ABC’s Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars pulled a fast one us with Guilty Pleasures Night 2. While they pretended it was a live show, with many references to “last night,” the performances were actually taped in advance. After Monday night’s live show signed off at 9 PM, they continued on with the remaining individual dances and the Team “Gangnam Style” dance in front of just the studio audience!
Perhaps the pressure of keeping up the ruse affected the judges’ brains, because they were simply whack with their critiques, particularly Carrie Ann Inaba. After the unceremonious fall from her chair, it’s possible she had a concussion given her strange and cranky commentary.
Note: Spoilers ahead if you didn’t watch Tuesday’s episode.
First up was Melissa Roycroft, who as everyone knows by now suffered an injury in Sunday’s rehearsals and was only able to dance with the help of lots of medication. She and partner Tony Dovolani tangoed to Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” Melissa executed it so well, you could never tell she had been injured just 24 hours before. Judge Len Goodman implied they had played it too safe, prompting host Tom Bergeron to remind him she’d recently been in an ambulance. Judge Bruno Tonioli echoed Len, as did Carrie Ann, who then flip-flopped when she shouted, “Come on boys, she had an injury.” Thumps on the head to all three of them.
So, perhaps the callous judges don’t handle human suffering well. They had a chance to redeem themselves with Shawn Johnson’s exquisite rumba, but fell down on that too. Channeling Rose and Jack from Titanic, Shawn and partner Derek Hough danced to Celine Dion’s“My Heart Will Go On,” complete with Shawn letting Derek fall off the makeshift raft. Their dance was full of emotion, perfectly executed and magnified the artistry of Derek’s choreography. It was a beautiful moment, until Carrie Ann said she was sending Shawn to her room for doing a “lift.” Last week’s oddball dances were all about the lifts and now they are banned? The surprise on Derek’s face implied he didn’t know he broke a rule, but tried to clean it up by calling it a “catch.” The other judges agreed, but Carrie Ann would not back down, leading Tom to dub her the “iceberg.” Len continued the craziness by saying there was no hip action and leveled more snarky criticism.
Apolo Ohno’s sensual and rhythmic samba to Rick James’ “Give it to Me Baby” did not escape Carrie Ann’s wackiness either. Though commending his leg work, she claimed something is not quite right. Apolo is not “where Apolo should be.” She urged him to work on his chemistry with partner Karina Smirnoff. Carrie Ann then played evil stepmother to Sabrina Bryan’s Cinderella waltz, telling her that if she was going for vulnerability she didn’t get there. Flip-flopping once again, Carrie Ann then said Sabrina personified elegance. Bruno was so overcome, he leapt from his chair flailing about like a windmill, prompting Len to leap from his chair for safety.
The Team “Gangnam Style” freestyle made up for all the judges’ nonsense of the night. Kirstie Alley, Gilles Marini, Emmitt Smith, Kelly Monaco and their pro partners donned Korean rapper Psy-inspired garb for the first half of the number, then stripped down to more revealing costumes. Gilles’ outfit was just a tiny towel, which Bruno asked to borrow because he had “wet” himself during the performance. Team “Gangnam Style,” though not as tight and in sync as Team “Call Me Maybe,” was the more fun of the two dances. Carrie Ann called it a “hot mess,” but conceded that sometimes hot messes lead to crazy fun insanity. The judges gave Team “Gangnam Style” a score of 27. The irony here was that the pros failed to nail the basic legwork for the Cowboy/Horseback step. Click here to watch the way Psy teaches Britney and Ellen DeGeneres, and compare to the team’s video above.
All of the couples received a score of 27 for their individual dances with the exception of Sabrina who received a 29.5. The leaderboard below reflects the totals from individual dances and team dances, which will be added to next week’s scores for Country dances.
Week 5 Leaderboard
Sabrina & Louis VanAmstel 58.5
Gilles & Peta Murgatroyd 56.5
Melissa & Tony 56.5
Shawn & Derek 56.5
Apolo & Karina 56.5
Emmitt & Cheryl Burke 56
Kirstie & Maks Chmerkovskiy 52.5
Kelly & Val Chmerkovskiy 51.5
Do you think the judges were too harsh? Sound off below.
