Las Vegas Weekly

April 6, 2010 · 12:38 PM

DWTS photos: Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya take the lead

By Robin Leach

Anna Trebunskaya and Evan Lysacek on Week 3 of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

The leader board changed last night on Dancing With the Stars as Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger and Las Vegas pro partner Derek Hough quickstepped -- or didn’t, rather -- their way behind new leaders Olympic figure skating gold medalist Evan Lysacek and partner Anna Trebunskaya.

In fact, Nicole and Derek were in a tie for second place with ESPN host Erin Andrews and her pro partner, Le Reve choreographer and ballroom bad boy Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

Little changed down on the bottom rung, with legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin with Ashly Costa and reality TV star Kate Gosselin with Tony Dovolani far behind the group. Tonight’s second elimination show will probably see one of them being kicked off after a performance by Reba McEntire and an acoustic paso doble.

Meantime, the rest of the stars are all bunched up in the middle with nearly equal scores. Now it’s totally up to the viewers. Maybe they will shake up the ABC hit series and cut a celebrity from that tight grouping to surprise yet again.

Added to the drama was the sad situation involving death-threat emails directed toward Erin. Security was beefed up, and she still danced with Maks, vowing not to quit despite the threats. The FBI is reportedly investigating this new circumstance, which comes after a stalker of Erin was recently given a jail sentence.

Here is a backstage video of last week’s show posted by ABC on YouTube:

And here are last night’s results:

Evan, dancing with “a few broken toes,” and Anna danced a quickstep to “Hot Honey Rag” from Chicago and scored 26 points with a feuding husband-and-wife storyline. Buzz and Ashly danced a waltz to “What a Wonderful World” and scored only 13 judges’ points for a storyline of a military hero returning home from a war to his loving daughter.

The Bachelor star Jake Pavelka and Las Vegas’ own Chelsie Hightower, sporting skunk hair, danced the quickstep to The Bangle’s “Walk Like an Egyptian” with an Indiana Jones-styled adventure as an explorer opening Cleopatra’s tomb -- who is alive and kicking for 21 points. Comedian and actress Niecy Nash and Louis Van Amstel also scored 21 with their emotional waltz danced to “I’m Born Again” about a loving bi-racial couple fighting discrimination in the 1960s. Niecy was in tears during the rehearsals and after the performance.

Cincinnati Bengals star Chad Ochocinco danced the paso doble with partner Cheryl Burke for a score of 20 for their seduction story of his interest and her lack thereof, mirroring real life, Chad joked. Actress Pamela Anderson took on the role of a flamenco gypsy in love with her bullfighter played by partner Damian Whitewood. Their paso doble danced to “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” scored 21 after rehearsals that included a guest drop-in and lessons by Charo and a funny line about Pamela’s “maracas.”

All My Children star Aiden Turner brought his pro partner Edyta Sliwinska to life in a painting of his dream girl when they danced a quickstep to Train’s “Soul Sister.” Aiden’s wife and baby daughter were on hand to wish him a “Happy Birthday,” and his gift from the judges was a score of 20. Erin and Maks danced a waltz to “See the Day,” with Erin being blindfolded in a story of a woman trusting her partner, and the (real-life?) couple scored 23.

Taking a page from the paparazzi who follow her every move, Kate performed a paso doble to Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” with Tony, but the judges had some of the harshest words of the night for her, and they scored only 15. Two-week frontrunners Nicole and Derek wore matching sailor outfits for their quickstep to “Anything Goes” and were criticized for not actually dancing a quickstep and breaking rules. In fact, chief judge and curmudgeon Len Goodman gave them a 6, while Bruno Tonioli gave them a 9.

Here is the official YouTube video of their dance last week, which earned them two perfect 10s:

Evan and Nicole should certainly remain safe after tonight’s results show, while Buzz and Kate look to be in serious trouble at the bottom of the leader board. Or will TV viewers produce another surprise and eliminate one of the crowded middle contenders, like they did last week with Shannen Doherty and Mark Ballas? Prediction: Kate will ride off into the sunset trailed by paparazzi.

We’ll have the results right here at Vegas DeLuxe immediately after the satellite transmission from Hollywood to the East Coast complete with an appropriate spoiler alert. We’ll have the drama leading up to the elimination on my Twitter page but won’t give away the surprise there!

Vegas DeLuxe Editor Don Chareunsy contributed to this report.

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.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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