Courtney

DWTS 15, Week 6 – The Cheesecake Awards!!

Heidi: We’re a bit short on awards this week. I mean, we could go on and on about Taylor Swift and Brooke, but that gets a bit redundant after a while.

Biggest Disconnect Between Dancers & Music: The troupe’s opening performance to Little Big Town

Courtney: So what do you get when you take three Aussies, a Russian mail order bride, a Dane, and a Brit, dress them up in cowpoke gear, and make them dance to a song about a type of boat pretty exclusive to the States? A rather confused performance. I can only imagine what kind of questions got tossed around backstage after this wonder…perhaps Oksana asking “What is pontoon? Is like U-boat?”

Heidi: I think their mojo was off. Mail Order Bride’s hair was all crimped and curled and very unlethal. It’s like Sampson after a haircut. I think I’ve explained this before.

The Award for Best, Unintentionally Filthy Dialogue: Shawn Johnson, Melissa Rycroft and Derek Hough for their “They’re cute” and “They’re Big” Discussion in the Behind-the-Scenes Video Tape

Heidi: That whole conversation was cracking me up. I have this vision of the producers seeing that footage and rolling on the floor laughing, while planning how they can air something that sounds dirty but isn’t. I’ve been of the opinion that Derek was crushing on Melissa back in her original season because of how he talked to her. And here he does a typical guy thing and Melissa? Hilarious. But the best bit was Shawn telling Melissa authoritatively that “they’re big” then reassuring Derek that they’re big. It’s okay, Derek, Melisssa called them cute. Not what you were going for, I know. Um….what was the “they” that they were talking about again??

Courtney: Somehow I think Melissa has outgrown the whole “I must appeal to the male ego” phase that 20-something women go through, before figuring out that men need to get their balls busted every now & then in order to keep them in check Shawn? I think she just wants to protect everyone. It’s actually kinda cute…both of them. Read more..

DWTS 15 – What’s Left to Dance?

So obviously, this season is beyond wacky – double eliminations, no eliminations, new dance styles, guest judges, the whole shebang. And there have been quite a few questions about what dances are being done each week…while I don’t pretend to have a super-clear picture of how the rest of the season is going to unfold, I do have a little bit of info, and I think the bulk of our readers are smart enough to deduce a lot of things So here’s my best (educated) guess at how the rest of the season will unfold – and keep in mind that, like other things this season, some of the stuff in this post has the potential to change. The double elim’s were scheduled for weeks 4 & 6, and then were moved to weeks 3 & 8 without explanation. It’s kind of a crap shoot, kids.

First things first: the question I’ve been seeing the most is “Will the couples be able to get through all of the 10 regular ballroom & Latin dances by the finale?” While I can’t say for sure, in all likelihood I doubt they will, given how many other extraneous dances they seem to be trying to fit into the schedule – unless they try and double or even triple up dances in some weeks, which I think is just asking for trouble. So it’s entirely possible that you may not see Gilles doing a quickstep, or Shawn doing a samba, or Apolo doing a tango, etc. Sorry kids – don’t shoot the messenger. So every couple has 5 regular dances still remaining - here they are, in no particular order.

ETA1: That’ll teach me not to look more carefully before hitting “post” I see now that Shawn & Derek ALSO have a fusion dance comprised of 2 dances they have yet to do, just like Gilles & Peta…while everyone else has done one of the dances in their fusion this season. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say there was a bit of pre-planning in who picked what…but I can’t imagine any way they could do that, judging from how sloppy & disorganized the selection process seemed to be. Guess it’s all just a coincidence.

ETA2: Since this seems to be just too difficult for some to process on their own, let me spell this out loud and clear: THERE ARE TWO DANCES NEXT WEEK. TWOOOOO. NOT THREE. I know you saw Apolo’s tweet about 3 dances – the dude is referring to the fusion dance (which is ONE DANCE) as two dances, since it is two dances mashed together into one routine. Then there is the swing marathon. 1 fusion dance + 1 marathon dance = 2 dances. I can assure you, there is not some 3rd “secret dance” that the powers that be are going to spring on us at the last minute. Got it? Good, cause I’m done spoon feeding information to anyone that can’t be bothered to read this post.

ETA3: Small update – there will be one more dance this season (in week 9) that is a “new” style that the couples will pick for one another. No, I don’t have the list. Still not a peep about the Argentine tango – so at this point, I’m assuming we aren’t going to see it.

ETA4: Looks like they scrapped the idea of having celebs as the 3rd member of the trio dances, and we’re back to using pros (and troupe members) - phew! Also looks like salsa has been thrown into the mix as a possible trio dance, and it’s been confirmed: back-to-back double elims in weeks 8 AND 9 Start making those extra verified accounts, kids…

Gilles & Peta – remaining dances: samba, paso doble, waltz, quickstep, Viennese waltz

Ruh-roh! Gilles only has 2 “sexy” dances left for him to get overscored on, based solely on his sex appeal. Then he’s got three of the pretty staunch ballroom dances to contend with – any bets on which of the 3 (or more) that he miraculously won’t get to this season? I could see him somehow dodging the waltz, since that seems to be a dance that has to be amazing in order for a couples to get votes. If there’s any dance I’d say Peta might struggle with choreographing, it’s the quickstep – for the simple reason that she’s only choreographed one so far on the show (for Donald) and I recall thinking it was a tad weak.

Shawn & Derek – remaining dances: samba, paso doble, waltz, tango, Viennese waltz

I think the fact that these two still have paso doble left bodes well for them – it’s a dance for which Derek almost always comes up with stellar choreography. Viennese waltz will probably be a good one as well. I do worry about the samba a bit, though, because it’s a dance that Derek has said is one of his least favorite to choreograph, and if I recall, it was one that Shawn got mixed reviews for on her original season. I wonder if it would benefit them to use it as their trio dance. Read more..

DWTS 15, Week 6 – Power Rankings

Well, that was interesting I guess that’s with the overall feeling I’m left with after country week – there were some good dances, some not-so-good dances, and just some general weirdness. I feel like we saw, quite possibly, the messiest group dance in the history of the show – as some of you saw me say on Twitter, I thought this looked like it was just thrown together this morning, and that no one really & truly knew the choreography. The solos were an interesting mix of desperate, messy, ambitious, and silly…and at the end of it all, I’m left with the same theory that Heidi & I kicked around earlier today upon hearing about the “judges’ score only” elimination next week: that they’re trying to subtly nudge Kelly out this week so that they can send Kirstie packing next week with a clear conscience and without a ton of backlash. But let’s get on with the rankings, shall we?

1.) Sabrina & Louis – I’ll admit, I really enjoyed this rumba. Sabrina is really starting to grow on me, and maybe a part of me empathized with her struggles with a drug-addicted ex-boyfriend – I myself am still reeling from uncle’s passing earlier this year, due to a drug overdose. I guess I just understand how she could feel so hopeless and agonized in that situation – and I think it reflected in her dancing. Loved the solo, which was a nice combination of hurt and joy. I actually thought Sabrina’s legs looked pretty damn good in this dance, and she seemed to handle all the passes & turns with finesse. There also seemed to be a nice balance of light & shade – the dramatic, fast passes & turns contrasted nicely with the slow portions where she took the time to finish her lines. If I had to pick one flaw, though – I think there was a trick midway through the routine that didn’t seem to come off quite right, and it looked like Louis was just struggling to lift her butt off the floor. For that reason, I would have probably given it a 29 – but overall, I liked it I think she’s got a pretty decent cushion from elimination this week – at the top of the leaderboard, she’s a full 10 points ahead of Kelly.

2.) Apolo & Karina – FINALLY!!! A breakthrough performance that the judges finally recognize just how GOOD these two are. Admittedly, I was skeptical (and rather pessimistic) heading into this week, because I hated the song they picked and I was prepared for the judges to just kinda nitpick them to death again. But man – Apolo seems to really handle the ballroom dances with incredible ease, and I love the way he extends his arms. And while I was worried the emotion in this one would be kind of over-the-top, I actually thought it had a good degree of restraint, and was more celebratory than sad. Just a lovely dance And if we’re going to split hairs about the two extra points from the group dance (which I don’t really feel like complaining about too much, because it literally only makes about a .33% difference…basically peanuts), I think Apolo & Karina were the only two that really seemed hungry for the extra points and seemed to cram as many cool tricks into their solo as humanly possible – for that reason alone, I probably would have given them the points, but again…it really doesn’t matter a whole lot this week. I feel like these two finally have a good dance (and the 2nd highest point total) to keep them relevant – it’s nice to know they’re most likely safe tomorrow night

3.) Shawn & Derek – Very cute & Western-y, just as I was told it would be And it was fun watching Shawn cut loose and play a sassy little Daisy Duke character in her solo. But here’s the thing: I actually agree with Len that there was a little too much country, and I could have done with a bit more regular cha-cha steps. However, I feel like if they were going to call Shawn & Derek out for “too much country western”, then they should have also called Melissa & Tony out for what felt like a TON of ballet in their Viennese waltz…and at the end of the night, it was still country night, so I felt like they did have an obligation to put a certain amount of country steps into that cha-cha. So at the end, I guess I feel kind of ambivalent about the whole thing – not really Shawn’s best dance, but not her worst, and her song was wonky, and she was kind of injured. I’m sure she’ll be ok this week, though - and for a few weeks to come. Thought their solo in the country group dance could have been better and a bit more ambitious, but in the end, like I said – it really doesn’t matter a whole lot. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what Derek comes up with for this mysterious “dance fusion” we’ve been hearing about – it sounds like something that’s definitely in his wheelhouse. Read more..

DWTS 15, Week 5 Power Rankings – Part II

So now that we’ve seen everybody dance both their team dance & individual dance, I can finally start to get a snapshot of where things stand heading into week 6. As I promised in part I, I’ve really just taken my commentary on last night’s dances, copied & pasted it here, and added any additional notes I found pertinent to go along with my commentary on tonight’s dances. I know many of you have already read the spoilers we posted last night for tonight’s show, so there aren’t probably any huge revelations for you; for those that haven’t, I doubt there are any huge revelations for you, either…it became pretty clear to me that they put the stronger individual performances on Tuesday night and the weaker ones on Monday night, perhaps in an effort to increase viewership for Tuesday night’s show. As for the team dance – I think you guys can probably guess where I stand And the other thing that became quite evident after tonight? They are really doing their damndest to protect Gilles and ensure he sticks around. Gilles gets the high score of night 1; 3 of the 4 couples on night 2 get the same (2.5 points lower than Gilles’) score, and the one person that even comes close still falls .5 points short of Gilles, despite dancing one of the most beautiful waltzes I’ve ever seen on the show. The message is clear: protect the whiny, egotistical Frenchmen at all costs. Gag me.

Speaking of week 6 – it is country week, and each couple is doing an individual unlearned dance and a group dance. The group dance will not be scored, except the couple that does the move that impresses the judges the most will get two bonus points – which is practically nothing, in the great scheme of things, since we’re taking all of the points from this week and all of the points from next week and adding them together. It’s gonna be a fanbase battle royale…hope you guys voted hard!

1.) Sabrina & Louis – I was skeptical about Sabrina being able to carry off such a soft, romantic dance, since she seems to hit everything so hard – but this was actually quite lovely. She showed a lot of control and some of her lines were just beautiful – at a couple moments, I honestly thought she would fit right in on a dance floor filled with American Smooth professionals. I even believed adoring looks she was giving Louis – and while I agree that vulnerability may not be Sabrina’s strong suit, I thought she absolutely showed it tonight in this waltz. Funny how you call her out on it, Carrie Ann, and then give her a 10 anyway. If you aren’t gonna nut up, then you gots to SHUT UP. Loved the theme, loved the choreography, loved the execution – and love that someone from Team Call Me Maybe was able to give Gilles a run for his money in the individual dance round

2.) Gilles & Peta – Well, guess I can’t really get too mad at the overscoring of this one, since it’s kind of become par for the course this season. I actually thought Gilles had some really nice lines in this rumba – he was actually extending both his arms and his legs nicely. But my big problem was that I still felt like Peta was doing all the work…and it got a little repetitive. To concur with Len, I got tired of the leg extensions and displays of flexibility really quickly, and it seemed to slow everything down just a little too much. It was a time-waster in an already shortened routine. It seemed like the first part (the a cappella part) was nice, and then once the crescendo hit with the instruments it was all overwrought emotion from there on out. I would have probably given it a 28, tops, because I felt like there just wasn’t as much content as there should have been. 29.5 is an awfully cushy score. Adding in after Tuesday night’s show: I wasn’t so upset about this score last night, but now I am, considering that Shawn & Derek did what I would consider to be a FAR superior rumba, both in terms of technique & performance, got reamed by the judges, and ended up 2.5 points less than Gilles. The pimping is obvious now, and TPTB (and Gilles himself) seem hellbent on changing the name of the show to “Dancing with Gilles Marini!…and some other people”. But I do feel a bit vindicated knowing that Gilles’ magnum opus of a team freestyle got called out for being a ridiculous mess and got 2.5 points less than Team Call Me Maybe…that really must chap his ass, as does the fact that Sabrina is now at the top of the leaderboard Read more..

DWTS 15, Week 5 – Power Rankings, Part I

So this no elim/split performance night sure does throw a wrench into the normal, everyday workings here at Pure I realize that, since there is no elimination this week, it’s sort of pointless to try and predict who goes home – but the power rankings do allow for some interesting discussion, so we don’t want to just skip them altogether. So just think of these as “theoretical power rankings” – who I would predict to go home if there actually was an elimination this week. And since it’s split into two nights, this is what I’m going to do: tonight’s rankings are just for those that we saw dancing individually tonight (Gilles & Peta, Kelly & Val, Kirstie & Maks, Emmitt & Cheryl) - so if these were the only contestants left, who I would predict to go home out of the four. I’ll also include some thoughts on Team “Call Me Maybe”. For tomorrow’s rankings, I will rank EVERYONE – and to save myself the work (and the redundancy) of commenting on every single couple again, I will probably just copy and paste my commentary from this post, and add any additional commentary I feel necessary after seeing tomorrow night’s couples dance. Make sense? Good…because I’m not so sure I understand it myself

1.) Gilles & Peta – Well, guess I can’t really get too mad at the overscoring of this one, since it’s kind of become par for the course this season. I actually thought Gilles had some really nice lines in this rumba – he was actually extending both his arms and his legs nicely. But my big problem was that I still felt like Peta was doing all the work…and it got a little repetitive. To concur with Len, I got tired of the leg extensions and displays of flexibility really quickly, and it seemed to slow everything down just a little too much. It was a time-waster in an already shortened routine. It seemed like the first part (the a cappella part) was nice, and then once the crescendo hit with the instruments it was all overwrought emotion from there on out. I would have probably given it a 28, tops, because I felt like there just wasn’t as much content as there should have been. 29.5 is an awfully cushy score.

2.) Emmitt & Cheryl – Lack of hip action and excessive shimmying aside – I actually ended up really liking this routine Probably my favorite individual routine of the night, as Emmitt just seemed to be having a ton of fun to a really cheesy song. I got a little worried at the beginning when I saw Cheryl doing a lot of shimmying around Emmitt, thinking that this would be a repeat of their bolero where Cheryl just did a lot of dancing around him. But once they got into the routine a little more, I thought he did a pretty good amount of moving himself, and there actually was a considerable amount of samba content in this routine (you listening, Val?) Could have done without the giant inflatable parrots, but hey, we can’t always get what we want

3.) Kirstie & Maks – Technically, I think it was the best routine Kirstie’s done so far this season, but I just ended up feeling kind of “meh” about it – probably because both Kirstie & Maks looked uncharacteristically cheerless in it. Seriously, between the black costumes and their intense, focused expressions, I thought they were quickstepping at a funeral. Did Mrs. Robinson die at the end of The Graduate? I’m confused Guess after I heard what song they were dancing to, I was expecting this dance to be as camp as Christmas – but it was just too tame. I think she started off strong and had a good frame, and then maybe got a little bungled up on the bouncing sections, but overall I liked the choreography. Just wish they would have remembered to have fun with it If we were basing this week’s elim solely on this one dance, I’d say Kirstie should probably be a bit worried – but since she’s got the team dance (and next week’s dances) to give her a boost, I wouldn’t be too worried…yet.

4.) Kelly & Val – Anyone else think they may have phoned it in on this samba, given how stressed and busy they were showing Kelly to be in the reheasal package? I don’t feel like Kelly or Val really got 100% into this routine, and for the first time since week 2, I saw Kelly get a little bit intimidated and unsure of herself out on the floor. She also seemed a little wobbly, and I saw some funky arms & legs…a few “Bambi on Ice” moments. I could have done without all of the touchy-feely-sexy-ooh-look-at-how-much-chemistry-we-have stuff at the beginning, and I would have liked a little more meat & potatoes samba in this samba, but that kinda goes without saying. Len & I were surprisingly like-minded in regards to tonight’s show But again, I have to wonder if Kelly & Val had a rough week between her work schedule and the team dance rehearsal, and maybe knew they were kind of half-assing it – because neither one looked very surprised or upset by the critiques or scores they got. Perhaps they took a calculated risk in a week they knew wouldn’t matter too much? If I were Kelly, I would be slightly worried after this routine – for the simple reason that it seemed to really expose her weaknesses.

Thoughts on Team “Call Me Maybe”: As I said on Twitter, this routine was so stinkin’ cute But with a song like that, can you go any other route except cute? I thought the theme was genius: it fit the mood of the song perfectly, capitalized on the celebs strengths (3 girls with cheerleading skills and one guy that is just cool…and hot ), and made for some cute costumes and scenery. Loved the stepping portion at the beginning with the guys; thought the group sections were a nice combination of freestyle moves and enough proper ballroom to please Len – they were also sufficiently synchronized, given that some of the moves (like the leap frog over their partners) are hard to really do 100% in synch. I also thought the individual sections were nicely reflective of each partnership – Sabrina got to be sassy with Louis, Shawn & Derek got to be fun & cheesy, Melissa got to be “pretty” and move smoothly with Tony, and Apolo & Karina got to make up for their hip-hop mishap last week At the end, I was left smiling and feeling proud of them – they could have gone totally crazy and gone for shock value rather than technique, but they managed to throw it a lot of real dancing along with a great deal of entertainment value. I would be pissed at CAI giving them a half-point shy of a perfect 30, but we all know she’s saving her 10 paddle virginity for Team Gangnam Style this week. :::eye roll::: Oh well – at least they can only hope to get a half point more than Shawn’s team, tops. That’s good enough for me

So what did you guys think of tonight’s dances? Be sure to keep an eye out for any spoilers we might post about tomorrow night’s show…and avert your eyes accordingly, if you want to be surprised

Bruno Tonioli & Len Goodman Get Their Tango On in Strictly Come Dancing Promo

TGIF!!! It’s t minus 1 hour till the weekend on the east coast, and what better way to celebrate than with this kind of awesome promo for the latest season Strictly Come Dancing, DWTS’s cousin from across the pond?

It doesn’t get much better than Bruno & Len (and fellow judge Craig Revel Horwood) taking judge Darcey Bussell for a spin around the dance floor to some Bowie I must say, Len still impresses, even years after competing himself – dude still has great lines. Bruno wasn’t too shabby, either…although I would say the bulk of his appeal was the drama with which he carried off the steps. Just one question: when do we get to see Carrie Ann establish some street cred like this?

Thanks to Marianya for finding this little ditty our way – she’s currently traveling and was unable to post this herself.

DWTS 15, Week 5 – “Guilty Pleasures Week” Schedule

Ok, I was getting hit with a lot of questions about this on Twitter last night, and as many times as I repeated myself – there still seemed to be the same questions over and over again…apparently people don’t know how to navigate Twitter and look back on my timeline. And you guys know how I just LOVE to repeat myself ad infinitum < /sarcasm>. So here it is, all in one place, and the next person that asks me about next week’s schedule on Twitter is going to get a link to this post along with the message “Read this, asshat.”

First, here’s why next week is funky: the 3rd and final presidential debate is scheduled for Monday night between 9-10:30 PM EST…which basically kills the prospect of our usual 2-hour performance show Monday. They can’t possibly cram 8 individual dances and 2 team dances into 1 hour, so instead of one 2-hour performance show next week – we’re getting TWO 1-hour performance shows, on Monday & Tuesday. Consequently, there is no results show – and thus no elimination next week. Yippee hooray, we get two weeks of everyone who made it through last night’s elimination! Good for some, not so much for others. But I digress…

From what I’ve been told, there’s going to be 4 individual dances and 1 team dance each night – and each couple will be dancing both nights. However, they’re going to alternate what nights the team dances are done, and what nights the individual dances are done. Let me explain. Let’s say that Team Shawn does their team dance on Monday night – then the couples on Team Shawn will be doing their individual dances on Tuesday night. Likewise, if the couples on Team Gilles do their individual dances on Monday night, they will be doing their team dance on Tuesday night. Make sense? I kind of wish we could see the team dances on the same night (because I think seeing them back-to-back tends to deter the judges from lowballing/overscoring each team relative to one another), but I understand why they’ve done it this way – it ensures that we get to see ALL of the couples dance each night, and probably eliminates the need to rush, rush, rush to get everyone’s costume changed after their individual dance. Remember, they’ve only got one hour – and they were cutting it AWFULLY close with the team dance picks on the results show last night (I blame Gilles, who felt the need to give a grandiose speech as to why he was picking each couple.) And before you ask – no, I don’t know which team is dancing what night…yet. I have a feeling that will be determined after TPTB have had a chance to look at how the rehearsals are going, and determine which one fits better with what night, in terms of logistics (props, how much the judges will likely comment on a dance, how “buzzworthy” each dance is). We should know for sure on Sunday, after camera blocking. And please, don’t ask me to speculate as to whether going first or second is better for the team dance – I’d normally say 2nd, but with the schedule being as funky as it is, I don’t know that that’s necessarily the case this time.

And now here’s the big question I keep getting – and it’s unfortunately the one I don’t have a lot of information on yet: the voting. I don’t know if there’s still going to be voting or not, and if there is, what time the voting is going to start/end and how it’s going to get tabulated into week 6′s results – which, by the way, will be ~~another double elimination. And~~ “country week”. I know the scores given in week 5 will just get added to the scores given in week 6, and the percentage of points share will be calculated using the combined total points awarded in weeks 5 & 6. If you’re thinking “Wow, that’s a lot of points!” you are correct – and we all know that more points = tighter margins. So I daresay week 6′s double elimination will ultimately come down to fanbase more than any other elimination, and we’re going to get a good idea of who’s really getting the votes and who isn’t. And as for the voting – I’m guessing there will indeed be voting, and like the points from week 5, the votes will just get carried over and combined with week 6′s. Not sure what the voting window will be - if it were up to me, voting would commence at the beginning on Monday night’s show, and continue all day Tuesday, and then end at 11 AM EST on Wednesday morning. I think that would be the fairest thing, because it wouldn’t give preference to either night – if there happens to be more viewers on Tuesday and we only see the members of Team Shawn doing their team dance on Tuesday, then I think voting that only happens on Tuesday would give an unfair advantage to the couples who danced individually that night, since they’d have more screen time. Make sense?

If I get any further information, I’ll update this post in RED - so you might want to bookmark it, because I don’t know how long I’m going to keep it stickied to the front page. I would advise everyone to go ahead and take a look at your DVR’s now, though, and make sure you’re set up to record for 1 hour from 8 – 9 PM on both Monday & Tuesday. I have AT&T U-Verse as my cable provider, and my DVR made the time adjustment and captured last night’s show without a problem; but I’ve heard that those with Brighthouse have been having some issues recording the show this season, so some of you may have to manually go in and program your DVR to pick up the show. Just a friendly PSA from the folks here at Pure…cause PureDWTS cares

ETA #1: Next week’s arrangement just got a lot fairer for everyone The show will only be live on Monday – Tuesday’s show will be pre-taped. The way I had it explained to me, the couples from Team A will do their 4 individual dances, Team B will do their team dance, they’ll roll the credits, keep the audience where they are, take a short break for Team A to change into their team dance costumes and Team B to change into their individual dance costumes, and then shoot Tuesday night’s show ahead of time. That way, everyone has the same amount of time to rehearse, and the judges will be seeing the team dances the same night – which (god willing) will keep the judges (semi)honest. Another update? Double elim moved to week 8.

Questions?

DWTS 15, Week 4: Saying Goodbye to Bristol Palin (Sort of…) – Elimination Interviews

After a frustrating 4 weeks (both for Bristol & Mark and us as viewers!) Bristol was eliminated last night – and apparently doing all the post show media was a bit overwhelming for her (cause, y’know, she totally had to go change her hair and whatnot…*eye roll*), so Mark held down the fort with On the Red Carpet and offered up his take on their elimination. He also offers up his predictions for the winner of this season:

Next stop was Access Hollywood, and Bristol must have still been fussing with her hair, so Mark did all the talking again. He talks about the show being a “journey” and how proud he is of Bristol for the work that she’s done. I had to chuckle at Mark’s reaction to being asked if he’d be dancing in the troupe:

After that, Bristol must have finally been done messing with her hair (those blasted ponytails…so complicated!) and she & Mark hit up Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy asks Bristol if she had a feeling she’d be eliminated, and what she thinks is the key to her longevity on the show. She & Mark also chat about their fight, and Jimmy makes an interesting point about the rehearsal packages:

I must say, I rather enjoyed the cockamamie idea of Bristol being on The Bachelorette (HA!) and Guillermo is always a highlight for me In all seriousness, though, as much as I wanted Bristol gone after week 2 – I think she & Mark managed to go out gracefully, and they both seem to be at peace with their elimination. Although I have to wonder how she would have fared on Team Gilles…I would have enjoyed watching her bungle Gilles’ magnum opus of a team dance. Bwahahahahaha

DWTS 15, Week 4.5 – VIDEO: Couples Arrive at Team Dance Rehearsals

Ahhh, good ol’ Henry…my favorite paparazzo, since he always seems so preoccupied with what the celebs & pros have eaten on a particular day He was posted up outside the reheasal studio last night, and got some footage (and a few words) with the cast as they arrived for team dance rehearsals late into the night:

First impressions? Kirstie can do the Bewitched nose twitch really well, Kelly doesn’t like to be interrupted when she’s on her phone, Karina looks cute in her cut-off “Team Apolo” shirt, and Shawn totally looks like Chelsie from behind now. Interested to see how these team dances pan out – I heard that rehearsals went incredibly late into the night. Possibly later than any other team dance rehearsal in seasons prior. We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything else!

P.S. Rumor has it that Vogue is back from vacay today. To quote Madea, “Hallelujer!” I’ve missed her and I know Heidi has too. Let’s give her a warm welcome back, k?

DWTS 14, Week 4: Thoughts On How the Team Dance Selection Will Shake Out

I know most of us are pretty absorbed in speculating about who will get sent home tonight, but I think there’s something else going down tonight that could be a game-changer: the selection of the teams for the team dances. Let’s explore, shall we?

As Tom stated last night, the two cumulative highest scorers (those who have amassed the most total points so far this season) will be appointed as team captains, and will be alternating picking other couples for their teams. In this case, it will be Gilles & Shawn. If history is any indicator, I’m guessing the highest scorer (in this case, Gilles) will get first pick. Semi-interesting side note: prior to this week’s dances, Sabrina was actually in the lead for cumulative points – she had .5 points more than Gilles, who in turn had 1.5 points more than Shawn. Given that Sabrina danced before Gilles last night, in order to stay at least tied for the top 2, he would have had to get at least a 36 on his Bollywood routine. To break the tie & edge Sabrina out of the top 2, he would have had to get at least a 36.5. And to surpass Shawn to secure the top spot (and the first pick in the team dance), he would have had to score at least a 38.5. And even more interesting: had Shawn actually gotten a perfect score, Gilles would have needed at least a 39 to maintain his high scorer status. Draw your own conclusions, but that 39.5 for a sloppy Bollywood routine doesn’t seem so ridiculous if you take into account that they may have wanted to ensure that Gilles would get first pick in the team dance (for whatever reason). Just food for thought.

So we’ve got Gilles & Shawn as team captains, with Gilles (probably) picking first. The interesting thing about the team dances this time around is that they’re freestyles – so we may see some picking going on that would seem unsual in a regular season (with a team dance like the cha-cha, tango, or paso doble), but makes sense this season, given that the captains will (or at least SHOULD) also be taking into consideration which pros are good at freestyle choreography. For that reason, if Bristol is still around, I could actually see her being one of the first ones picked – not necessarily for her dance skills, but for Mark’s freestyle skills. I think Derek may be willing to bite the bullet and have a weaker-dancing celeb on his team (hey, he managed to make Hope look semi-presentable in the season 13 team paso!), if it means getting Mark’s creative energy to work with.

Something else that could come into play when choosing the teams? Ego. :-P Gilles seems to have a large one; Shawn seems to lack one altogether. I have to wonder if Gilles would be willing to set aside any bad blood he has with Mark (and possibly Apolo) and pick one of them for his team…and I think both would be very strategic picks. But my gut tells me he’s going to continue being a bit of a diva, and may snub those two in favor of someone fairly neutral who hasn’t yet called him out on his bullsh*t – possibly Melissa. I also wonder how much the influence of Gilles & Shawn’s pro partners is going to affect their picks – once again, I wonder how much Gilles’ ego is going to come into play, and whether that will nullify any persuading Peta might be trying to do. The only pick Peta might have any hope of securing is Kirstie & Maks, methinks…since Gilles seems to be the one driving the bus in that partnership :-P I think Shawn, on the other hand, is going to listen to Derek and any strategy he might have, and won’t let any interpersonal issues with the other cast members (if she even has any) influence her decision-making. Very similar to Derek’s philosophy

I’m having a hard time shaking the feeling that, given what I’ve mentioned above, we may end up with one team comprised of the Chmerkovskiy Faction (Gilles & Peta, Melissa & Tony, Kelly & Val, Kirstie & Maks…picked in that order) and the other team comprised of the Hough-Ballas Alliance & some “independent contractors” (Shawn & Derek, Bristol & Mark, Apolo & Karina, and Emmitt & Cheryl…feeling fairly certain that Sabrina will be leaving us tonight). If that’s the case (or at least comes close to how things will shake out), then I’m almost convinced that Shawn’s team is just gonna mop the floor with Gilles’ team. Shawn’s team already has an edge – they have Derek, who remains the 7-time undefeated champ in the team dance. Poo-pooh that if you wish, but he has delivered a win every season that he’s been in the team dance…I doubt that’s just a coincidence. If I were any of the other couples (besides Gilles & Peta and Shawn & Derek), I’d be crossing my fingers that I’d get picked for Shawn’s team, because that’s a pretty sure bet. It’s not guaranteed safety from elimination, but it sure doesn’t hurt, either

So how do you guys think the team dance selection will play out tonight? Do you have a “dream team” you’d like to see? Or a “nightmare team”, for that matter? In the meantime, just contemplate the following: in a battle royale of dance skills, which of the below candidates wins?

This one…