Dancing with the Stars Season 29, Week 4 – LIVE BLOG

Question of the (week 4) night – Tyra’s cold open will be:
A) Boring and Unfunny
B) Simply horrendous and cringe worthy.
C) Fine.

You have 20 minutes to vote. 🙂

Okay, so it’s a whiny/funny cold open. Actually, delete the funny part. Considering the state of the country, I’m not particularly amused.

Tyrant still thinks it’s a catwalk and she’s the show stopping VC model. Lucky for her, she’s not the most wrong person in the country today. Not even close. blah blah blah me me me blah celebrities blah.

Oooo…doing a lot to pimp AJ. He must not be doing that well??

Daniella is my girl crush. Great outfit. Ha, Daniella talks about celebs standing still with the pro dancing around him…she doesn’t want that. Let’s see if she succeeds.

Started out a bit stiff in the arms, but he is dancing (if occasionally back-led). Why is Daniella better at funk than him?? LOL. She got him to dance and it wasn’t horrendous. He handled it well but he’s got a ways to go.

Derek really enjoyed it, needs a bit more shape. Bruno is raving about how he went for it, now needs to refine it. CAI says that’s what she was looking for, he attacked every moment, agrees with Derek about shaping.

Scores: 7, 7, 7 for a total of 21.

Chrishell is up next with her foxtrot. Saw on twitter that she was nervous that Gleb was making her sex it up quite a bit. What a surprise. When you don’t have choreo, you sex it up. She’s freezing her eggs. Good for her.

She looks amazing. And I like the start of the dance, she’s performing it well. It doesn’t seem smooth or flow enough. Until the middle when it starts to. She’s a pretty girl.

Bruno says it’s too hot to trot, and he likes the role reversal. She stumbled at the chorus (I missed it, but I’m writing). CAI says she’s proud of her on how she’s extending out the acting to her hands. Derek missed the stumble, says this was her best dance. Tells her to watch her left arm, he’ll see it in every dance.

Tyrant starts off with a decent comment/question – might be the first one. Congrats. Then she makes it about her.

Scores: 7, 8, 7 for a 22. Not sure I agree with the 8, but as long as he doesn’t hose anyone I like, I’ll forgive him. 🙂

Monica up next…complaining about Val. She’s just the latest in a long, long list of people who have complained about Val. And he’s probably forgotten Laurie telling him much the same thing. How is so far behind where Derek and Mark were a decade ago?

Samba opens with Val showing off as the screen hog he is. This is not a fantastic dance. It has good parts, but she’s not terribly comfortable with it. And it shows. She got into it about halfway through.

CAI stands up and applauds for her standing up to Val, says they are formidable partners. Dancing is improved greatly. Derek says it was a proper samba, lots of content, says she’s improving and this was her best dance. Bruno is impressed by how much it was a pure samba. All the required steps were in there.

Val has Tyrant disease.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. Horribly over scored, IMO. I would have gone with three 7s. Makes me wonder if they’re trying to get rid of Anne…or save Monica, for some reason. Who owns Cheer??

Anne is up next. I’m sorry, but I love her. I think she’s hilarious. Wow. I had no idea about this story of her and Ellen and what she gave up for her relationship. Incredible to think about it now. She didn’t star in a movie for TEN years. Jesus.

I like this opening. It’s all Anne. She’s doing as well as Monica, but she gets thrown off balance very easily, which is related to age most likely. But dang, I liked it. Keo is doing right by her, at least.

Derek says when you rise above the storm you’ll find sun. He liked the beginning as well. He’s seeing progress from her, says great job. Bruno really admires her for what she did. Calls her multicolored warrior. Most focused of her performances to date, and notes the balance problem. CAI is inspired and says she’s powerful and fought for every step.

Scores: 7, 7, 7 for a total of 21. I’ll agree with that, based on the other dances thus far. But it could spell trouble for others.

Nev up next with a Rumba to Celine Dion. Not so closeted, wifey. 🙂

Man he’s a good dancer. Seeing nothing wrong with this dance. I know people have issues with Jenna, but I’ve always liked her as a choregrapher. Well done. Good rumba.

Bruno feels so good and lovey dovey. They’re very in tune. CAI says he gave good frame and added a lot of poetry. He’s standing out to her, his lines are beautiful (agreed). Derek thinks it was a beautiful dance, lines were good, said it was a quick rumba but he loved it.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. And here’s the problem with Monica’s score. Nev was about ten miles above Monica’s dance, and yet they have the same score. That’s just wrong.

Numbers Update: Currently there is only about 3,800 votes per million votes cast between Anne/Nelly and Chrishell which could spell trouble for Nelly and Chrishell. That’s a small number of votes.

Justina up next talking about her grandmother. She’s dancing a salsa.

And she starts off brilliantly. This is her style of dance. Slightly odd lift. But other than that, she’s killing it. Excellent dance!!

CAI says they all stood up…something about how she dances. Derek says she has so much charisma, so much personality. Authentic dancing. Bruno says she’s on fire. Her hips don’t lie.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. Again, MONICA is tied with Nev and Justina, the two best dancers of the season. Just ain’t right.

Kaitlyn up next with a V. Waltz. Sweet story about Kaitlyn and Jason.

Very pretty dance so far. Flinging her arms a bit. Seems like she’s not following through as well as normal. But she’s doing very well. Lovely dance.

Derek says it was beautiful, elegant, effortless…he’s looking forward to a different type. Bruno does Bruno…something about feathers on the crest. Says she’s got a lot of flexibility, can’t wait to see something different. CAI talking about love, says she’s an excellent dancer, mentions len talking about asking about traditional hold.

Scores: 9, 8, 8 for a total of 25. I love Kaitlyn’s dancing but that 9 is wack. But compared to Monica…okay. But Justina and Nev should be in that category.

Johnny up next with his Jive. His mom is hilarious. Loving Britt as a pro.

Whoa. Johnny seems to have found his zone. Look out everyone. He’s killing this and Britt didn’t take it easy on him. That was excellent.

Bruno says he was on full throttle. Says he was exploding, seeing the real him. Sharp, tiny correction on the flicks and kicks. CAI says everyone has a breakthrough, he’s finally coming together. Derek says he opened up and let everyone in.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. I would have given that a 9.

Jeannie is up next with her mom voting against her. 🙂 Hilarious. Anyway, Tango.

Starts off great. Feel like the arms could be better. Great kicks. Decent choreo. Having a bit of balance trouble on the ending pose. Great dance though.

CAI wouldn’t bet against her. Great until the end, when she wobbled (noted). Derek loved the first drop, loved the attitude, noted the little slip up. Bruno loves how she changed up the personality, great intensity. Loves the range she has.

Scores: 7, 7, 7 for a total of 21.

Numbers Update: Pretty simple. Lots of people in potential trouble.

Anne/Nelly/Jeannie vs. Chrishell 0.36% 3,571
Anne/Nelly vs. Monica/Nev/Justina/Johnny 1.07% 10,714

Vernon up next with his rumba. I love a big man who can cry. He’s handling the rumba pretty well, but he’s one of the weaker dancers left. I love him though.

Derek says he loves this show, seeing him dance a rumba brings joy, noticed the full chucarachas. Beautiful, well done. Bruno says he’s getting better every week. CAI says she wasn’t looking at the arm motions. Says Bruno is right. Says he’s special….and a bunch of other stuff I kinda missed. They love Vernon. Me too.

Scores: 8, 7, 7 for a total of 22.

AS I was saying about the numbers, we have a whole bunch of people clustered with only 1 or 3,500 votes between them. There is no space. Anyone could go.

Jesse up next with his Cha cha. He’s doing very well on this dance, he seems…looser? Of course, it’s one of the simpler dances of the night. He seems like he tightened up a bit at the end.

Bruno raving that he has all this stuff and he has the timing, but he forgot the hips. He’s not quite there yet. CAI says the musicality has improved, wants to see what they see in the packages in the dance, stop looking at Sharna’s feet. Derek says he’s much better this week, tendency to speed up with the adrenaline.

Scores: 7, 7, 7 for a total of 21, which puts him down in the danger zone.

Numbers Update: Well with all the people with 21 or 22 points, there will be no ambiguity on who got the most votes. there’s essentially no where to hide, with only 3,500 votes between those with 21 points (Jesse, Anne, Nelly and Jeannie) and those with 22 point (Chrishell and Vernon). For those with the 21 points, each dancer only needs ONE more vote per million votes cast to be safe. This should be interesting.

Skai up next and even her wave at the camera is shy and a bit awkward. She’s talking about Cameron Boyce who died very young last year. My concern, as heart rending as this story is, is that she’s going so close to the end and she might not be remembered from week to week. She’s fading into the woodwork a bit.

Very sweet dance so far. I see no issues with the dance, very lovely. But unfortunately, I think she needed a blockbuster.

Derek says this was his favorite dance of the night (??), says she’s a gorgeous ballroom dancer. CAI says dance is always about emotion, most beautiful dance, sheer perfection. Bruno says she’s back on top, says it was stunning. Sounds like they’re giving her a blockbuster.

Scores: 10, 9, 9 for a total of 28. I suspect she needed that. I’ll wait for Courtney, but I didn’t see a 10 in that dance. It was very pretty and well danced…but best of the night??

So, Skai’s 28 puts her a full three points ahead of Kaitlyn and 4 points ahead of Justina, Nev, Monica and Johnny. Yeah, I think they’re working hard at saving her and I suspect they did with that score. Disappointed that Derek got with the program pretty quickly, but I suspect there are rules we haven’t even heard of.

AJ up with his Cha Cha…easiest dance of the night, danced to one of his own songs, and of course all the Backstreet Boys are here to pimp him. Wait, he’s only in his 30’s?? Ooookay.

What is up with his hand on Cheryl’s neck? He’s not doing cha cha although Cheryl is. Okay, we’re not going to bother with the actual dance style for half the dance, we’re just going to do whatever we want and pimp ourselves.

Derek says alright, talks about how they’re living legends. He’s likable, needs to work on the footwork, and cha cha, but way to end the show. Bruno says where is the cha cha, still need to work on the footwork. CAI great way to end the show, says to watch his elbows, arms feel weak.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24 – that was pretty generous, IMO.

Numbers Update: Well, here’s the bottom NINE couples. The truth will be revealed tonight

Anne/Nelly/Jeannie vs. Chrishell/Vernon 0.33% 3,322
Anne/Nelly vs. Monica/Nev/Justina/Johnny 1.00% 9,967

I suspect one of the bottom five will go. 🙂 How’s that for specificity?? LOL.  Bottom two will be…Anne and Chrishell? I would have said Skai, but I think the judges saved her.  I would like to thank the judges for clumping everyone. Makes doing the numbers easier.

SAFE: Skai
SAFE: Johnny
SAFE: Jeannie
SAFE: AJ
SAFE: Kaitlyn
SAFE: Jesse
SAFE: Monica
SAFE: Nev
SAFE: Justina
SAFE: Nelly

Whoooaahhh….big fuck up.

Bottom two is Monica/Val and Anne/Keo

CAI: saves Monica
Derek: Monica

Wow…I’m speechless.

Okay, so with three couples left on the stage, only one of them was bottom two. Chrishell and Vernon were safe while Anne was bottom two. Monica was called safe, but wasn’t. I guess this is the pitfall of live voting?? Shouldn’t be, because they were quite sure of who the bottom two were. And Monica was called safe 7th!! That’s a big fuck up. But entirely plausible and explains her serious overscoring compared to others. But why?? Again I ask – who owns Cheer. Hold on, I’ll look it up. But please don’t tell me it’s Val’s fanbase. His fanbase is not up there in the top pros of all time. I think Peta beats him..and Jenna. 🙂

Okay, so Cheer is on Netflix and a very quick review doesn’t reveal any connection to Disney/ABC…but Monica is a self described Christian conservative. So…