A shocking Dancing With the Stars elimination

American Idol needs to take some lessons from the Dancing With the Stars results show. Yes, we have to endure each round of who is safe and who is in danger, but the “filler” on this show is highly entertaining. This is the closest we’ve got to an old-time variety show. The only things missing are the comedy sketches, but even those pop up from time to time in the pre-taped packages. I really enjoy watching the B-roll footage of the stars preparing to dance and hear them talk during and after the dance. This addition to the show really helps us get a little more insight into what they go through on performance night.

This week’s entertainment between the results information was outstanding. Mary J. Blige did two numbers and she just blew me away, especially with the second number. We got a dance inspired by Gone With the Wind, and a tribute to the 50th anniversary of “The Twist” with Estelle and surprise guest Chubby Checker!  And on top of that, Len Goodman got on the dance floor and did the Twist with Chubby! I really love all the spectacle of the show from the amazing set, to the lights and video screens to the masterful direction … and it’s all live!

Which makes the final part of the show so darned hard to watch. I thought for sure voters would show Chaz or Nancy some mercy this week and send one of the two lowest scorers home. But they were both proclaimed safe early on in the results. What?! How could that be? Did Cher’s tweet that she would be in the audience next week if Chaz survived get him more votes? Does Nancy really have that big of a following? When they got down to the final three, I was relieved Carson was safe because of his massive improvement, but the two in danger — not necessarily the bottom two — came as a shock. Two of the show’s best dancers, two who showed real promise, faced elimination. When it came down to Kristin and Hope, I thought Hope, although she had the higher score, would be the one to go because of her fan base, or lack thereof. But the shocker came when Kristin & Mark, undoubtedly a team to be reckoned with, danced their last dance. I am truly flabbergasted, but it just goes to show that viewer votes count and you can never assume someone with a high score is safe. (Poor Mark … this is all shades of Sabrina Bryan being eliminated during Week Six of Season Five with a judges’ score of 25!)

But, let’s get over that shock with a little bit of fun.  In case you missed it, or couldn’t follow along, here is how all of the stars are connected with this season’s 6 Degrees of DWTS:

• Hope Solo is connected to Kristin Cavalari because she kicked field goals against the Chicago Bears’ Robbie Gould, whose teammate was Kristin’s ex-fiancé Jay Cutler.
• Kristin dated Brody Jenner, the son of Bruce Jenner, the step-father of Rob Kardashian.
• Rob’s father was on the OJ Simpson “Dream Team” with Johnny Cochran, who did a talk show with Nancy Grace.
• Nancy was on Celebrity Jeopardy! against Carson Kressley.
• Carson was an extra in the amusement park scene of the original Hairspray which starred Ricki Lake.
• Ricki bought David Arquette’s house when she moved to L.A.
• David’s wife Courtney Cox met Chynna Phillips on the set of Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer. Chynna played her tracks from the Wilson Phillips album, and Courtney picked “Hold On” to be the single.
• Chynna used to have playdates with Chaz (Chastity) Bono when they were kids because her mom and Cher were friends.
• Chaz’s mom Cher was in The Player with David Allen Grier, who was in The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon, who was in Apollo 13 with Gary Sinese, who is friends with J.R. Martinez.
• J.R. was on All My Children with Susan Lucci and Kelly Ripa, who was taught how to kick a soccer ball by Landon Donovan, on Live with Regis and Kelly, who is good friends with Hope.

Got that?

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Oct 05, 2011 @ 01:17 EST5EDT