First, the MAC….. For all that I detested the “pre-season” of this show, I’m absolutely loving the program now that we’ve begun. What a great group of dancers this year.

Observations…

I like Cat’s dress. But the supermodel hair has to go.

The opening numbers on the results show, both last night and last week, were top notch. Way to go, Dan on choreography. You have to rewatch to see it all. And the camera work is better this year, too.

Benji has now totally sealed my love - did you notice when all the couples were standing, guys behind girls, as they waited to hear who was in the bottom three…he was stroking Donyelle’s arms in a sort of soothing motion. Awwww. Yeah, he’s one of the Good Guys.

So! On with the results!

The performance review with Hostess Cat is too rudundant after just seeing highlights of last week. I felt this last week, too. I know she has to build the suspense, but something needs to be fixed here. At least she went faster this week.

I still wish we could vote for every single contestant, though I know that’s a lot of people, and they could pull just the bottom three girls, and bottom three guys, not necessarily as couples. At least this season, as they dance permanently together, it is slightly more fair as they are supposed to support their partner’s weaknesses. Last year it was just plain cruel.

Group 1 - Jamyz and Jessica are safe…Ben and Ashlee are safe…so that means Dmitry and Joy are in the bottom three. Joy truly deserves to be there, but they’d better not boot Dmitry!!

Group 2 - I liked all three of these couples, so boo hiss if one is in the bottom - Travis and Martha, Benji/Donyelle, and Musa/Natalie are ALL safe. Damn straight! At least they’re getting one thing right.

Group 3 - Jason and Aleksandra are in the bottom three (Aleksandra is the one here, too, who put them there, Jason won’t deserve the cut…which means…) Ivan and Allison are safe - which surprises me. I thought maybe Ivan was the one to go this week. So Heidi and Ryan are in the bottom three. I thought they were a middle of the pack couple, so this is disappointing, but not entirely shocking.

Who would I pick from these three? Joy is the no brainer for the girls, but if Aleksandra went, it wouldn’t be a surprise. I think she is next. From the guys? Brutal cut here. It looks like they have set up the other ballroom dancer, as they did Stanis last week, and if they cut him, no one gets re-paired. I would like to see both of these things happen. (I wanted Ivan to go home so Dmitry would get Allison!) So…Ryan maybe? Not Jason. But I fear it will be the hunka hunka Russian. Sigh. Nigel, you wanker!

Solos…Joy was predicatble. Perfectly good, but less mature than her counterparts. Dmitry. Dude, what ARE you wearing? Sigh. I can see the future now, and it’s not pretty. Well, there will be a lot less of the pretty when Dmitry goes home. Which I fear he will. And, I hate to say, deservedly so after that. Heidi is a little–okay, a lot manic– but in a latin ballroom way that keeps you watching (I wanted to FF through Joy’s performance.) So, better than Joy, but hard for the ballroom people to do solos, I think. A bit unfair. I wish they could pull a partner for their solos, much the same as they did during auditions. You aren’t really seeing them in their specialty without a partner. But she put her all into it. (That split? Youch.)

Ryan is up and he’s entertaining, but I’ll admit contemporary/lyrical is my least favorite. Still, better than Dmitry. Sorry, Big D! Now it’s Aleksandra who gives a more mature performance than Joy, but it’s not good. Not good. And her post performance interview was lackluster and she didn’t look at the judges at all. So….who knows. Last up is Jason. Who, as suspected, being the only street dancer, brings the house down. I wasn’t all that keen on the perfomance, thought it was loose and sloppy and amateurish really (and those red boxing shoes? Just…no.) But I doubt he’ll go home…still, I can see him and Aleks off soon.

Of course, I’ve been wrong before. And this is only the second show.

All the solos are done, but I think the producers made their decisions when the votes were tallied. Rhianna was a definite improvement over Nelly Furtado last week (where did my Nelly go?) but can we all say lip synch? Possibly just as well. She needed better dancers. I’d almost rather them fill the “judges deliberation” time (yeah, like they really need it) with more things like Ryan and Hawk’s SickStep Crew. More dancing, less singing!

So, we see Mia pleading her case backstage with Nigel. Nigel, who made it clear during the auditions that, as executive producer, he has the final say in who goes home no matter what the other two judges say any given week. (Did I mention the whole wanker thing? Truly.)

Mia doesn’t look happy, but they are back and…drum roll…the girl who goes home is? Joy. So they got that right. (And glad they told Aleksandra how shaky her ground is.) And….peeking through my fingers…the guy is… Jason. Mia saved my guy!! Smooches, Mia!

A shame to see any of the guys go this week. There really was no good answer here. Now that means Dmitry gets to work with Aleksandra - the next to worst dancer compared to the partner that just left. Cruel, really. (And did you catch just how enthused she was about that? I know she hates to lose her partner, but put on the professional smile, A. Dmitry did, and you know he’s a hell of lot less happy with you than you have a right to be with him. Step up.) Poor D - I see another trip to the bottom three for him. So wrong.

Cannot WAIT until next week!

OKAY! On with this week’s SHaQ Attack winner. Everyone who played got the answer right - Devin Archer in The Royal Hunter was one of my Aussie heroes. No one got the “tough one” - which was understandable. Waaaaay back in the early Loveswept days, Reese Braedon in Wild Rain was my wild Aussie hero. (Same book as the three legged alligator from a previous SHaQ hunt.) That one was my “two people locked in a closet during a hurricane” book. Great fun!

The winner of the book of her choice from my bookshelf, along with a copy of Wild Rain AND Royal Hunter, is….Zara!!! Woo hoo! Congrats, Zara!

Tune in again on Monday for the next contest question. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Tags: Writing //