Bulls and Beauty (Huh?)

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Looking forward to seeing the Paso Doble, my favorite dance of all of them. The couples line up for their welcome, and I’m wondering what’s the deal with Shawn & Mark touching their noses with their fingers?

First up, Chuck & Julianne will dance a Viennese Waltz. It’s a romantic dance and this should be right up their alley (considering they’re dating). Chuck wants to break out of the middle of the pack this week, and Julianne works him good to get the moves. I love her hair for this dance! (I wonder how long they've been dating - the move of Chuck going down on one knee at the end of the dance was an interesting addition on Julianne's part, don't you think? Hint hint?) Looks okay to me, Len says that Chuck "finally came out of hibernation" but his footwork suffered a bit. Bruno tells him the "impetus" was there and he came out of Julianne’s shadow. Carrie Ann disagrees with the guys, saying that he lost focus during the dance. Bruno jumped all over Carrie Ann, saying that "you should give praise when it’s better" and Carrie Ann saying "it wasn’t there." Backstage with Samantha, Chuck said it was a challenging week, because Julianne was in Vegas for the Country Music Awards and he was there "losing money and trying to learn to dance." Their scores: 7-8-8=23

Lawrence & Edyta will dance the Paso Doble. I’m thinking this is right up his alley, he can use all the intensity and aggression from his football playing days. Lawrence says the same thing, he’s going to use the same intensity as when he played football. I loved the slide move Edyta choreographed for the dance and thought she did pretty good choreography for really, really crappy music. I noticed that Lawrence seemed disjointed but then the music for the dance was the culprit, if you ask me! Bruno called him "the prince of darkness" and said Lawrence started off like a block of granite and he thought "this is going to be terrible" - but then Lawrence started moving his feet and it got a lot better. He yelled at Lawrence: "Why didn’t you do that all the way through?" Tom asked "you really want to get in his face like that?" Carrie Ann said it looked like he had a limited range of motion but he did well with the music. Len told Lawrence "you not only scared the bull but you terrified me!" Talking to Samantha, Lawrence said his golfing buddies told him if he lost at golf, he’d have to give them a lap dance. Tom mentioned that ABC was thinking about it..."Lap dances with Lawrence" - it could work! Their scores were okay: 6-7-7=20

Shawn & Mark are going to dance the Viennese Waltz. She feels klutzy learning the dance. Learning a graceful turn, it looks great until she falls on her face on the floor. (And you know she can do that move barefoot on a 4_inch balance beam!) Their dance looked graceful, though, and she kept her foot on the floor when Mark spun her around. At the end of the dance, he picked her up and carried her off the floor - which technically was a lift, we’ll see what Carrie Ann says! She starts off telling the couple that "simplicity is the best route to success." The Lift Nazi is happy that Shawn kept her foot on the ground and said "I won’t count that last lift" because it was part of the spirit of the dance. (I didn’t think it was a lift because it was at the end, but then, if she wants to be really fair, she should have counted it!) Len said it was a romantic dance, but the Viennese Waltz is all about footwork and she should have been "forward on her heels and not on the balls of her feet." He got booed mightily by the crowd and protested that "I’m a stranger in this country and I get booed for telling the truth!" Tom told him that yes, he was "strange in this country" and moved on to Bruno. He said they looked like "sweetness and light" but Shawn was "pretty as a picture." Their scores were pretty good: 9-8-9=26

Next up with a Paso Doble are Melissa & Tony. He tries to get Melissa to get the "look of a Matador" but Melissa finds it hard not to smile & giggle during rehearsal. Tony tries to make her feel the aggression from when she’s mad at herself during practice. It looked really good to me although I noticed that Melissa smiled toward the end of the dance. She caught herself and went back to the intense look but I think it was because of a mistake. Len told her she was an excellent dancer in a difficult routine and she handled the routine well - but she did have some little blunders. Bruno called her :Carmen the Heartbreaker" and said most of it was very beautiful but she did make some mistakes. Carrie Ann called the dance "very dynamic" but said she was a little off balance and they did a little lift (didn’t look like it to me, but I’m not there....) Talking to Samantha, Melissa said she was concentrating so hard on her face that she forgot the choreography for a second. Tony gave her great props, saying that it was harder choreography and she was great to make the mistake and come back from it. Their scores weren’t all that bad: 8-8-9=25

Next are David & Kym and a Viennese Waltz. David wants to move out of the middle of the pack this week. He said "if Len likes fine wine, then BAM! He gets wine." He’s hoping the judges won’t have a chance to tell him his "booty is sticking out." His expression at the beginning of the dance looked more suited to the Paso Doble - very mean and determined. I thought their dance was pretty good. (I'm really feeling for David. He works his tail off in rehearsals and never seems to make it with the judges.) Bruno said "the spell worked at times" but then David lifted his leg and it looked like he was a "dog at a lamppost." Bruno stressed that they needed to stick to basics. Carrie Ann told David that he moved well but the couple looked disconnected. Len seemed pretty happy, saying he loved the story of the dance. "I’m very pleased, very good performance." Scores still in the middle of the pack: 7-8-7=22

Can Gilles & Cheryl recreate their wonderfulness of last week with a Paso Doble? Gillis tells Cheryl he studies martial arts and this should help the dance. He brings his son to the martial arts studio (because he hasn’t seen his son much since he began the show). Gillis and his son practice fighting techniques and we see Gillis’ son go nose-to-nose with his dad, saying "you’re going down, Papa." Gillis tells the camera "you’ve seen me love, seen me intense - now you’ll see me fight." I loved it (even if I am a bit biased, I love Cheryl) and so did the crowd, giving them another standing ovation (and especially seeing Gillis shirtless at the beginning of the dance! *sigh*). Carrie Ann called the dance "breathtaking" and said it was like watching somebody go to the core and essence of the dance. Len asked Carrie Ann "Didn’t you find it a bit hectic in places?" and ended up getting booed by the crowd. He said he liked the dance otherwise but wasn’t sure about the shirtless start - and Tom called him out for having "pec envy." Bruno said he was "going for the kill" and it was more than a dance. Bruno said it was full of sexual tension - "Will he? Will she?" Their scores were great: 10-9-10=29

Steve-O and Lacey are going to dance the Viennese Waltz, and I’m thinking this will be a disaster, going on his past performances. I was actually impressed with Steve-O in this dance! Lacey wants him to loosen up a bit and brings his Jackass buddies into the studio. They have fun dancing with each other, and one of his buddies tells him that "Last year you had like, what? Two weeks to live? And now you’re on this show dancing in front of millions of people." Len began the critiques, saying that he’s always been negative in the past, but "tonight was your best dance." Bruno told Steve-O that his timing was "on" tonight but he had technically more to do (in the way of work). Carrie Ann told them it was "sweet innocence" and he needs to work on his posture. Backstage with Samantha, Lacey said that at the beginning of the week they were down because of being in the bottom three, then got mad and really practiced hard. Lacey was very complimentary, hugging Steve-O and saying he did great and that she was proud of him. I thought their scores could have been a little better: 6-6-6=18

Ty & Chelsie get to dance the Paso Doble, and Ty is thinking this is right up his alley. He rides bulls and says that he has a "counter move for every move the bull has." He takes Chelsie to see a real bull at a ranch and has her sit on it in the gates. Chelsie tells Ty that in the dance, she is the bull and Ty says if "bulls looked like her, there would be a lot more bull riders!" Bruno liked the dance, saying "you did it all" and the steps were there, but that it was too robotic. (I agree). Carrie Ann agreed as well, saying Ty looked stiff. Len told them this dance was not quite to standard after his last couple of dances and his weekly improvements, but considering his Cha Cha the first week, Len is still happy. Their scores were okay: 7-7-7=21

Lil’ Kim & Derek will dance a Viennese Waltz to wrap up the night. She’s pretty busy this week, having to do a music video and photo shoot, and they practice when they can. Derek isn’t pushing her too hard, saying that if she doesn’t get the moves after four tries, he moves onto something else. This kind of frustrates Kim because he’s not giving her a chance to learn the moves. I liked the dance, though, it looked like there was a lot of waltzing in it. Carrie Ann said she was "just beaming" throughout the dance, they were perfectly matched and complimented each other. Len said it was "lyrical" and he loved the musicality, but he felt like a podiatrist always looking at her feet. Bruno liked it, saying it was different that she "managed to make the Viennese Waltz look sassy and sexy." He said she was in total harmony with her partner. Backstage, Lil’ Kim said this show was bringing out her sensitive side. Good scores: 9-8-9=26

The standings according to the judges look like this:
29 - Gillis & Cheryl
26 - Shawn & Mark
26 - Lil’ Kim & Derek
25 - Melissa & Tony
23 - Chuck & Julianne
22 - David & Kym
21 - Ty & Chelsie
20 - Lawrence & Edyta
18 - Steve-O & Lacey

So, will Steve-O’s fans keep him around? Will Lawrence disappoint the prior football contestants and leave early? Did you vote? You can vote online until noon - save your favorite!