Dancing With the Stars Week 6 Performance Recap: Mo(town) to Love
A sense of the — dare I say it? — predictable hung like a sequin-free cloud over Week 6 of Dancing With the Stars. All of the obviously overmatched stars have already left the building — although that out-of-nowhere Sherri Shepherd elimination still stings –with conventional wisdom pointing to Melissa Gilbert or Gladys Knight as the likeliest stars to fall on Tuesday’s results-show telecast.
But of course, anything can happen on reality TV, and the legends of Motown were on hand to class up the proceedings. Here’s everything you need to know about the sixth week of DWTS:
A Night of Royalty | Motown legends Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, and the Temptations joined the DWTS band to provide the backdrop to each dance. Fellow music icon Gladys Knight enlisted her brother Bubba (an original Pip!) to get her ready for her rumba, and hoped to do her Motown roots proud in the process. Resplendent in purple and backed by the Temptations, Gladys lit up the audience, if not the judges’ scorecards. Thankfully, though, Len at least had the decency to come to Gladys’ rescue and cut off Carrie Ann’s cold water critique. Robinson’s astounding “Ooo Baby Baby,” meanwhile, relegated Maks and Melissa’s Viennese Waltz to an afterthought.
A Marathon That Felt Like a Marathon | Is it just me, or were the past five Mondays so darn enjoyable because of the absence of extracurricular clutter (a.k.a. needless plugs, promos, and DWTS Troupe preening that are like proverbial pebbles in the shoe)? Overall the show hummed along nicely, but the Cha Cha Motown Marathon (for bonus points) was as confusing as it was unneccessary. Even Tom Bergeron’s energy seemed to be lagging by the end of the 120 minutes. Heck, when William’s shirt-ripping stunt — gasp! — seems forced, you know there’s trouble.
Quotes of the Night | “No, never. But I’m excited to be here.” –Motown founder Berry Gordy, after Tom asked him whether he imagined way back in 1959, that some 50 years later he’d be celebrating Motown’s music at a celebrity ballroom competition
“I don’t have muscles like Donald Driver or the sensuality like William Levy, but I do have the dedication of Roshon.” –Roshon
“Before you dislocate something, let’s move on.” –Tom to Bruno
“I’m gonna call you the midwife, you keep delivering week after week.” –Len to Katherine after her sensational Samba
“Bruno’s upset because you had a Len doll.” –Carrie Ann to Donald, who begged a cardboard cutout of Len for better scores in the pre-dance clip
“It could be worse…you could have an ugly partner.” –Maks to Melissa
Bruno (to William and Cheryl): You two are wired for sex!
Tom (to Bruno): OK, stop being an electrician.
“He needs Viagra, I’m sorry.” — Bruno to Len, after his dismissive comments abot William’s rumba
Judges’ Leaderboard (Carrie Ann, Len, Bruno: Total)
Jaleel White and Kym Johnson: 10, 9, 10: 29
Katherine Jenkins and Mark Ballas: 10, 9, 10: 29
William Levy and Cheryl Burke: 9, 8, 10: 27
Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd: 9, 9, 9: 27
Maria Menounos and Derek Hough: 8, 9, 9: 26
Melissa Gilbert and Maksim Chmerkovskiy: 8, 8, 8: 24
Roshon Fegan and Chelsie Hightower: 7, 8, 8: 23
Gladys Knight and Tristan MacManus: 7, 7, 7: 21
Now it’s your turn. Did you sense any extra tension between Carrie Ann and Len tonight night? Should the consistently excellent (and just shy of a triple 10 yet again this week) Katherine start making shelf space for the Mirror Ball trophy? Did Maks’ verbal smackdown of Melissa go a little too far this week? Leave your comments! –Mitch Rustad
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