'Dancing With the Stars': 100th episode celebration, and an elimination
We've got two hours of Dancing With the Stars tonight so the show can celebrate its 100th episode (and host Tom Bergeron's birthday, as I learned on Entertainment Tonight a little while ago. Please don't judge me).
The first hour features the judges' favorite dances from the first five seasons. No. 10 is Kelly Monaco's freestyle from the season one's week six. No. 9 is Sabrina Bryan's paso doble from season five. No. 8 is Emmitt Smith's cha-cha-cha from season three. No. 7 is Apolo Anton Ohno's seaon four quickstep. No. 6 is Joey Fatone's season four jive. No. 5 is Helio Castroneves' season five quickstep (in the giant yellow suit). No. 4 is Drew Lachey's freestyle from season two's finale. No. 3 is Stacy Keibler's season two samba. No. 2 is Mel B's paso doble from season five. No. 1 is Mario Lopez's tango from season three.
I didn't watch the first season, but I learned from this clip show that the standards are a lot higher now. During that Kelly Monaco dance, there were a bunch of parts where they paused to make sure they started the next part together, and she was looking at her partner's feet a bunch. Interesting.
Let's get on with the results show, shall we?
* They kick things off with a big group dance from the pros to "Hard to Handle."
* Montage from last night.
* Backstage, Samantha Harris talks to the five remaining stars, all of whom feel at risk, glad to be there and hope to still be around next week.
* Rascal Flatts performs, and Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough dance along with them. (They rock, by the way.)
* Tom Bergeron talks to a bunch of past cast members, who are in the audience. Stacy Keibler says she emailed George Hamilton to see if he would be around. Lisa Rinna says she is doing lots of cardio ballroom. Jerry Springer says his hip still hurts. Vivica A. Fox says she's retired her stilettos. Joey Fatone says he's still bitter, and Kenny Mayne says he's tired of being Tom's punchline, and Sabrina just gets to say "thank you" after Tom says Kenny used all her time.
* Mario Lopez and the cast of Broadway's A Chorus Line hit the stage to perform.
* Rascal Flatts returns, and Mel B and Maksim Chmerkovskiy dance.
* Kelly Monaco tells Samantha she's for Kristi. Apolo says he's for the athletes, but probably Kristi because he's partial to skaters. Drew says his money is on Cristian.
* Results, finally: Marissa Jaret Winokur and Tony Dovolani are safe, as are Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas. After a break, more results: Cristian de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke are safe, which leaves Mario and Jason Taylor as the last two stars standing. Leaving are Mario and Karina Smirnoff, meaning Jason Taylor and Edyta Sliwinska are safe.
* Mario says: "I've had a great time performing on this show, I've had a great partner, we've had some great competition. ... Len, thank you for all your comments. Ultimately, you've helped me become a better ballroom dancer. And the comment about me being brave and being an inspiration for young people. I want to say that the real brave ones are the young men and women fighting for our country."
Well, that's a classy exit for our hometown contestant. How do you feel about the results?
Comments
Wrong person voted off...Mario was great...Marissa shold have gone.
Posted by: Sue Goodale | May 6, 2008 11:35 PM
How Marissa survived is incredible. I thought she clearly should have gone this week as she should have for several weeks now. Come on people start voting on dancing ability.
Posted by: mike | May 7, 2008 12:35 AM
Wrong choice.. Marissa is clearly the least accomplished dancer and should have gone if you were voting on ability and progress.
Her over the top giddyness is now annoying and if you think that is cute, then you are not voting for ability but for cuteness.
Its a dancing contest people!
Posted by: stan elgart | May 7, 2008 11:07 AM
If you compare the dancing ability of Mario and Marissa, Mario's dancing is light years ahead of Marissa's. I thought Marissa should have gone home a long time ago. Mario should be in the finals.
Posted by: Judi Olmsted | May 7, 2008 11:51 AM
I am so glad that Mario went home he is a good dancer but he doesn't put the time into learning the technique, just the showy stuff. It is not all his fault though Karina is a terrible teacher who just gets the celbs who already have natural ability or previous dancing skills. She needs to leave the show!
Posted by: Rebecca Curtis | May 7, 2008 1:11 PM
Mario: You were absolutely terrific and you made us all proud. GREAT job.
Posted by: Timbo | May 7, 2008 1:49 PM
Marissa (?) should have been "out" weeks ago, and I, too, find her perptual wide open mouth irritating. Kristi is great, but why shouldn't she be? She is a profesisonal skater/dancer, and should not even qualify as an amateur to be on the show in the first place. Who has shown the most progress and has the most winning, likeable personality? Jason Taylor, a six foot six football player who has never danced before. If this is judged and voted on fairly for taking it to the limit, Jason will win, hands down.
Posted by: Alice Summers | May 7, 2008 3:21 PM
i think mario was voted off because he got stuck with a bad partner. karina is too arrogant and not well liked by the public. and she stood there rolling her eyes!! mario certainly wasn't voted off because of his dancing ability.
Posted by: schelli | May 7, 2008 3:21 PM
Mario was one of the best at the start but I don't think he improved as much as some of the other stars. He seems like a great guy though, and he sure can sing
Posted by: Tony Connor | May 7, 2008 4:40 PM
It's a shame that Mario was voted off this week. I hadn't like his dancing too much in the past, but his two dances this week were great. I agree with other posters that Marissa should have gotten the boot. She's hung in there in previous weeks, but this week she looked like a little girl trying to keep up with her daddy's dancing.
Posted by: Annie | May 7, 2008 6:53 PM
I am going to miss the Mario/Karina chemistry. I really really wanted a Kristi/Mario/Jason finale :(
In short, he shouldn't have left. I was excited to see what else they'd do.
Posted by: Nicole | May 7, 2008 7:05 PM
I think that Marissa probably should have been the one to go home. Even though she has definitely improved from the first few weeks, she still seems to be on a much lower level than her competitors. I'm sad that Mario had to leave instead because he was really good on Monday night, and I was excited to see more of him. However, he was so classy and respecful upon his elimination (especially since he's only 21!), and I hope he will be remembered for always giving great dance performances on the show.
Now, I'm just hoping that Kristi, Jason, and Christian will make it to the finals! Kristi should win, at least based on her performances so far. I don't think that her ice skating background gives her much advantage, except for maybe being more graceful with her arm movements and being used to training on a daily basis. According to her and Mark's weekly videos, she's had trouble with a lot of steps he's given her. (Remember Week 7, I believe, when Mark was all stressed out because she wasn't understanding the choreography very well and they had to take an ice skating break. Also, since Mark was not very good at ice skating despite being a pro dancer, it proves that the foot movement with ice skating and dancing are not that closely related!) Also, she's doing so great with the difficult choreography that Mark's giving her. I can't remember any star throughout the past 6 seasons ever being demanded of so much!
Even though I'm a big Kristi and Mark fan, I'd still be happy if Christian or Taylor won! They're both doing great and have improved drastically from the first week of competition.
Posted by: Mary | May 7, 2008 10:57 PM
Nicole we agree with you, Mario is the only one ever to recognize our troops fighting for our freedom/rights out of ANYBODY that has ever been on dwts! we feel cristian should have gone before....We are voting for Kristi and Mark, Jason and Edyta, and now Tony and Marissa
Posted by: MAKATI | May 7, 2008 11:20 PM
I was sorry to see Mario go. While I'm not a big fan of Karina (she rubs people the wrong way sometimes with her upstairs downstairs attitude), I think Mario did a great job and had potential and it would have been nice to see him in the final three. Marissa has come a long way, but definitely, in my opinion anyway, isn't a good enough dancer to be in the final three and I would hope that she gets voted off next week. I have said many times that this is more of a popularity than talent contest and it should be the other way around.
Posted by: Judi Bryant | May 8, 2008 6:02 AM
Marissa should have been amoungst first to leave . She has no talent"in dancing " either . She is "clutsy" at best . Her costumes are NOT sexy they are hideous . Agree with above giddy ....offensive ....irritating .Come on judges ...be as critical of her as you were with far more talented people .
Posted by: Dee | May 8, 2008 11:45 AM