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"Dancing With The Stars" Week 8 Results: Double Trouble

Kelly Hanelt |
May 9, 2012 | 11:11 a.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

 Results" ABC Tuesdays at 9 (Image courtesy of ABC)
Results" ABC Tuesdays at 9 (Image courtesy of ABC)
No amount of fanciful foxtrots, shirtless Chmerkovskiy’s, or adorable Grannies could prevent the inevitable. Tuesday night, “Dancing With The Stars” said goodbye to two of its most struggling contestants – Roshon Fegan and Melissa Gilbert. It couldn’t have been much of a surprise to either of them, as these past few weeks have landed Roshon in the bottom two, and Melissa at the bottom of the scoreboard consistently.

What we have here is a case of too many vs. too few votes. Melissa, though spirited and downright superhuman in her abilities to put up with Maks, was a weak dancer. Her scores were always low, but she had a Bristol-Palin-Season-11-like fan following. Either that, or America really just wanted to see Maks win the Mirrorball trophy for once (can you believe he’s never won? Maybe that’s why he’s so cranky…) Whichever way, M&M fans kept her out of the bottom two week after week – and even luckier, out of the Dance Duels. On the other hand, despite consistently strong performances and scores, Roshon suffered from a lack of voter loyalty. Maybe it’s his age, maybe people just really didn’t like him (or liked William Levy better), but this Disney darling was never packing the votes to bring him to the finale.

So it looks like “DWTS’s” master plan to shake the competition like a polaroid picture failed – since Melissa and Roshon both gave their best performances to date (he even scored a 29) and were still eliminated. The stars both handled it with grace, gushing about their amazing experience, unforgettable lessons, perfect partners. In this instance, I choose to believe that Melissa was lying a little bit. Who here doesn’t think she was secretly relieved just a little to be rid of Maks? Birthday wish granted. Oh yeah, did I not mention that they eliminated her on her birthday?! In the words of “Full House” era Stephanie Tanner – how wude.

Elsewhere in ballroomland, Tuesday marked the first week of time filler mini talk show, “Dance Center” where Len, joined by ESPN’s Kenny Mayne and former contestant Jerry Rice, bedazzles viewers with additional insights and commentary on each of the competitors. Nuggets of wisdom such as – Katherine is obsessed with “naughty bits”, Maria’s laugh sounds like a goat/ dolphin, Donald has an obsession with falling down, and Roshon looks like a young Barack Obama. They also chose to irrevocably disturb each and every viewer with a video of a slow motion shirtless Len (yes, old Len) running down the street and spraying water on himself. I will never, never be able to un-see that. Thanks a lot “DWTS.”

It was in one of these behind-the-scenes featurettes that we heard Donald utter his first *bleep* this season, an occasion so momentous it definitely merited its own paragraph. Unlike Maks, who, it would seem, is unable to even complete a 2-minute dance without swearing, Donald’s expletive was because he fell over (accidentally this time) when trying to sit down with Peta for the on-cam confessional. He bleeped, Peta laughed, the world laughed, everything was perfect.

This week’s special musical performance, compliments of Chris Brown, was a spectacular display of … just plain awesome. His rendition of the hit “Turn Up The Music” featured hip-hop dance moves that could make even the pros green with envy. Feel free to make your day/night better by watching this performance below. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, the Macy’s Stars of Dance tribute to Dick Clark and “American Bandstand” was retro fun with poodle skirts and brightly colored cardigans – an impressive number led by Tony and Karina.

Next week’s semi-finals will take the competition to a truly unpredictable place. The four remaining contestants (Maria, Katherine, William, and Donald) are, and have always been, equally strong. With early-favorite-to-win Katherine landing in the bottom three this week, it is anyone’s guess just what is to come. Keep it locked on “DWTS” and I’ll see you next week for a proper post-semi-finals gossip sesh, kay? 



 

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