DWTS S22 Week 8: A Night of Breathtaking Dances, Groundbreaking Moments

There are moments, usually once the riff-raff is gone, and before the super competitive finals arrive, when the pro choreographers are able to strut some of their most artistic, and risky, stuff. Week 8 of Dancing with the Stars was such a week. We were graced with some literally breath-taking dances.

The full cast of Week 8

The above photo is funny, cause the pro dancers are still dressed from their (amazing) opening number (choreographed by Mandy Moore), and the stars are dressed in costume for their upcoming number. Quite an array ahead.

First up, Peta Murgatroyd and Nyle's paso doble.

One of the hallmarks of Dancing with the Stars is that it occasionally plays with color in camera. This bad photo from the TV shows the black and white stuff that happens (and is just stunning to watch).

And then, this section in the middle (Peta conceived, assisted by Maks), where the male dancers around Nyle dance without sound (so America could see what it's like for Nyle to dance every week). Incredible moment.

But let me just say this here and now. Much of what was given credit to Nyle this season was Peta's handiwork. This dance among them. Bravo to her, and to the other four male dancers who danced synchronistically in silence. Wow. Certainly one of the best moments of the season.

It ended with them putting her and him in a cage. Just stunning imagery.

Man, I love to watch Sharna dance. She and Antonio perform what he kept calling a "Vietnamese waltz" (*eyeroll*). How she created this beautiful choreography, after the previously stunning Viennese waltz she had just created (on Switch Up Week) blows my mind.

But she is just beautiful.

Photo of Sharna, not from this week

After their dance (and before their scores), we had this little blip of a thing. You know the things where the dancers show how to do some dance or another, takes a minute, boom, onto the next thing? The bumpers? Well, this particular one was choreographed by James Corden. I encourage you to seek it out (online or the link below).

Cause we had this:

and, of course, this:

Thank goodness Jenna, Hayley and Shannon are such good sports. It was pretty funny. The real choreography genius Mandy Moore is even in the video. (As well as Exec. Prod. Rob Wade.)

LOL Tom Bergeron is so perfect. Funny, funny stuff.

James Corden as choreographer

And then, back to the show!

Jodie and Keo Week 8. The photo says it all.

Next up, Jodie and Keo. Jodie (whom I love, and really wanted to win this competition) says in her package: "We're bringing in set design and props and troupe dancers to really highlight the great jive that we're doing." First of all, every single frame of this show already HAS "set design and props and troupe dancers." But when they bring it in for a dancer's individual dance, by and large, it means that you suck. And they are trying to cover that up with "set design and props and troupe dancers." You don't need all that hooha to "highlight" a great jive.

SEE Mark Ballas' great jive from last week. No props, no "set design," no troupe dancers. Yet, spectacular, and blew the roof off.

PRO TIP TO ASPIRING STAR DANCERS: All you EVER need is the dance. If you are good/great/wonderful, that is all you'll ever need. And if you suck, prepare to see a lot of other dancers around you. That is, truly, truly, how this show rolls. Jodie Sweetin was really in the clouds about what was really happening on this show, vis a vis her and Keo.

And, IMHO, it wasn't that SHE sucked, it was that her partner didn't really have what is needed in a pro. So, I felt bad when they were voted off later in this show.

"Holy DWTS" They do have a great prop department.

The judges scored this a perfect score (which made both Jodie and her mom happy), but it was too little too late.

To me, that was not a perfect score dance. The troupe dancers were essentially extraneous. The dance said nothing about the surroundings, the song was terrible. Ugh.

My kind of perfection is this.

This is a dance where everything: the minimal, but perfect sets; the lighting, the camerawork, the costumes, the snow blowing in at just the right moment, work perfectly in concert with the stunning dance that is being presented before us. Some dancers in this week were just trying to get their steps right. Mark Ballas had his partner EFFECTIVELY portraying being outside in freezing cold to a Demi Lovato song.

It stunned me then, it stuns me now, how incredibly good this dance was.

Peta and Nyle's dance was incredible for its technical brilliance. To my eyes, this dance is every bit as difficult and as brilliant. To have an untrained dancer go from this (movement, warmth) to this (coldness, statues) in the course of one dance is nothing short of stunning.

Truly. Over and over, it is Mark Ballas who blows my mind the most on this show. I live to see his choreography and his vision. And it's incredible to me that he can create this magic on DWTS, on ABC. Especially after last week's blistering jive that they performed. This week, Viennese waltz. Brilliant and beautiful.

Astonishingly, this dance of perfection did not get a perfect score, while Jodie and Keo's mess did. Ah well.

Next, I have a bias about Ginger Zee, which I've mentioned in previous columns this season. She is too nice. She is always nice, always smiling ear to ear, and so far, when she's had to perform a rough character, it's WAY out of her scope and ability.

She and Val are doing an Argentine tango. The women in this dance is usually always surly and angry and in command, all things that Ginger Zee is not.

However, astonishingly, we get this.

This is what you get when you have an excellent teacher, who knows what's required and makes it happen. Ginger Zee doing a hot Argentine tango? I seriously never thought that could happen. Yet, here it is.

In the moment, I was totally swept away by it. Watching it back now, I can see how camera angles and lighting conceal how much she may've burst into smiles along the way. And the one close shot, she did look rather "constipated" (her word). So, in this instance, I think it was Val's choreography and the DWTS artistry which carried her through this one. (Don't go into acting anytime soon, Ms. Ginger...)

But the choreography, as always with Val Chmerkovskiy, was stunning. Perfect score. No surprise.

Wanya and Lindsay are also a couple that I really wanted to win. This number, from the start, looked like it was going to be great. However, notice what I said earlier. Notice the sets, the props, the extra troupe dancers... hm... Add to that an errant bandana which nearly causes one of the dancers to fall out (for which I blame the costume department, not either dancer). And their scores are less than great.

Sigh. Sad.

That moves us into the Judges Dances. I think this is the second or third time they've done this. And it's kind of a useless exercise, cause all the judges always give each other 10s. This time, they've added the component of "America gets to vote," by which they mean the East Coast of America. *sigh* So that adds some variety. (Except this year, "America" voted 9 for all three dances. They might as well not even be scoring.)

But all of these judges used to be in the dance field in one way or another, so it is interesting to see what they choose to have the dancers do. Mostly, they indulge themselves.

Then again, what we did have here was pretty ground-breaking TV. For a Disney company. For ABC. For Dancing with the Stars, this was pretty landmark. In Bruno's dance, women danced with women and men danced with men. In, you know, a sexual way. And I promise you, we have never seen anything like that on this show before. And probably never would, if it weren't Bruno choreographing.

BRUNO: Peta and Nyle, Keo and Jodie

Mind you, this was all an Argentine tango to Bizet's "Carmen," so it had a very classical feel about it, but still... the ground was shifting here.

Quite something.

Len, on the other hand, chose to head in a different direction.

LEN: Valentin and Ginger, Lindsay and Wanya

Note the Len Stonehenge mask.

Something about two beautiful women on an island, and these wayward sailors discover them, and that they are surrounding King Len, and then they all samba together. It was a fun palate-cleanser, after Bruno's steamy "Carmen."

CARRIE ANN: Sharna and Antonio, Mark and Paige

This was a stunning paso doble, to the music of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." Each of these Judges' Dances had featured a segment where the two non-pros (stars) danced with each other. This one, to me, was the most effective, and truly showed how far each of these dancers had come.

VOTED OFF: Jodie and Keo :-(

MICHE FAVES WEEK 8
1. Mark and Paige (Viennese waltz)
2. Peta and Nyle (paso doble)
3. Val and Ginger (Argentine tango)
4. Lindsay and Wanya (jive)
5. Sharna and Antonio ("Vietnamese"/Viennese waltz)

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DWTS Season 20 Semifinals: The most emotional DWTS ep ever

Dancer extraordinaire Len Goodman gave us a bit of magic for the Semifinals. With Nastia.

I have long believed this about reality shows. You can manufacture "moments," but nothing is as powerful as reality. That very first moment when Sue told off Richard at the very first Survivor tribal council, which kicked off the reality craze. You can't write that stuff. Well, you can try, but it's never as powerful as the unvarnished truth.

Case in point on Dancing with the Stars. A couple weeks ago, they had a big hooha with their 10th anniversary celebration. And it was nice and all (to see, well, most of the former competitors back again). But it wasn't one iota as powerful as the DWTS semifinal this week.

Why? Truth and reality.

The producers must've wet their pants when Noah Galloway came to them and said, Hey, I want to propose to my girlfriend on the show, is that OK? (And mind you, that was a key factor in the nonstop waterworks that came from my eyes during that whole show.) But for me, the most sentimental moment (which, frankly, I wish the producers had done more with) was the moment with Len.

Len, you see, way back in the last century, was a dance champion himself. The short version of the story goes like this. Len was a champion, then he started judging dance competitions himself. Then a 12-year-old named Derek Hough and his 9-year-old sister Julianne started competing in front of this judge (and Mark Ballas too!). Cut to: Julianne is now a judge next to Len, after winning more than one Mirror Ball herself, and Derek is one of the four remaining semifinals.

THAT, my friends, is the actual history. That is something you can honestly look at, and go: Wow, they've known each other all their lives! So when Derek and Nastia did their Judge's Choice (which I'll get to explaining a bit later), it was truly poignant to have a dance where Derek starts the dance with Nastia and Dance Champion Len Goodman finishes it.

Not a dry eye in the house, or across the country, with that one. It was really one of the most special moments of DWTS ever.

And if Len Goodman steps down after this season of DWTS (which has been rumored), this dance will have been a very fitting goodbye to him.

But, oh, let's not go there yet... I'm tearing up again... whew...

Let's look at the evening from the beginning. First in this semifinal, we had each of the four couples do an individual dance. Rumer and Val kicked it off with a seriously steamy 50 Shades homage.

Then the producers set up this trope (which they've never done before in this season or others) of having a significant other backstage to comment on their sister/lover/daughter/whatever's dance. After Rumer's dance with Val, for example, there was Demi Moore (mom to Rumer) commenting on how proud she was of her. Yeah, OK.

Next up? Sharna and Noah. They, like Rumer and Val before them, did a Viennese waltz. It was beautiful and lyrical and Sharna's movements matched Noah's and that was all incredible.

Then, backstage, as Erin is inocuously asking questions of Noah's girlfriend, we have the proposal (above) which makes her his new fiancee.

Pretty much from that moment until the end, I was sobbing. (Even after that, actually.)

The producers, wisely, kept the announcement of this little event happening from pretty much everyone, so the jubilation around was natural.

Kinda hard to keep the show going after all that happened, though.

Riker and Allison did an amazing contemporary (all of their dances are amazing, really).

And then, we had Nastia (and Sasha).

Let me just say this about that. As I mentioned last week, this competition is not only won on technical merits. You must also win the hearts of America. That's just the facts of how this works.

To my eyes, Nastia (who was eliminated this week) lost this competition when, in her package, she basically said: "I don't have to answer that." Well, yes, yes you do. America isn't judging on the finer points of how you dance. That's what the judges are for (and really those are the only types of judges Nastia has known). America is judging on what kind of PERSON you are, and whether or not they like you, and whether or not you deserve to walk away with a Mirror Ball trophy.

Whatever the circumstances, whatever mood she was in, whatever... she answered that question how she answered it. Basically saying: I don't give a crap about what the fans want to know, I wanna go home.

And go home she did.

And so we have as our three finalists three people who very much deserve to be there, and who know how to be real for the folks back home: Rumer and Val, Noah and Sharna, and Riker and Allison. I can't wait for the finals.

But before all that, we had four more dances from everyone. This is something I wish they'd incorporated a long time ago, but shockingly, it's the first time ever. Each judge was slated to work with one of the remaining semifinalists, to create whatever dance they thought would best showcase that person.

They danced this round in the order they had danced the first.

Bruno worked with Rumer and Val, and (of course, with Bruno being as over the top as he is), they did Swan Lake (for heaven's sake!). And it was tremendous. Let's just cut to the chase and say that all judges scored all of these with 10s. (I mean, they should just leave the scoring out of this part next time, cause how is a judge going to vote against a fellow judge's work? Won't happen.)

Seriously, Swan Frikking Lake. And it was just unbelievable. And beautiful. Even if Val didn't wear his rumored tights (only).

Noah and Sharna worked with Carrie Ann, who did this amazing Valkyrian paso doble number with male backup dancers working behind Noah. It was stunning.

At this point, you're thinking this must be the finals or something, cause these numbers are just so spectacular and amazing.

Then we had Riker and Allison. If I had one complaint about this team, it's that the movement tends to be harsh and angular. There haven't been a lot (or even any) really sexy moments between them all season. Certainly not compared to what the other dancers are putting out.

Then Julianne gives us this (she decided to join in the dance, too).

It was an Argentine tango that was a threesome, and it was hot.

Then lastly, the Derek-Nastia-Len number, which was just so fitting as a last number for these two.

The votes for the eventual winner have, by now, been cast, from this particular show. But who will win? All of these performances were incredible, many of them even scoring perfectly from the judges.

It is harder now, after seeing these amazing dances from all to pick who will win, but I'm still going with my pick from last week: Rumer and Val.

The only difficulty these dancers are going to have is (as Tom Bergeron noted during the semifinal show): How are the finals going to top THIS?

Well, we shall see. Good luck to them all.

Dancing's finals are Monday and Tuesday, sandwiched in between the battling Bachelorettes, who are also Monday and Tuesday nights.

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DWTS Week 8: Perhaps the Best Go Forward After All

Sasha, Nastia and Derek in the Trio round of Week 8. Courtesy of ABC.

This week on Dancing with the Stars was both the big, heavily hyped "Double Elimination" night and Trio night. What was not a shocker was who got eliminated (Chris from The Bachelor and Robert). What WAS a shocker was why Mark Ballas and Willow Shields got bumped a week before them... but I'll move on.

First, we had the individual, supposedly "America's Choice" dances. Now, if you remember, Tom Bergeron mentioned very quickly and briefly that America could call in/text in/Skype in to choose everything about these dances: the dance, the costume style, the song, etc. For each of the remaining couples. These have always baffled me immensely. This time, I actually did hear the announcement, but by the time I called in, everything was already closed. So I'm not sure who this "America" is, or how they get those votes in, and/or all this discussion, but that's what they said, and you know I believe them.

Mostly, it was pretty predictable. I must say, America is, by and large, pretty predictable. They wanted Kym and Robert to do more kissing, and they wanted Noah and Sharna to do some military themed thing. Noah opted out of that because of, you know, flag and country, and rules when you wear our colors or whatever. He instead opted for America's second choice, a nice white tux.

And let me also say this. Because of the way it's been set up from the beginning, DWTS has always been about not only getting good scores from the judges, but also winning the hearts of America each week. And I do believe that ever since I've been watching it (halfway through their 10 years), the couple who wins are the ones who most captured America's hearts (not necessarily the best dancers). Sometimes those things coincide, sometimes they don't. But you ignore America at your own peril.

It has seemed that everyone, at this stage of the competition, is getting more about being vulnerable and being able to express emotions through the characters they are portraying (some doing this better than others). Riker, for example, expressing in his package: "It's weird to be vulnerable on purpose." But he was, at least, attempting to express emotion which came from his heart.

It doesn't serve anyone to have moments in your package, and mind you, this is a show in which EVERYONE talks to the camera about how they are feeling..that's part of the deal here...to refuse to answer any questions in the confessional. Sorry, but that only makes you look like a bitch.

I have already not been liking Nastia (perhaps her name is really fitting?). I understand now, with Derek hurt, they are under different constraints and are doing the best they can, but still...it's Nastia who is not forthcoming, and not showing emotions. Even Chris had tears in his eyes at the end of this week's show.

So, Chris and Witney do an emotional contemporary. Sharna and Noah do an emotional tango.

Riker and Allison do a Viennese waltz (wonderfully), where they are both expressing emotion (she's wonderful at it, he's trying very hard). Robert and Kym FINALLY kiss in their dance, and seem very vulnerable and laid bare. Rumer and Val go back to basics and "start with love," as Carrie Ann noted. And do my favorite dance of the individual dances of this night, a stunning rumba to "Perhaps."

And then, there's this.

Nastia and Sasha play gladiators (she kills him) and Derek is Caesar. Ugh.

I understand the paso doble is supposed to be all about anger and stuff, but still... ugh.

MICHE'S FAVORITE OF THE INDIVIDUAL DANCES FROM WEEK 8
1. Val and Rumer (rumba)
2. Allison and Riker (Viennese waltz)
3. Sasha and Nastia (and Derek) (paso doble)

Then, we had the trios. I love the trio dances. So many interesting combinations you can play with. Nothing can really beat Mark Ballas' trio with Emma from last season, but thankfully there were no samba trios as there usually always are.

(Oh, oops. Robert and Kym did one...)

Now, having said all that (HUGE chip on my shoulder about Nastia), we go into the trio round, and Derek pulls out some of his Derek magic, and they walk away with the most amazing incredible trio (seen above). Incredible dance. Wonderful to watch.

Riker and Allison and Britney BLEW MY MIND with their trio, it was so fun and fast-moving. And note: these were flying.

All of what I suspect will be the three finalists got at least one: Val and Rumer got two. Derek/Nastia/Sasha got one and Allison and Riker got one.

Actually, since the season has been pretty predictable so far, let me call it right now. I think Val and Rumer are gonna win this. And that would be both because of technical ability and because they are touching the heartstrings of America. Val has long deserved a Mirror Ball, it would be great for him to win one this season.

I adore Allison and Riker, and personally, they are my favorites for this season (now that Mark and Willow are gone). I look forward to the freestyle dances from both of these couples (and Derek and Nastia now). But I am rooting for Val to win his first Mirror Ball. (And predicting it.)

MICHE'S FAVORITE TRIO DANCES OF WEEK 8
1. Derek/Nastia/Sasha (jive)
2. Allison/Riker/Britany (jazz)
3. Val/Artem/Rumer (paso doble)

MICHE'S PREDICTIONS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON
1. Val and Rumer
2. Derek/Nastia/Sasha
3. Allison and Riker
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4. Sharna and Noah

We are starting again (apparently only in the final weeks) the Tuesday elimination/wrap up/miscellaneous hooha stuff. So, first, an image from last week's Tuesday 10th Anniversary show.

Truly an incredible moment. So many (not all) of the competitors had returned, some danced, some didn't. But at the end, all of them, and Tom and Erin, got into this mass of people dancing. It was quite fun.

Now THAT's a party!

At this week's Tuesday "Results Show," we did find out who the couples going home were.

Also on Monday, this happened:

It was Erin's birthday on Monday, and Tom's birthday on Wednesday, so there was a lot of birthday cake to be had. Happy Birthday to them both!

Usually during the Results Show, I just tune out to all the frou-frou hooha in between eliminations. However, on this show, they had Carly Rae Jepsen, which was fun; Josh Groban, performing a song off of his amazing new album, "Stages," and most incredible of all, quite unexpected, this DANCE! Travis Wall and Shaping Sound, with Allison and Jenna dancing as well.

Allison Holker and Travis Wall and Shaping Sound.

THIS is what I miss most from the Results Show. Not the lame repeat of a dance from the night before. But this example of what dance could be. This particular dance was this paragon of moving walls and dancers emoting, as the camera circled around them. It was really spectacular. It seemed (to me) to have an undercurrent of spousal abuse and emotional drama, and was really intense.

None of this lame (from the weeks before on the real show): "Oh, really? Do dancers do characters? I never knew that. I thought they just danced." (paraphrasing) This was in your face, characters and scenes and emotions, and people commiting suicide and being saved by others, and all this STUFF happening. It just took my breath away.

It was really really incredible. Allison Holker, man, is a dancer to watch. She just does such amazing stuff.

Anyway, that happened, and then, when our breath came back, it was back to who goes home this week.

Bring on the semi-finals!

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DWTS Week 6: This is a ballroom, not a bedroom... and other mishaps of Spring Break Week

Rumer, Val and dancers doing Bootylicious.

The mechanism of Dancing with the Stars, when working properly, should be like a well-oiled machine. Though hundreds of people work behind the scenes every week to bring us this magic, we shouldn't really see or think about any of them, if things are running properly.

This week, there are a few that need to be put in the position above and administered a few spankings.

First, the problems with the music.

There are two issues (to me) with the music (music chosen, music performed). One is lack of relevance to the theme. This week's theme (for whatever reason) was "Spring Break." What on Earth does the above song ("Bootylicious") have to do with Spring Break? That's the first problem, that the songs presented in a show are all over the damn place. They used to have a cohesion and unity. Maybe when they did the overhaul of the music department they threw out the person or people who had this job.

Well, that person's absence is noticeable.

Second, and much more problematic, was presented to us this week via their incredible editors.

Mind you, the dancers are working their butts off, from the moment a show ends till the next one begins. This week, they had two dances (a regular one and a Team dance) to choreograph and rehearse and make perfect.

And the dancers work even if they are injured, even if they don't feel like it. They present every single week.

Given that high level of perfection, it is INEXCUSABLE that Dancing with the Stars had such a high-profile train wreck as they did this week. Namely, their dancer, Allison Holker received a song (and further, why aren't the dancers themselves choosing the songs? or at least suggesting them? boggles my mind). Holker rightly heard her chosen selection, Missy Elliott's Work It, and knew... since she was thinking and all... that it was a heavily sexual song, and it not only "wouldn't work for Riker" (as she said in the package), but sure as hell wouldn't fly at ABC and Disney. (Are you kidding me?)

Maybe it's got a good beat (I don't know the song, but I have since read the lyrics... HOLY CRAP!). Completely inappropriate.

(As it is, Len called out the song that Val and Rumer performed to, "Bootylicious," by saying, "It's a ballroom, not a bedroom." I think Len should take that up with whomever is picking these songs, not poor Val and Rumer.) But I digress...

Allison (and I love her more each time she does things like this) said, "Um, no, you losers, we are not performing that overtly sexual song, pick something else, please." OK, I'm paraphrasing. Mind you, the show is performed Monday nights. Pretty much Tuesday morning, they should know their next song and get into gear with it.

How is is possible in this well-oiled universe that Allison didn't get her next song choice until THURSDAY? Are you kidding me, DWTS? How is this happening?

Now, I do understand that the web of music rights is a difficult one to tread (all the more reason to have one person whose entire job it is to do this). These dancers can't perform a song unless its rights have been cleared. And even then (ask Val about West Side Story)... it may cause some heart attacks right up until show time.

But it is absolutely appalling to me that when you have the dancers working at such a high level of perfectionism that you don't have the music stuff worked out further in advance. Like before the season starts. Week 6 Spring Break, what songs can we get for that? How hard is this? Do we have professionals in this job? UGH.

Amazingly, Allison and Riker pulled out an incredible samba anyway. (Best dance of the night, to my eyes.)

I love their dancing. Bruno, after this dance, called Riker's dancing "the future of dance." Personally, I think it's Allison Holker's choreography which is the future of dance. And if she can survive working with these morons who pick her music at DWTS, she'll go far.

Ah, but let's release the anger at the people who aren't doing their jobs well to enjoy the summery madness that is Spring Break.

Also, um, when was the last time women covered their mouths to whisper something? Bizarre.

Allison and Riker performed my favorite dance. Rumer and Val, even though crotchety Len was offended, were my second favorite. Val's choreography continues to stun. What bugged me about these particular dancers doing Bootylicious was not the salaciousness of it, but that the three (women) chosen were all dancers, with dancers' butts (aka small). Ain't no "booty" going on there...

And Mark Ballas, who often performs the best music on this show... sometimes I think he works out the rights himself, sidestepped the whole music rights issue by performing Tequila (which must be public domain by now). Maybe Allison should have a chat with him about this?

And Mark actually utilized the theme of Spring Break in his dance concept. It was joyous, and while his previous dances were a whole lotta stagecraft, this one was just straight-up dancing and fun.

Who could not have fun when dancing a salsa to Tequila? Great lifts packed in there, too.

Chris and Witney, amazingly hanging in there, had great costumes and sets to work with.

They did a Viennese waltz to Hopelessly Devoted to You. It was nice. Chris seems to be learning about this rhythm thing. The camerawork during their number was superb.

Derek and Nastia. What to say? They are now another couple who did the tango this season. Quite nicely, too, even if Len thought it was "too fast."

People who go on this show are just crazy. They think they can just slide it into some segment of their lives, when really, what they are committing to is horribly exhausting, even if all you are doing is that. So we have the saga of Derek doing 10 shows a week on Broadway, plus this show. And Nastia, going to school at NYU, plus this show, and both of them flying back and forth each week.

Nastia says in her package this week: "I just didn't think it would be this grueling."

*eyeroll* So whatever on them. It may not have affected their dance (or their Team Dance, but it sure seemed to.)

However, with this maddening schedule, something does have to give, and it did this week. Derek had an injury which caused him to drop out of his Broadway commitment (good for that). The Universe sometimes works in good ways. They have not yet announced if the injury is so serious that he'll also be dropping out of DWTS (I kinda doubt that, given his work ethic).

Guess some people just like to add high levels of stress to their lives. But sheesh...

And then, at what is now the bottom of the pack, we have Noah and Sharna.

They seemed to have (in their package) some tension because Sharna is bossing him around. I do gotta believe this man isn't really used to having women give him orders. They tried to brush it off later as, "well, it was only 10 minutes out of a whole week, and really, we're good. It's all good." Blah blah. Have I mentioned how much I love these editors this season?

Sharna's choreography of this rumba was really beautiful, though.

And then we have maybe possible lovers maybe not Kym and Robert. Really, I think they should leave this show, and go off and have a grand affair together... but that's just me.

The thing that you don't realize in most of their dances is that he's really rather pigeon-toed. This couple is not long for this dance floor, I promise you. (They danced to Surfin' Safari, also probably in public domain.)

Oh, and then, we had the couple leaving on this night. Have you noticed that thus far this season, every couple who has left the show has also danced first?

Also, note to potential Dancing with the Stars' "celebrities": If they have you dancing with multiple people, you likely suck at dancing. Every single week, Patti LaBelle has had a team of people up there on stage with her. Personally, I am so glad she is gone.

However, before she left, there was this.

Team Trouble

In addition to being Spring Break week, it was also Team Dances week. As we all know, Derek's team wins. Derek's team ALWAYS wins. Also, the losing team is always the one from which someone goes home.

This week (I believe the first since they've been doing Team Dances) is the first in which both teams tied. And someone went home from the team that wasn't Derek's team.

I loved, loved, loved Team Trouble's dance.

But in all truth and honesty, Derek's team, Team YOLO, also didn't live up to the normal Team Derek dance choreography and flash.

Team YOLO

Just wasn't up to the normal Derek Hough standards, of Team Dances in the past. IMHO.

Oh, and since this is Bitch Column from Hell, what was up with the audio in this episode? And the sync?

Julianne's audio was awful. She was wearing some kind of dress where when she moved (which she does), it muffled the audio. I've done podcasts with better audio. Horribly unprofessional.

Then, later in the show, the whole show got out of sync. (Starting from when they did the reveal at the Team Dances about who was going home. Until somewhere in the middle of the first Team Dance.)  STOP THAT! Awful, awful, awful and very unprofessional. And it went on for MINUTES. Ugh.

Aside to Tom Bergeron: Man, I love you. That "hot pockets" joke still has me laughing. You save so many moments over the weeks. I so appreciate everything you do.

Aside to Erin Andrews: You rock so much too. I loved when you told the dancing crabs to take a hike. That was awesome.

Or, as Tom said, "If we've learned anything this week, we've learned that those crabs are going to be with us all season." We can hope not.

Tom, later, to Sasha, who was in the crab outfit: "Sasha, how many times you been in this crab outfit this season?"

Sasha: "Five times."

Tom B: "You need a better agent, buddy."

Classic stuff.

MICHE'S FAVORITES FOR WEEK 6, SPRING BREAK WEEK

1. Allison and Riker (samba)

2. Val and Rumer ("jazz")

3. Mark and Willow (salsa)

4. Derek and Nastia (tango)

5. Witney and Chris (Viennese waltz)


PLEASE GO NOW

1. Kym and Robert

2. Sharna and Noah

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