Tough night to be a baseball and ballroom fan; when it’s Game 4 of the World Series and your team is one W away from taking the championship, should the Viennese waltz really matter?
Hell yes, it should! Thank goodness for multiple TVs and Freddie Freeman. And much obliged to those ABC censors, who kept us from seeing the Bruno bits in that goofy opening sequence with Derek Hough.
Olympic rugby player Ilona Maher with partner Alan Bersten. The judges want to see more dancing from the effervescent athlete, so Bersten packed their tango with plenty of kicks and spins as they hoofed it to “Psycho Killer.” Something clicked for Maher; she was much more graceful this week. “I can really you see work very very hard, especially on the frame,” said judge Bruno Tonioli. “A lot of content, but you still have to refine the foot work … Much better.” Score: 24 out of 30
NBA Champion Dwight Howard with partner Daniella Karagach. Karagach gave her partner some tough love by saying he hasn’t made it through one performance without making a mistake. Yikes! Lucky for the champ, Karagach’s sweet spot is choreographing memorable contemporary numbers with lots of breathtaking lifts. And once again, she didn’t disappoint: the judges were beyond wowed by the dynamic duo. “Dancing with that kind of intensity,” said Inaba. “Honestly I wasn’t sure you would ever go there. Tonight, you left nothing!” Score: 28 out of 30
DWIGHT HOWARD, DANIELLA KARAGACH (Disney/Christopher Willard)
Jenn Tran (The Bachelorette) with partner Sasha Farber: Season 32 celeb Alyson Hannigan visited the duo in rehearsal for no other reason than to suggest what it was like to act scared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Thanks? Only problem was that there was nothing frightening about their contemporary homage to sexy vampires. Bloody good! “The queen of the damned! You really got your teeth into that performance,” said Tonioli. “You were actually in charge of the dance, and you won it darling.” Score: 28 out of 30
Super Bowl Champion Danny Amendola with partner Witney Carson. Amendola has the right amount of masculinity for his Argentine tango — and he’s a master at tossing his partner — but his timing was off and he could use a bit more passion. The judges saw something differently, though. “It was so fantastic,” said Hough. “You are a fantastic partner to Witney. I will say this, the connective tissue … your shoulders get a little hunched over and tight.” Score: 28 out of 30
Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik with partner Rylee Arnold: The gymnast got to play a zombie-like figure who walks on his hands in a contemporary number that more than made up for his bottom-of-the-leaderboard scores from last week. “Everyone to me is performing really well tonight, but hands down that was the best!” said Inaba. Score: 28 out of 30
The Bachelor‘s Joey Graziadei with partner Jenna Johnson. The pro figured out the best way to show off Graziadei’s leading man bonafides was to have him play a puppet master to her lithesome marionette. It worked! Their Argentine tango was, as Tonioli said, spellbinding. “You are the ultimate puppetmaster because you are always in control, which is a compliment,” said Hough. “There was two moments the lifts felt a little unstable but my friend, you are fantastic.” Score: 29 out of 30
Chandler Kinney (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) with partner Brandon Armstrong. Kinney wrapped the partner portion of the night with an impeccable Viennese waltz to the theme song for Pretty Little Liars. Damn this lady is good (no matter what Inaba says). “The beauty and sense of haunting,” said Tonioli. “The quality of movement … that really was exquisite.” Score: 29 out of 30
WITNEY CARSON, DANNY AMENDOLA (Disney/Christopher Willard)
Dance-off.
Kinney and Armstrong have immunity because of their previous scores. Couples face off while performing the same style of dance.
Howard vs Maher: Neither couple showed proficiency with their cha cha but Maher had more energy. Far be it from the judges, however, to let that stop them from targeting the Olympian for elimination. “Both of you have come so far in this competition,” said Inaba. “I thought you had a strong start, Dwight. Ilona, you were more technically sound than Dwight was.” Winner: Howard
Tran vs. Nedoroscik: The gymnast tried to upstage Tran’s salsa with his gymnastic prowess but there’s no beating the bachelorette’s technical abilities. “This is a lot of fun,” said Hough. “For me Jenn and Sasha, you went right into it, there was a lot of content.” Winner: Tran
Graziadei vs. Amendola: It’s a hottie-off! But honestly, didn’t you already predict the winner before they began their jumpin’ jives? Gee, that Johnson is a magnificent choreographer. “The battle of the six packs!” said Tonioli. “There was so much testosterone. Boys, you worked so hard and did it so well. The energy was out of this world.” Winner: Graziadei
Man, talk about a broken record: another voting milestone was hit Tuesday.
Bottom three celebs Kinney, Tran and Nedoroscik.
It’s Tran’s turn to go. Totally undeserved.
DWTS is off next week for the election. Vote, people!
