Last night on Dancing With The Stars, each celeb/pro gave us two dances, one ballroom, one latin. Everyone did a fairly good job. Sort of like American Idol last week. No one really fell down on the job. Which is a good thing since the celebs all had solos in their second dance.

But some teams I am loving more than others. And this doesn’t always relate to dancing talent.

I admire Kim and Derek’s abilities, but neither dance this week did it for me, although I actually liked the ballroom more than the latin, which is surprising. But she seemed all over the place with that latin routine. And the solo? Yikes. Calm down, Kim.

Cheryl and Gilles also kind of disappointed. I thought their fox trot was nicely done, very sensual, but that rumba was just so too much of everything. Calm down Cheryl and Gilles. Sometimes less is more.

Then we had Shawn and Mark. I loved the Alladin routine. Loved the song, loved Shawn, just a very Disney Princess fun routine. Suited her personality to a tee. I thought she did the very best she could with the latin routine, and I know folks are mad at Mark for his rule breaking choreo, which the judges all said cost her the perfect score. But, think about itt, she’s not really all that great with the hip action and Mark did a brilliant job of disguising that with his routine. I think if he’d stuck to the rules, she’d have done worse. Anyway - enjoyed them last night.

Also loved Melissa and Tony. He does a wonderful job with the choreo and I thought both their waltz and their latin routine went really well. I was happy to see her back and wow, a 30 on that second routine. To be honest, I thought she looked a bit stuff in terms of her hip action and did most of her action up top, but given her rib injury, it was amazing she could do any of it, really. So, kudos to them both. And I think Melissa has handled her slot on this show really well - loved her comment last night about getting out of her solo since she’s not really a celebrity. She’s really done right by herself and she’s giving Tony the season of his career on the show.

But my favorite of the night, seroiusly….Ty. Yes, yes, yes, he’s most definitely the worst one out there. But who would you rather watch dance and listen to during all the rehearsal footage - Ty? Or Kim? See, exactly. It’s funny, because normally even if they’re charming, it’s a chore sometimes to actually watch the bad dancers. Not with Ty, not for me. Major major kudos to Chelsie for doing him such justice with the choreo. And I adored, absolutely and completely, his little “solo” for his wife. Because playing that to the crowd simply wouldn’t have worked, because he’s so horrible at it, but playing it to her was wonderfully sweet and cute. And his comments after with Samantha were hilarious. Love, love, love him. Yes, he totally deserves to go home, but boy I’d sure send home Kim first and get to enjoy him one more week. I’m going to miss his commentary, his quiet confidence, and his hard work. One of my all time faves.

What else was good? Watching pros dance without any cutaways to singers. What wasn’t good? Wow, the singing last night. Stoner Music Dude must have recruited all of his crack buddies because, other than the Alladin music, which was just fun, the rest was simply horrible. And the singing was tragically bad. Yikes, show. Yikes.

Back to the pros, though. Louis!! for one, and paired with Lacey, which I thought was so interesting and definitely a major compliment to her. She’s really elevated her stature from last year and you can see all the hard work she has put in on bringing herself up to snuff with the other pros. I’m glad to see that rewarded. And we got Jonathan and his wife, Anna, so double bonus. Also? Dmitry lost the buttons on his shirt. Again. I love it when that happens.

All in all, great night. America? Send Kim home. Keep the bull rider.

Tonight we get Rock Night on American Idol, with Slash as the mentor. I know. There are no more words. Just sit back and prepare yourself for the ride.

What did you think about the dancing? Who stays, who goes, and who is your pick to win it all? I’d be happy with a Shawn, Melissa, or Gilles win. Not so much with Kim, and Ty, while I heart him, shouldn’t make the top three. But he can beat Kim. Just sayin.

Oh! And would you like to win free stuff? Send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Yeah, free stuff is good!” in the subject line. I’ll draw a name from the pile o’ entries this Friday and announce the winner of a free book right here. Check in to see if you win!

In the meantime? DISH!

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