ABC/ADAM TAYLORNo one wants to be the first to leave Dancing With the Stars, but...
The first elimination show is always the diciest, because you never know if there will be a score-inspired ouster or if the viewers already have it in for one or two contestants, regardless of skill level brought to the floor.
Speaking of which, Ralph Macchio and Kirstie Alley came out firing last week, but did they maintain the momentum after faltering last night? Meanwhile, Chris Jericho, Hines Ward and Romeo rocketed up the leaderboard this week with the judges' favorite dances.
But that doesn't mean one or more of them weren't in danger tonight...
Oh wait, yes it does. All five celebs were safe, because it was the leaderboard (and perhaps something called name recognition) told the whole story Tuesday.
Love Line cohost Mike Catherwood, aka KROQ-FM's "Psycho Mike," was the first to be eliminated from the 12th season of Dancing With the Stars after even a four-point improvement from one week to the next wasn't enough to pull him out of last place.
"It's been nothing but a pleasurable experience," Mike said of his time on the show, thanking all of his radio fans and the entire DWTS team. "It sucks to be sent home first, but I've made a lot of good friends," he added. "America obviously knows that Lacey Schwimmer is a beautiful person on the outside, but everybody needs to know she's equally, if not more, beautiful on the inside. I've made a lifelong friend."
"Yay!" Lacey added when Tom Bergeron informed them that at least they get to meet Britney Spears later tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where all the ousted contestants go for their postmortem.
Speaking of Bergeron, the two scheduled performances by the controversial-yet-again Chris Brown seemingly went off without a hitch, the DWTS host being spared the chore of interviewing Brown about his new album—or anything else, for that matter.
Not-a-fan Cheryl Burke also was able to steer clear, as Brown brought his own hip-hop troupe along and was not backed up by any of the DWTS pros in the dancing department.
But back to the matter at hand...
Talk-show host Wendy Williams and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard—who we happen to think is much better than head judge Len Goodman is giving him credit for—joined Mike in the bottom three.
On a brighter note, the fans didn't seem to care that Mark Ballas went all "concept" on Chelsea Kane as she was safely voted into the next round, along with E!'s resident tomboy (sure, dear, keep telling 'em that) Kendra Wilkinson-Baskett and modelicious Petra Nemcova.
The 10 remaining contestants will do it all over again next week for your viewing and, they hope, voting pleasure.