Dancing with the Stars Season 29, Week 6 – LIVE BLOG

Hooray for Derek dancing tonight. His and Hayley’s dance looks like it should be good.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Derek Hough (@derekhough)

T-minus 25 Minutes…

It is week 6, isn’t it? I think I’m confused because I’ve worked the last four weekends. Yesterday was my first day off in a month. That’s my excuse if I start screwing things up. 🙂

Now THIS is a cold open. I love it. But we still get the Tyrant cat walk. Why does she always pick somewhat unflattering things to wear? Dang, I can’t hear Derek or Tyrant talk over the fake audience. The whole advantage of a fake audience is that YOU control the volume. This is why they never win emmys for Sound mixing.

Ugh. Technical difficulties. Johnny up first with his salsa, killing it as usual. That outfit is wonderfully outrageous. Great hip action. Doesn’t appear to be missing a step. Just rocking it. Britt gives him great stuff to do.

Derek says Jennifer would be proud. Expectation was high, there were a few arm misses but it was a great way to start the show. Bruno says salsa says to have more grounded hip action, and he danced it up, but great performance. CAI (hate that wig) says it wasn’t his best dance, got a slow start, too light on his feet. Man, I think the judges are doing a bit of leveling tonight.

Scores: 7, 8, 7 for a total of 22. Derek didn’t get the memo to be a real bitch this week. I can handle the 8 but the 7’s are just obscene. Are they going backwards to the first dancer getting hosed? Stupid thing to do.

Nev is up next with his Jazz. Jenna has no clue on Marky Mark. 😀

Ooooo….nice opening pose. Off to a good start.He’s doing a typically good job. I’ve noticed that I don’t remember what he did the previous week every week, however. Not bad on the lifts. Great ending. Well done.

Bruno says a bunch of stuff I’m not following. Didn’t know what it was but it worked. CAI says it was amazing, perfect Jazz routine, but a war of two worlds. Derek says it was Jazz 101. So clean and so together, he loved it.

Scores: and something happens that makes them say after the break.

Let’s try this again…

Scores: 9, 9, 8 for a total of 26. Great routine but four points ahead of Johnny?

Monica is up next…how badly will she be overscored on this rumba?? Should we take bets? Wow, divorced for a year and then remarried a year later?

First step had no hips, then exaggerated hips. The hip action keeps coming and going. It went in that solo move. A bit out of sync. Not particularly exciting or memorable, but some will drool.

CAI ways wow, wow, wow and says she’s coming into her own. Amazing on the ballroom. Derek says there’s a softness to her, her balance is great. Ha! Derek cuts Val off and doesn’t let him talk. Bruno says it was a classy rumba. Great lines and shape. Bruno also calls Val out, it’s all about him.

Just don’t get what the judges are doing with Monica. It’s irrational. Val just can’t help himself, can he?

Scores: 9, 9, 9 for a total of 27.

I wonder if the judges ever go home and think, “How did one of the better dancers this season get scored so low compared to the most underwhelming dancer?”

Skai and Alan up next with a Cha Cha. She’s such a cutie. Girlfriend is in college! Good for her, not resting on fame. Education is important.

Fantastic opening. She’s still got that stage fright face and a few balance problems. Got totally lost there are one point and has trouble getting back into it. Alan is getting her there I think. Halfway through she seems to get it back. She reminds me a bit of Nicole in that she would take a mistake very much to heart. But unlike Nicole, Skai is too young to get it back together.

Derek says, it happens to the best of us, we’ve all been there. Lots of proper cha cha, and sharp. Bruno loves the K-pop look. Accidents happen. Sections you did well were better than latin in the best. CAI is proud of her as it’s not easy to come back from that and she did.

Scores: 6, 6, 6 for a total of 18. That’s fair.

Vernon and Peta are up next with their Cha Cha. Very sad story from Vernon. Hate seeing him cry but love that he lets himself.

Love that outfit. And Peta’s. This song is giving me flashbacks. He’s a bit behind Peta all the time and when he isn’t he’s ut of sync. But I love him. So much personality. I think he’s actually gotten better and has loosened up…and is having a good time. Still lots of issues with dancing, but I enjoy him.

Bruno says it was bright and colorful. There is something about him, he has the right feel for the dance, said his timing was good (not really…). CAI says she enjoys watching him, which is what I said. He has an ease about him, there were a lot of mistakes. Derek gives a 10 for joy, from a technical standpoint bad to have heel leads and there was a timing issue.

Scores: 7, 7, 7 for a total of 21. That seems better than I expected.

Nelly up next…and he’s actually friends with Tim McGraw! The things I learn from this show. 🙂

Wow, he’s starting off really well. Great turns. Butt needs to come in a bit. But this is very lovely. And he’s clearly having a good time. Well, that made me very happy. 🙂

CAI says she’s without words, very fluid, loves the different side, beautiful and elegant. Derek says the softness was very masculine, beautiful to see, watch the frame and the rise/fall. Bruno says he’s never been more charming. Great arms. Gentleness of touch was so good. It was great.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. Very underscored compared to Nev and Monica. Sorry.

Numbers update: Getting a bit scary out there. For newbies, the first column is the difference between the two dancers and the second column is how many votes per million votes cast that the lower scored dancer needs to stay over the higher scored dancer.

Paying Derek proper homage. Derek has my vote. Hayley matching him perfectly, just step for step, arms, feet, legs…incredible. Just perfect. That was amazing. So well done. You can tell they live together, they are so perfectly in sync with each other. Danielle has been my favorite person to see him dancing with, until tonight. Daniella is a ferrari, but you can tell the relationship with Derek makes this even better.

Okay, on to Jeannie. She’s watching her feet at the beginning. She’s doing pretty well, although her goofiness is missing. She’s going out of some of the moves awkwardly, but she’s improving I think. CAI is going to get bitchy about that spin. Really watching the floor again there in the middle to end.

Derek says it was sensual and really good. Straight legs over her feet, very good. Be aware of her arms, make them a bit softer. Bruno says it’s right up his alley, so much passion. Can transform character with every dance. CAI says she is stunning and she gives so much to everything she does. Work more on the transitions (agreed).

Scores: After the break…WTF? Are they having issues tonight or what?

Scores: 8, 8, 9 for a 25. That slow motion portion before the scores revealed a mistake actually.

AJ and Cheryl dancing Samba. Starts of a tiny bit unsteady. He really hits his stride toward the middle after a couple minor issues at the beginning. Didn’t care for the bridge, but the part after is pretty good, although I feel like he might have missed a turn but covered it very well.

Bruno says the slapping works, always on time, performance is strong, well done. CAI is yelling, says finally, it was a break through for him. Right balance. Open your chest more. Derek says when in doubt shake it out. So much fun to watch, made it look easy. I loved it.

Scores: 9, 9, 9 for a total of 27. Well, okay, at least Monica isn’t at the top of the leader board. I’ll take it.

Numbers Update: Not looking great for Skai, but I am curious to see who goes. Certainly seems the judges have managed to protect Monica once again.

Chrishell is up next looking angelic in white. I wrote that last sentence not knowing she has lost both her parents in the last year. How devastating. Shit. I’m already emotional.

She’s doing beautifully. And Gleb can’t ruin it by sexing it up. Nice lifts…beautiful job. Lovely.

Impressed that CAI wrote down her parents name. That’s important. Still have to point your toes, felt the story. Derek says she’s extraordinary, coming out here with joy and light. Loves that she added the intention to the dance. Think about your feet during lifts. Bruno says it was emotionally engaging, raw and truthful. She gave everything she had. She throws everything she had into. Great job.

Scores: 8, 8, 8 for a total of 24. I would have thrown a 9 in there, I think it was her best dance…and I liked it more than Monica’s. Yes, I will compare everyone to that ridiculous score.

Numbers Update: Including Johnny this time, although I doubt he’s in any danger. I could be wrong, but I think he can pass Chrishell easily.

Kaitlyn up next with her samba…and she busts her ass in rehearsal. 🙂

She looks the part. She’s doing quite well, although I’m not seeing a lot of hips. Then she seems to find it more in the latter half of the dance. Gets more in the rhythm. Not her best dance, but certainly didn’t suck.

Derek says that was fantastic. Keep growing, work on the attack more, add more energy. Samba clinic. Bruno is a belieber. First class samba, well played. Made it look elegant. CAI – well executed, technically good, but not super impressed. Needs to give more, needs the attack. I actually agree with CAI, I get what she’s saying.

Justina is our last dance of the night. V. Waltz to Billy Joel.

Never like the hard arms in this style. She’s throwing the away a bit. The rest of the dance is looking lovely though. I enjoyed it.

Missed the judges comments cuz I was voting for Johnny. 🙂

Scores: 9, 9, 9 for a total of 27

Final Numbers: Which one of the top four is not even remotely like the others? You know the answer. I think Skai and Vernon will likely be the bottom two, but we’ll see

Okay, here we go. Sure seems like we have plenty of time left. Maybe Derek can dance again next week?? Like a million times better than listening to Tyrant.

SAFE: Nelly and Daniella
SAFE: Jeannie and Brandon
SAFE: Monica and Val (duh)
SAFE: Chrishell and Gleb
SAFE: AJ and Cheryl
SAFE: Justina and Sasha
SAFE: Kaitlyn and Artem
SAFE: Nev and Jenna
SAFE: Skai and Allan

Oh boy, this is a shocker.

Derek saves Johnny.

CAI saves Vernon – crack is wack, ya’ll.

Bruno breaks the tie and saves Johnny and Britt.

This is what happens when you play bullshit scores and over score some couples while setting the bar higher for other couples like Johnny and Britt.