DWTS Season 4 | Pure Dancing with the Stars

The Top 5 Worst First Week Foxtrots in DWTS History

So the other day, we counted down the top 10 worst first week cha-cha’s in DWTS history. As you can see, we only have a top 5 for this countdown – probably because there have only been 37 week 1 foxtrots in the history of the show, and the bulk of them are neither good nor bad…but just hard to remember Only a handful have stuck out in my memory as notable – and those are the ones you are seeing But first, some factoids for your enjoyment…

*The foxtrot has only been used as a week 1 dance in 7 seasons: seasons 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, & 12. The other seasons have either had a waltz (seasons 1, 2, & 8) or a Viennese waltz (seasons 10, 11, 13) as the week 1 ballroom dance. Season 9 had both the foxtrot and the Viennese waltz as first week ballroom dances.

*The lowest week 1 foxtrot score ever given was a 13 – it was given to Mike & Lacey in season 12.

*Besides the 3 newest pros (Val, Tristan, & Peta), the only pro this season that’s never done the foxtrot as a regular week 1 dance is Derek – unless you count the foxtrot relay in season 9 (I don’t, because it was only 30 seconds ;-)).

5.) TIE: Sara & Tony, season 3 and Leeza & Tony, season 4

Zzzzzzzz….uh, um, what? Sorry, fell asleep – thought I was watching paint dry, at the rate these foxtrots were moving! I’m not sure if these ladies thought they would shatter into a million pieces if they moved more than an inch or two, but there was just so little going on in these numbers – just some very slow strolling and painfully cautious turns. The foxtrot is already a pretty simple dance, so it’s up to the pros and their celeb partners to inject some much-needed jazz into it to make it entertaining…and when they don’t, you get these sleepy, unremarkable foxtrots that I bet half of you probably didn’t remember.

4.) Rocco & Karina, season 7

Rocco seemed like a really nice guy, but he was pretty dorky on the dance floor You could tell he was really trying as he bobbed and skipped and flailed his platter hands across the floor here, but he also had the “I feel like a massive tool” look on his face the whole time. Granted, I think both he & Karina were nervous about her ankle injury earlier that day, but honestly – Rocco was just not a dancer. Sorry, dude.. Read more..

The Top 10 Worst First Week Cha-Cha’s in DWTS History

Ahhhh, yes – the cha-cha. The only first week dance that has remained the same in all 14 seasons of the show - they’ve often vacillated between the waltz, foxtrot, and Viennese waltz as the first week ballroom dance from season to season, but they’ve always had the cha-cha as a week 1 Latin dance. That’s 75 regular week 1 cha-cha’s (I’m not counting the cha-cha relay from season 9 - the scoring is too funky) for me to run the stats on, to give us an idea of what we might expect in the coming week :-) So before I run down the list of the biggest “Oh god, that was baaaaaad!” week 1 cha-cha moments, here are a few interesting cha-cha stats:

*The lowest cha-cha score in DWTS history is 12 – and it’s a 3-way tie between Master P & Ashly, Tucker & Elena, and Jeff & Edyta. Two of the couples were eliminated the first week of their respective seasons – and all 3 female pros are no longer on the show (ok, that last one was probably not a direct cause of a bad cha-cha, but just an interesting coincidence )

*Five former DWTS champions did cha-cha as their week 1 dance (Drew, Emmitt, Apolo, Brooke, & Hines).

*The pro who’s done the most week 1 cha-cha’s is Cheryl – she’s started 9 of her 12 seasons on the show with a cha-cha.

*A female celeb didn’t dance the cha-cha as a week 1 dance until season 5 – up until that point, the ladies had always done a ballroom dance the first week, and the men had always done cha-cha.

Now…without further ado…I give you the worst week 1 cha-cha’s in DWTS history Season 14 celebs, pay attention! This is for your own good…do not try to emulate these routines!

10.) Clyde & Elena, season 4

I never got the feeling that Clyde was actually making a genuine effort during his season, really. I think his handlers probably signed him up for the show just to get him some exposure, and it was never something Clyde really wanted to do – he just seemed to do the bare minimum each week and probably hoped to get voted off quickly. His whole “outrage” over Len pointing out that some couples weren’t practicing enough just really made me think that Clyde the Glide doth protest too much – he wasn’t putting in the hours and he knew it. On top of the apathy, there was a huge height difference between he & Elena, and at 6’7″, he was generally just kinda ungainly…add that altogether and you’ve got a cha-cha that’s just kind of an awkward non-event.

9.) Billy Ray & Karina, season 4

I’m not sure who I feel worse for here – Billy Ray or Karina. Billy Ray really was kind of ”a left-footed hillbilly from Kentucky” (his own words), and this cha-cha was a pretty hot mess. I like to call this “drunk uncle at a wedding” dancing - some random grooving & flailing & forgotten footwork from Billy Ray while Karina did some cha-cha around him. But I will say this – unlike Clyde, who had probably phoned it in before the season even started, I do think Billy Ray was giving it his all the entire season. This poor guy REALLY wanted to do well for Karina, and he did put in the effort – but some people are just not natural dancers, and Billy Ray is unfortunately in that camp. Read more..

DANCING WITH THE STARS on GSN!! Season 4, Weeks 3 and 4 on January 28th!

Don’t forget – DWTS Season 4 is on GSN on Saturdays. This saturday (tomorrow) we get weeks 3 and 4, at least according to my TiVo. My contact at GSN tells me that while I was correct that it airs in the eastern time zone at 6pm, I should give 8pm for the pacific time zone. But, as always – check your local listings to be on the safe side.

Some videos that I was holding off on posting until now…first, the beautiful Gilles.

DWTS Season 4, Weeks 1 and 2 -The Cheesecake Awards (Retrospective??)

So, is it a retrospective when it’s a re-airing years later ?? I’m going with yes As I mentioned in an earlier post, we can’t promise that we will do these every week, and we can’t promise they will be as long as the regular Cheesecake Awards…but we can promise that we will try to be our obnoxious selves. On with the show…

The Bad Acid Trip Award: The old “kaleidescope” opening credits

Courtney: Soooooo glad they got rid of that cheesy nightmare – damn near gave me a grand mal seizure.

Heidi: I think I may have actually had a seizure every time it was on because I’m lacking in recall.

The “Trying Too Hard” Award: Brian Fortuna

Courtney: Admittedly, I actually missed a good deal of this season when it was originally airing, since I was still in college, working, and too broke for TiVo But what really struck me is that Brian (who I had all but forgotten about until that opening pro number in week 1) was just…too much. The dude seemed like he was trying waaaayyyy too hard to make an impact and carve out a niche for himself on the show. The face pulling, the exaggerated dance moves, the overgelled hair, the jewelry – just…no, dude. He was like young Derek and Mark lite – but not as talented. And quite possibly the best part of watching these old episodes years later? You already know that he ain’t going to be around for very long – kinda makes me wish I had a tin can phone system that could reach the past and tell him “Dude, you may as well dial it back about 5 notches…you’re not gonna be around much longer, anyway. Don’t strain yourself.”

Heidi: The thing that got me is what still gets me with Mark sometimes. The SMILE. Jesus dude. Almost constant, fake looking, very big smile. Mark has that same glazed look from time to time where he would habitually have a smile on his face but it doesn’t seem to reach his eyes or he’s not really feeling it. It’s like perma-face or something. Hard to explain. Brian does kinda look like Derek’s younger, squirrely, annoying brother. The less attractive brother. But everyone knows that to be a Hough you have to have blond hair and blue eyes. Freakishly strong genes in that family.

Courtney: Brian could be the weird cousin of the Hough family. Kinda like cousin Oliver from The Brady Bunch…never did quite understand his purpose. Read more..

DWTS4 – Randall’s Costume Retrospective, Week 2

First of all, thanks to all of you for such a great response on Randall’s Costume Retrospective from week 1 of season 4! Glad everyone is enjoying his commentary as much as I am Now let’s see what he has to say about the costumes from week 2, shall we?

Heather’s costume: “This black/green pants suit was created in England and was such a fun costume to dance the mambo. The circular bell bottoms were flying all over the place, and accentuated all of the intricate footwork that Heather did.”

*photo courtesy ABC/Carol Kaelson

Billy Ray & Karina’s costumes: “Dancing to “Ring of Fire”, Billy Ray really wanted to pay tribute to Johnny Cash. We embellished the back of his jacket with a completely rhinestone-encrusted guitar, quite the vintage country western look of that time period. To this day it is one of my favorite men’s costumes. And Karina’s costume had all those firey red rhinestones totally encrusting her bodice, along with that cute vintage June Carter Cash skirt, with a ballroom flare to it. Quite the perfect couple coordinating their costumes with such a great song.”