Who Went Home on DANCING WITH THE STARS?

After a recap show that showed what felt like four hours of footage could have been squished into one hour, the elimination episode began. I’ll admit that DANCING WITH THE STARS continues to have the same exact format for eliminations where there is a guest singer, some professional dances, random celeb/pro banter, and every two or three sets of celebrities being told they were safe or “in jeopardy.”

There was a lot of controversy having Chris Brown on the show tonight and I’ll admit that I was disappointed. His performances didn’t sway my opinion past the fact that he still needs anger management.

On with the coverage…

Pro-Dance Performance — It’s nice to see that Jennifer Lopez’s music was still cleared even though she judges AMERICAN IDOL. The dance was actually really hot and I liked the combination of pros dancing together. In a quick camera turn, we’re introduced to the new dance troupe of dancers. Unfortunately none of them stood out much. Without any introductions all the men looked generically European.

We started the eliminations with the three athletes: Hines, Chris, and Sugar Ray. Of the three Sugar Ray & Anna were in limbo.

Chris Brown: “Yeah X3” — I laughed when Brooke referred to his performance as a “smash” single; some writer must have loved the irony to that. Jumping to another reality show, we saw the little kid who was break dancing was on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, though I couldn’t recall his name since he was part of a duo. Chris didn’t even try singing did he? Sure he could dance, but the real performers know how to dance and sing. He didn’t have to sing the sections with the backflips, but really, this was just a dance performance.

The three actors’ elimination stats were next, and Ralph, Kirstie, and Chelsea were all safe.

DWTS Dance Troupe — We were introduced to the troupe of six younger dancers, which must really be a ploy to either introduce new pros in future seasons or give the seasoned vets some time off. Though most of the dancers seemed a bit generic, Peta has a connection to dance pro Damien. It must really be awkward for a brother and sister to do Latin dances together.

The dancing was good but it bled together for me. I had no emotional connection to the dancers like I’ve built with the pros and if they never dance with celebrities, they would just stay generic dancers. I laughed when I heard that Jason Gilkinson choreographed the routine because he has done choreography for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, too.

The final two males stood for elimination, Romeo was safe, but Mike was stuck in the bottom three.

Chris Brown: “Forever” — When Tom said that the performance of “Forever” would be special, I was hoping that there was an arrangement change or maybe the fact that Chris would sing live. Sadly, the special version was a bit of a light show. It just looked like a knockoff of the Black Eyed Peas. He shifted from “Forever” to “Beautiful People” but again, still no actual singing. I thought it was interesting that the show decided to go with such seizure producing color combinations, but Chris lost my attention halfway through.

The last three females were then put under the lights. The armpit sniffing Kendra and Petra were safe, but Wendy was part of the three left wondering if she’d be going home.

After the commercial break, Wendy & Tony were safe. Wendy had her “How you doin'” party with Tony. With Sugar Ray and Mike and their partners in the bottom, Len had a moment to talk to the two couples. He had respect for both couples and thought they did a great job.

However, it was no surprise that Mike & Lacey were eliminated. Mike spent his last few moments trying his best sexual dances possible. Knowing the show needed to display as much Mike as possible, Tom and Brooke discussed random things while Mike gyrated as much as possible.

Tom and Brooke mention that next week is personal story week. They are really trying too hard with trying to get all our contestants to cry.

Do you think the right person went home?

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