Leading up to the Dancing with the Stars final, the three remaining contestants echoed the sentiment it’s “anyone’s game.” With that mentality–and their eyes on the mirror-ball trophy–all three brought their A game with some surprising results.
The night’s competition kicked off with the samba smackdown, a group dance that featured the three dancing couples showcasing the samba invidividually, then reuniting to finish the routine as a group. It was clear the moment Brooke Burke and her partner Derek Hough hit the dancefloor they were back.
“You were the one to beat in week one and i think you’re still the one to beat in week 10,” said head judge Len Goodman. Judge Bruno Tonioli was also smitten with the “sexy sizzler of a dancer,” but told Lance Bass that he’d “come up leaps and bounds” with his confidence and “could really be a leading man.” But it was clear to judge Carrie Ann Inaba that not only was Warren Sapp the “most improved,” but he had a “connection that no one else can even come close to” with the audience.
For the second round, the contestants regrouped to perform their freestyle dances. First up: Burke & Hough with a Grease-inspired sock hop that quickly turned naughty and technically dazzling filled with difficult spins, lifts and flips. It brought the crowd roaring to its feet and all three judges raving. Tonioli cried, “Spectacular lifts! You ended up in positions that I’ve only seen in the Kama Sutra!” Goodman went even further, telling the pair, “That was, I think, the best freestyle that I’ve ever seen.”
Bass and his partner Lacey Schwimmer found out Brooke and Derek are a tough act to follow. The duo gave the ballroom a lesson in freestyle hip-hop, which entertained but didn’t inspire nearly the same reaction in the ballroom. Inaba, who praised the pair earlier in the night for having “momentum,” only loved the beginning and the end of the dance. Surprisingly, the couple’s biggest proponent was ballroom stickler Goodman, who told the pair they did “a really good job.”
The night’s surprise: Sapp, the technically weakest of all three contestants. But who needs technique when you have 300-plus pounds of ballroom presence? Sapp and his partner Kym Johnson brought the crowd back on its feet with an infectious freestyle set to Tina Turner’s Proud Mary. “Eight seasons someone comes along right out of the blue and is an absolute star,” said Goodman after Sapp’s performance. “As an entertainer you have no one that touches you.” Tonioli threw his hands up and quipped, “With you all resistance is futile” and Inaba proclaimed “out of all the routines, that one was my favorite.”
With Sapp flipping the Dancing script, what looked to be Brooke-Lance final showdown may not be a sure thing going into Tuesday’s two-hour finale.
Here’s how the remaining three couples stacked up after Monday’s dance:
• Brooke & Derek: 28 out of 30 for their samba; 30 out of 30 for their freestyle. Total: 58 out of 60
• Lance & Lacey: 26 out of 30 for their samba; 27 out of 30 for their freestyle. Total: 53 out of 60
• Warren & Kym: 25 out of 30 for their samba; 28 out of 30 for their freestyle. Total: 53 out of 60
Tell us: Did you agree with the judges’ scoring? Who are you rooting for to win?
CRAIG SJODIN/ABC(3)
Permalink | Comments (69)
