Apr 27 2009
Melissa In “Dancing” Trouble?
Dancing With the Stars favorite Melissa Rycroft pulled a Steve-O and dropped to the bottom of the leader board for the first time this season.
Also like Steve-O, an injury (in Rycroft’s case, a hairline fracture in her ribs) kept her out of the ABC competition this evening- therefore, judges scored a taped dress rehearsal of the Jive that she and Tony Dovolani were to perform. Unfortunately, the pair earned its lowest score of the season (21 out of 30), a sharp contrast to its first-place-finishing 29 from last week.
Not only did Rycroft miss out on her live Jive, but also the team dance. Lacey Schwimmer took her place on Team Mambo, which also consisted of Dovolani, Chuck Wicks/Julianne Hough and Shawn Johnson/Mark Ballas. With the judges ignoring Dovolani/Schwimmer, Team Mambo ended up with a 25. No doubt that the shedding of clothes at dance’s end (mimicking the fashion style from Beyonce’s “Single Ladies video,” as the track was used for the routine)- concluding with the guys jumping up on the judges’ table- led Bruno Tonioli to score the team one point higher than Carrie Ann Inaba and Len Goodman.
Gilles Marini/Cheryl Burke, Lil’ Kim/Derek Hough and Ty Murray/Chelsie Hightower- as Team Tango- dazzled with a 28, leaving Kim and Hough as the night’s top-scoring couple (56 out of 60, after the 28 was added to the pair’s equally impressive Paso Doble). Finishing second with 55 were Marini and Burke (who scored a 27 for their Jive).
Tying for third with 52 were Johnson/Ballas and Murray/Hightower, who went Latin and danced the Samba and Salsa, respectively. Goodman said he expected rodeo guru Murray to fall off the bull after two weeks, but has been impressed by his showing. However, he added that unless Murray nailed the group dance, it was time he hit the trail. When Team Tango concluded, Goodman said Murray indeed nailed it; though whether it was enough for him finish in the top five, America will decide.
Finishing fifth were real-life couple Wicks and Hough, whose Cha-Cha-Cha brought them their second-highest marks of the season (26). And, as noted earlier, Rycroft and Dovolani brought up the rear, scoring a combined 46 for their rehearsal Jive and team dance.
Will viewers give Rycroft the benefit of the doubt, and remember that she is one of the strongest contenders for the mirrorball trophy? Heck, if Steve-O managed to survive a dress-rehearsal vote earlier this season, there’s no reason Rycroft should not be back next week. After all, after nine dances, she and Dovoalani are tied with Lil’ Kim and Hough for the season’s second-highest average in judges’ scores (25.8); only Marini and Burke have a higher average (27.2), thanks to their six first-place finishes.
If, after combining judges’ scores and viewer votes, Rycroft ends up at the bottom, let’s hope there’s as strong a desire for a recount as there was back in Florida at the start of this decade.
