This was the week of redemption for Laila. Her Rumba was fantastic, and the best Rumba of the evening. I’m so glad she and Maks put in the effort to really nail a dance for the first time in two weeks.
And, even more important, my pick for champion, Apolo (shown above from Week 4), posted the first perfect score of the season with their Samba. Their routine was fun, flashy and sexy and I trust they will follow through for the rest of the compeition doing that kind of work. It’s critical now that the season is half over that they keep bringing perfect dances to the floor.
Here are my rankings for the week:
- Apolo and Julianne! No surprise they lead my rankings this week. Excellent job. 30 out of 30! And I know I’ve not been a fan of Apolo’s headband, at lesat this week it blended with his hair and outfit, so it wasn’t too bad.
- Laila and Maks are my number 2 for the week. It was a beautiful Rumba. A DWTS final between Apolo and Laila would be thrilling. I really hope she doesn’t slack off any more.
- Joey and Kym also did great. Joey has never failed to deliver. Contrary to the dings he got for over-performing the dance. It looked great to me and I thought he deserved just slightly better scores.
- Heather and Jonathan once again dazzled. I know Heather fell, but I agree with Carrie Anne, it just reminds us how amazing it is that she’s out there at all. The routine was solid and they sold it good. I have to admit though, I’m not at all happy Heather made Jonathan wax his chest (boo!).
- Ian was stiff this week. I know the judges called him stiff in the waltz last week, but I really saw it this week. He didn’t want to do those shimmies and it was obvious. Cheryl really needs to loosen him up again…maybe another trip to Chippendales is in order.
- John and Edyta were back to respectable again this week. Even though John had some sloppy footwork, he came out and had a good time and made you believe in the party that the Samba is supposed to be.
- Billy Ray was also respectable in his Rumba, especially in the middle part if the dance. He’s still a bit clunky, but he tries. Realistically though, that won’t keep in the competition much longer.
- Clyde is simply a disaster. Boring, not really a Rumba at all. I feel so bad for Elena being stuck with him. Can we please get him off the show! Voting public, it’s up to you. He’s a great basketball player, but a crap dancer.
As for who is leaving… This is a hard one to call this week. Realistically the bottom two should follow the judges scores and land Billy Ray and Clyde in the red light with Clyde going home. I would love to see that come to pass. What I think is going to happen though is that Clyde and John end up in the bottom two and John will end up and go home. Sadly, I think the popularity contest will still be in affect and save both Clyde (from going home period) and Billy Ray (from the bottom two).
Post Results Show Update: That were some unpleasant shocks in this week’s show. I was glad to see that John was saved from going home, and even from the bottom two. But I was stunned that Heather ended up in the bottom two! Come on voting people…let’s get this right! You could see that Billy Ray was stunned that he wasn’t standing in the red light. At least the ultimate choice was right and Clyde went home (I’m glad I was wrong in my pick and that some justice prevailed with this week’s voting).
It was cool to see Lisa back as well, trying out her Chicago routine. Looks like she’ll make a pretty decent Roxie. Next week the stars tackle two dances…they will be doing a dance they haven’t done yet, and they’ll also have to do a group dance. I can’t wait!