Oct 19 2009
Osmond Leads Pack of New “Dancing” Highs
Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson fared respectably with last week’s Charleston, but it was this week’s Argentine Tango that not only brought them their highest judges score yet, but also the best score of the night. (picture courtesy of ABC-TV/Adam Larkey)
Half of the remaining couples on Dancing With the Stars reached season highs Monday evening.
With the Argentine Tango and Paso Doble taking center stage this week, contestants came out swinging (and kicking and tangoing) in this fifth week of competition, hoping to wow judges like never before. Five couples posted their highest scores yet, with showbiz veteran Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson climbing to the top of the leaderboard with their Argentine Tango. Jumping five points to a 29 out of 30, Osmond had judge Carrie Ann Inaba proclaiming that she had fallen in love with the “Puppy Love” crooner. Singer/actress Mya and partner Dmitry Chaplin performed the same dance, but slipped one point from last week’s chart-topping 28.
Marital artist/Iron Chefhost Mark Dacascos and partner Lacey Schwimmer tackled the Paso Doble and judges reqarded them with their highest marks yet (26). Also rebounding from last week were pop star Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff, whose Tango helped push their score up six points to a 24. Reality TV star/singer Kelly Osbourne and Louis van Amstel climbed just one point from last week, but landed their best score in the process, tying Carter/Smirnoff and model Joanna Krupa/Maksim Chmerkovskiy for fourth place.
Krupa overcame the obstacle of having partner Derek Hough sit this week out (as he was recuperating from the flu). Paired with Chmerkovskiy (whose partner Debi Mazar exited the competition two weeks back), Krupa suffered a major stumble while on the floor, but still managed a respectable 24.
Actress Melissa Joan Hart realistically had nowhere to go but down from last week- and that she did. She and partner Mark Ballas danced the Argentine Tango, but could not duplicate the success of last week’s Charleston. Nonetheless, the twosome’s 23 ranked as their second-best couples dance out of five attempts. Slipping two points to a 22 were Olympic gold medal swimmer Natalie Coughlin and partner Alec Mazo, whose Paso Doble brought the pair their lowest score since week two.
The two contestants who tied for last place last week again were at the bottom of the heap- but like three others, they landed their highest judges scores of the season. Champion snowboarder Louie Vito and partner Chelsie Hightower danced the Argentine Tango and jumped six points to a 22, while NFL Hall of Famer/former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Michael Irvin and partner Anna Demidova climbed five points to a 21. While the latter’s Paso Doble marked an improvement for Vito, he still maintains- as the judges called them- pedestrian movements.
So who will land in Tuesday night’s bottom two? Hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris called Irvin to safety before narrowing the field to the bottom two, but he should land there this week, as Carter’s rebound should bring him greater viewer support. The remaining spot in the bottom two remains an open field, with Vito and Coughlin the likeliest contenders to join Irvin in the battle for dancing survival. Though as always, it comes down to viewer voting; even the highest scorers cannot take it for granted that they’ll receive enough votes to sail through to next week.
On a lighter note, all of the couples converged for the first group dance of the season. Revisiting the disco era, the group danced to “The Hustle,” which resulted in plenty of polyester, retro wigs and some picking up the dance better than others. No matter- a return to the ’70s capped off one of the better Dancing nights in some time.
