‘Dancing with the Stars 16’ review: Andy Dick brings tears; Aly Raisman shines
This week’s “Dancing with the Stars” episode carried with it an interesting theme, and one that allowed us to get to know a little bit more about all of the contestants: performances inspired by the most important years in their lives. For some of these performers, we had an opportunity to really see completely different sides of them. Meanwhile, for others it was strictly a chance to see more of what we already knew.
Who was your favorite? We want to hear some of your thoughts below, but for now, we’re going to get to talking about all of the scores without further delay.
Sean Lowe & Peta Murgatroyd – If there is a week that Sean is in trouble, this will be it. He went first, there are tabloid rumors out there about his relationship, and his dancing just wasn’t very good. He comes across perfectly nice on the show, but on a night when there are comebacks elsewhere, he seems like he is falling behind. Score: 20
Victor Ortiz & Lindsay Arnold – The good news for Sean is that Victor has been in danger before, and his paso doble was even worse. He basically tried so hard to get the character of the paso doble right, he forgot that there is actually supposed to be something in here called a dance. Score: 18
Jacoby Jones & Karina Smirnoff – It must be frustrating to some people that the football player always does really well on this show, but the truth of the matter here is that Jacoby just so happens to be really good. This was a smooth, effective foxtrot that makes you forget that he really didn’t have the time to rehearse earlier this season. Score: 24
Aly Raisman & Mark Ballas – This is the sort of dancing we expected from Aly just about all season long! This contemporary routine was nothing short of phenomenal all the way around. There was emotion, beautiful choreography, and some strong movement. If this doesn’t make Aly a favorite, we don’t know what will. Score: 27
Andy Dick & Sharna Burgess – What you really saw in this waltz was a realization from Andy that he knew he was not long for this competition, but he wanted to really go out with an emotional tribute to his daughter and to prove that he can be a better person after his pretty dark past. Carrie Ann Inaba was moved to tears, and even though he’s not the best dancer, we were choked up, too. Score: 21
Zendaya & Val Chmerkovskiy – This does not come as a surprise at this point, but Zendaya can really dance. What was special about this performance in particular was that there were some multiple styles thrown in there, even though this was a little bit of a reminder that she *cough* knew a thing or two about dance before the show. Score: 26
Ingo Rademacher & Kym Johnson – There may not be much that stands out for Ingo personality-wise right now, but in terms of dancing, the soap star is gradually improving thanks to Kym’s tutelage. This was a solid waltz that puts him up among the best of the men tonight, though that may not be saying too much since some of the other guys struggled. Score: 23
D.L. Hughley & Cheryl Burke – The truth of the matter is that D.L. actually did better! The bad news? We’re not sure if he will be able to overcome some of the complaining that he did to the judges last week, even if he has obviously improved drastically from the disaster in the ballroom last week. Score: 21
Kellie Pickler & Derek Hough – Everyone knows that Kellie is great at this point, but what really stood out about this particular performance from her is that it was just a great TV moment. Her husband was singing, and she and Derek performed a routine that was really representative of the best time in her life: when she got married two years ago. Score: 26
Lisa Vanderpump – After all of the rumors surrounding her fainting spells this past week, of course Lisa decided to give this a go! Ultimately, you have to give the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star credit for giving this her absolute best. Unfortunately, the cha-cha is a tough dance if your timing isn’t right, and she was all over the place. Score: 18
If you want to see where we ranked some of these performers going into this show, you can do so over at the link here.
Photo: ABC