Dancing With the Stars Recap: Guess Who's Back on Top?!

"Like a phoenix rising from the ashes" was how one judge described Jennifer Grey on the show's 200th episode

By Natalie Finn Nov 02, 2010 2:30 AMTags

Dancing With the Stars celebrated its 200th episode tonight by bringing out all the ghosts of seasons past.

Not only was the ballroom full of familiar faces, with Kristi Yamaguchi and Apolo Ohno leading the teams in the group round, but the six remaining celebs were also tasked with recreating a past contestant's magical moment—meaning same dance, same music and the added pressure of having to make each redo their own.

So who managed to pull off the magic of a Kelly Osbourne waltz, a Drew Lachey tango and a Gilles Marini fox-trot?

Jennifer Grey was "like a phoenix rising from her own ashes, more splendid than ever," according to Bruno Tonioli, who slapped the apt metaphor on the actress' "comeback" tango after a few weeks of declining scores.

Lachey, the first man to ever hoist the disco ball, told the Dirty Dancing star that she's "got a real shot" at following in his footsteps.

"I'm surprised at these people being so pedantic about a slight mistake when we've just witnessed the most fantastic foxtrot...and they're mesing about with a little bitty thing!" raved the usually most particular Len Goodman after watching Brandy do her sharpest, most alluring stuff of the season, inspired by Gilles' "Fever" fox-trot.

For her efforts, Len dusted off his 10 paddle for the first time this season.

Factoring in the scores from their group dances—Jennifer and Brandy were on the winning Team Apolo, with 27)—the front-runners ended the evening tied for first place.

Speaking of birds, Carrie Ann Inaba noted that Bristol Palin went, at times, from "swan to pigeon" as she attempted a waltz à la Osbourne, but Kelly absolutely gushed over the opposite-end-of-the-political-spectrum star.

"You stole my heart, Bristol," the Fashion Police host said. "You gave me goosebumps!"

Rick Fox donned head-to-toe green to recreate season-five champ Hélio Castroneves' banana suit quickstep—including the infamous smooch at the end.

"I can't believe you stole that kiss, man. It was my kiss!" Hélio protested.

But the Jolly Green Giant got the girl and his best score to date—three 9's, plus a 10 from the pouting Indy car driver.

Kyle Massey was sharper than ever, following through on every second of his paso doble with only one thought in mind: impressing guest judge Mel B.

Mission accomplished. "That was amazing...And you were very sexy," the season-five runner-up told him before giving him the only 10 he may ever see.

And who better than third-season champ Emmitt Smith to judge fellow Super Bowl winner Kurt "James Bond" Warner on his tango, especially on a night when the battling MVP totally upped his game?

Here's how tonight's leaderboard stacked up (group, individual out of 40):

Brandy & Maks Chmerkovskiy: 64 (27, 37)
Jennifer Grey & Derek Hough: 64 (27, 37)
Kurt Warner & Anna Trebunskaya: 61 (27, 34)
Rick Fox & Cheryl Burke: 61 (24, 37)
Kyle Massey & Lacey Schwimmer: 59 (24, 35)
Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas: 57 (24, 33)

Still, the perfect 30 (or 40, in this particular case) continued to elude season 11's contestants. After tomorow, following performances by Taylor Swift, Rod Stewart and the cast of Broadway's Mary Poppins, there will be only five stars left.

They'd better get cracking on the perfection!