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Double Duty on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ as Laila Ali and Joey Fatone Lead Charge
Contestants on the hit reality show ‘Dancing with the Stars’ had to pull double duty last night in what was called “the night that defines the season” by co-host Samantha Harris.
The six remaining stars along with their partners had their opportunity to wow the judges with a ballroom dance as well as a Latin dance. While it worked for Laila Ali and Joey Fatone it didn’t go as smoothly for John Ratzenberger or Billy Ray Cyrus.
Ali was up first and once again she had the judges raving about her quickstep. As the lone female contestant remaining Ali said she looks forward to knocking one of her male competitors out and judging by the score she received, along with partner Maksim, there is little doubt that it will happen. Ali totaled 29 out of 30 to set the bar for the night.
Ratzenberger is up next and despite hearing positive remarks for his foxtrot it’s not really reflected in his score. Hearing a judge tell you that it was your best dance yet and still landing fifth in the scoring doesn’t necessarily bode well for your future dancing endeavors. Nonetheless, John and partner Edyta received a 23 in dance one.
Up next was Apolo Anton Ohno and his only problem is that he now has to blow the judges away on every dance. He dances a foxtrot with Julianne that doesn’t quite blow the judges away and they are handed a 26, fourth on the list after one dance.
Ian Ziering and dance partner Cheryl Burke seem to have discovered what the judges had been looking for as they danced a tango. Just pretend that you are having fun and you will earn high marks. It worked for the 90210’er as they hit nines on each of the scorecards for a 27.
Billy Ray wanted to showcase his partner Karina during their waltz and while the audience may have been thankful the judges were less than impressed. For standing still and allowing his partner to do all the work Billy Ray totaled a 17 and secured the low score of the round, and since this isn’t golf, that’s not good.
Fatone and Kym finish out the ballroom round with a foxtrot that was called “dazzling” and “great” by two judges and “too much razzle-dazzle” by a third. Despite the “razzle-dazzle” the two pick up a 29 to tie with Ali and Maksim heading into the second dance.
In the second set of dances the judges appeared a little more generous as both Ali and Fatone were awarded perfect 30s for a samba (Ali) and jive (Fatone). With both contestants hitting perfection they each scored a 59 out of 60 over two dances to share the top spot in the evening.
Ian and Apolo tied for third after Ziering received another 27 for a mambo while Ohno seems to find what the judges were looking for in his mambo and records a 28. Both Ziering and Ohno finish the night with a total of 54.
After hearing that his foxtrot was his best dance yet Ratzenberger hears the same compliment for his rumba yet once again only picks up a 22. While John seems to be loved by the audience this could be the end of the line. After two dances his score totaled 45.
Billy Ray seems to suffer from the same issues Ratzenberger is forced to deal with as the judges patronize him with these uplifting messages of hope and then drop a 21 on him. While his samba isn’t exactly perfect he still has to listen to the judges call him determined and fun to watch. At the end of the day he finished with a two dance total of 38. Not good if your dream is to become a professional dancer.
The elimination will be revealed tonight and while the judges made it clear who belongs in the bottom two, the audience usually has their sentimental heroes advancing.
