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Laila, Joey, Apolo and Ian Step it Up On ‘Dancing with the Stars’
It’s hard to separate yourself from the group when everybody else steps up their game to match you. At least that’s what the four remaining contestants on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ found out last night as perfect scores were handed out like Halloween candy and no one ‘Star’ shown brighter than the next.
Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough got the evening started in perfect style with a quickstep that earned overwhelming praise from the judges and a perfect score of 30, setting the standard for the night. Carrie Ann Inaba actually showed gratitude for the couple’s dance when she said “Thank you for stepping the standard way high for the semi-finals. You didn't miss a beat.”
Up next were Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke who went all out in their tango and it paid off as they earned their first 10 of the competition and it was from their most vocal critic, Len Goodman. The typically acerbic judge said, “That was your best dance yet. That was right on the money. I loved it. It had passion and flair.” Unfortunately for Ziering and Burke Inaba and Bruno Tonioli weren’t as overwhelmed and gave 29s to give the couple a score of 28 out of 30.
Laila Ali continued to receiving gushing compliments from the three judges after her quickstep with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Inaba told Ali after the dance “you are amazing. Goodman quipped; “it was great” while Tonioli called her “Cleopatra Ali” and said the dance was “totally fascinating.” Needless to say they earned the night’s second perfect score.
Had Joey Fatone and his partner Kym Johnson gone first there may have been just one perfect score awarded in the opening round. The response from the judges made it known that Fatone and Johnson owned the ballroom round with their foxtrot. If it was in the judges power to award a 40 they would have as Goodman called it “smooth,” Tonioli added “I was absolutely enchanted,” and Inaba wrapped it up with “you won the ballroom round hands down.”
The high scores in the first round didn’t stop flowing as the second round of dances produced a higher overall total than the first.
Apolo came out with a cha cha that Inaba called “the sexiest cha cha I have ever seen” but Goodman called it “too raunchy” and knocked off a point. Len’s deduction was the only thing that stood in the way of Apolo landing two perfect rounds as he was awarded a 29 out of 30 for a combined score of 59 out of 60.
Ian channeled Elvis for his jive with Cheryl and it paid off as the two earned their first perfect round of the competition. Carrie Ann called the dance “incredible,” while Len opened up to Ian telling him “I always thought you were technically the soundest” and told him that he finally proved it. With a 30 for their jive the two totaled out at 58 on the night.
The ‘Dancing’ judges seem to have run out of positives to compliment Laila and Maksim and when they completed their cha cha it was their second perfect score of the night taking their total to 60.
Wrapping up the night was Joey and Kym who once again could have caused some scores to change had they gone first as their jive left the three judges stupefied. Tonioli summarized the performance by saying “You have more flash than Vegas and more tricks than Houdini. What a way to finish up the night -- a grand finale.” Another perfect score for Fatone and Johnson placed them in a tie for the night with Laila and Maksim.
Tonight will be a tough night for one of the four remaining contestants. Its hard to imagine getting sent home after your best performance but that’s what will happen to Laila, Joey, Apolo or Ian as all four took their game to a new level. It will probably come down to Apolo or Ian and it’s really a toss up between the two.
