Las Vegas Weekly

November 2, 2009 · 7:26 PM

Double shocker on DWTS: Is Las Vegas favorite in trouble?

By Robin Leach

The remaining contestants on Dancing With the Stars.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

Just as the experts smugly lay back with their predictions in place, chaos erupted on tonight’s Dancing With the Stars and completely shook up the standings. Three duos danced as Team Tango, and the remaining four danced as Team Paso Doble, changing routines right down to the deadline dress rehearsals.

SPOILER ALERT: Please do not read any further if you want to get the full surprise and drama of watching the West Coast tape-delayed broadcast of ABC’s top-rated Dancing With the Stars. But come back after the show to compare notes with us!

Heartthrob singer Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff had been tipped to wind up at the bottom of the board and face possible elimination. However, in an amazing change of events, they performed the jive and grabbed two perfect 10 scores from the judges for a top-of-the-leaderboard 29 vote!

Flu suddenly hit pro dancer Lacey Schwimmer at the last moment, so Iron Chef star Mark Dacascos had to dance with Anna Trebunskaya. Without his regular partner, he fell to pieces, disaster struck, and he wound up with a dismal 19 points, which sent them right to the bottom. Incidentally, Anna was here in Las Vegas last week at the opening of Wayne Newton’s Once Before I Go at the Tropicana with pro dancers Cheryl Burke and Edyta Sliwinska.

Ex-NFL star Michael Irvin, who also had been predicted to be ousted this week, stunned everybody with his fox trot and scored 23 with partner Anna Demidova, which might just save him for yet another week. How viewers vote overnight will determine the final verdicts and the now totally unpredictable double elimination tomorrow night. We’ll be back tomorrow with the dance-floor action photos.

Our Las Vegas favorites Donny Osmond with Kym Johnson seem safe with 24 points, for their quick step, although viewers were confused and stunned by the amazing shredded dress he’d designed for her. Just as baffling was the blue pants outfit that Kelly Osbourne gave partner Louis Van Amstel to wear for their salsa. But judge Bruno Tonioli was blown away with it and jumped atop the desk shrieking with applause. Kelly tied Donny with 24, so she looks safe until the viewers take over.

Las Vegas Academy graduate Derek Hough and model Joanna Krupa sizzled with their sex-fueled rumba and scored 27, but the dream sequence with Derek discovering himself in a mirror after a hot, romantic fantasy with Joanna on a beach was certain to raise more viewer and censor eyebrows!

This week, the dancers were allowed to select their costumes, and it turned out to be a baffling series of a lack of fashion sense! In other scores, singer Mya and partner Dmitry Chaplin notched up 25 after Cloris Leachman made a surprise appearance to talk about the interpretations of the fox trot by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff do an Argentine Tango on Dancing With the Stars.

The night’s telecast ended with Team Paso Doble (Mya, Aaron, Mark and Michael) going first and scoring 24. Team Tango (Joanna, Kelly and Donny) wrapped up the night with a dance to Bon Jovi’s music, where Donny became the center of the ladies’ attention and won them a great 28. With the four-point gain over the competition, that means those extra points were added to the solo scores of Joanna, Kelly and Donny, putting them well out of harm’s way in tomorrow’s elimination.

Pro dancers Derek and Mark Ballas perform as the Ballas-Hough band, along with the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, Aaron’s brother, tomorrow night. Now the big question is if viewers will vote off Mark and Michael, or if Mya, now third from bottom, will be thrown into a dance-off with one of them. We’ll report live as it happens on the broadcast to the East Coast.

For the record: If you’re a devoted Dancing With the Stars fan, mark your calendar now for Thanksgiving week that the two-hour finale will be at 9 p.m. on Nov. 24.

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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— From Vegas Deluxe

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