Oct 27 2009
Can Irvin Survive a Double “Dancing” Elimination?
Michael Irvin and partner Anna Demidova have managed to survive through week six of Dancing With the Stars. With a double elimination occurring Tuesday night, can the pair surprise yet again and last through week seven? (picture courtesy of ABC-TV/Adam Larkey)
Perennial Dancing With the Stars low scorer Michael Irvin has his work cut out for him this evening, as the ABC series will send two celebrity contestants packing, with the bottom feeders competing in a dance-for-their-life face off.
Last night, the remaining nine contestants danced their individual couples dance and a mambo marathon. For the latter, couples received points ranging from two to 10, depending on their order of elimination (the first couple out received 2 points, the last couple standing received 10) Irvin and partner Anna Demidova scored a 20 for their Waltz, and were the first couple the judges ejected in the mambo marathon. Combining both scores, they finished the night in last place, with 22 points.
Not much higher (as usual) were snowboarder Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower, whose Jitterbug earned them a 21. With their three points for mamboing, the twosome barely edged Irvin/Demidova, with a 23. Slightly ahead of Irvin and Vito were Melissa Joan Hart/Mark Ballas (combined 24) and Kelly Osbourne/Louis van Amstel, who scored a 24 and 25, respectively. Hart dropped back to a 20 for her Waltz, eight points her acclaimed Charleston from two weeks ago; whether she would have scored better with the Jitterbug remains unknown, but her Jive from earlier in the season did not wow the judges. Osbourne took a stab at the Jitterbug, but her confused face made her look ill at ease at points, and she could not muster more than a 20.
After that bottom four, the remaining five couples all scored 31 and up for their individual dances and mambo routines. Last week’s leaders, showbiz veteran Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson, danced the Jitterbug and ended up with a total of 31. Right ahead of Osmond was martial artist Mark Dacascos/Lacey Schwimmer, whose Jitterbug tied for highest-scoring individual dance of the night (26). Tying for second place for the evening with 33 poins each were Aaron Carter/Karina Smirnoff and Mya/Dmitry Chaplin. Carter’s Waltz earned him the second highest individual score of the night 925), while Mya’s Jitterbug earned a solid, if not spectacular, 24.
Leading the pack were model Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough, who scored a 36. The twosome beat out Mya and Chaplin in the mambo marathon, and also tied Dacascos/Schwimmer for the night’s highest-scoring individual dance.
Two quasi-stars will leave the competition this evening. Irvin has squeaked out of the bottom two the last two weeks- did his fans come to his rescue again, or will the NFL Hall of Famer finally lose his chance at scoring a dancing touchdown? Not that his lax dancing has not hurt those chances enough, of course. Carter landed in the bottom two the last two weeks- does he have enough support to last another week? Vito again landed the second-lowest score, but he evaded the bottom two last week- does he have enough fan support to overcome a 10-point disadvantage trailing Carter?
And what about Melissa? After her brief moment in the spotlight, she’s reverted back to her mediocre ways (though her 20 still was her third-highest score out of six dances). Osbourne probably has enough fan support to last another week- after all, her parents are Ozzy and Sharon.
With a points system that leaves no guarantee that even the highest-scoring couple will survive, as always, anything can happen. But, more than likely, Irvin or Vito should be among the two who receive the lowest combined score after combining judges scores and viewer votes.
Taylor Swift will perform this evening (as she released the platinum edition of her multi-million-selling Fearless album this week). But, it will be anything but a “Love Story” for the two dancing-challenged contestants who get the literal boot.
