Las Vegas Weekly

May 24, 2010 · 6:21 PM

Season 10 finale of ABC’s DWTS: Shakeup with the scores

By Robin Leach

Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy in the Dancing With the Stars semifinals on May 17, 2010.

Photo: Adam Larkey/ABC TV

It’s called the redemption dance and gives the final three celebrity couples the opportunity to make up points for dances that challenged them during the earlier weeks of Season 10.

Frontrunners -- and tied neck-and-neck -- Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger and Las Vegas’ Derek Hough were assigned the rumba by the judges, while Olympic figure skating champion Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya faced the Viennese waltz. Trailing but still contenders, ESPN anchor Erin Andrews and our Le Reve choreographer Maksim Chmerkovskiy were handed the samba.

The three contenders down to the wire also performed the fan favorite no rules freestyle dance.

SPOILER ALERT: Please don’t read any further if you want to watch the West Coast tape-delayed broadcast of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars without anything revealed. Consider this our one and only friendly warning! But come back after the show to see if you agree with our observations.

Erin and Maks went first -- and wowed and dazzled. The judges not only commented on their fantastic improvement but also awarded them a near-perfect score of 29. Check out Anna’s piano keyboard dress when you watch the show and marvel at Evan’s performance, which won them 28. Now that shook up the leaderboard battle a little.

Nicole let her long hair flow loose, and judge Bruno Tonioli went to pieces in his praise for the sensuality improvements of contact between them. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said she was mesmerized by it, and the judges awarded 28 points.

That meant the unexpected with Erin now in the lead and the past front-runners tied in second place! Will it be the same finishes for the second dances? Will those scores shake up everybody’s overnight standings? It now depends on the second dance -- the no rules freestyle -- to be performed by all three couples.

Once again the shakeups continued: Nicole and Derek scored 27, Erin and Maks managed 26, and Evan and Anna slid further with just 24 points. Thus final scoring was Erin and Maks tied at 55 apiece with Nicole and Derek. It turned out to be shock, awe and surprise for Evan and Anna trailing with just 52. The judges lambasted Evan and Anna, saying their dancing was demented!

It all assures record-breaking viewing for tomorrow’s closing show, with the last scores shaking up the standings, and the final three couples all dancing the Argentine tango.

Tomorrow in the finals, one of the three duos will be eliminated, and all the couples from Season 10 dance again. We posted our detailed breakdown of the individual dances this morning.

We’ll have the dance-floor action photos tomorrow morning and another report of the winner tomorrow night compiled from combined judges and TV viewer votes.

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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