Whatever Len says is drowned out by the audience. Cheryl gets a confirmation from Tom that he liked it. Bruno talks about the atmosphere Emmitt creates. Carrie Ann says Emmitt has "samba swagger" but then does point out a moment where he got off the beat.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 9.5; Bruno: 10
Group routine
We saw during the rehearsal footage that Melissa hurt her neck during rehearsal; it was diagnosed as a herniated disc in her neck. She's on a lot of drugs, she says.
In case you forgot, the couples in this group are Shawn & Derek, Melissa & Tony, Sabrina & Louis, and Apolo & Karina. So, gymnast, cheerleader, dancer, athlete. Yipes, that's a strong combination.
Shawn explains that they're going for a "football player/cheerleader" theme. Melissa says, "We're guessing the other team is going the comedy route, because they have some comedians, so we're going the technical route." That's very, very smart of them.
They start with kind of a "spirit yell" and then it goes into a full-on cheerleading routine, with stand-lifts and everything. Then Louis and Sabrina are the spotlight couple. Louis in football pants is going to make me giggle all week.
Shawn does a cartwheel to come back on stage and then she's dancing with Louis, while Derek dances with Sabrina, all in sync. Then they swap partners and Louis and Sabrina leave the stage. It's a slick piece of choreography.
Then they do a move where the four girls and three of the guys are in a circle with locked arms and as the guys spin the circle, the girls are lifted into the air. It's totally a cheerleading move and it looks fantastic.
Then it's Tony and Melissa's solo and at the end of it, Tony grabs her hands, Louis grabs her feet and Louis comes out to grab her feet (which he does bobble a little bit) and then they swing her like a jump rope. IS THAT THE SMARTEST THING TO BE DOING WHEN SHE HAS A HERNIATED DISC IN HER NECK? Yikes.
Apolo slides under the swinging Melissa and then he and Karina start their solo with several lifts that are more ballroom than cheerleading and I'm glad that someone remembered what show we're on. I know, I know, it's a freestyle, but I still like some actual ballroom dance in there.
But then Apolo and Karina go into some moves that look suspiciously like what they did in their hip hop routine from last week. Finally, all four couples are back on the dance floor and they finish the routine in a classic cheerleading group pose. It's not exactly a pyramid, but it looks like one.
Len says the individual performances were fantastic and as a group they were tight. He loved the way they introduced each couple. Bruno said the choreography made it almost impossible to distinguish the professionals and the celebrities. Carrie Ann does an actual cheer and she loved it.
Scores: Carrie Ann: 9.5; Len: 10; Bruno: 10
I'm not sure why Len gives that a 10 but not Gilles & Peta's. He is an enigma, our Len.
I'm not going to put up a scoreboard tonight because it will all change tomorrow night when they dance again.
