Louis Van Amstel And Tristan MacManus Write On DWTS14 Week 6, ET Interview

In Part 2 of our media postings today, Louis Van Amstel reviews the night at ABC. He thought William ‘should have been out earlier and Donald should have stayed longer’ in the Marathon Dance. Louis would have given it to Katherine or Donald. Below are some of his thoughts on the individual dances. See if you don’t agree and be sure to read more at the link. I think Louis pretty much pegs it again and puts it all into words I couldn’t find. Don’t forget that Louis will be dancing again tonight in a Pro number.

Maria Menounos and Derek Hough’s Foxtrot. That’s a fast foxtrot. Maria did a great job. It’s a shame about the little mishap on the stairs. Great frame, very good posture and as a couple they moved nicely and smoothly across the floor. I do feel Maria is quite stiff and needs to loosen up if she wants to go to the finals. In the hold, Maria is solid, but when Derek lets her go she looks pretty tight and insecure. I agree with Len’s first part “In hold,” but “NOT in hold.” It wasn’t as great. As a matter of fact, that’s where Maria lost her footing. I agree with Carrie Ann’s score – three “8′s” in my book.

Roshon Fagan and Chelsie Hightower’s Rumba. This was a very solid performance by Roshon. He looked very comfortable in this routine, awesome arm lines. The momentum in one of the turns caused a very slight lift. Roshon attacked this Rumba a little hard sometimes which sacrificed some of the tenderness and sensuality that is so important for the Rumba. It was very age appropriate though. Carrie Ann, wow, now you’re going to be the lift police after so many other competitors did lifts before and you didn’t mention anything. Even though the judges had a weird way of criticizing Roshon, I do agree with them. The judges could have been a little less aggressive about it. The scores are low-ish. I’d say the scores should have been the same as Maria, three “8′s.” (In my opinion, Maria should have gotten three “8′s.”)

Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas’ Samba. This was another beautiful performance by Katherine. She just doesn’t have a bad movement in her body. There were a lot of great technical elements in that routine, with a good, solid bounce. I’m going to be a little more critical of Katherine right now (In my opinion, in comparison, she’s already better than anyone else). Katherine can finish her legs off better when closing her feet and when doing a Latin dance she should express it differently from her ballroom dances. Everything is always “pretty.” I sometimes want to see the differences — sultry, hot, rough, sweet, bitchy, sensitive. She can show more variety. I like what Carrie Ann said, although I would have liked to see a bit more ‘In your face’. A little over-scored. Three “9′s,” in my opinion, but since Maria got such high scores two “10s” are deserved in comparison.

Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd’s Foxtrot. Is Donald really a football player? He’s not a dancer? Donald totally impressed me again tonight with his dance. It had great Foxtrot content. He had a great frame and let’s not even get started on Donald’s charisma. It was strong when it needed to be and soft when the time was right. Awesome job, especially knowing he’s not a performer, dancer, singer, actor at all — and yet he does it all with ease. And another great costume! I totally agree with Bruno. That was cute, Len! I agree with Len that Donald can do more. Get your freestyle music! Well deserved scores. If they would have given one “10,” I would have agreed.

ET interviewed the couples on their dances. Gladys is happy. Roshon is a little down (can’t say as I blame him!). Melissa wasn’t happy with her and Maks’ package. Lots more below. It’s so good to see Steve Jones of the X Factor again.

Lastly, Tristan has a great new blog up at Entertainment Weekly explaining he and Gladys’ dances. Here is a little excerpt. See if you don’t agree with some of the things he said too about the judges?

On the “My Girl” rumba: We were hoping for a faster dance but the rumba’s what we got. We got a great song, and we got to dance to the Temptations. I was annoyed by some of the comments the judges made. They put me in a fierce bad mood afterwards. What Bruno said about wanting a more steamy dance — I thought that was stupid. It wasn’t about being steamy and hot, and no one wants to see me steamy with Gladys.

I don’t think it was appropriate. They said, well maybe you’re not the best dancer, and things needed to be more steamy. Being steamy doesn’t make anyone a better dance either, does it? That’s just a gimmick. I think a lot of it is about performance. That’s what really annoyed me. It was a tribute to Motown and that’s what we did. So the way we took the rumba was that the passionate side and the love that you’re supposed to portray in rumba, that was directed towards Motown. It should have been marked on the dance and not marked on flamboyance.

Chelsie and Roshon were underscored immensely for what they’d done. I thought they were great, know what I mean? There just needs to be consistency somewhere and there definitely needs to be a bit of common sense in places as well. So as much as people are saying about Len, he’s this and he’s that — he knew that the appropriateness of what should have happened tonight, and Bruno and Carrie Ann should have known that as well.

On that purple suit: The funny thing was, I wanted to try to put Gladys in as many colors as possible, and she really liked purple. The Temps wore purple all the time. So that’s how I stole that costume. If you put in “The Temptations My Girl” it goes to the song on YouTube [embedded below] — you can see even from the movie that they have purple suits. The whole look itself was, again, part of the tribute. My look was David Ruffin’s, the lead singer on this song. That was the look that he had, they were his glasses and stuff.

Ok, that is all for now. Here’s to tonight’s results. I’m curious to see if two of the contestants will be eliminated? I hope not. Also, stay tuned to Heidi’s Numbers post coming up a little later with her predictions which are always fascinating and entertaining as well!! 😉