'Dancing With The Stars' week 7: Dance-by-dance recap, elimination
LOS ANGELES -- "Dancing With The Stars" offered a night of spook-tacular performances. Not only were the routines inspired by the Halloween spirit, but there were also plenty of creepy hijinks in the rehearsal hall. The producer showed us lots of fun clips of people scaring others during the week. Kudos to Sasha Farber for hiding in a hollowed out refrigerator! Plus, we had the return of head judge Len Goodman!
This week, the eight remaining couples not only had to master their individual Halloween-themed routine, but they also had to jump into a competitive team dance. For the team dances, the cast was divided into two ghoulish groups: Team Creepy Du Soleil and Team Itsy Bitsy.
Itsy Bitsy was led by Bethany Mota and Derek Hough. Bethany chose Janel Parrish, Lea Thompson and Michael Waltrip to join the team. The pressure was on Derek because he's NEVER lost a team dance. Michael had to miss one rehearsal because of a charity event. It didn't help that he already felt like the weak link. He pulled it out, though, and the group got 36 out of 40 points.
Team Creepy had Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson as captains. They were joined by Sadie Robertson, Antonio Sabato Jr. and Tommy Chong. Their dance was the very fun and campy "Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Of course, Witney and Sadie are too young to know what that is, but no matter. The judges praised everyone's individual contributions, but thought they weren't quite in sync. The group got 32 out of 40.
PHOTOS: "Dancing With The Stars" week 7 highlights
Here's the rundown of this week's scores, from highest to lowest:
BETHANY MOTA - 39 out of 40 for individual; 75 out of 80 total
Do it again! Do it again! Do it again! We got a peek into the way Derek trains his celebrities. His key word? Repetition. Derek told Bethany he saw a breakthrough with her last week and he wanted to keep building on that. They had the Paso Doble and, no surprise, Derek's choreography was out of this world. He may have had to ride her a bit hard this week to pump up her energy and center her focus, but it worked. Perfect scores from Carrie Ann Inaba, Julianne Hough and Bruno Tonioli. Only Len knocked off a point, saying he wanted to see a little more dance and a little less production.
VIDEO: Bethany Mota talks dealing with stress on 'DWTS'
LEA THOMPSON - 34 out of 40 for individual; 70 out of 80 total
Thank you Julianne, for telling Lea to give herself a break. She really is doing a great job week after week and has been improving - just what the judges want to see! Lea's been frustrated by the comments, annoyed with her sore ribs and just plain tired. She and Artem Chigvintsev got through a rough week of rehearsal and performed a strong Argentine Tango. Len called the routine clean and precise. Bruno said they were efficient and accurate. Then he got a bit effusive, as Bruno often does, sat in Julianne's lap and promptly fell on the floor. Wipeout!
VIDEO: Lea Thompson, Artem Chigvintsev reveal next week's dance
ALFONSO RIBEIRO - 36 out of 40 for individual; 68 out of 80 total
Alfonso was over the moon last week after getting a near perfect score on a week when he was really hurting. He nursed his injuries (although got a few more minor dings during the week), but Witney pushed him through to a romantic Rumba. They got 9's across the board, with all the judges praising their "proper" Rumba. Bruno called it captivating, involving and convincing. Carrie Ann told them "magic" was happening. Len applauded the fact there wasn't any "messing about." And most importantly, congrats to Alfonso and his wife! He announced they are pregnant with their second child.
VIDEO: Alfonso Ribeiro, Witney Carson reveal next week's Cha Cha
JANEL PARRISH - 31 out of 40 for individual; 67 out of 80 total
Last week everyone was focusing on the "are they or aren't they" relationship question with Janel and Val Chmerkovskiy. This week, we're back to talking about dance and that made Val very happy. They danced a Viennese Waltz to the theme from her show, "Pretty Little Liars." She seemed very excited at the prospect of getting to fake kill Val at the end of the routine. Julianne thought the dance was gorgeous, but not quite a Viennese Waltz. Len agreed. Carrie Ann praised the fluidity of the dance.
VIDEO: Janel Parrish impersonates partner Val Chmerkovskiy
SADIE ROBERTSON - 30 out of 40 for individual; 62 out of 80 total
Mark Ballas had to go back to Louisiana for the week because Sadie's family is currently shooting "Duck Dynasty." He was a little rattled by the amount of production people who were now in his rehearsal room! It took him a bit to find a concept for the Paso Doble, but he came up with a fun zombie-filled theme. Bruno and Julianne gave them 8's, while Len and Carrie Ann didn't think there was enough content.
VIDEO: Sadie Robertson, Mark Ballas talk about fun in dance routine
TOMMY CHONG - 28 out of 40 for individual; 60 out of 80 total
Yes, the Tommy comments sound a bit like a broken record, but, come on, it has to be reinforced that this guy is 76 years old. Most people half his age couldn't pull this off. And the quickstep! Fast, fast, fast! Peta Murgatroyd admitted she was worried about the quickstep, about the group dance and about Tommy's knees! Len let Tommy know that this is one of the hardest dances and called his routine charming. Bruno told him he was surprisingly good in hold. Carrie Ann appreciated all the content in the number, but pointed out he was off-tempo several times.
VIDEO: Tommy Chong, Peta Murgatroyd talk surviving 'DWTS'
ANTONIO SABATO JR. - 27 out of 40 for individual; 59 out of 80 total
Cheryl Burke kept with the Halloween theme and told Antonio she's put a spell on him (which also happened to be their song). They seemed to have a good rehearsal week with the Argentine Tango. Antonio was eager to show Len the improvement he's made. But the pressure of the ballroom got to him. He seemed just a hair off. Carrie Ann said the performance just didn't feel smooth to her. Julianne said she wanted to see more from him. Len said the dance just wasn't what he was hoping to see this week.
MICHAEL WALTRIP - 20 out of 40 for individual; 56 out of 80 total
It's week seven, so there's no time to mince words. And the judges didn't. Michael attempted a jive and Emma Slater tried her hardest to teach it to him, but it's a hard, fast dance and he just didn't get it. He seemed to be more of a prop that Emma danced around. Carrie Ann called it a great freestyle instead of a jive. Julianne kept with the Halloween theme and said the dance was a nightmare. Len told us he was surprised that Michael was still here and that he seemed to be running on empty.
VIDEO: Michael Waltrip shares inspiration for dancing
After Team Itsy Bitsy performed, Tom Bergeron told them they were all safe. That meant bad news for Team Creepy. Alfonso was announced as safe, followed by Sadie, leaving Antonio and Tommy in the bottom two.
Leaving the ballroom in this seventh week of competition: Antonio and Cheryl.
VIDEO: Antonio Sabato Jr. talks about his relationship with Cheryl Burke
"I'm absolutely okay with going home, because the world is full of a lot of good things. This has been a really cool journey, but there's a lot more important things in my life, absolutely," Antonio said.
Seven couples return next week to dance to a "Dynamic Duos" theme. We'll see dances inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, Batman and Robin and Romeo and Juliet, among others.
