This week’s show is difficult to judge because you can tell nearly everyone worked hard to improve over the past week. Here’s my rankings for this week that had the men doing the quick step and the women doing the mambo. Overall, it was a week for the men as almost all the women (except for the two who lead my list) were way too restrained.
- Heather was amazing! Doing that backwards walkover at the opening of her mambo shows she’s a serious competitor here. She really cut loose this week and it was great to see. Good for her! She wasn’t at the top of the board for the judges, but she was the top for me tonight.
- Laila once again showed that she’s very strong in this competition. She’s going to fun to watch over the weeks to come.
- Joey started silly but gave a great quick step that was technically great and engaging to watch. Next week I’d like to see him leave the sparkly letters off his costume though.
- Apolo left the headband behind! He looked great in the formal wear and delivered solid. It’s no surprise the quick step was good for him since he’s got good footwork because of the skating.
- Ian was also solid. It was really hard dividing things up between Joey, Apolo and Ian, but I think Ian was just a step behind the other two. By the way, curious why Ian is being billed as a Broadway star? Well, so was I. I looked him up on the Internet Broadway Database. He appeared in I Remember Mama, which starred Liv Ullmann and George Hearn. It played for 108 performances in the spring/summer of 1979, when Ian was 15 years old.
- Paulina was the only other women who stood out. Alec knew just how to craft a mambo for this woman who claims to have no inner Latina.
- Clyde was a lot better this week. He seems to have embraced his height and really did a fine job.
- John is this season’s Jerry Springer/George Hamilton. He knows how to perform and that makes his dances great to watch.
- Billy Ray was called this week’s most improved by the judges and I agree. He looked about a million times better than last week, delivering quite a respectable quick step.
- Leeza was too stiff, again. She needs to loosen up if she’s going to make it through. Take a lesson from Harry Hamlin, Vivica A. Fox or Giselle Fernandez, they all relaxed and got pretty far into the competition. Leeza must do the same.
- Shandi suffered from poor choreography. That dance seemed more about showing off Brian than Shandi and that’s not what she needed in round 2.
So who is on the way out? From a judge’s score perspective, it looks like it should be Billy Ray, but I think his fan base will save him (and they should given his improvement this week). I think the people in the most danger are Paulina, Leeza and Shandi. That Monday was her birthday, may save Leeza, but I think it will be her time to go. My second choice is Paulina.
Post Results Show Update: I came close to getting this right. Second choice Paulina went home, so Leeza got some birthday love. I was glad to see that since Leeza missed bottom two that Shandi was there. Good results show too. Dionne Warwicke was great and the professional group jive was great! Next week its the jive and the tango!
