Dancing With The Stars Season 18, Episode 2: Recap

Dancing With The StarsWho’s time in the ballroom is limited? Who has danced their last dance on Season 18 of Dancing With The Stars? The show will kicked off with an opening number choreographed by Mandy Moore and featuring the entire cast. The opening was adorable and showcased each of the pros quite well and allowed us to see each of the couples together. It lacked the sexual heat of last week’s premiere, but if we start the night with chemistry like that each week, we won’t last the show’s two hours! Billy Dee Williams was simply sitting in the audience, which does not bode well for the show’s elder dancer and his injury concerns. Also, Dang! Diana Nyad was looking hot in a tight, red dress. This sexier style is much better on her athletic body than last week’s granny Foxtrot dress.

Tom announces the “not-to-be missed” announcement, which was teased all week. A double elimination! Wow, that does not bode well for low scoring Billy Dee Williams, Diana Nyad, or Sean Avery.

To start the night off, Tom Bergeron announced that Drew Carey and Cheryl Burke were the first couple to be safe from elimination. Drew is visibly relieved but that means he’s dancing first.  No pressure Drew.

Dancing the Jive, The Price is Right host Drew Carey, and his partner Cheryl Burke.
I have to admit, I am being swayed by likeable Drew. He moves remarkably well, and his ability to kick-ball-change was surprising. And, he has such a constant goofball grin that it’s hard not to cheer for him.  He really makes dancing look fun. Even if he lacks the obvious athleticism and grace of some of the other dancers, his joy make him fun to watch.
Judges Scores for Drew’s Jive: Carrie 7, Len 7, and Bruno 7 for a total of 21 out of 30.

After a break, Danica, Billy Dee, and Meryl are in the hot seat. The next dancer announced safe is Billy Dee Williams! Holy cow, the dancing Stormtroopers saved Billy! Billy Dee looks so shocked that I’m sure he’s going to faint. Meryl and Maks are announced safe (duh) and Danica and Val are also safe (duh.) Danica and Val are next to dance their Samba. In her pre-taped package, Danica is feeling stressed since this week, they only have 7 days to prepare for their performance. This is the big time, time to you’re your stuff. She’ll do great if she can tap her inner sex-goddess.

Dancing the Samba, actress Danica McKellar, and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy.
Danica’s body looks utterly amazing and her legs are to die for. She has been working to up her sexy ante, but her omnipresent smile makes her look still a little too sweet. She needs a little bit of sexy eyes, and less happy eyes.
Judges Scores for Danica’s Samba: Carrie 8, Len 8, Bruno 8; Total 24 out of 30.

Dancing the Tango, Actor Billy Dee Williams, partnered with Emma Slater
Billy Dee is up next in his taped piece, he revealed that he was unhappy with the judges scores. He said he wanted to cry. He is feeling defeated by how his body is betraying him. They brought in two beautiful girls to help the Tango. Anything to be an extra visual for Billy. On to his performance: Billy is still an older person, but I think this week he moved better than last week. His lumbering gait is better suited to the sharpness of the tango. Than last week’s Cha Cha Cha. The judges were all over him again for his lack of dancing ability.
Judges scores for Billy’s Tango: Carrie 5, Len 5, and Bruno 5; Total 15 out of 30.

Then Tom explained the switch off that was announced last week.  American can vote, via twitter or ABC.com to switch partners.  The partner swap will be announced in 2 weeks.  If you have a Twitter account (and if you do, why aren’t you following me @ChannelGuideKF) you can tweet #DWTS then the first name of the celeb, followed by the first name of the pro. So if you want Meryl to be partnered with Tony in two weeks, you would tweet #DWTS Meryl Tony.  Easy, right?  If you’re not on twitter, the process will be similar on abc.com

In her pre-taped package, Meryl says she wanted to try a swing dance because she wanted to be tossed around. She is so itty bitty, in her taped piece, she looks like a child’s toy being flipped around.

Dancing the Swing, Olympic gold medalist Meryl Davis, partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
Meryl and Maks started in the fishbowl with the rest of the contestants.  They really are challenging Meryl by giving her dances that are significantly harder than everyone else’s. Who else is being tossed over her partner’s head? She can’t weight more than 90 pounds, but she’s such a tiny athletic dynamo that she can be flipped with ease.  Meryl isn’t content to stand there and be passively lifted, she is creates her own power so Maks isn’t doing all of the work.  She is entering each lift on her own volition.  Simply amazing.  Even the pro females just stand there and wait to be lifted up by their partners. Meryl and Maks had just an adorable dance, and her costume skirt was adorable, but her upper body is so tiny, and her bikini top was so tiny on her piquant frame, that it showed an alarming amount of ribs. They’ve already padded tiny Meryl’s bosom, maybe hive her a little more shirt next week.
Judges scores for Meryl’s Swing: Carrie 8, Len 9, Bruno 8; Total 25 out of 30.

Candice, Amy, and Diana are next on the hot seat. The next couple that is safe is Amy and Derek. Candace and Mark are safe. Diana and Henry have been eliminated. It is so sad, Diana just asked if she still gets to dance. The look on her face is heartbreaking. Phew, she does get to dance!

Dancing the Dancing the Cha-Cha-Cha, Swimmer Diana Nyad, partnered with Henry Byalikov.

Dancing With The Stars
Diana Nyad is Rad in Red

This week, Diana’s short, sassy red dress is much better suited to her fiery personality. She moves well and has tons of spunk in her face. It’s hard for her to compete against younger women like Meryl and Danica, even though Diana is a fit athlete. But she’s in her 60s. And she’ll never be able to be flipped around like some of her competitors. Diana knew she was dancing on borrowed time, and I hope she enjoyed her time on DWTS. She mentioned that this was a dream she’d had for a long, long time.

Since she and Henry have already been voted out, they will not receive scores, but I’m sure they would have been higher than last week when they scored an 18 out of 30.

Oh my goodness, Jeremy Miller! The boy that Danica and Candace both dated at the same time! Who would have thought that that guy was such a player? How hilarious! I wonder how he feels to be relevant again after 20 years, for something he did 20 years ago?

Dancing the Rhumba, actress Candace Cameron Bure, partnered with Mark Ballas
In her taped piece, Candace expresses anxiety because the Rhumba, as a sexual dance, is in conflict with her conservative values. She says that she wants it to be more sensual than sexy. Damn, they were hot visions in black, but I’m confused. Candace was hot and sexy; how was what she did not sexy? Candace has totally incredible legs too. It was really contemporary, and I’ll agree with Lem, the dance looked like they were fighting rather than being romantic. Were they dancing to the same song that Charlie and Sharna danced to last week? Candace is a really emotional dancer. How is she able to do some of her lifts having never taken a dance class before? Perhaps she practices yoga? She seems really aware of how her body moves through space.
Judges scores for Candace’s Rhumba: Carrie, 7, Len 7, Bruno 7; Total 21 out of 30.

Dancing With The Stars
Derek Swings Amy Under His Legs

Dancing the Swing, Paralympic snowboarder, Amy Purdy partnered with Derek Hough.
Amy’s tape piece was all about her fear of her legs falling off. Amy and Derek danced on the small stage at the bottom of the ballroom (Different from the round, side-stage that Charlie and Sharna used last week) which I’ve never noticed before. Their dance had me on edge the entire time because despite Amy’s fears about her legs flying off, Derek was really swinging her around. Amy did a lot of lifts, flips, swung through Derek’s legs and more. I can’t even describe half of the crazy stuff that they did.
Judges scores for Amy’s Swing: Carrie 8, Len 8, Bruno 8; Total 24 out of 30

James and Charlie and their partners are next in the hot seat. Charlie and Sharna and James and Peta, both are safe. But, no kidding, because they were both fantastic last week.

Dancing the Salsa, Big Time Rush member/actor James Maslow, and his partner, Peta Murgatroyd
James and Peta are up dancing on their salsa. James is such a flirt and I’m sure his comments about dancing without a shirt or pants caused many teen girls to squeal with delight. Peta’s outfit might be the smallest amount of clothing you can wear on TV and not be considered naked, so they both have the hot-n-sexy factor working for them. James is a great dancer, and he was allowed to show his amazing abs and his ability to dance solo. I think Carrie Ann is drooling with lust over James’ rock hard abs. Note to all other DWTS male dancers: if you have abs, show them off.
Judges Scores for James’ Salsa: Carrie 9, Len 8, Bruno 8; Total 25 out of 30.

Dancing the Tango, Olympic gold medalist Charlie White, partnered with Sharna Burgess
Charlie wants to get in touch with his bad boy side, so who does Sharna send him to for bad boy lessons? Of course, DWTS’ resident bagboy, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Maks gives him some shady Maks-like advice about the tango being about lusting after multiple women and then Charlie admitted that he’s had a girlfriend for 5 years so he’s not sure how to take Maks’ advice. Simultaneously, most of America’s hearts broke as the dreams of tiny Charlie-Meryl babies were dashed. Their dance was perfect to my untrained eye, but Len was upset that they broke hold during their tango. I guess I need to brush up on my dance standards.
Judges scores for Charlie’s Tango: Carrie, 9, Len 7, Bruno 7; Score 25 out of 30.

The last 3 dancers are up to learn their fates are, Nene, Cody, and Sean. Sean is the obvious choice to be in the bottom, but all 3 dancers will have to dance before we learn who’s out (Sean, Sean, Sean, or there’ll be a riot of teen girls)

Nene and Tony are up first. Nene admits it’s her husband Greg who wanted her to do the jive since he’s always wanted to do it with her.

Dancing the Jive, Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes, and her partner, Tony Dovolani.
I am so glad to see her in a bright color! Fuscia is her personality! But, I did not like her in flat shoes. I just think that she looks sexiest in heels. Maybe that’s a jive thing, but NeNe needs heels! She’s still a powerful woman, but she needs to trust that Tony is going to be able to hold her in her dip at the end. Don’t worry NeNe, Tony is a strong man, he can dip you to the floor!
Judges scores for NeNe’s Jive: Carrie 7, Len 7, Bruno 7; Total 21 out of 30

Dancing the Salsa, Former NHL player Sean Avery, and his partner Karina Smirnoff
Sean is kind of un-smiling, stoic guy. If this was a show watched only by men, he’d be a favorite. But lots of ladies watch DWTS, and ladies like smiling. Last week Sean smiled a little, but it might have been too little too late. Sean also suffers from being unknown. My husband loves sports, and watches SportsCenter ad nauseam, and even he had no clue who Sean Avery is. So lesser, but more popular dancers will bypass Sean. Sean’s salsa this week was actually great. As I said last week, hockey players have quick feet and it was obvious on his sharp footwork. It’s a shame that Sean won’t last long in this competition; his aloofness is a shell I’d like to see crack.
Judges scores for Sean’s Salsa: Carrie 7, Len 7, Bruno 7; Total 21 out of 3

Dancing the Tango, Australian Pop star Cody Simpson, partnered with Witney Carson
Oh Cody, your hair I such a geometric wonder! You seem kind of like a d-bag, and it makes me wonder why girls like you, but then again they still like Justin Bieber, and I’m pretty sure that he legally changed his middle name to d-bag, so I guess there’s no accounting for bad taste amongst the young. Then again, I don’t know you at all, I’m only judging you based on your pompous pompadour, your boxer’s mug, your slouchy pants and your constant preening. Anyway, Cody and Witney are wearing white outfits with lights. They and their dance was modern and chic, and Cody really infused the traditional tango with his pop sensibilities, which as long as he and Whitney were still holding hands, Len was fine with.
Judges Scores for Cody’s Tango: Carrie 7, Len 7, Bruno 8; Total 22 out of 30.

Now it’s tine to find out which of the 3 remaining dancers will be eliminated. Len and Cody don’t look worried and why should they, they’re popular and lots of people will vote for them regardless of how they dance. Fortunately, both are good dancers. Nene and Tony are quickly revealed to be safe. Not it’s down to Sean and Karina or Cody and Witney. Cody is safe, Sean is going home.

Best of luck Sean! I didn’t know you. I won’t miss you. But I was glad to watch you dance twice. And see you smile, twice.

What do you think?  Was it Diana and Sean’s time to go? Who should be voted out next?  Who are you voting for? What will happen next week?

Images © 2014 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

1 Comment

  1. Thank you for the D.W.T.S. review. I had a conflict so I couldn’t watch it live last night but reading this makes me feel as if I had. Thanks again!!

Comments are closed.