Las Vegas Weekly

May 4, 2009 · 7:27 PM

Judges are booed repeatedly as final five compete on DWTS

By Robin Leach

The six remaining couples on Dancing With the Stars' Season 8 on April 28.

Photo: ABC TV

Five couples remain on Season 8 of Dancing With the Stars, and tonight they faced two dances apiece in ballroom and Latin -- and the producers mandated that the Latin number had to feature a minimum 15-second solo routine by the celebrity. The good news is that injured Melissa Rycroft is back on the dance floor!

Don’t read any further if you plan on watching the tape-delayed West Coast broadcast of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars and want nothing spoiled beforehand! But come back after the show to compare notes!

The judges are toughening up the criticism and are booed throughout the night. Their first volley was fired at Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas for their quickstep. They ignored the cardinal rule of “not breaking the hold” throughout the dance. The judges said it would have been Shawn’s best dance to date, but they each penalized her one point for the non-holding and gave her 27 out of 30. Ty Murray and Chelsie Hightower, our Las Vegas professional, score 25 for their Argentine tango -- and in the night’s first upset, Lil’ Kim and Las Vegas Academy professional Derek Hough score only 25 for their waltz. The judges don’t mince words about Lil’ Kim, telling her she has to bring fire to make it into the semifinals -- and she shrieks when Bruno Tonioli refers to her in an offensive manner, even though he apologizes afterward over his mangled English.

When Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke score 29 for their foxtrot, the judges let slip with a compliment that his performance could get him into the semifinals. Melissa and partner Tony Dovolani turn in an impressive performance with their Viennese waltz, considering they couldn’t even dance last week due to her hairline fractured rib. They score 27, so it’s fairly neck-and-neck jockeying at the front of the leader board as the competition switches over to the Latin dance routines.

Shawn and Mark win a second standing ovation of the night for their paso doble and score their best count in the contest to date: 29. They would have scored a total of 59 for the night if they hadn’t been penalized in the quickstep for breaking their hold! It looks as if Ty and Chelsie’s fate is sealed when the judges slam his rumba but soften the blow, saying his personality is great! They receive 21.

The judges get booed for their criticisms of Lil’ Kim, but they award her 27 for the sassy salsa where she really shook her “bionic booty”! Gilles and Cheryl win raves for their rumba as the sexiest dance of the night, with the audience handing out another standing ovation -- and wondering how Cheryl managed to stay inside the tiniest square of see-through fabric. The judges say it was too raunchy and give them a 27, which prompts more audience boos.

The last dance of the night is from Melissa and Tony, and their samba is a knockout that blows away the competition. Pain management and medication obviously worked, although it might also be blamed for her winding up on the judges’ table. The judges were so impressed, they didn’t fault her on that violation and gave her a perfect score of 30.

The totals for the night are Melissa and Tony, 57 out of 60; Shawn and Mark, 56; Gilles and Cheryl, 56; Lil’ Kim and Derek, 52; and Ty and Chelsie, 46.

So with Ty and Chelsie at the bottom and the other four within five points of one another, it’s up to viewers to cast the fate of the Final four! We’ll be back in the morning with official dance floor photos and tomorrow night again right after the axe falls on one couple. Rodeo cowboy champion Ty just might not be able to wrestle his way out of this predicament!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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