Dancing with the Stars Season 26, Week 3 – LIVE BLOG (SPOILERS)

Well, we’ll just see how much our “mentors” really contribute – or if they just waste time. 😀

T-minus 15 minutes….

Nice seeing a full out pro dance again on this show. Sorely missed. Although nothing will ever top Derek and Amber’s use of that song. 🙂  I think this was pre-taped thanks to that hard cut to the David Ross section. No biggie, but kinda obvious.

I’m sorry, but a triple elimination is just ridiculous. Why not have fewer couples from the get go??

Mirai up first with her quickstep. Her MVP is her mom.  Where does the mentor come in? During the dance off?

I think that was longer than 10 bars, Alan. Did I look up in time to see a tiny stumble. She is an excellent dancer, though.  Good choreo, although Alan was almost dragging her in one little section.  Love the dress too.

Okay, Len, not just me then. She’s miles ahead of the rest though. Curious to see if they low ball her like other first dancers. Bruno also mentions her top line. STFU CAI. :::rolls eyes:::  Other than the japanese I agree with her – IMO, always a bad idea to put a relative novice out there with the troupe.

Can we move on from this awkward and silly conversation??

She gets a 35 which is not what I would call a low balling.  She will likely be safe with those scores unless someone blows it…or is killing it in the votes.

Nice little bumper with Meryl, Alan and Jenna – that one lift with Jenna was amazing.

Jennie up next – her MVP? Her husband. I confess, her hubbub about her music last week has colored my opinion of her and not in a good way.

Pretty dress!! Seemed like the V. Waltz took a while to get moving – too stationary. She’s smoother than she was last week…most of the time. Dance felt very short. Maybe because of the walking at the beginning?? I dunno.

Len wants more fluidity, but he liked parts of it. And yep – only four bars in hold. Not enough. Bruno talks about trusting her partner and says she’s more relaxed.  Also comments about the arms. CAI likes her joy.

So…poll. Did CAI just blow it and reveal that Jennie is going home? I tend to think not, but she made such a big deal of her comment that I have to wonder.

Jennie gets a 29 which likely seals her fate. We’ll see.

Seems like Nastia’s bumper had a lot more content…although the camera work was totally shitty.

Chris up next with his foxtrot!! He’s looking cute as ever. 🙂 His MVP is his mom…and she’s a super fan!! Tom luges to work. LOL. Awww…Chris dancing with his mom. :::sniff:::

That was a really good dance! He was a bit hunched in spots, but the choreo served him very well. Good job, Witney. Bruno loved it – not perfect, but good as an interpretation.  Shades of Bindi’s Grace Kelly dance there with the hats.

CAI thought he was uncomfortable in the beginning – I don’t disagree. Oh. My. God. “beautiful balls to the wall” – this is a family show. Great line by Tom – stop digging indeed. CAI and her f@#king calling a catch a lift. Jesus. Len not a fan of the solo bit – too wooden. Entertaining though.

Do we get a Tuesday night show for the finale??

Chris gets a 33!!  Don’t know that that will save him, but you never know!

Tonya up next after a….strange Von bumper. No time to practice?? Tonya’s MVP is her dad, who she lost 9 years ago. 🙁  Yeah, I feel ya. You miss your dad forever.

I think she might be killing the rumba movement, although the song is doing her NO favors. She’s quite graceful. Is CAI going to call a lift? Strange bit there at the end with the walking…did something malfunction or something? That was a weird choice.

CAI calls her authentic, I agree. David calls her inspiring. Len likes the light and shade (his thing), wanted more hip action, but loved it other than that. Bruno likes it as well, says her lines are better.

Tonya gets a 33 – tied with Chris and I think she beats him. I could be wrong. There are two big dancers left – one might just get a perfect score. If Josh scores well, I think he’ll get a spot.

Adam next with his contemporary – his MVP is his mom. Single mom with 6 kids?!?! Holy hell, that poor woman. And very supportive when he came out.

Jenna is the best contemporary choreographer left on the show, IMO. And they’re killing it. The side by side outside the cage was nearly perfect, just one off move. Very well done. Excellent. Except that catch with the stiff legs – every contemporary dance uses that anymore.

David’s favorite dance of the night. Len is going to nitpick that it’s “stop-start” – which is actually part of contemporary in general. But he calls it the best dance of the night. Bruno raves, and notes how in tune they are. I would agree with that.  CAI loved the choreo and said it was hard, but said Jenna was wobbling a bit. But she raves and calls it perfection. Can both things be true??

Bet they get a 39 with Len giving a 9.

LOL – Adam is thankful he’s a beautiful cryer. Hilarious.

Aaannddd…. I called it. 39 out of 40 for Adam. If he doesn’t make the final it would be the biggest shock ever.

Numbers!

At this moment, Jennie needs well more than 23k to get past Tonya or Chris. I don’t see that happening, particularly since she would have to beat three people. She has to get more than 35k to get past Mirai and no way is that happening.

Chris and  Tonya only need 11k to beat Mirai at this moment. Tonya could get ONE more vote than Chris and beat Mirai – with Jennie not beating her, that would put her in the finale. But there’s more dancing to be done.

Nice little pro dance with Gleb, Emma, Lindsay and Artem!!

Josh is up next. Agreed with Sharna that the 7s were too harsh. His brothers are his MVPs.  I think Josh is HOT with that hair. And the brothers are hilarious.

Sharna looks stunning as usual. But she’s not a contemporary choreographer in the way that Jenna is. You can see ballroom in all her dances. And she’s relying a bit too much on lifts and tricks.  As you can tell, I was not a fan of the choreo, but it was well danced. I think Josh did a good job with what Sharna gave him. I only saw one little misstep.

Len was concerned he was going after Adam. But he’s raving about it, but looked like he was going to complain and then stopped himself. Weird. Bruno loves it, talks about impressive lifts. CAI agrees with Len, talks about sure-footedness. David says “smooth”.

He gets a 36 out of 40…that’s fair, I think.

Numbers

The addition of Josh’s scores means Jennie needs nearly 20k to get past either Chris or Tonya, and that Chris and Tonya need nearly 10k to get past Mirai.  Mirai is currently in third place and she needs to hope like hell that neither Chris nor Tonya win their dance off or that she’s getting a ton of votes. This could get interesting.

Chris and Tonya only need 10k to beat Mirai and 15k to beat Josh.  The dance offs could change everything, of course – probably knocking Chris out of it…and maybe Mirai. We’ll see.

Here we go!! Jennie versus Tonya.  If Tonya wins, this could get interesting. If Jennie wins, she probably still goes home.

Nastia is their mentor and notes that the judges will be looking for improvement with Jennie. Nastia talks about redemption – and does give Tonya some good critique.

Jennie starting with more content, but Tonya actually looks like she’s better at it and more comfortable. And Sasha is bringing out serious  Cha Cha late in the dance. Good move. I would give it to Tonya just for having fun and more grove. Confession – I didn’t watch the meter.

Len thinks this is difficult. Bruno said they both had the right feel. CAI thinks both were fantastic, said they were well matched. She points out issues with both of them, IMO accurately for a change. David also says it’s difficult.

Winner is: Tonya and Sasha.  And that will kick Jennie out, even though she wins the viewer vote with 60%

Tonya is now tied with Mirai.  If Mirai loses the dance off, it will be interesting. More interesting will be what the judges do – do they want Mirai to stay, so she wins, giving her a cushion while probably not hurting Adam at all??  Very possibly.

Mirai versus Adam up next with Meryl as their mentor. Meryl doing pretty well in terms of mentoring.

Jenna and Adam are perfectly in sync once again – I think their partnership gives them a leg up. And the splits were killer. Just seemed like a harder routine. And they nailed it.  I’d give it to Adam. Mirai did very well, for sure. But I love Adam.

I bet they give it to Mirai just to try to ensure she advances.

Winner is: It’s a tie, so it goes to America – and they give it to Adam with 64%.

Shit just got real for Mirai. Dunno what’s going to happen there.

Numbers

If Chris wins there will be a three way tie for third place at 35 – Chris, Mirai and Tonya, at which point Chris could advance. If Josh wins, it likely comes down to Mirai and Tonya – which of them gets the one more point than the other to advance, assuming that Jennie and Chris can’t cover the spread.  If Chris loses, he needs 10k to catch Tonya and Mirai, while Jennie would need 28k to catch either Tonya or Mirai. Let’s see….

Chris versus Josh – here we go!! With their mentor Von.

Chris has a hairier chest. LOL. Von couldn’t even be there?? Dude.

I can’t imagine Chris beating Josh (the better dancer) in a Salsa.

Both couples start off with the same move. Chris pulls out his chest first. Sharna’s tricks are executed much better. But it seems like Witney might have more content. And Josh wins it on the ending move. No contest, IMO.

This show is going to run long again. Come on, people. This is why we have a dress run.

Judges are calling it difficult. Um, that’s polite. Chris did fine, but I don’t think he can beat Josh. BRUNO, this show is going to run long and that pisses me off.

Winner is: A freakin’ tie??? Nope, David wrote down Josh and Sharna. Public gave it to Chris and Witney. That was almost a massive cluster f@#k.  That could have changed the outcome, dumb asses.

Two couples separated by less than one percent. Yikes.

First Finalist – Adam and Jenna.

Second Finalist – Tonya!!  Uh oh. That one percent is going to hurt.

Third Finalist – Josh and Sharna. Wow. Called that one right.