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I’m wondering who will be the one to leave Dancing With the Stars this week. Since the beginning, there have been calls for the removal of this person or that person, mostly Cloris Leachman and Susan Lucci. With them leaving the past two weeks, there is no one else to pick on. I can’t see it being Lance Bass, Brooke Burke, or Warren Sapp, so that means it’s going to have to be either Cody Linley or Maurice Greene. And with that, I just realized Brooke is the only female celebrity left. Welcome to the finals, Brooke.

Cody and substitute partner, Edyta Sliwinska, are up first. He’s feeling kind of badly after getting the lowest score for the first time in the competition. He has to do two partner dances with Edyta, with the second including a 15 second solo. His friends came in to give him some support, but I think they might have just wanted to ogle Edyta. Tonight they dance the fox trot to Call Me Irresponsible, and his frame looks pretty good. Not to mention this young guy is looking kind of suave. He even goes leg kick to leg kick with Edyta!

Len Goodman says even though everyone is doing two dances, their expectations aren’t lessened. He has to tell Cody he was pleasantly surprised. He added elegance and his footwork was pretty good. Bruno Tonioli calls Cody a “cool dude,” and says he never thought he would see this sophistication and elegance from Cody. It’s his most grown-up performance to date. Carrie Ann Inaba loved it as well, saying what’s so great about him is that not only is he nailing these numbers, but he’s also adapting to a new partner. However, Edyta’s foot came off the ground, so she is deducting a little bit for that. They get three 8s for a score.

The lone female celebrity, Brooke, and Derek Hough are trying to see where they can go after a perfect 30 last week. He tells her he’s going to start treating her like a professional now that she’s reaching that level. He, too, is noticing she is the only woman left, and also notes that men have won this more than women. They dance the tango, and she has the attitude down from the get go. Oddly, with the stern look on her face, she looks like a younger Marie Osmond. Maybe it’s that maternal thing going on. Her feet come off the floor, so I’m wondering if Carrie Ann will be taking a point off for them as well.

Bruno calls it more than a tango, Los Diablos, an epic played on the grand scale. They were in tune like two instruments that have played together forever. Carrie Ann tells her that is why she is the last woman standing. She thought her intensity was pitch perfect. No mention of her feet being off the ground. Len agrees they are the dream team, but unfortunately for him, he saw them out of sync as well as some errors. He says he’s looking at her as if she’s a professional, as everyone is telling him she is dancing like one. Thanks, Len. Tom Bergeron has to cut him off, otherwise he would’ve prattled on forever. They get 10, 8, and 10 for scores.

Cheryl Burke says she and Maurice are in a unique position, as one of the dances they’re doing is a paso doble, and he already did it in the group dance last week. She has him watch what he did to correct his mistakes. They’re also working on the quickstep, which she thought he’d be a natural at, as a track star, but it seems it isn’t so. They do the quickstep tonight to Puttin’ On the Ritz, and they have some timing mistakes from the very start. And again, it’s like they’ve been saying about them that they don’t seem to have a spark or connection between them. The cartwheel at the end seems oddly out of place.

Carrie Ann loved it, thinking Maurice’s posture is very improved since last week. She thinks he worked on what Cheryl told him to. Len thinks if anyone wasn’t sure of Maurice’s background before, they know now that he’s a runner, because he flew around the floor with some great footwork and pretty good posture. Bruno thinks he usually deflects out losing everything along the way, but tonight this time he kept it going all the way through, and I think he says “with a plump.” Their scores aren’t quite as high as as their comments, as they get three 8s.

It’s Lance Bass and Lacey Schwimmer coming up next, and I’m guessing they won’t piss off Len again by going barefoot. Lance wants to work really hard on his technical skills to impress him, in fact. Their strategy has changed from wanting to stand out to not putting fun things in as well as traditional things to keep everyone happy. All he can think of now is taking that trophy home at the end. They do the fox trot to Sweet Pea, and prove they can be sweet with their typical big type of flair. I know Brooke is technically the best, but I don’t find anyone else here nearly as exciting as these two.

Len tells them they’re on the wrong night, as Extreme Makeover was on ABC last night. They’ve come out and cleaned up the act, and are a new Lance and Lacey, despite the footwork still being a little lacking. Bruno calls it a classic dance, executed in a classic style, yet they maintained the quirky individuality that takes them special. Carrie Ann agrees, saying Lance was very animated, and now he’s really, truly a bright light. They get scores of 9, 8, and 9. Even though it’s an 8, they’re extremely happy since it came from Len.

We have one last ballroom dance tonight, and that comes from Warren and Kym Johnson. She is the latest to suffer an injury. Her shoulder might possibly require surgery after the season. The paso doable saved Warren last week, but he says when you have a bad series, you put it behind you and move on. I think he might have a hard time on these dances tonight with his big feet. They’re doing the tango first tonight and do quite will as they move along. You don’t notice his feet being extremely large at all.

Bruno tells James Band to watch out, as super agent Warren Sapp is back and he’s not only big, he does a mean tango. Carrie Ann likes Warren’s sparkles, and also says that more than anyone else, he connects with the audience, and makes us feel like we’re in the number. I tend to disagree with that a little. Len’s comment are short, but sweet. “Last week a flop; this week on top.” Although he did notice he was going up and down a bit. They get 10, 9, and 9 for their scores, and Warren can only say, “I got one.” Regardless, it leaves him comfortable at the top, tied with Brooke and Derek.

Edyta and Cody are back on the floor, and this time they’re doing the mambo to My Way, but the one originally done by Los Lobos. There are a few timing incidents in this, but all in all it’s great, especially Cody’s 15 second solo. He leaps from the floor to lying on the judges’ table. It seemed to work perfectly with that energy of his. I know a lot of people are all over Edyta, but I like her as a dancer and choreographer.

Carrie Ann gives Cody an A for effort and an A for energy, but also thought it was a little erratic, and she’s booed here. She thinks he’s come far, but doesn’t want to discourage him.  Len’s main concern is that a woman doesn’t end up laying on the table in front of him. Don’t worry; Cloris is gone. He thinks Cody has done two good dances. Bruno think she has the mambo fever, yet also thinks it was a little spasmodic at time, and does a hilarious imitation of it. He thinks it’s always better to give more than give less. Samantha Harris asks Cody if he ever would have imagined he was dancing with a woman half naked, and Edyta encourages him to say no, as he says he imagined it, but didn’t expect it. They again get scores of three 8s, giving them 48 on the night..

Dancing their second dance are Brooke and Derek as they do the mambo, with her wearng a black wig. Instead of laying on the judges’ table, she stands in front of them and mambos in their face for her 15 second solo. In comparison this one is much more in tune, but doesn’t have the fun factor that Cody had. She’s good, though, I’ll give her that.

Len calls it a very ambitious performance. He would have liked to see her feet during her solo instead of her hips, as he was fixated by them. I wonder if they hid her feet on purpose. He did think her legs were a little too flexed during this. Bruno thought it was so exuberant, it would revive the dead, saying he’ll never forget the beginning of it. He thinks she’s a very good dancer. Carrie Ann doesn’t think her solo always worked with the rest of the dance, and did think her posture was off, but feels that was because it was so ambitious of a dance. Carrie Ann’s score does not reflect her words, as she gives them a 9, as do the other two judges, as they get a total of 55 on the night.

Maurice and Cheryl take on the paso doble, and he certainly has the fire in the dance from the beginning. He has just the right attitude as they dance to Let It Rock. His fifteen second solo involves twirling a cape, but it seems that’s really all he does. I think he’ll get 9s for this and most of the dance deserves it, but that solo was nothing.

Bruno picks up the twirling, saying Maurice was twirling the cape like a wind in a hurricane. It was strong and powerful, and he thinks he’s doing well tonight. Carrie Ann loves his focus, and says she’s sure everyone heard his feet hitting the floor. She’d like to see a better balance between the stomping and gracefulness. Normally Len loves the cape work, and found the 15 seconds of cape work really fit the dance here. Yeah, but that’s all it was! I’m wrong on the scores as he gets Cody type scores of the night with three 8s. This gives them a total of 48 on the night.

Lance and Lacey take on the samba, and he breaks into his solo right away, again doing it traditionally, but working in a little bit of flavor. If I remember correctly from So You Think You Can Dance, this was one place where Lacey would shine, so she needs to be sure she doesn’t overwhelm him again, and she doesn’t seem to, letting him do his thing.

Carrie Ann says the samba is one of the most difficult dances on the show, yet she thinks Lance did a very good job. Yet, she wants him to watch his eye direction, as she noticed it in his solo. Tom tries to help him, saying they have balconies, and that’s where he was looking. Len saw elements of the samba in the dance, but he would have liked to have seen more samba flavor in the solo. He again points to Len’s atrocious footwork. Bruno thinks Lance really put the focus into his solo, as he owned the audience and forgot Lacey. He did a difficult samba and put more content into it than most people tonight. So there. The news comes out here that Lacey dances with brother Benji tomorrow! Tonight, their second dance scores are 8, 7, and 9. Yea, Bruno! This gives them 50 out of 60 for the night.

Warren and Kym are doing the jive to I Love Her So, and the footwork thing is going to be very interesting with those huge feet of his, although it looks much better than his rehearsals. He’s definitely fun, as he does his solo, but if Len’s going to pick on Lance’s footwork, he needs to do the same here. It was definitely the most energetic dance of the night.

Len tells Warren he epitomizes the saying “I could dance with joy,” as it’s such a joyful thing to watch, other than his feet. He can’t even describe his feet, they were so bad. Bruno tells him he releases such a contagious sense of fun, but his feet were a little flat. Kym was smart, though, choreographing this to his strength. Carrie Ann admits the feet were a little flat, but what amazed her was the way he just kept on going. I can’t understand what she said after this. The scores don’t reflect the bad footwork, as they get 9, 8 and 9, for a total of 54 on the night.

While Maurice and Cody did well this week and got all 8s, they’re both tied with 48. If I was a betting woman, as I’m not, because when I bet I lose, but if I was to bet, I’d bet on Cody staying and Maurice leaving, just based on a popularity factor. But if I always lose, does that mean Cody is leaving? Either way, the three better dancers, Brooke, Lance, and Warren, are definitely staying.

Photos courtesy of abc.om

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