He’s one of the families on the final episode of Celebrity Family Feud and holy crap are his sons good looking. I think mostly still jailbait age but the one that looks like Matthew McConhaugey with extra facial hair plays football in college…

Dayymmmn.

I expected it to be about Jackass. Because how many times did they shove Weeman into bags and other assorted containers? Hot dog carts… giant traffic cones… you name it.

The Feud was one of those things that was often something watched with my family so I’m already predisposed to it. And then when the promos started showing during American Gladiators and I saw Wolf staring down the other family on the Feud, and then later Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) of My Name Is Earl on it too, I knew I had to watch this.

And it’s been a lot of fun so far. But I was biding my time for when the Gladiators and also the Earl cast were on. Much to my surprise, they’re all on the same episode!

What’s different in CFF is there’s 4 “families” that face off in two matches, the winners face off in a final match and then the overall winner does the last part for 200 pts to win the money ($50k for charity of choice). Also what’s different is that there’s only 3 games per match, first two are single points and the 3rd is triple. And if no one gets to 300, then its sudden death.

Anyways, I really loved the first half of tonight’s show, the Gladiators were hysterical and it couldn’t have been better except if they’d brought Crush instead of Venom (or perhaps my other new favorite gladiator besides Jet, Hurricane). Also very glad they brought Laila and not Hulk who I now hate to see at all given the crap way that he and his family have responded to his son’s maiming of his friend. I used to love Hulk Hogan but I’m done with him now. I even wrote to NBC asking them to boot him for future seasons of AG, go with Lou Ferrigno or someone else cool.

And the Earl game was fun, turned out it was all MNIE cast but in character. The Hickey Family vs Camden County (semi regular characters that are the townspeople). It was a little weird because they stayed in character and goofed the answers in ways that the actors would never have.

I’ve always loved watching the Feud because of my grandmothers (one of the rare things that they had in common) and it’s fun to watch it again with the “celebrities”… now I want to see them do it with the cast of NCIS vs CSI or something cool like that! Since I think they’ve already filmd all of this season, perhaps next season? Doubt it’d happen though if for nothing else, it’s an NBC show, why would they promote other network’s shows by using casts from them?

Not sure what else CFF will be worth watching for but I’ve enjoyed the games up til tonight while waiting for AG and MNIE to show so I’ll keep watching.

I just can’t get enough of watching AG! Almost into the semifinals, which means it’ll be over soon

If you’re reading this and haven’t watched the show, the scores are done in order of the judges seats at the table so from left to right, Carrie Ann, Len and Bruno.

Prediction: Marissa or Adam will be booted tomorrow. Kristi‘s up first with the paso doble which is flawless as usual. Last week, the judges ganged up on her for not really showing any emotion in the dance. This week, I think she did a great job of showing the passion & fire needed in the paso doble. I was surprised when the first judge, Len, nailed her again for lack of emotion. But fortunately Bruno & Carrie Ann shouted him down together.

10,9,10

First 10s of the season! Bruno practically stuck his tongue out at Len. Nyah!

Parting thought, I really loved Kristi’s dress, the gold underskirt struck the perfect balance of flashy but not over the top.

Priscilla does the first Viennese waltz. In the rehearsal video, they showed her partner taking her to the beach and putting her on roller skates to get her used to the gliding motions of the waltz. I was chuffed to see her on the traditional quad roller skates while he was on the roller blades. RollerSKATES FTW! He looked so clunky trying to do turns! Her dance was nice but seemed a little off balance in parts. Judges were pretty nice to her but gave her 7,7,8. I kind of choked though when Carrie Ann raved about Priscilla’s facial expressions and her control over them. Uh…. that was the plastic surgery and its left her with a weird wooden smile.

Adam does the paso doble and rehearsals look surprisingly good. He’s really come along! WOW the performance just really blew me away. Even if you take away the “tricks” of using the unicycle and cape (very well I might add), I really thought that he did a very ambitious choreography and did it well. He’s shaping up to be the surprise of the season!

And just as shockingly, the judges really did not agree with me. Usually I’m able to call on what they’ll pick on but they just tore him to pieces. I wonder if it was planned that way that Adam would be made to be the bottom dog this round no matter what his performance was. After all, Guttenberg pointed out several times that this is an ENTERTAINMENT show, and not a real competition. A measly 6,7,6 for Adam.

Normally I wish he wouldn’t open his mouth but he made me chuckle with his line about wardrobe dressing him like a silent film porn star.

Marlee with the Viennese Waltz again. Another good dress! In the rehearsals, she’s frustrated because she can’t keep her balance in the turns. She says that it might be because she’s deaf. I can relate to that on some level because while I actually have very good balance. I feel a giant blind spot on the left. If I were to spin to the left, I might lose my balance but I wouldn’t to the right ever. The performance was great. I really liked the first part where they held each other’s faces.

I couldn’t help but watch with an eye for the deaf tricks in the choreography designed to help Marlee keep time with the dance. I think the face holding was definitely part of that. A big difference between Marlee’s and Priscilla’s waltz was that Priscilla often faced away from her partner and let go of him too. Things that Marlee has to minimize. Carrie Ann thanked Marlee for touching her so much with the performance that she cried. However, it didn’t show in the scoring, in a solid trio of 8s.

Mario does the paso doble. Interesting tidbit, apparently last week as the reporter for Access Hollywood, Mel B (of the Spice Girls) tried to out Mario & Karina as lovers. That seems very low class of Mel. Frankly, I’ve suspected that they were lovers from the beginning from the subtle body language between Mario & Karina, he kept reaching for her like a lover rather than a partner. However, I don’t need confirmation nor do I really care if they are or not. I presume they’re both single and willing so what’s the problem?

Anyways, I wasn’t too wowed by this performance either because it bothered me that they both kept staring down at the feet for a good part of the dance. It made me feel like they were concentrating on the steps and not acting out the passion of the dance. Len ripped on Mario again but tempered it by saying that he really wanted to see Mario do well. “You’re 21! I have underpants older than you!”

Scores: 8,7,9 Clearly Bruno is all about overriding Len tonight!

Jason does the Viennese. He looks good. His height and long legs really made the dance graceful and sensual which is a lot of what you’re going for with the VW. He did make a major misstep but recovered well and went on as if it never happened. I think that’s why the judges were so quick to forgive him for it and gave him the shocking scores of 10,9,10!

For the first time, someone catches up to Kristi and its even more remarkable that it happens the same time she breaks the 10 barrier on the show. I suspect per the whole “it’s just an entertainment show” thing, the judges are trying to find reasons to score the other contestants higher even if they’re not as perfect as Kristi’s dances so people don’t get pissed off that no one else ever had a chance.

Cristian with the paso doble. SMOULDERING! That’s all I have to say about his performance. Judges agreed that it was good: 9,8,9. The outfits were really different and sexy (though I didn’t like the “hotpant” part of her “dress”).

I just wish someone else was his partner because Cheryl just looks so bitchy and full of herself. I was decidedly unimpressed by the fact that they gave her free advertising & promotion for her new dance studio. At least Priscilla on the skates and Jason at the Medieval Times were more generic and appropriate for what they were rehearsing.

Shannon does Viennese. This was the big drama of the past week. Her dance partner, Derek Hough, hurt his neck pretty badly last Tuesday rehearsing for the performance that night. The rehearsal showed him struggling to stay benched while watching Jonathan help Shannon practice. Shannon was of course more concerned about Derek which totally how I see her real life personality.

As far as I know, Shannon’s single and I really like seeing the two of them together. If they get together, that’d be awesome. Derek charms me every week because he looks so much like Christopher Atkins, my definition of male beauty throughout my childhood.

So the dance… wow I had a hard time focusing on Shannon because Derek was so light and graceful on his feet. He definitely knows all about body lines when dancing and used that knowledge like a weapon tonight. Shannon did look good, I think just a couple missteps. Carrie Ann’s comment was that Shannon appears to be letting her body find its own movement which I have to agree with because she’s not “fighting” it anymore. Len was all over her this time and called it the best performance of the night… and followed it up with his own 10. Score: 9,10,9!

I laughed cause all Shannon could say was that she was awful and it was very cute that Derek immediately scoffed and said that she ALWAYS does that, puts herself down or is too hard on herself.

Marissa is the final performance with the paso doble. When Adam performed, I thought “That’s it, it’s Marissa going home tomorrow night”. But then the judges laid him low. So still up in the air.

I’ve officially decided that the producers intentionally edited the first rehearsal & dance segment for Marissa to make Tony look bad. Either that or he saw and read about how he came off and has been working double time to make up for it. Either way, he’s very clearly devoted to Marissa now and working to make her look as good as possible. In the rehearsal tape, he commented that he was going to put some professional moves into her routine because he felt that she could do it and that it would give her an edge up.

I have to say that he knew what he was doing because she looked really good on the floor! And the judges agreed and gave her what I think are her best scores of the season even if not impressive scores compared to the others tonight. 8,8,8

Summary: An interesting shake up of the roster tonight. Jason & Kristi are tied for first place with Shannon on their heels in 3rd. Cristian creeps up a little more into 4th. Old favorite Mario is still down with the Marlee & Marissa in a three tie for 5th place. Marissa moved up and Priscilla fell to the bottom in 8th place. Adam is on the hot seat.

I’m encouraged that Marlee continues to hang just far enough above the bottom that she is safe in the voting. However, it’s interesting to see Priscilla fall down. If Adam doesn’t leave tomorrow, then it’s because of his radio fan base calling in for him. I’m happy to see Shannon moving up to the top but predict that Jason won’t stay up there… Mario will come back and reclaim his place as Kristi’s main competition for #1.

“I think there’s so many talented people on it — that’s what’s great,” said Guttenberg. “It’s a chance for everybody in America — we’re in a tough economic time, we’ve got a crazy presidential race going on — so I think that this show is so good for everybody and it makes the world a better place. I was glad to be on it.”

During the interview, Kimmel also asked Guttenberg what he thought about Penn Jillette’s recent comments that he felt it was unfair that Dancing with the Stars casts celebrity participants like Olympic gold medalist figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, who has been atop the judges’ leaderboard two weeks in a row. (Jillette and fellow competitor Monica Seles were eliminated in last week’s initial Dancing with the Stars sixth-season results show.)

“It’s not a real competition,” explained Guttenberg. “In a real ballroom competition, 10 couples dance together and the judges have a clipboard and they never talk. This is more of a television show — an entertainment show — so it’s not a real dance competition.“

Source: RealityTVWorld.com reporting on Jimmy Kimmel Interview from last night

If it was on Kimmel (I could have watched it! duh) then it should be on YouTube and sure enough it is:

Steve talks more about the “mango” part at about 2:15 into the clip.

My rough attempt to transcribe it:
“Truth is I knew it would be entertaining. And the funny thing is I just got a bunch of emails from these people… I went down to Katrina and I volunteered. And all these people that I helped when I was down there in Katrina, emailed me what a great [time and song?] when I was dancing with this guy and they just thought it was the [right?] time.”

He did a great job of straddling the fence there about his feelings about the man-man dance and that it’s another small landmark in gay acceptance in the media. Smart man.

The rest of the interview seems to focus on a blind date Steve had some time ago with a producer of the Kimmel show. That was bizarre.

Hope we’ll see more of Steve now… I need to look at what he’s been doing since the 80s. I did see that bad tv movie he did, “Tower of Terror” with Kirsten Dunst (who wasn’t even 16 then). But don’t recall anything else.

And for laughs: Steve in a Seagrams commercial (looks to be from the late 80s/early 90s judging by his hair)

I’m nervous to look up who got booted cause I’m afraid it’s Steve.

*looks it up*

Sigh, it was.

And now I’m really mad about missing the episode because of this:

Instead of dancing with his partner Anna Trebunskaya, he performed the smoldering number with Trebunskaya’s husband, professional dancer Jonathan Roberts, in her role.

Oh well, there’s still Marlee to watch for. Now to go see if I can find a clip of this dance online somewhere.

Found it and oh my god, that was hilarious! I think Jonathon deliberately slid hard enough to knock Steve over at the end for the laughs. Wonder if they planned it that way cause Steve after all was the go to comedic actor of the 80s.

For your viewing pleasure:

The rehearsal clip is also on YouTube.

Tonight’s Tango & Jive night. Should be interesting.

Goodie, Marlee’s up first. I love her dresses and tonight’s my favorite one so far.

The girl can jive! Love the under arm passes. Len & Bruno are still just “omg can’t believe you can do this and so well!”. Carrie Ann’s the only one to actually focus on the dance.

And my other favorite is  next up so that’s great for me.. my favorites are up first.

Oh man… the slash lover in me just really had fun watching the rehearsal segment where Anna’s gorgeous husband Jonathan steps in for her. Apparently she was really sick.

Tango for Steve and it looks good. Nice finish with her sliding under his leg like that.  Hmm what’s this? HAHAH goofball! He needed “to prepare” for the judges. He went and got a metal bowl and goggles and put them on his head.

Cool! The judges all thought he did really well this week. Hope that translates into a decent set of scores. I don’t think he’s gotten a 7 yet? And he just got all 7s! Definitely his best!

BTW the “Gute” really loves his parents. If you can’t tell, every opening sequence where the camera pans over the stars, he always mouths “Hi Mom & Dad”.

Too good to be true? I don’t care. I enjoy him.

It’s downhill from here for me because everyone else is “the competition” for my people.

Cristian’s next which means jive for him. Interesting rehearsal segment, they went for the cute factor and had Cristian “learn” jive from a sea lion.

He flubbed the landing on the leap that opened his dance but the rest looked good. His facial expressions were a little off. But considering how hard the jive is and that he had 5 days to learn it.

Whoa… 8,8,9! It looked good but was it really THAT good? Interesting Shakes up the competition a little.

Mario with the tango. It’s funny to see how the “stars” are having to fit dancing practice in their regular schedule.

Wow, first time the judges have ripped someone apart this season but Mario’s been on top so mistakes are going to get pointed out. I had thought his dance was off a little esp in the corner and nice to see that I did catch it.

Shannon with the jive. Ok have to say it. Not a fan of that dress. The fringe is too long and is very distracting… in a bad way.

I think the dance went well, just a little wobble at the end when she spun into place for the finish.

And the judges concur. I agree with Carrie Ann’s comment about Shannon constantly surprising with her improvement. But really, you could say that about everyone so far.

Shannon’s scores: 8,8,8! Nice! I’m happy for her though this puts her above Marlee who got all 7s.

Adam with the tango. I bet Adam was happy. I can’t quite see him doing the jive. I would have liked to see Steve do it but perhaps just as well he didn’t either.

Ok it’s just to weird to see Julianne with the wig. Hey! I think they’re cheating a little…. she’s doing most of the steps. He gets to just stand there while she does the dance.  But he did actually dance and did quite well.

EWWWW! Carrie ANN! “Adam Carolla was sexy out there”  !!!! Ahh well he did look good out there. Hahaha Len points out that Julianne was hiding Adam’s lack of finesse in the choreography.

Aww… Adam got 7s too. Which puts him neck & neck with Steve. I feel sorry for Julianne because I find Adam boorish, not funny.

Marissa with the jive and I agree with Tony that its a good dance for her. I love the music for her performance. I need to look that up later. I think her dance is really good and I notice that she kept her free arm & hand up a lot. That’s something the judges are often calling people out for.

Wow, I’m a little surprised at the judges unanimously ripping her for “not going all out” and being “too careful”.

Oh please… what’s with all the blatant advertising, Jonny & Natasha from Eli Stone just happen to be in the audience? Ugh.

Wow Marissa’s really reminding me of Bette Midler in her pre-score interview. And she gets the worst score of the night 6,7,6. Well as much as I like Marissa…. I’m happy because that means Steve has a chance of staying in the game for another round.

Priscilla for the tango and finally someone puts a little sultry fire into the dance. And again the judges echo that.

OOOOH the commercials included one for a new movie I hadn’t heard about til this moment, Nim’s Island. It looked really good and I love the cast: Abigail Breslin & Jodie Foster!

And Priscilla moves into the top of the ranking with 8,9,9. We’ll see if Kristi can knock her into 2nd place.

Jason with the jive. Points to his partner for the skimpiest dress of the night. It’s basically a bikini with fringe…. lots of it. I peg this dance to hit in the middle of the rankings, with a little lean towards the up. And it’s 8,7,8.

Kristi looks very good in that black & red combo which suits her tango very well. Looks very good but just a little cold in the emotions. Which the judges also point out. But they give her all 9s for the 3rd week in a row anyways. Which I can’t find fault with because like they said, the technical is superb.

Oh Steve & Marlee, you need to STEP IT UP! Both of you wound up low on the totem pole tonight but hopefully neither of you will get eliminated tomorrow night. *crosses fingers*

And it is PAINFUL. Because they have to fill an hour and only have 20 minutes of real content.

I’m vaguely aware of the Jonas Brothers. Their performance didn’t wow me. I preferred the dance by the Cirque Du Soleil guy and laughed when I heard the opening line from Meatloaf’s “I’ll Do Anything for Love But I won’t Do That”. MEATLOAF!!

On to the eliminations… YAY!! Steve was first saved. But I noticed there was a pattern in the announcing of the saves. Since they made it clear each time that of the last two couples, one of them was NOT in the bottom two, that means Adam and Marissa were 4th ranked respectively. So who were the 5th rankers? My theory is that they were the first ones called so that makes it Steve (sigh) and Shannon (surprising).

I loved that at the end as the camera moves off Marissa, you can see a pair of silver encased arms throwing themselves around her neck. Awwww! Who made friends? Shannon & Marissa!

Next week is going to be tough, the bottom four as I see it “in no particular order” are Adam, Steve, Marissa & Shannon. I’m betting that Adam will be the next eliminated but at this point I couldn’t safely say who is the next one on the bubble. I would have thought Shannon to be 4th ranked but they were very clear on that Marissa was NOT 5th. I suspect people are being harder on her than the others. Stop it!

Lastly, Cristian…. may end up being crippled by his dance partner because though I barely pay attention to tabloid fodder especially about reality show people, all I could think about when I saw her was … CHEATER. It’s not fair to Cristian but I know I wouldn’t mind seeing her gone either. Too distracting.

Parting thought, Steve is … interesting. I find myself wanting to know more about what he is like. I wonder if my friend’s ever run across him.

**Wrote this last week but was still getting this blog back into shape.

I’ve decided to live blog this because I had so much I wanted to say last time and never got around to writing it up.

Tonight: 12 dances in 2 hours for a double elimination tomorrow.

I’ve decided to live blog this because I had so much I wanted to say last time and never got around to writing it up.

Tonight: 12 dances in 2 hours for a double elimination tomorrow.

Predictions: Based on the first (and only) dances we’ve seen so far, Kristi Yamaguchi & Mario look to be the two that will wind up in the final round. Of the men, Adam Corolla got the worst score but Penn isn’t too far behind him. Personally I enjoyed Adam’s dance because for once, the yellow outfits and the song just really went well together and the song was pleasing to hear. I can’t say the same for some of the other songs used. However, it’s clear that elimination in the men tonight will be a toss up between Penn & Adam who were distinctly trailing the others. They both have big fan bases but since Adam is a radio personality with a fanbase used to “calling in”, he might survive tonight’s elimination. Either way, no surprises on the male side of the competition in the first couple weeks.

As for the women, does anyone doubt that Monica Seles will be the first eliminated woman? She trails the other women by a quarter mile. I think she’s given it an admirable try but this is a competition and her stiffness and clear discomfort in the first dance made her an easy choice for elimination tonight.

Why I’m watching Dancing With the Stars? For Marlee Matlin (not because she’s deaf but because I am) and Steve Guttenberg who I adored when I was growing up on endless repeats of Police Academy movies. Steve was actually a bonus, as I’m not sure I would have watched just for him. I’ve also enjoyed watching dance movies especially ballroom ones and I dallied with learning it in college though never put that much effort into it. Didn’t have the right kind of focus then.

So… my favorite male is first up tonight and I giggled at his dance partner’s mom who professed fangirlyness for Steve and his Police Academy movies. Now I really wish he was dancing with the mother and not the daughter because after all as the mom pointed out, she and Steve are the same age and she’s gorgeous. They’d look smashing on the dance floor and not so much like a man dancing with his daughter.

Since I didn’t blog last time, let me say it now that I was really wowed by Steve last week. Now I realize why I was always so fond of him. The good natured Mr Congeniality guy that always came across in his characters seems to be a big part of who Steve really is. The ‘little boy on Christmas morning’ joy he had for the whole thing was just adorable. He was the only man to wear long coat tails and I’ll say it, when he did his first turn out and started dancing forward, I immediately thought of Gene Kelly. The gentlemanly grace of Gene was resurrected by Steve whose smile made it hard to notice any missteps he might have made.

I’ve written this whole thing with the DVR paused on Steve’s smiling face. He’s looking good in that Miami “beach suit”. Lets see how he does the mambo!

Whoo!! Nice performance! Steve, I love you and your smile but you need to close your mouth some… and looks like the judges are all saying the same thing. Ahhh they were hard on Steve, the female judge was nice enough to point out that he did pick up steam in the middle. That’s probably when he did that fun bit where his partner mocked kicked him in the ankle and they perfect segued into the next part of the dance.

I do have to agree with the judges that Steve seemed a little more focused on “charming” the crowd and his dance suffered a bit for it. I’d be interested to know if they ever show more of the rehearsals. Perhaps on the dvd? I’d watch (though I’d rent not buy the dvds)

“The best thing about this is that this show makes the world a better place” ??? What an odd thing to say right after getting your scores which were decidedly on the low end?

OHH that was funny… 3 of the other male contestants and Winokur did a little 3 Men and a Little Lady thing… ahh so many fond memories of 80s movies starring Steve!

Ahh Cristian and Cheryl are next… I don’t even know who Cristian is but I have heard about the recent scandals of Cheryl cheating on her boyfriend Matthew Lawrence (how could she cheat on such a yummy man like that?) with some previous contestant partner. I predict she’ll end up banging this guy too.

Hmm what’s up with that dress? Those dots are not flattering and distract in a bad way. However, I like Cristian’s costume and I want to hear what the judges have to say about his footwork. I really liked it. The ending had pizzazz.

Judges are talking… Ok Cristian? Close your mouth Looks like the judges all thought well of it, just a couple of missteps but given the ambitiousness of the routine and that this is the 2nd dance, forgiveable. Maybe I’ve just watched too many movies lately with Tim but I look at Cristian and keep thinking oooh Timothy Olyphant’s on Dancing with the Stars?

Next is Monica Seles. She certainly looks a lot better tonight. The pink gown was pretty but she didn’t look natural in it which probably added to the appearance of awkwardness. Ahh that’s awesome that Jonathon went with her to Japan. He’s cute. I feel like I’ve seen him before in a movie. I like how he is with her, he knows he’s got the worst female contestant but rather than give up and try to hide her like that other guy did with Winokur (I don’t think I’m going to like him ever, he reeks of slimeyness).

Oh interesting…. En Vogue song. Damn… Jonathan is hot and you can really see him working to make Monica look good. Oh how I wish Winokur had gotten him instead. I commend whoever dressed him in that sleeveless shirt.

Who loves Carrie Ann right now for not tearing Monica apart like Bruno did? I like that Carrie Ann and Len both noted the problems but were encouraging rather than devastating in their comments. And aww… Jonathan’s expressions of pride in Monica. Makes me feel gooey inside. Or is that the leftover candy jellybeans from Easter?

Ahh Penn’s up! I hope he lasts through elimination cause he’s a funny guy. OH MY GOD… he broke the banister!!! He and Kym look really good together. And I LOVE their outfits. Kym’s wearing the best dress I’ve seen so far this season.

Penn looks like he’s holding up ok… the only real problem was when he had to do his matching leap. I just don’t know what that stuff at the beginning is about with the voodoo doll.. was this a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy song?

Heheh Penn arguing with the judges… but I’m right there with the audience cheering when Carrie Ann said that she liked Penn out there. I do too.

Priscilla Presley up next. Last week was surprising. Very much like Steve evoked Gene Kelly, Priscilla had a similar grace that got her up to 2nd place with the women I think. Surprised everyone I’m sure. I wonder about her a little though because her movements in all the candid shots are exaggeratedly slow. Almost like she’s a little drunk? Not sure what to make of it. If she keeps up what she did last week, she’ll have good lasting power. Hoping that Marlee can beat her though later in the competition when the easy outs are gone.

NICE dress! I could only see the top of it before. Another good performance. Not as high score as last week but I agree with what all the judges said, Priscilla needed to be a little more relaxed and “give it” but not so far that she went over the top.

Dammit… lost everything I just wrote about Shannon. Short form. Have always liked her even though she’s easily “hate her because she’s beautiful”. Think she lives near me cause her house & street look like the part of Hollywood Hills that I live in. Last week, I had a different take on the dress and was surprised when I heard the judges’ statements on it. I thought “Distract them from the lack of skill with the legs”. They said “don’t show your legs unless you’ve got the skill to back it up”. Either way, I did NOT like the dress. Can’t see the whole dress yet from tonight but it looks regal.

And her partner? CUTE AS A BUTTON. My definition of male beauty when I was growing up was Christopher Atkins in The Pirate Movie & The Blue Lagoon. This guy comes very close to that with his blond tanned surfer looks, great smile and charming boyish personality.

Yep she definitely lives somewhere nearby. That looks like one of the roads up towards the Hollywood sign.

WHOA VERY NICE!! I could see some little stiffness in her back sometimes but way way better than last week. And then the kicks off the judge’s desk and the pair of moves that followed it into the finish? AWESOME!! She may have blasted way past everyone else and yep Len just said “Best dance so far tonight”. I’m sure Mario & Kristi will still come out above her but very very nice to see. Ahh Derek is her partner’s name and yep… the highest score of the night with solid 8s.

Ahh that Jason sports guy is next and Edyta is his partner… I don’t know who he is but I was like “GET OVER IT” with all the talk about “is it manly to dance”? But then he had the balls to come out in a tutu so that gave him back his princess points … minus .5 for the way he took it off after. However these rehearsal scenes? He’s not looking worried anymore. Maybe he’ll win me over tonight.

And the grand prize goes to Jason! If he doesn’t get a better score this week then last, I’ll eat my… *looks around* remote? BTW Edyta’s dress was fab, very sexy and salacious without being over the top. Given how “reality” shows are often scripted and cut to portray a “story” that bears little resemblance to the actuality, I have to wonder if the editors of DWS set Jason up to look more of a bumbling insecure macho man?

Wow… all 9s! Mario & Kristi just officially got competition! Oh and now I want to watch the Mambo Kings again. Little trivia fact, it was Antonio Banderas’s first english speaking role and he didn’t learn English til after the movie. They gave him his lines phonetically the whole way through. I couldn’t tell!

Ok so Marissa is Winokur’s first name and Tony is her not so worthy partner. Before we get into tonight’s performance, here’s why I’m so anti-Tony right now. Marissa is clearly “the heavy girl” in this season. And everything about Tony’s tone and body language in the rehearsal and interview segment leading up to their performance last week screamed “Ugh I got the loud fat girl…”. Which is so uncalled for cause Marissa’s delightful to watch on the show, always with the BIG happy smiles. If Steve is Mr Congeniality on DWS this season, she is the Miss version.

Then when they hit the stage? Oh MY GOD… those PANTS!! Now correct me if I’m wrong but in ballroom, it’s the opposite of the peacocks in the animal kingdom. The Woman should shine… the man should complement but never compete with or outshine her. So by wearing those glitter pants and the opened shirt to the belly coupled with a choreography that focused on lots of fancy steps and moves for him while she was a glorified chorus dancer waving her arms in the background. Just seemed to give proof that whatever his thoughts were about Marissa…. he clearly had no faith in her ability to carry off the dance and was trying to compensate without even giving her the chance to try.

I was so glad that the judges (Len, I think it was) called him on it big time. And tonight it looks hopeful that he might have actually done his job this time and focused on teaching Marissa what she needs to know to be the star. Because at least he’s dressed in proper attire that complements her…. not overpowers her.

Damn… battery is dying. Will have to stop the live blog for now and post comments on the rest after the fact.

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Ok the elimination show is sitting on my DVR and I’ve got a Subway sandwich to eat while watching it. Dinner & Dancing, the home edition!

I’m going to run through the rest of the performances real quick so I can get on with finding out who was eliminated.

Marissa’s dance was way better and her scores reflected it to. I notice that there was a lot of footage cut in showing Tony being much more attentive and giving lip service to doing the best he can for Marissa. It showed in the dance too. Perhaps the previous week was creative editing designed to bias us against Tony? Hard to know when you’re not actually there for it all.

Adam was also better though still has a long way to go. He keeps complaining about his stiff body but seems to me that Penn has the same issues and does better? I loved the paint on her leg.

Marlee was great! She looked fine on the quickstep to me. And I notice that she made a comment about it sounding like trying to hear a song in another room while you’re in the shower. Maybe she does hear more than I do?? Bruno’s showing himself to be utterly biased in her favor. He raves every chance he gets.

Kristi… wow… it’s clear she’ll be in the final round and the question is just will it be Mario or Jason trying to catch her? But then again, anything can happen! Another top score which puts her clearly in the lead. I love her dance partner for his silliness in rehearsal.

Mario… a shade under last week’s performance but still good. He sported the sleeveless look too so I approved.

And now for one last thought before elimination:

This evening, I had the sudden realization that Steve was close enough to the bottom that it’s quite possible that the audience will vote Adam AND Penn above him and he’ll be the first man eliminated! I really hope not. I wasn’t one of the ones voting because I don’t watch the show live and voting is closed by the time I do but if he makes it, I’m going to try and vote next week to be sure he stays as long as possible. I’m not worried about my girl Marlee, she’s solid for a couple weeks I’m sure.

Oh please don’t send Steve home tonight!! Send Adam, he’s the stiffest of the bunch for sure. Penn next… that’ll give Steve time to get a leg up above “9th ranking”