DANCING WITH THE STARS Showdown: Double Trouble!

Only five couples remain on DANCING WITH THE STARS, and the pressure is higher than ever with the contestants dancing two individual numbers for the first time this season.

Rob Kardashian and Cheryl are the first to hit the ballroom floor. Rob has been steadily improving over the past few weeks, and with his reality TV star family in the audience (sans Kim), this week is no exception. "You worked every week, and you grew," Carrie Ann Tells him, and the two walk away with nines across the board for a rather surprising 27 points. They also pick a random CD with the name of a surprise song to which they'll dance an "instant jive"; Rob draws Hall & Oates' Maneater.

Maks apologizes to his celebrity partner, Hope Solo, for his harsh attitude toward her last week. He brings the soccer star to meet his family in order to get to know him better, and Hope thinks that the improvement in their relationship will show in their dance. The two are dancing to Amy Winehouse's "Valerie" in with cheery yellow hats and umbrellas. Despite a slight costume issue (Hope's hat seems to get stuck in her hair for a second until Maks takes it off for her), it's a definite step forward for Hope as she and Maks also earn 27 points for their season high. They pull Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing" for their instant jive.

A constant presence at the top of the leaderboard, Ricki Lake and partner Derek are up next. Ricki, in a flowy light blue dress, is looking to keep up her momentum this week. If Len's comments are any indication she did just that: "It was beautifully executed," he says. They earn 28 points in two nines with a ten from Bruno and they also choose an instant jive song with Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances."

Nancy Grace and Tristan disappointed last week, but Nancy's determined to come back fighting. Unfortunately it's the wrong kind of fighting - she and Tristan bicker throughout their rehearsal video. It doesn't help their performance, although Nancy's been giving a solid effort to improve and she receives one of her better scores with 24 points. Nancy selects "Upside Down" by Paloma Faith for the instant jive.

J.R. Martinez takes a laid back approach to learning his waltz with Karina this week. His jovial attitude certainly helps him, though, as he receives the praise of all three judges. "Tonight, something happened in the middle there that was just magic," Carrie Ann Tells the pair. "It was just a wonderful feeling, thank you for sharing that with us." An elated J.R. and Karina receive the first perfect score of the season before revealing their instant jive song: Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti."

The instant jives will close out the night. The couples have already practiced to generic music, but they don't find out what song they'll be dancing to until moments before they go on. Each has already chosen a song, and they'll take it on in the same performing order. The scores for the instant jive aren't quite on par with the scores for the first routines - Rob and Cheryl earn 24 points; Hope and Maks earn 25 points; Ricki and Derek earn 24 points; Nancy and Tristan earn 20 points; but J.R. and Karina, who earlier in the night scored the first perfect score of the season, pull another perfect score out of the hat for 60 out of 60 points total.

Tomorrow night, tune in while the semi-finalists are revealed along with performances from Andra Boccelli and more!

Final Judges' Scores:

 

• J.R. Martinez and Karina: 60/60
• Ricki Lake and Derek: 52/60
• Hope Solo and Maks: 52/60
• Rob Kardashian and Cheryl: 51/60
• Nancy Grace and Tristan: 44/60

 

Viewers may cast their votes for their favorite teams via phone on Monday night during and up to 30 minutes after the "Dancing with the Stars" performance shows. Wireless customers with AT&T may also text message their votes by texting the word "VOTE" to the number that corresponds to the team they want to support (message and data rates may apply). Viewers may also vote online at www.abc.com starting from the opening of each episode on the East Coast, until 8:00 a.m., PT the following day. Fans may cast the maximum limit of votes for each voting method.

"Dancing with the Stars" is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, "Strictly Come Dancing." This version is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Conrad Green serves as executive producer and Rob Wade is co-executive producer. Alex Rudzinski directs. "Dancing with the Stars" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.