According to Wiki, she, Shannon, and Monica Seles are all 34 or so.
Damn, Shannon Elizabeth can not move her hips to save her life.
I never thought I’d say this, but Marissa blew me away tonight. I thought that Rumba was absolutely marvelous. And two dances with no trace of the crazed teenager persona!
I could have sworn that in the ‘color’ blurb preceding Shannon’s first dance, when Derek was really pissing her off, she threatened him by saying he’d be going home alone tonight. But no one picked up on it, so did I misunderstand her? You’re right, twick, I was thinking ‘OK, she wiggled her ass in front of the judges, but now she’s dancing and the hips aren’t moving at all.’ You had only to look at Derek to see what it was supposed to be like. And her Tango seemed very mechanical to me, although partly that was the music.
I liked Kristi better than the judges (and what bee did Len have in his bonnet?) did, but then I didn’t notice the apparent misstep they mentioned. Jason was really fantastic, and what a body! Mario was born to do Latin, but not so much ballroom.
Poor Christian. I noticed him holding his arm and was thinking ‘is he hurt or is that just a very strange piece of choreography?’ Then he went back to dancing for a bit, and I figured it was either the latter or my imagination. Hope they give him some good drugs in hospital.
They were grading tough tonight, or at least so I thought.
Yeah she did say something like that, eliciting a WTF? response from me and Mrs. Slacker (she doesn’t like that name btw).
I wasn’t blown away by anyone, but wasn’t disgusted either. Just an ok show overall.
I thought Marissa looked and danced fantastic. She is definitely losing weight and her self-confidence is visibly growing.
Shannon, still gawky. Judges were right on when describing her lack of control on her long limbs.
Mario is really trying hard and I love his hip action, not bad to look at either.
Kristi was lovely in the waltz and used several complicated moves that I haven’t seen other contestants attempt in any of the seasons. Loved her cha cha. Len was definitely Cranky Pants on his comments.
Jason looked pretty good tonight. Very light on his feet in the quickstep. His free arm just looks a bit awkward at times when he stretches it out to the side.
Christian did very well tonight. Definitely had the attitude and hip action in the Samba. Hope his arm doesn’t have any serious damage.
Bottom two: Shannon and Mario. Mario not because of his performance, but because he was in the bottom two last week after a kickass routine. I just don’t think he has the fan base. Hopefully they’ll send home Shannon, she’s needed to go for the last two weeks.
Damn, I was on the phone for about 20 minutes during the first half of the show, so missed Shannon’s first dance – and the “human interest” bit leading into it. Wouldn’t surprise me to know there was some hanky-panky there – or, it wouldn’t surprise me if Derek weren’t a good Mormon boy. Plus she’s old enough to be his mother. Well, almost – isn’t he like 19?
If Christian’s injury is bad enough that he has to drop out, maybe they’ll skip an elimination tonight?
And Oy! – agree on how good Marissa was last night – that was genuine sexiness she was channeling there, not the wholesome imitation thereof. And I love how genuinely fond Tony is of her – they’re so darned cute together! I actually think I prefer it when a pair bonds as friends (Cheryl and Drew) rather than lovers (Mario and Karina).
I heard Shannon’s “You’ll be going home alone tonight.” comment, too. She may have been kidding. He doesn’t do anything for me, FWIW.
Kristi is incredible, but then she was already a professional dancer going in. She just happened to have ice skates on.
Mario is very sexy. And Karina is so funny when she is facing the judges. She just cannot seem to control her facial expressions and take it like a lady.
Edyta and Jason were very good last night but I’ll admit that the Pasa Doble was kind of a let down after that build up. Great music. And the Dolphin color outfits were cute. Note to Edyta: The viewers are getting very close to telling whether you get a Brazilian wax job. This is unnecessary information, at least to half of the audience.
Marissa and Tony did great and my admiration for him as a person and choreographer has grown this season. He seems genuinely fond of her. And he’s really pushing her to look and act sexy, which is really wonderful to see. Lesser men might have just walked through this season once they saw their partner and her extra pounds, but he’s taken it in stride and shown that big women can still shake their groove thing.
Shannon & Derek. She absolutely looked like a gangly giraffe during the Latin dance. Here is Jason, who is what, 6’6"? and HE doesn’t look awkward. Shame on the judges for letting her emotional outburst last week influence their scores this week. During the tango, she completely missed pulling off his hat on cue and was completely removed from the dance for a few beats, yet not a word was mentioned about it.
Christian & Cheryl were rocking through that latin dance when he pulled his muscle. What a shame. You simply can’t dance with a pulled muscle, especially when you’re support to support another person or risk injuring them. He needs to go. Shame that.
I’ve noticed that Tony seems very attached to Marissa, more than I’ve seen in almost any pairing. Not romantically, but he just really is thrilled for her when she does well, rather than just being glad that the team is doing better. It surprised me, because I thought he’d be more lackadaisical when he had a partner that wasn’t immediately promising.
Jason didn’t freak me out with those spidery limbs this week, which must mean he’s using them better.
I’m cynical enough to wonder if Cristian realized his performance was tanking and faked the injury to get the sympathy vote. Yes, I’m bad.
Elizabeth managed to shake her hips in front of the judges’ faces, then didn’t shake them again. Maybe Derek needs to take her to a belly dance school to learn how to move them I’m ready for her to go.
Kristi was good, and I’m wondering if the judges are just trying to shake things up. I’ve got to agree with Len that I don’t like the hip-hop moves in there.
Mario did well, but I’m worried he doesn’t have the fan support. DWtS make not have a big hip-hop fanbase.
StG
There was a two-point spread amongst the judges on Kristi’s second routine (Len 8, the others 10s). That is quite a rarity. I think the scoring is pretty inconsistent and bad, the comments are good, but the scoring…bleh.
Yes, the scoring is definitely based on expectations, both here and in lots of other “judgement” type competitions. I’ve seen top-seeded ice-skaters get much better ‘artistic’ scores than lesser skaters when their routines were pedestrian and the lesser skaters were inventive and highly artistic. Here they go the other way, and grade Kristi on a much higher curve than, say, Adam Corolla. And Shannon making such a big deal of shaking her ass in their faces, not to mention the hysterical tears last week, they probably felt they had no choice but to hold their tongues about hip action and mark her as if it had been there.
I didn’t think Christian’s Samba was tanking, and I thought his marks should have been higher for what he was doing before his arm went. And no, I don’t think he was faking it; I saw that expression on his face, and I’ve had it on my own a few times (as I’m sure we all have at one time or another). And piglet raised a point I hadn’t considered - you really don’t want to risk not supporting your partner if you’re supposed to throw her all over the place and you’re not sure your arm will work. Could he have continued? If he were Kristi and used to working through sudden injuries like that, sure. But he’s not a world class athlete, and probably has never been in this situation before. I don’t blame him a bit.
Def Leppard?
Kill me now.
If you’d told me even three weeks ago that not only would Shannon go home before Marissa, but that I would agree with that call, I would have laughed in your face. But Marissa has been seriously improving, while Shannon does absolutely beautiful ballroom, but can’t do Latin for love or money.
Well, this leaves Mario as the third finalist, I guess. Certainly neither Marissa (despite her improvement) nor Christian (despite his courage/stupidity in carrying on despite the injury) merit it. But Mario doesn’t rate, either - unless you only consider Latin. Hmm, maybe Christian? He’s certainly more balanced between ballroom and Latin. I’d love to see it be Marissa, if only because Tony is so sweetly fond of her in a big brotherly sort of way.
Because of this show, I can say things like “I really liked the ‘Rebel Yell’ Jive better than the ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ Paso” and have people nod in agreement or argue back.
And I missed DanceCenter.
Shannon Elizabeth’s fanbase weren’t really DWTS watchers, and I think she alienated a bunch of people last week. Plus - she can not move her hips.
I love DanceCenter. Love it. I particularly loved the part about Jason farting.
Bummed to see Shannon go. Not that I found her particularly engaging or charming (at least not lately), but I would have much rather seen her and Derek’s freestyle in the finals that Marissa or Mario’s.
Speaking of whom, I don’t get the praise for Marissa this week. Both dances really didn’t look like she did anything. Like Len was saying, there just wasn’t much content there. Derek and Shannon at least tried a few more moves (tried and failed, but tried).
My sentiments exactly. While I understand that this appearance was engineered to coincide with their new CD release, I can’t imagine that this was the proper demographic to showcase said release. And they were lip-synching ! That lame-ass crap went out with American Bandstand! Plus, if their second song was any indication of the quality of the rest of the new album, I for one will put on my headphones, listen to Hysteria , and dream of better days.
Anyhoo…
The story as it stands now is that Cristian has a ruptured tendon in his elbow. But good old Mr. Macho has decided to postpone the surgery and continue in the competition. My question is, how is he going to do any moves that require the use of that arm? A ruptured tendon is hardly a minor injury. My guess is that he’ll get through the first day of rehearsal and decide (or have Cheryl decide for him) that this is just not going to work out. That should put Shannon back in the competition, which would suit me just fine. Yeah, I know it’s just postponing the inevitable, but, damn, she’s hot ! One more week is all I ask. 
Final 3: Mario, Jason, Kristi
Final 2: Jason, Kristi
Winner: Jason
Jason and Edyta’s tango was gorgeous.
The judging, particularly from Carrie Ann, is bullshit tonight. She definitely has it out for Kristi.
I wonder if a couple of weeks (plus a day or so) ago the judges got together and said “This won’t be interesting if Kristi continues to utterly dominate,” and decided to start really raking her over the coals. Admittedly we’re at a skill level now where I’m no longer competent to judge, but she still looks as if she were a pro to me.
How can a 6’5" linebacker be that freaking graceful???
Sorry,but I just can’t agree. I thought it was limp and boring and his Mambo was awful. Just can’t understand the Jason-love.
Compared to Jason, Christian’s tango was crisp and had attitude. A much better performance IMO. Also his Latin dance was great, those hips were definitely swiviling big time. I liked the fact that he was so bold in his dances and did not seem to be holding back because of his injury.
I personally really liked Mario’s Jive. It was really energetic and fun. He was really going all out.
Kristi’s quickstep was truly marvelous with its speed and footwork (Carrie Ann was completely biased on her judging of Kristi.) Her Latin was awkward and just didn’t seem to have the fire it needed.
Marissa was so pretty tonight and you could just see all her joy while she was dancing. She has lost some serious lbs since week one. Her partner deserves a lot of credit for helping build her confidence and getting her this far. But I have the feeling this willl be her last week. With Mario the other half of the bottom 2.