How could "Dancing With the Stars" get any better?
The judges deemed last week's season premiere the series' "best ever" after two contestants — Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins and a positively dashing Jaleel White — scored 9s, only six points separated first place from last and the rock-bottom score was a respectable 20.
Remember Kate Gosselin getting 14?
Anyway, did the stars — one of whom will go home tomorrow — start buckling under the pressure tonight?
Well, it certainly wasn't the lovefest that last week was.
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Katherine threw her opera-singing, lunching-with-the-queen image of demureness out the window with a jive sexy enough to be declared not Len Goodman's "cup of tea." So, obviously, Bruno Tonioli loved it and he and Carrie Ann Inaba bestowed a pair of 9s on the leggy blonde.
But they weren't the first 9s of the night — Disney prince Roshon Fegan kicked things off with a quickstep that showed he can do elegant just as well as he brings in the funk.
Joining the upper tier of contestants once again was Bruno's favorite amateur dancer, ever, William Levy — who was just as adorable doing the quickstep as he was sexy doing the cha-cha.
Jaleel, unfortunately, didn't bring as much bounce to his jive as we expected from the out-of-the-gate fave, and his score suffered. "The Family Matters" star, who pointed out that knocking into doors without getting hurt isn't as easy as it looks, took the biggest dive, score-wise, going from a 26 to a 22.
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Maria Menounos headed in the opposite direction, impressing with her quickstep enough for a four-point jump, from 21 to 25.
Sherri Shepherd worried she wouldn't be able to handle the jive — but she had more bounce than Jaleel! She turned in just as giddy a performance as she did last week, and she once again scored a 23.
But the real surprise came when Len apologized to Donald Driver for "undermarking" him last week. Personally, we kinda think they all undermarked him this week, too, but at least he got a nice bump after a sharp quickstep.
Gavin DeGraw also did way better, energy-wise, than last week indicated he was capable of, but it was a little too sloppy for the judges' taste.
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Meanwhile, we're starting to wonder if Melissa Gilbert is being overjudged because she's partnered with the headstrong, itching-to-win Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Last week's cha-cha was very ambitious, and the "Little House on the Prairie" star seemingly rose to the occasion, but she only got a 20.
And she only got 20 this week after a seemingly more-than-competent quickstep! Does she actually stink and we're not seeing it, or are the judges paying extra-special attention to every move they make?
Lucky for Melissa, Martina Navratilova's jive was a bit of a mess. She's fit, she's strong, she looked good — but she had no attack.
"Aw, that was sad!" Carrie Ann squealed. "Oh, my darling, I think that serve went into the net," lamented Bruno.
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Here's how Monday's leaderboard stacked up, combined with last week's scores:
- Katherine Jenkins & Mark Ballas: 26 (52)
- Roshon Fegan & Chelsie Hightower: 26 (49)
- William Levy & Cheryl Burke: 25 (49)
- Jaleel White & Kym Johnson: 22 (48)
- Maria Menounos & Derek Hough: 25 (46)
- Sherri Shepherd & Val Chmerkovskiy: 23 (46)
- Donald Driver & Peta Murgatroyd: 24 (45)
- Jack Wagner & Anna Trebunskaya: 21 (44)
- Gladys Knight & Tristan MacManus: 19 (42)
- Gavin DeGraw & Karina Smirnoff: 21 (41)
- Melissa Gilbert & Maks Chmerkovskiy: 20 (40)
- Martina Navratilova & Tony Dovolani: 17 (37)
After two nights of nothing-but-dance, someone will finally be eliminated Tuesday night.
Do you think Melissa was scored fairly this week? Who do you predict is going to be the first celeb eliminated? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page! And don't forget to join us for a chat at 3:30 ET Tuesday, March 27, to dish on who you voted for, who'll make it to the end and more!
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