Dancing with the Stars: Week 2

            As if the competition wasn’t tough enough, the all-star contestants stepped things up another notch with week two. However, Joey Fatone has been eliminated. His elimination didn’t surprise me, but it was disappointing. Joey was delightful to watch and he brought a great attitude to the dance floor. He knew he was not the best dancer out there, but he strived to make up for any shortcomings with entertainment value.

Bristol Palin’s Tea Party fans pushed her through to the next week. She scored the lowest on the leaderboard and in my opinion should have been cut this week, but it looks like we’ll have to once again be content with sending more talented celebrities home, déjà vu anyone? Her dance ability is far behind her all-star counterparts. Her quickstep to Redneck Woman was very unconventional and lacking in technical skill. Her partner said he tries to choreograph dances that will allow her to have fun. It seems he was successful this week. However, the judges could see that there is not much dance talent supporting her cowboy boots.

I was also surprised that Kirstie Alley will dance on. While she is charismatic and creates drama on the show, her dancing ability is just not up to par with the others. She is at times fun to watch, but her footwork seems slow and labored. She’s been giving it her all and that is definitely commendable; I just don’t know if she can’t handle more complicated routines, and with each week the routines have gotten more complicated. 

On a side note, Kirstie is a good-looking woman, so I’m not sure why in her press shots she looks like a crack head. I noticed the photo (right, from ABC website) on Monday night and at first glance I thought she looked a mess. I think the producers wanted to make her look hardcore, but she looks a bit hard up.

I have some new favorites this week and one duo that is a repeat on my list. Shawn Johnson is like a ball of energy on the dance floor; she really shines. You can tell she gives it her all and really strives to be number one. Staying with the Olympians, there was a lot going on in Apolo Anton Ohno’s dance, in a good way. The judges loved it. Helio Castroneves consistently delivers entertainment value with great facial expressions that tell the story. His dance was delightful, but still he landed in the bottom two. Gilles Marini put on his best face and delivered a crisp routine despite being injured. He said he was feeling great, however that may have been the adrenalin talking. The performance, like his costume, was golden. My favorite moment of the dance night was when Bruno commented on Gilles' cleavage!