ABC/KELSEY McNEALOh, those reality-TV producers, always trying to throw us for a loop.
Get the latest elimination proceedings after the jump—and find out how Dancing With the Stars is dealing with Misty May-Treanor's premature demise.
As it turns out, no one will be returning to fill Misty's prematurely empty dancing shoes, vacated this week after the beach-volleyball champ became the first contestant to have to withdraw from Dancing With the Stars midseason due to injury.
Despite some talk that the recently departed Kim Kardashian would be reinstated to make up for the injured athlete, it was business-as-usual Tuesday: recaps, behind-the-scenes featurettes, musical performances.
But yeesh. With all the doom-and-gloom talk, it sure seemed as if someone would be getting the boot tonight, right?
Instead, no elimination occurred in light of Misty's injury and this week's scores and votes will be added to next week's totals.
Not that anyone not named Brooke or Warren got off easy, though: The would-be castoff gets a whole week to think about how thisclose he was to going home.
Hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris made sure to inform us that Rocco DiSpirito would have been issued a one-way ticket back to the kitchen if all had gone according to plan.
Also made to sweat it out was Lance Bass, who's pretty awesome but hasn't been able to get on the right side of 22 yet.
Unsurprisingly safe were Brooke Burke, who earned Len Goodman's first 10 of the season en route to a competition-high 28 for a graceful, easy-on-the-eyes Viennese waltz; and NFL dynamo Warren Sapp, who's just so darn cute and who parlayed his swift-footedness into a second-place 25.
A bit more surprising—and yet not if you factor in nostalgia and vote-for-the-worst snarkmeisters—is the fact that Cloris Leachman is sticking around for at least another week. She spent most of last night's jive on the floor being dragged around and miming toilet-humor gestures, but the fans apparently can't get enough of her antics.
Also good to go were former Olympian Maurice Green, who scored a personal best 24 on his jive; Toni Braxton, whose forbidden-dance take on the waltz apparently antagonized no one but Len; soap star Susan Lucci, who must have a legion of fans trying to make up for all those Daytime Emmy snubs; and the spindly Cody Lindley, who has great potential if he can harness all that energy during the fast numbers.
So, for better or for worse, they all live on to dance—some more than others—another day. Do you think the Misty sitch was handled properly, or are you bummed about missing your weekly elimination fix? Who out there would have liked to have seen Kim K's booty back in the ballroom for another week?
Do share!