ABC’s Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars’ double elimination of Week 8 paved the way for next week’s semifinal round. The four All-Star semifinalists are now locked in, minus one fan favorite and one sexy hunk.
Recall head judge Len Goodman’s grumpy tirade over Shawn Johnson’s tribal samba. He sternly told her she had her two pro partners Derek Hough and Mark Ballas to blame if she was sent home. Was he right?
Note: Spoilers ahead if you didn’t watch Tuesday’s episode.
Nope! After all Len’s complaining, Shawn can actually thank her pros because she was swept into the semifinals early in the show, as was Melissa Roycroft. Then it was time for the first elimination, with Kirstie Alley and Kelly Monaco in the hot seat. No real shocker here that out of the two, Kirstie was ousted.
Even though both found themselves neck and neck at the bottom of the leaderboard for several weeks, Kelly has shown the most improvement and finesse on the dance floor. Kirstie was always a good time and had a large fan base, but the entertainment value can only take you so far. The stakes are so high for a place in the All-Star semifinals and Kirstie just wasn’t improving at all week over week. See the video of her last dance above and note how sloppy it seemed at times.
When Kirstie and partner Maks Chmerkovskiy’s names were announced, it was curious that no attention was paid to Kelly and partner Val Chmerkovskiy for making it into the semifinals. No fanfare, no congrats, nothing? We can only assume Kelly and Val will have a private, romantic celebration later. Kirstie was gracious, thanking Maks for his patience, the judges for their critiques and of course, the fans.
The next couple to make it into the semifinals was Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke. This was surprising only because Emmitt has been struggling in the middle of the pack for several weeks, and quite frankly, hasn’t danced that well. It can only be the power of the legion of football fans that saved him. Emmitt’s safety left Apolo Ohno and Gilles Marini on the hot seat for the last spot in the semifinals. Apolo was in, while Gilles was eliminated. Gilles had received higher scores overall than Apolo, but the fans just weren’t digging him or his sexy accent this time around. Gilles said being on the show twice had been an incredible experience and lovingly thanked his wife, because without her, he was nothing.
In between the heart thumping moments, we learned that next week would see unique dance styles once again with each All-Star semifinalist picking the style for another:
Kelly picked “Caveman” Hustle for Melissa
Emmitt picked “Knight Rider” Banghra (Indian folk dance) for Shawn
Gilles picked “Big Top” Jazz for Apolo
Shawn picked “Espionage” Lindy Hop for Emmitt
Kelly was left with “Surfer” Flamenco
Next week’s semifinals will also see tribute dances to Michael Jackson, with each couple performing to a song from the album Bad.
Do you agree with tonight’s double elimination? Sound off below.
