his whole body and his posture suffered. Carrie Ann, big-time football fan that she is, thought he was "smooth and powerful." Still no Warren/Emmitt/Jason—but no Steve Wozniak, either.
Score: 20
Steve-O: Although he wasn't there, we were treated to his dress rehearsal, and we have only one question: Is Lacey trying to kill him? Any of the first 30 seconds of their salsa could have been the one in which the Jackass star got injured, and the dance culminated in him flipping forward and landing smack on his microphone-pack-strapped back. Ouch! Lacey probably felt badly enough before hearing what the judges had to say: "He has an appealing streak of madness that is there, but this was like a series of unfortunate events," Bruno said.
Score: 14
Lil Kim: Looking like a little Dorothy Dandridge, the rapper brought a real presence to that dance floor. Kim's footwork was excellent and she had no trouble keeping up with Derek Hough, although Len saw "a lot of quantity but not a lot of quality." "She was delicious!" protested an outraged Bruno.
Score: 23
Melissa Rycroft: This no longer beaten-down Bachelorette may be the one to beat this season. Melissa positively sizzled out there and, despite Tony Dovolani's really ugly brown outfit, theirs was the most captivating salsa of the night. "That was slammin'!" Carrie Ann raved, while Len admitted to gyrating in his seat.
Score: 26
Gilles Marini: And we thought it wasn't going to get any better. The French actor may be falling apart at the seams, but you couldn't tell from watching his quickstep, which despite being a prim ballroom number still had the steam of a Latin dance about it. The Clark Kent glasses in the Superman-inspired number only added to the overall hotness.
Score: 27
For the record, doctors say that Steve-O hasn't broken anything, and he's still hoping to rejoin the show for tomorrow's elimination. Which, for him, hopefully won't be a goodbye party, as well.
In the vein of American Idol's recent rules switcheroo, DWTS has also added a new twist—the bottom two couples will have one more chance to dance for the judges Tuesday in hopes of boosting their scores. Whether or not a few extra points will help remains to be seen.
Here's a rundown of the leaderboard, totaling scores from this week and last:
Gilles and Cheryl: 51
Melissa and Tony: 49
Shawn and Mark: 47
Lil Kim and Derek: 44
Chuck and Julianne: 40
Denise and Maksim: 39
Holly and Dmitry: 36
David and Kym: 36
Lawrence and Edyta: 36
Belinda and Jonathan: 35
Ty and Chelsie: 34
Steve-O and Lacey: 31
Steve and Karina: 30