‘Dancing with the Stars 16’ review: Kellie Pickler, Zendaya dominate night of returns
Who’s ready to see the “Dancing with the Stars” contestants in something completely different? Rather than just perform on their own, the celebrities this week were handed the added challenge of having to work along with two other pros. It’s a ton of education, but at the same time, it’s a lot of intimidation if you aren’t very good.
One of the benefits from this was seeing so many of our beloved pros again, whether it be Tony Dovolani, Anna Trebunskaya, or even the resident bad boy of the ballroom in Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
The dances
Ingo Rademacher & Kym Johnson (with Emma and Tony) – We’ve said for weeks that the biggest problem with Ingo is that he’s just okay. His dancing is average, and his personality doesn’t pop that much for anyone other than soap opera fans to wanna vote for him. With him going first this week, it’s fair to say that this is going to be one of the first times in which he could be in serious danger. Score: 21
Jacoby Jones & Karina Smirnoff (with Maks and Anna) – We have to say that we loved seeing Maks back for this routine, mostly because the thought of a whole season without him is really just tragic. Plus, he has the charisma that is really needed to compliment to Jacoby. This was a great dance, and one of Jacoby’s best routines of the season. Score: 26
Victor Ortiz & Lindsay Arnold (with Emma and Tristan) – We really feel for Victor now; although his dancing was amazing here,his girlfriend cheated on him while he was at dance rehearsals. It has to be hard to focus on something when going through this sort of stuff, but we really hope that he does stay around this week just for effort alone. Score: 21
Aly Raisman & Mark Ballas (with Witney and Tony) – This was probably the one dance of the night that was scored a little bit higher than it really needed to be. Was there that much actual dancing here? We’re not quite sure, mostly since it felt like there was just a ton of booty-shaking and really not actual dancing. Score: 25
Sean Lowe & Peta Murgatroyd (with Tristan and Chelsie) – We really can’t get ourselves away from Len Goodman’s hilarious comparison of Sean to a “pigeon” during the critique … and he apparently meant it as a compliment? This actually was the most natural of Sean’s performances thus far, and it was the most entertaining. Score: 24
Kellie Pickler & Derek Hough (with Anna and Henry) – Who knew that Kellie would be so elegant? She hasn’t had many opportunities this season in order to show this off, but this was a soft, powerful performance that really shows that this season’s frontrunner can do anything that she wants to. Score: 27
D.L. Hughley & Maksim Chmerkovskiy (with Chelsie and Sasha) – In the D.L. dictionary, “tango” can really be best described as “stomping around.” How has this guy not been in the bottom two already? He is at least trying hard now, but he’s just not particularly great. Score: 18
Zendaya & Val Chmerkovskiy (with Maks and Anna) – Maks and Val played victims in this pretty intense routine, and one that promised to get Zendaya back to the promised land. Suffice it to say, it totally did. The show’s youngest contestant got the first 10 of the night, and provided some much-needed entertainment in the process. Score: 29
Andy Dick & Sharna Burgess (with Sasha and Emma) – This was a little slice of fun, even though Andy looked a little bit like a cheesy cartoon character. After the awesome entrance, it all pretty much fell apart, but we give him plenty of credit for trying, and we really hope that he stays. Score: 18
Who was your favorite from this weekend’s “Dancing with the Stars”? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below, and you can see where we ranked some of the contestants before the show over at the link here.
Photo: ABC