Las Vegas Weekly

May 3, 2010 · 6:30 AM

DWTS preview: Who’s dancing what, plus Viva Elvis cast to perform

By Robin Leach

The bottom three couples, Chelsie Hightower and Jake Pavelka, Anna Trebunskaya and Evan Lysacek and Niecy Nash and Louis Van Amstel of Week 6 of Dancing With the Stars.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

As Season 10 of ABC’s juggernaut Dancing With the Stars waltzes onward, 18 acrobats and dancers from Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis in Aria at MGM’s CityCenter are set as this week’s guest stars on the results show. After last week’s loss of The Bachelor rose bearer Jake Pavelka, we are now down to the super six who in less than 48 hours will become the fabulous five.

It’s a battle between four female stars and two male celebrities, and tonight’s episode will further divide them up into two teams for a cha-cha challenge. Las Vegas is still represented with former Planet Hollywood headliner Pamela Anderson dancing with Damian Whitewood; former Las Vegas resident Derek Hough with singer Nicole Scherzinger, late of the Pussycat Dolls; and professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy, choreographer for Le Reve at the Wynn, teamed with ESPN beauty Erin Andrews.

Tonight, Nicole and Derek and Pamela and Damian dance a slow waltz. Erin and Maks, along with rivals comedienne and actress Niecy Nash partnered with Louis Van Amstel, will take on the quickstep, and Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek with Anna Trebunskaya handle the Argentine tango. Lastly, Cincinnati wide receiver Chad Ochocinco dances the Viennese waltz with partner Cheryl Burke.

Last week, Evan and Anna wound up in the bottom three facing possible elimination, so they have to really skate their way back to the top and dethrone current leaders of the pack Nicole and Derek -- will either couple slip? Is Chad strong enough to defeat Pamela or Niecy, who will probably wind up in the bottom tomorrow?

So as we get closer to the May 24 finals night, it still looks as if the top three will be Nicole, Erin and Evan, as we predicted from the first night. The bigger question is if fans will rally for Pamela to be a late surprise and oust Erin. But for tomorrow’s results show, expect to see Niecy, Pamela and Chad in the bottom trio facing elimination, with Niecy the one who’s sent packing.

Our Viva Elvis cast will dance the rock ’em and sock ’em “Blue Suede Shoes” number on tomorrow’s results show, but DWTS choreographers Napoleon and Tabitha Dumo had to create an arrangement to fit the smaller stage. It’s phenomenal exposure for Cirque’s newest Strip show, which had its world premiere here Feb. 19 and has been hailed as a triumph of 90 minutes of high-powered entertainment. Some 20 million TV viewers will get a glimpse of Viva Elvis, which also was featured recently on Fox’s American Idol when Adam Lambert was the mentor during Elvis Presley week.

We’ll Twitter live -- without judges’ scores -- when tonight’s telecast goes live at 5 p.m. PT to the Eastern Time zone, and then when it’s concluded, we’ll have our spoiler-alert story -- with judges’ scores - shortly after. Our dance-floor photos and recap will be posted tomorrow.

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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