Las Vegas Weekly

May 18, 2009 · 6:33 PM

It’s two final dances for the last three couples on Dancing With the Stars

By Robin Leach

The final three couples on Season 8 of Dancing With the Stars.

Photo: ABC TV

It’s called the “Paso Punch-out,” where one dance couple follows the other in rotation in a longer version of the same song.

And that’s exactly what Melissa Rycroft, Shawn Johnson and Gilles Marini had to do with their first paso doble challenge of the night. It permits the three judges to make perfect comparisons of style, flow, footwork and choreography as the stars dance alongside one another with the same music.

Photo: ABC TV

Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas.

The three contenders for the crown also each had to perform a freestyle number as their second routine of the night.

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!

Photo: ABC TV

Cheryl Burke and Gilles Marini on Dancing With the Stars.

It was their last opportunity after 10 weeks of Season 8 of the top-rated ABC show to win over the three judges and TV viewers before tomorrow night’s two-hour final show. In the studio to watch the nail-biting climax were our Las Vegas contingent of Julianne Hough, Derek Hough, Holly Madison, Chelsie Hightower and Steve-O, who were all eliminated in previous weeks.

Shawn and Mark went first in the punch-out, getting a judges’ score of 28 out of a possible 30, followed by Melissa and Tony earning 29 and Gilles and Cheryl going third and scoring a perfect 30.

Photo: ABC TV

Tony Dovolani and Melissa Rycroft.

In the freestyle round and really going for gold, Shawn and Mark received a perfect 30, making their night’s total 58; Melissa and Tony scored 27 for a total of 56; and Gilles, fighting through shoulder pain, and Cheryl received 28 for a total of 58.

One important note: Tony was hit in the eye by Melissa when he threw her in the air, and we have no way of knowing at this moment if he will be affected for tomorrow night’s show. On tomorrow’s show, our local favorites will be dancing: Holly with Dmitry Chaplin, Julianne with country singer boyfriend Chuck Wicks, Chelsie with cowboy king Ty Murray and Steve-O with Lacey Schwimmer.

Two couples will shake, and possibly fume, as the judges and viewer votes are tallied and go home defeated and dejected, as only one star outshines all the others. We’ll be back in the morning right here at Vegas DeLuxe with the dance floor photos and to set up tomorrow night’s showdown. It’s now up to the often unpredictable TV viewer votes to be combined with the judges scores for the final results!

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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