DANCING REUNION
During a commercial break, season five winner Helio Castroneves and runner-up Mel B. (Spice Girl Melanie Brown) chatted from their front-row seats. Being back in the ballroom “is so nice,” Brown told PEOPLE, admitting, “It’s better to be sitting and watching than dancing. But I could feel everyone’s nerves. I was so nervous for them.” While Castroneves cheered on — and got to hug — former partner Julianne Hough, Brown was feeling empty. “I’m missing Maks [Chmerkovskiy, her pro dance partner] tonight. I got to see him a lot when we were on tour. He came to a lot of our shows. But it’s weird not having him here. I think the show misses him.”
JUDGMENT DAY
While the men danced and received critiques, the women cringed. “The judges were so harsh,” Monica Seles said. “I’m so happy we didn’t go first!” Ditto, says Marissa Jaret Winokur, who confesses she and Marlee Matlin had the wind taken out of their sails. “We were enjoying the dances and then came time for the scores and we were like, ‘Oh no, we forgot about this part.’ ” The other scary part of the show? “The stairs!” Winokur yelps. “We were all scared about the stairs. They showed us a tape from last season when Cameron Mathison was coming down the stairs and he slipped. They were like ‘This is what you don’t want to do.’ No kidding!”
MOTHER KNOWS BEST
Steve Guttenberg gave a shout out to his folks, who are enjoying a yearlong celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. “We took them to Italy, we had a big party, we went to Florida — it’s year-long celebration of their marriage,” Guttenberg says. Like a good son, he loves his mother, but with all due respect, she hasn’t experienced the exhausting dance rehearsals first hand. Still, he says, she considers herself an expert. “I talked to her this morning,” Guttenberg says. “She tells me what to do and how I need to do it and I’m like, ‘Mom, I have to listen to Anna [Trebunskaya, Guttenberg's pro partner]. It’s cute.”
STUNNING GUNS
There’s no denying that DWTS host Samantha Harris was one of Hollywood’s glamorous pregnant women. Monday night Harris showed off her back-to-shape body in a sleeveless black taffeta Amsale gown. Harris, who gave birth to daughter Josselyn last fall, says regaining her figure hasn’t been the result of long hours in the gym. “I wish I could get to the gym more but it’s hard to fit it in with my schedule,” Harris says. Her incredibly toned arms “are a combination of two things — a lot of body glitter that shows off the musculature and carrying around a 15-lb. baby.”
VERTICALLY CHALLENGED
Everyone is on their toes thanks to what is arguably the tallest DWTS cast ever! “Tom [Bergeron] and I both want to stand on blocks so we look a little bit taller,” Harris tells PEOPLE. Often a disadvantage, pro dancer Jonathan Roberts says the tall dancers are taking the ballroom competition to new heights. “For being as tall as he is, Jason Taylor moves so well on the floor.”
GET IT?
Dancing with Adam Carolla is “fun,” Julianne Hough says, though she admits sometimes she doesn’t get his sense of humor. “He’s so quick. Sometimes it’s 30 seconds later and then I get it.” Not funny, says Winokur, are her partner Tony Dovolani’s jokes. “They’re awful,” she groans. “He forgets that I’m married to a comedy writer (Winokur’s hubby Judah is a writer on King of the Hill). “I don’t do courtesy laughs,” she says, noting that for his part, her husband sticks to what he knows. “My husband doesn’t wear an open vest with no shirt on underneath.” –Monica Rizzo and Reagan Alexander
Michael Desmond/ABC
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