Semi-final Week on DWTS

It's pretty straightforward on Dancing with the Stars this week - the couples perform one new Ballroom dance and one new Latin dance.  We then have a results show, and then everyone wonders why Bristol hasn't been voted off.  At least the last part has been consistent for the last few weeks.

The Results Show sees Annie Lennox singing a couple of songs from her new Christmas album "A Christmas Cornucopia".  Also performing is Enrique Iglesias.

It's "Design-a-Dance" night too, where the Macy's Stars of Dance perform based on viewers votes for the song, the style and the professional dancers.

The Monday show is on for 90 minutes from 8pm EST and the Results Show is at 9pm Tuesday for one hour.

DWTS Week Eight Result - Third Shock in a Row?

In the performance show each couple had performed a ballroom number and an "Instant Dance".  The Instant Dance wasn't nearly as messed up as it might have been and ended up quite entertaining.

Kurt and Bristol had ended up quite a ways behind the others, and so one of them were favored to leave.

The entertainment had John Legend and the Roots (I know The Roots from their appearances on Yo Gabba Gabba), Taio Cruz and Emily Bear the nine-year old piano prodigy plus "Dance Center with Kenny Mayne, Jerry Rice and Len Goodman (that makes me laugh).

The first couple named safe were Kyle and Lacey who also performed their jive as the spotlight dance.

Next safe were Jennifer and Derek, with Kurt and Anna still in jeopardy.

Then Brandy/Maks were on stage with Bristol/Mark.  Bristol and Mark were safe!  Brandy and Maks were in jeopardy.

In the end Kurt and Anna were voted off.  Kurt is such a nice guy, a good dancer and I'm sorry to see him go.

Amazing that Bristol is still there - what support she must have!

Is It Bristol’s Time To Leave?

We're close to discovering who will be eliminated in week 8 of DWTS. Will it be one of the two obvious candidates – Bristol or Kurt – or will there be another shock?

Here's how the judges' scores broke down:

Couple	Score
Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough	57	21.5%
Brandy and Maksim Chmerkovskiy	57	21.5%
Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer	56	21.1%
Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya	48	18.1%
Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas	47	17.7%

 

Kurt and Bristol are significantly behind Kyle and so the expectation is that one of those will leave.

However, Kurt tweeted that they had an insane number of votes and Bristol apparently has an army of robodialers on her side.

The biggest catch up in the voting occurred in week 6 where Kurt must have had at least 4.9 percentage points of the viewers' vote more than Audrina, so anything is possible.

My money is on Bristol as her dedicated fan base (robotic or otherwise) will have a tough time keeping her in given Kurt's record, and the gap between her and Kyle seems too large to bridge.

We shall see!

The Scores in Instant Dance Week

It's week 8 - the Quarterfinals - and the couples have to dance twice.

This week the producers have come up with "Instant Dance".  The couples only get the music for their second dance after they've finished their first performance.  So instead of a week they have maybe 30 minutes to actually rehearse to the music.

Here are the judges' scores for each couple:

• Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer - 27 and 29 .  Kyle really came out and danced this week!  The jive was a joy.
• Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough - 27 and 30.  Perfect score.  Enough said.
• Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya - 24 and 24.  Solid performance as always from Kurt.
• Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas - 24 and 23. Bristol's first dance, the Rumba, was legit.  I felt she deserved more from the judges.  Having said that the 23 was probably a bit high.
• Brandy and Maks - 29 and 28.  Almost a perfect score.  Carrie Ann had an argument with Maks on the second dance but still ended up giving them a 9.

So.  The totals are:

Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough 57
Brandy and Maksim Chmerkovskiy 57
Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer - 56
Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya - 48Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas 47

Bristol and Kurt must have had a lot of votes to beat out Audrina and Rick the past two weeks but they are quite a ways behind the others this week so I'd have to say one of them is leaving.  But the way votes have been coming in the last two weeks anything could happen!

Two Performances with a Twist This Week

In order to continue fiddling with the format to improve ratings, the producers have this week introduced the "Instant Dance". The couples are told the Latin dance they will perform but won;t be told the music they will be dancing to.  It must favor the "natural" dancers rather than the ones who have fervently memorized each step to each note of music.  The couples will also be performing a ballroom number.

On the Results Show, John Legend will be performing as well as Taio Cruz and piano prodigy Emily Bear.  "Dance Center" with Kenny Mayne, Jerry Rice and Len will also return.  Less couples to keep under the red light so more filler needed!

Will Bristol be voted off, or will they "conspire" to keep her on?

Why Shouldn’t Bristol Palin Still Be On DWTS?

There have been many conspiracy theories this week on why Bristol Palin is still on DWTS while celebrities who are better dancers, notably Audrina patridge and rick Fox, have been voted off. Here are some examples:

• Sarah Palin demanding that her "entire Tea Party brigade to text like crazy after the end of each episode"
• The robo-callers are used for DWTS rather than the elections
• The producers are fixing the results to keep her on the show in a effort to increase ratings
• Christine O'Donnell cast a spell on DWTS phone lines (my favorite)

Dancing with the Stars has many examples where celebrities have lasted longer than their dancing skills would lead us to believe – Billy Ray Cyrus, Woz, Master P immediately spring to mind.

Another example would be Marie Osmond. Marie is actually a favorite of mine, but she did have the lowest judges' scores in 5 of the ten weeks and finally finished third.

The reason she stayed around so long? A LOT OF PEOPLE VOTED FOR HER.

And the same is true for Bristol. She must have a solid, dedicated fan base. The problem with such a polarizing figure of course is that there is probably a significant number of people who don't want her to win and would never vote for her, meaning she won't pick up as many votes from the celebrity leaving as some of the others might.

A popularity contest? Absolutely. That's why half the score is based on the viewers vote.

The aim is to identify the best dancer in the eyes of the judges and viewers, not to rank them or to only take account of their technical skills.

Now, if she manages to win, I'm going with the Christine O'Donnell theory…

Potential for Another Shock Exit on Dancing with the Stars?

The 200^th Episode Celebration Week has lots of DWTS alumni visiting and one of the ways the producers incorporated them was for a fourth judge for the individual performances last night.

Each couple had to interpret a dance from a previous season, and the celebrity performer returned to score the couples along with Len, Carrie Ann and Bruno meaning they were scored out of forty. Additionally, it was the team competition where the couples were split into two teams under captains – Apolo Ohno or Kristi Yamaguchi – and each team got a score out of thirty.

The effect of these two things – the team dance and the fourth judge – meant that the scores were a lot closer this week than they might otherwise have been. (The fourth judges gave 10s apart from Gilles Marini and Kelly Osbourne who gave 9s).

Bristol, to be safe, needs only 0.5 percentage points for the viewer vote more than Kyle. And is less that 2 percentage points behind Jennifer and Brandy. Last week Kurt must have had at least 5 points more than Audrina – so two points is definitely doable!

Do I think there will be a shock? No, I think Jennifer and Brandy are safe. But any of the other four are in jeopardy, with Kyle as my guess to be the most likely to go.