Dancing With the Stars 8: Getting Their Smooth On and Revisiting the 60's

Last week on Dancing With the Stars 8, Steve-O's train finally left the station. Tonight was tougher on our celebs since they not only had to learn their individual dances, but also the group dance. This wasn't the judged one, as I thought last week, but the one big group dance that was not judged. Remember the gosh awful hip hop routine last year when they stuck Cloris up on the stage and posed her periodically? Yeah, that one. Last year, hip hop ... this year, the 60's. Right. This week the stars designed the costumes and some of them were quite interesting. Edyta is covered from neck to toe with a fur edged royal blue coat and Julianne in a red fringie mini dress. Lil Kim is in the Edyta role with a sparkly bikini looking thing with a flowy chiffon body scarf.

Anyway, first up with their individual routine was Melissa/Tony. The judges think her too nice, so tonight Melissa wants to bring out her inner man eater in their Argentine Tango. To help her, Tony took Melissa to Wisteria Lane to be tutored by their idea of the ultimate man eater ... no, not Edie, Susan. Yeah, that's what I said. Anyway, I loved their Argentine Tango. It was awesome. The footwork was fantastic. I kept waiting for her to get her feet tangled up in his or vice versa, but it didn't happen. This was an excellent start to the night! Len said that it was fantastic and complimented their footwork and lifts. He did see a tiny blunder, though. (I didn't) Bruno said that Melissa's legs were like magic tools in the hands of a master (Bruno was full of it, tonight). Carrie Ann said that this was by far the best Argentine Tango of the season and called them the King and Queen of legal lifts. Scores: Two 10's and a 9 from Len for 29/30

Last week, LT did much better. This week, he had to take a time out to do a golf tournament for his foundation, so he gave Edyta golf lessons so that she'd feel out of her element as he does every week. Their dance this week is the Waltz and it must be elegant and graceful. Last week he got his groove on, he said, but this week he needs to get his smooth on. Edyta looked absolutely beautiful in the long flowing dress that she had on under the coat, and their dance was beautiful, too. I saw some mistakes, and at one point, a scarf from the dress was draped over Edyta's head, but I enjoyed watching this. Edyta joked that she had on so many clothes that she got tangled up in them. Bruno said that there was romance and compared the beginning to Dr. Zhivago, and then he turned. He said that it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. Carrie Ann said that she saw more freedom in the movement and Len said that they kept grace in the dance. He said that it was graceful and elegant. He pointed out their mistakes, but said that they did better than he expected. Scores: Three 7's for 21/30

Lil Kim/Derek jived their way to the top of the leaderboard and this week they have the rumba. Derek says that they have to tone down Lil Kim's sexiness and was stressing over the choreography. While Derek was worrying about toning down her overt sexuality, she was designing a minus costume for herself. That costume was skimpier than the ones normally worn by Edyta and I wasn't really impressed by the dance either. I was honestly bored watching it. The judges comments were kind of in line with my thoughts. Carrie Ann called it understated and underwhelming, Len said that parts of it were great, but she needs to go with what she does best, and Bruno said that it was a good rumba, but that taking the raunch out of Lil Kim was like taking the tequila out of a margarita. Negative comments aside, the scores were: Two 9's and an 8 from Len for 26/30 and I thought these scores were inflated. Carrie Ann was underwhelmed and still gave her a 9? I guess that's like watching the mistakes in their jive last week but still giving them a 10.

Chuck had a concert this past week and took the opportunity to work the crowd for votes. Chuck/Julianne had a samba this week and Julianne's focus was on technique. She's dressed in her little bitty red mini dress and he's dressed in red satin shirt and slacks. I enjoyed this dance much more than I expected to. He was moving his lil scrawny hips, haha. Len said that this was by far their best dance to date, Bruno commented that Chuck must really want this and that he was working his butt and hips, and Carrie Ann gave them high fives and told them good job. Scores: Three 9's for 27/30

Last week Ty/Chelsie dropped to second from the bottom and this week they have the waltz. It's supposed to be romantic, but Ty feels awkward because he thinks of Chelsie as his adopted daughter. Chelsie brings Jewel in to help them get their heads right for this dance and she does a good job. This was a very pretty dance, really quite sweet. Bruno says that Ty is back in the game. This was a difficult dance but that it was well done. Carrie Ann commented on his beautiful frame and posture. Said that her dancer was back and Len said that it was well done ... spot on. Scores: Three 8's for 24/30

Shawn/Mark had a busy week. She missed the practice for the group dance and some individual dance time because she was jetting around receiving the Sullivan Award, which is a very prestigious award for amateur athletes and also a Character Counts award. She dressed Mark as a nerd this week for their Cha cha, with a tux with too short sleeves and too short pant legs with sparkly socks that matched half her dress. The other half of her dress matched his tux. And they did the cha cha to Michael Jackson's PYT. Yeah, okay ... It was pretty good for what it was and they put elements of MJ into it. I enjoyed watching it, it just didn't feel like a cha cha to me, even though I did see the cha cha footwork. Carrie Ann loved it, said that the dance came to life, Len said that the cha cha is difficult, but they did a great job. Both of them commented that her technique is always wonderful, but this week the feeling was there also. Bruno called her a cheeky little devil and compared her to a young Debbie Reynolds or Mitzi Gaynor, which, in my opinion is a big compliment. Scores: Two 9's and a 10 from Bruno.

Last, but not least, is Gilles/Cheryl. Last week they fell to third and Tom made a big production of talking about him being dumped from his perch at the top of the leaderboard. This week they have the Viennese Waltz. In practice his arm movements were too harsh and aggressive so Cheryl took him to a synchronized swimming coach to help him smooth out his movements. The coach had him doing the dance underwater and he said that it helped him to soften his arm movements. Okay, they get the Awful Music Rendition Award of the night. The music and the singer were AWFUL. In spite of this, I thought the dance was beautiful. She had on a very pretty gold satin gown that matched the inside of his brown suitcoat. Len called the dance romantic and said that they had lovely location, but that he needs to work on his footwork. Bruno compared it to a dance in Gigi, the Lap of Honor. He called it glamorous, but said that he still managed to put some sexy in it. Carrie Ann called Gilles one of the most graceful male dancers that she's seen, but says that he needs to watch his posture. Scores: Three 9's for 27/30

Then there was the group dance. The practice was ... I don't know how to describe it. I guess they had fun. It sort of reminded me of that segment of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In where all the people are dancing until they freeze and someone tells a joke. I really was not looking forward to it. But, actually, I enjoyed the dance itself more than I expected to. The girls were all good, but of the male celebs, only Gilles was good. For some reason Chuck came out in a blonde wig. Each couple had a little solo part and that was forgettable all around. Bruno called it sublime silliness, fantastic fun. Carrie Ann said that the girls brought their A game and Len said that it was fun, full of energy and fantastic. Well, I wouldn't go that far ...

Anyway, at the end of the night, there was a new leader. Melissa/Tony were at the top with 29/30, with Shawn/Mark right on their heels with 28/30 and Chuck/Julianne and Gilles/Cheryl close behind with 27/30. LT/Edyta brought up the rear with 21/30 and second to last was Ty/Chelsie with 24/30, then Lil Kim/Derek with 26/30. Those are really close scores and I'm thinking that any one of them could go home. Will LT's fans save him? Will this be the week of the surprise exit?

Tomorrow night on the Dancing With the Stars 8 results show, in addition to the elimination, Natasha Bedingfield will be singing along with a performance by Celtic Woman, which I'm looking forward to. I love catching their specials on PBS. Also the first round of Pick a Pro will be held. You can read about that here.

What did y'all think of tonight's show? Who was your favorite and who should go home? Did anyone else feel like that group dance was just a waste of time? Comment below or drop me a line at ladytex@tvfunspot.com