Dancing with the Stars Season 20, Week EIGHT – Let’s Discuss Tonight’s Show!! (Spoilers)

Theme of the week is America’s Choice. Theoretically. I mean, looking at Rumer’s songs I am skeptical.  In my mind, how the judges behave tonight is a strong indicator of what will happen going forward, although we may not know it until tomorrow night ends.  What do I mean? Well, sometimes you’re not sure of why they’re behaving in a given way until after an elimination – or after the MBT is handed out.  If they continue to score Rumer appropriately, I would say she’s not going to win. If they massively overscore her, though, it doesn’t mean she’s going to win….it could also mean she’s in danger.

And that same rule applies to most of them. I think. It’s possible that they could start lowballing Riker and Nastia in an effort to give Rumer a better shot at getting votes under the theory of “everyone wants to vote for a winner”. That’s dangerous though, because I think both camps could rally and knock Rumer right out of the game. It’s really hard to say – but it will be interesting (and likely very aggravating) to watch.

T-minus 30 minutes…I need food and a nap. NYC is exhausting, ya’ll. 🙂

Julianne looks great. Love the dress, love the hair.

Yeah, Noah’s dance was a bit stiff, understandably.  I don’t know if he’ll ever top last week.

Gee, guess Rumer is going last since she’s up in AllAccess. Huh.

Hmmm….Chris didn’t suck, but 34 out of 40?? Seems a bit….high. Does that mean they’ve reconciled themselves to him in the final, or that he’s going home?

Riker and Allison’s dance was really too fast and a tad jerky for me.

The judges are raving- except Len of course. I’m thinking the front runners are going to get high scores (whether they deserve it or not) to keep that clear demarcation between upper and lower tier dancers, which increase the odds that we lose Robert and Chris.

Yeah, that was not a 39 dance, ya’ll.

I’m tired. I missed the kiss. And Len was all nice after this dance. Weird. The judges give them a 33….which I think is probably fair.

Nastia is going to get the bad edit. Okay….later she will.

Oooo…nice Paso. Coulda a been a bit tougher in places.  Len is going to hose them.

Derek does not look ridiculous, Jules.  And I didn’t see out of sync. But I guess Rumer needs to be on top this week.

Hmmm…that dance was better than Riker’s and yet he was overscored. I wonder why?? Yeah, underscored relative to Riker for sure. Waiting for Rumer’s comeback arc and perfect 40. Whether she deserves it or not.

Val has a moment of self awareness. Amazing. Kudos for that.  That will get them some votes.

Okay, that was a really good dance, I’m just not sure I saw a lot of Rumba content. That said, I’m generally not a rumba fan so I may not be the one to comment on content.

Oh boy, here comes the narrative about how much it means to Val. Every season. :::rolls eyes:::  I don’t actually quibble with the 40. She’s tied for first place with Riker with Nastia only one point back. Perhaps she needs it to be safe from Robert and/or Chris and/or Noah.

Liked the salsa from Noah better than his first dance – little wobbly on the Emma Lift, but overall good choreo from Sharna with nice visuals.

I just burned all your crops. LOL.

I gotta hand it to Chris, He’s trying and he’s stepping it up!

Great dance from Riker. Loved it. I think he might just win this thing, if the producers let him.

Oh come on, Len. That was every bit as good as the rumba from Rumer.

Riker is a full 20 points ahead of Chris right now – this is what I was talking about with the two tiers of scores to try to ensure the good dancers stick around.

Lots of timing issues with Robert, and I think Jenna even lost track of him at one point. She’s not experienced dancing with a celeb. CAI is being VERY kind to Robert.

While I think that the concept and the choreo was AMAZING for Derek/Nastia/Sasha, I feel like she got off time in one or two spots. But it was certainly no worse than Riker’s first dance.

Again, Rumer does a good dance…yet I feel like there wasn’t a lot of content in that dance. It seemed very repetitive in a few spots and there was a spot where Val and Artem were dancing with each other and Rumer didn’t have much to do. And CAI just said “saved the best for last”. I cry bullshit.  And of course she gets a 40. She must be in danger.

And Tom just said “Check the number and dial carefully”.  Hmmmmm…..

In case you’re wondering, Nastia and Rumer are tied at the top with 117, and Riker is two points back at 115. Interesting how they don’t mention THAT at the end of the night.

Dancing with the Stars Season 20, Week SEVEN – Let’s Discuss Tonight’s Show!! (Spoilers)

Era Week. Can’t we have ONE week without a theme?? Just one? This is out of control. Also expect to see the troupe in lots of the dances and I’m kinda over that as well. I think Nastia and Noah are the only ones who haven’t used troupe members at this point, and it looks like Sharna is going all out with the troupe this week.

Opening number was good except for some sync problems. A bit sloppy in spots.

Great dance from Riker but not a perfect one. A couple screw ups in the middle and that one move would be a lift if anyone else did it.

Am I crazy, or has Chris actually improved in both attitude and dancing? I hate to say this but he’s been better than Robert the last two weeks.

Julianne making promises that it’s not his last dance is outta line though. Anyway, I dug the dance.

LOL…what to do in a week where Derek’s injury takes over the media??? Call Bruce Willis! 😀 Yeah, we’re going to show lots of Derek getting hurt, but we’ll give Rumer two packages. It’ll be okay. This is how we have our cake and eat it too!!

Okay. Sarcasm over. For now.

Ow. Heard that crack. That didn’t feel good.

Rumer looks AMAZING in that outfit. It’s still black, but she looks good and she’s chipper for a change. Not much bounce to that jive and they were out of sync a couple times. Yeah, finally a different character, Bruno.

Anyway, not a perfect dance but one of my favorites from her.

Oh STFU Carrie Ann. Maybe it was a bit safe, but she needs to mix it up!!

On another note – you dancers are really going to have to impress the hell out of me, since you aren’t saving ANYTHING for the freestyle.

Hi Amy!! Love ya.

Holy shit, Sharna!! Now that was some kick ass choreo that really made the most of what Noah can do!! OMG, I’m SO Impressed!!!

Len picks NOW to complain about using extra dancers?? NOW??? What about the last dance, dude.

Kym and Robert’s song sucks and it was a bit scary watching some of the lifts.

:::sigh::: :::sniff::: Poor Derek. But damn, that was a fun, wonderful dance.

And of course CRAZY CAI has to make some shit up about “feeling it”. Yeah. Just now. 🙂

Even money says Willow gets immunity. Perhaps she needs it? But those costumes? Man, If Len doesn’t have a fit I might fly to LA and slap him for his shit he said after Noah’s dance.

Um, not sure this concept makes sense?? Like Tom said, rooted in ancient times. Yeah, Mark, I get you want to do ninjas…but does it make sense? Super cute package though. 🙂

Okay, Imma cry foul if that gets high score of the night. It was so…simple, yet nonsensical within the theme of the dance. There wasn’t much to it.

And she gets raves from Bruno. And they were out of sync more than once!!

Bruno, you’re on crack. It was good, but I don’t think it was even the second best dance of the night. I’d give the second best dance to Noah, actually.

Okay…dance off for two extra points. High scoring couple picks who to dance off with, that couple picks the dance. Val of course makes a big deal about picking the high scorer.

Riker picks Mark and Willow. Wow. Odd. Apparently they don’t buy Val’s line of bull. They’re dancing Salsa. Did anyone hear if they add these points to tonight??

Perhaps Allison and Mark are making backroom deals? They figure they each have a better shot against someone who isn’t judges apparent pet?

Interesting strategy to twirl Willow for that long period, Marky. 🙂

Len seemed to hate both. Wow….Willow won that?? Hmmmmm……not sure I agree with that one. Twitter doesn’t either, but that’s Riker’s teeny boppers spamming.

And Noah picks Robert? Oy. Noah doesn’t do much but what he does he does reasonably well. Robert misses some choreo and they get off time. I suspect they pick Noah.

Shot of Len shows him looking like he’s going to have a stroke or something. And then CAI calls it accurately for a change. Noah ends up winning by a Len.

OKAY!! Erin said “two points added to their total tonight”….oh wait. Still doesn’t clear it up. Tonight’s scores or tonight’s elimination???

Twice in one night Rumer looks beautiful – in RED. Finally. She killed that dance, no surprise. That might be her best dance in a few weeks, actually. No surprise Rumer and Val win.

Noah and Sharna – Safe

Robert and Kym – Safe

Chris and Whitney – Safe

And the shocker is??? Riker and Allison SAFE. HOLY CRAP.

Willow and Mark are eliminated. Totally bummed. Poor kid. And Tom Bergeron you are the absolute best.

I said it was a real possibility, but man, didn’t want to see it happen.

BTW – someone needs to clarify what the hell with the scores tonight. They tried to explain it and totally screwed the pooch. If anyone understood that, please enlighten me because that was crap. Two points to next week or this week? Nastia got three points, that I understood. And the rest was clear as mud.