The six remaining couples on Dancing with the Stars had a double challenge on Monday night with two dances. The judges panel was also bumped up by one this week, with Latin dance champ Donnie Burns sitting in as a guest.
The quality of the dance moves suffered because of the added rigors of a team competition that pitted Kirstie, Kendra and Hines against the team of Chelsea, Ralph and Romeo. Team pink and Team black performed the Cha Cha Cha and when the dust settled, the judges gave each team a combined score of 30. No winners or loser in phase one of the evening.
The solo performances brought judges scores that were all over the board. The largest disparity were the scores of the former Cheers actress, who received a 9 from guest Donnie, 7 from Carrie Ann, a miserly 6 from Len, and an 8 from Bruno.
At the top of the leaderboard with a combined score of 66 were Hines Ward & Kym with their Tango, and Ralph Macchio & Karina for their Quickstep. Ralph earned a 10 from Burns, and Hines earned the same from Bruno.
Chelsea Kane & Mark are in third place with a combined score of 64 after performing a sophisticated Paso Doble.
Finding themselves in fourth spot this week are Kendra Wilkinson & Louis. They are sitting on a combined score of 61 for their Tango. We have to say that the Playboy model had a good night on the dance floor.
Riding the bottom of the leaderboard, tied at 60: Kirstie Alley & Maks for their Jive, and Romeo & Chelsie for their not so sexy Samba.
When the judges held up their paddles for Romeo, they flashed 8, 8, 7, 8 for a total of 31. Co-host Brooke Burke announced their combined score as 30. Then she explained that the judges write down their official scores and the guest judge had simply held up the wrong paddle. Tom Bergeron clarified further that Donnie Burns meant to hold up his 7 paddle.
It looked very much like the judges wanted to insure that Kirstie and Maks weren’t sitting on the bottom rung along. Dare we suggest that the former Jenny Craig spokeswoman was looking quite fetching in her dance togs last night? This competition has served as her customized version of ‘The Biggest Loser’ …
One of the six remaining celebrities will be eliminated on Tuesday night. Will Romeo get the boot?
Check out all of the performances below:
Hines Ward and Kym Johnson
Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff
Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas
Kendra Wilkinson and Louis van Amstel
Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Romeo and Chelsie Hightower
Photos: Courtesy WENN