Who went home in week 2?

Ah, the results show.  A pet peeve of mine.  It's just too long in my opinion, and this week it seemed interminable.

As well as the musical acts (which are normally good, and were tonight), Macy's Stars of Dance, some behind the scenes footage and the "eliminations" we had a number of controversies this week.

• Will Tony Dovolani shave his legs after scoring 23? (Yes)
• Why was Bruno so mean to Michael Bolton? (He calls it how he sees it)
• Was Sarah Palin really booed? (No, according to some very grainy footage)

This meant the producers could be even lazier than normal and padded to their hearts content.

Anywho, as usual some couples were "safe" and some were "in jeopardy, and it should not come as any surprise that Michael Bolton was voted off this week.  It was a very strange and very bad jive (not as bad as Bruno thinks though) and he really didn't have much chance of staying on.  

I assume next week will be a battle between The Sitch and The Cho - but you never know!

DWTS Week 2 Results

Last week on Dancing with the Stars we said goodbye to David Hasselhoff.  The producers had high hopes for David's ratings potential, and were disappointed he left so early.  Will someone rise up and give them the ratings they want to see?

This week the couples dance either the jive or the quickstep - both quite tricky in their own way.  Here are their scores:

• Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke 21 - I can't get over the fact that Rick and Cheryl deal so well with his height.  When someone is that tall they can tend to stoop - but he doesn't do that.
• Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas 19 - Florence is looking pretty good ignoring her age. I guess it'll catch up with her but at the moment she is very entertaining
• Brandy and Maksim Chmerkovskiy 21 - solid jive, nothing more.
• Michael Bolton and Chelsie Hightower 12 - bad concept, bad dancing, bad Bruno.  The judges hated this, no more so than Bruno who said it was the worst jive he'd seen in all eleven seasons.  Len then told him off for saying things he shouldn't.  You know a celebrity is going to be bad when their partner tweets "Been a bit of a rough week for michael but we worked hard to get this jive ready and proud of him!".  Translation: "He's going to stink but he worked hard".
• Audrina Patridge and Tony Dovolani 23 - Audrina improved markedly and is starting to look like a contender.  However, this dance will always be remembered for the "hidden" camera that picked up Tony saying "If we don't get three eights I'll wax my legs."  I guess he's waxing his legs...
• Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough 24 - A well danced and exciting jive, Jennifer and Derek demonstrated why they are the favorites.
• Margaret Cho and Louis van Amstel 18 - The comedy was limited to the occasional funny face and slapping of buttocks.  Margaret seemed to have an epiphany in rehearsal when she realized she was dancing and she got all emo.  A much better dance this week - as well as the advice from the judges I think she also needs to try and remember the steps.
• Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer 22 - Kyle seems like a really nice guy - and very poised for 19.  Their quickstep was more like a jive with some quickstep bits thrown in, but Len was relatively kind to them.
• Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya 21 - I honestly don't get Kurt's scores - to me he seems very stiff although he seemed to enjoy it more this week, which is very important.
• The Situation and Karina Smirnoff 18 - based on the judges' comments I expected a worse score.  He seems to have worked really hard at this.  I still think one week he might surprise us all - if he stays around long enough of course
• Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas 22 - Wow.  I thought she did really well this week.  It was a pretty well executed quickstep and I felt she deserved more technical points for it.  She was a little over-dressed and had the thickest gloves I've ever seen on the dance floor!

So Michael Bolton is six, count 'em, six points behinf The Sitch and Cho-cho.  I don't think he has a chance. What do you think?

The First Elimination from Season 11

I have to say, the results show wasn't too bad tonight.  A dose of Santana is always good and they kept it pretty light.  They also spread the "Who was safe" throughout the program which makes it more interesting.

The first set of four in the spotlights were the bottom four scorers - The Hoff, The Sitch, The Cho and The Bolton.  Michael and Chelsie were the first to be told they were safe.  And then Margaret and Louis were stunned to find out they were safe too!

The next set were the top scorers - Jennifer, Brandy, Rick and Kyle.  Jennifer and Derek were safe (of course), as were Rick and Cheryl.

The third group were then under the spotlight - Florence, Kurt, Bristol and Audrina.  Audrina and Florence were safe.

They then stalled for a bit and then rushed through the remaining six, to leave The Hoff and Kyle on the stand.

And David Hasselhoff became the first to leave Dancing with the Stars season 11.  He approached it as he seems to approach his life - full on.  Unfortunately he was worse than Buzz Aldrin at dancing!  It's a shame Kym won't be there.

Bring on next week!

Shock Elimination Tonight?

Tom Bergeron just tweeted the following:

DWTS producers seem rattled by who is going tonight. Guess they had high hopes for this star (aka thought they'd be ratings draw). Hmm...

Now, I wouldn't put it past him to say things like that just to wind people up, but then I remembered Pamela Anderson almost left in week 1 of season 10.

The celebrities most at risk tonight are Margaret (15), The Hoff (15), The Situation (15), Michael Bolton (16), Florence Henderson (18) and Bristol Palin (18), Audrina (19) and Kurt (19).

To me the ones with the most ratings potential are The Situation, The Hoff and Bristol Palin.  All have potential for a fan base - Jersey Shore, old people and conservatives.  I guess it depends on which of those groups watch DWTS!

If there is a shock elimination 9or at least an elimination that the producers don't like) I think I'd go with The Situation.

Scores from Week 1 of DWTS 11

The eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars has kicked off among a cloud of glitter, feathers and pearly white smiles.

I have high hopes for this season, we'll see if it can be even better than last!

Here are the scores with some initial thoughts:

• Audrina Patridge and Tony Dovolani - 19 - A nice performance from Audrina, I felt she deserved a higher score.  It's always hard to go first, but she seemed very comfortable on the floor.
• Kurt Warner and Anna Trebunskaya - 19 - Kurt was nervous to start but pulled off some nice moves.  Wasn't as good as Audrina.
• Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer - 23 - I have to admit I had Kyle down as one of the first to leave, but after this performance it'd be a real shame if he did get booted off.  He's a real performer.
• Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke - 22 - Rick was pretty good and they overcame the height difference pretty well.  I think dances like the jive might be harder for him.
• Margaret Cho and Louis Van Amstel - 15 - Margaret started really well, and then messed it up trying to be funny.  It's a shame - I like her!
• Brandy and Maksim Chmerkovskiy - 23 - Brandy showed why she was one of the favorites with a technically good dance with some emotion in it.
• Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas - 18 - Bristol was better than I expected.  She was obviously nervous, but seemed to actually try to enjoy herself.  If Mark can get the entertainer out, she could last a while.
• Michael Bolton and Chelsie Hightower - 16 -  Michael didn't seem as though he was enjoying it and he was very stiff.
• Florence Henderson and Corky Ballas - 18 - Now Florence DID enjoy herself.  She forgot the steps occasionally, but she gave an enjoyable performance.
• Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino and Karina Smirnoff - 15 - If your factor in the fact that he only had five days of practice this was a pretty good performance - unfortunately it doesn't work that way!  Assuming he stays, I think he will improve rapidly.
• Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough - 24 - A lovely performance with the choreography you've come to expect from Derek.  Jennifer had her heart on her sleeve dancing to a song from Dirty Dancing.  Unfortunately, the show tried to play it up a bit too much.
• David Hasselhoff and Kym Johnson - 15 - Oh dear.  The Hoff was enjoying himself, but he just can't dance.

Just another observation - Brooke Burke seemed to be asking questions that were being served to her, rather than coming up with her own.  She seemed a lot like Samantha.  She was like this at the beginning of last season but loosened up - I hope she does this time too!

Overall, I'm very encouraged!

Santana to Perform on DWTS Results Show

Dancing with the Stars is starting the season with a bang by having some serious music stars on the results show.

Santana, India.Arie and Daughtry will all be performing on the results show on September 21.

Here's a segment from the press release:

This week, music legend Santana is set to perform three songs on the show, his classic Latin song "Oye Como Va" and two from his brand new album in stores today -- entitled Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," featuring guest singer India.Arie, and Def Lepperd's classic "Photograph," featuring guest vocalist Chris Daughtry. Rock Band Daughtry will also perform their hit single, "September." "Dancing with the Stars" pros will accompany the acts on the dance floor.

There are two shows - one at 8 and one at 9pm.  I assume the first will be a recap of what happened the night before.

Season 11 Team T-shirts

This season ABC have legitimized the naming of each of the couples and are offering t-shirts for each team.

They're a bit pricey, but $1 per shirt goes to Stand Up To Cancer.

I think I like the Fox-C shirt the best...

Team T-shirts