100th Episode

Hello everyone. Welcome to my review of a special “Dancing with the Stars” show, their 100th episode. They will both have a showcase of the Judges’ favorite dances and a results show with guests from all the prior seasons, including returning dancers.

We started off with our three judges counting down their favorite dances. The ones I saw were the following:

10. Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo, Season 1 “Let’s Get Loud.” (First season.)

9. Sabrina Bryant and Mark Ballas: “Right Round” dance.

8. Emmit Smith and Cheryl Burke: “Dance to the Music.”

7. Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough: Quickstep from Season 4, Week 9 to the song about the guy that “We all Wanna Know…”

6. Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson: Jive from Season 4, Week 7 to “Splish Splash.” Bruno Tonioli called Fatone “The Ultimate Showman.”

5. Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough: “The Mask” Quickstep Season 5 Week 8.

4. Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke: Freestyle, Season 2, Week 8. “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.”

3. Stacy Kiebler and Tony Dovolani with the “Showgirl Samba” from Season 2.

2. The “Unforgettable” Mel B and Maksim Chmiernikovskiy Paso Doble to “Free Your Mind” by EnVogue.

1. Mario Lopez and Karina Smirnoff: Tango to “Whatever Lola Wants” from Damn Yankees.

After this, we went to 9 PM, and our results show segment.

Six pro women and six pro guys came out to dance to start off the show. In the audience, Lisa Rinna, Joey Fatone and other past contestants were in attendance. We saw flashbacks of last night’s dancing, and some clips of another Emmit Smith and Cheryl Burke dance to “You Can’t Touch This” by M.C. Hammer. Host Tom Bergeron said they had also brought 100 special fans in, 2 from each of the 50 states in the United States. They also talked to some of the contestants still in the competition. Marissa, who was in the bottom two before, hopes people voted for her. Jason Taylor reflected on going from the bottom two to the top spot later on. Mario, in the middle of the pack tonight, said the newly crowned “Prince” (Courtesy of Bruno) hoped to have a couple more weeks to prove himself. Kristi Yamaguchi said that if she made it through, she wants to get back into the studio and get back to dancing at her level. Finally, Cristian De La Fuente said that Kristi let Jason be on top one week and then let him be on top the next and that he thanked her for that. Host Tom Bergeron said he wasn’t going to touch that.

Then the musical act “Rascal Flatts” came out and sang, and past champions Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough danced to their music. It was nice to see them dance again and Mr. Ohno still had his skills with him, hopefully this means he has stuck with dancing.

Then they started a segment where people gave their greatest memories from watching the show. Lisa Rinna said that the best thing about the show was that it is live and that her favorite moment was Kelly Monaco getting through her wardrobe malfunction and still dancing great, and she said she admired her greatly for that. Tom Bergeron saw actress and former wrestler Stacy Kiebler in the audience and asked if she still had a restraining order against charmer George Hamilton. She replied that she had asked him to be her date tonight but he was busy. Mr. Bergeron than pointed Mr. Hamilton out, sitting nearby. Also, Lisa Rinna said that she and her dance partner Louis Van Amstel had opened a ballroom dance studio. Jerry Springer, who was sitting next to Ms. Rinna, said that his hip still hurt and he couldn’t sleep through nights. We also saw past contestants Vivica A. Fox, Joey Fatone, and ESPN Sportscaster Kenny Mayne, who plugged his sports book, which he said could be found in stores and in finer gas stations.  Sabrina Bryant was also there, though Mr. Bergeron said that Mr. Mayne had used all the time he wanted to use to interview her.

We then went over the standings after last night, and Len said that he has no idea who is leaving, and that whoever goes will be “gutted.” He said that the three couples in the bottom three of the standings might have to worry.

We then saw past “Dancing Stars” Champ and Indy Race Champ Helio Castroneves talk about his favorite moment as someone watching the show, and he said it was his friend Apolo Ohno doing the Paso Doble with Julianne, because that made him want to dance on the show too, and he is glad that he did. 

Then Mario Lopez and the cast of “A Chorus Line” danced a “Macy’s Stars of Dance” routine that had been choreographed specially for tonight’s show. It was nice to see him back; though seeing him dance with Karina might have been nice. (I guess with her still in the contest that might have been a problem) and nice to see him still dancing and using that to maybe open a new dimension of his life and career. A lot of people who go on the show get a bit of a popularity and career boost, but to see dance involved in it more directly is nice.

Then Rascal Flatts came out again and did a cover of the song “Life is a Highway.” Mel B. and Maksim Chmiernikovskiy came out to dance to that, the first time back in the ballroom for both of them after last season. She reprised her “walking splits” move from last year, with both of them doing very well to pull that off (It must require a lot of strength and coordination from Maksim to support her and help he up from them as well.)

They then asked a few past champs who they liked this year. Kelly Monaco said it would be kind of nice to see a woman win it again so she was rooting for Kristi. Apolo Ohno said that he was biased towards the athletes so he was hoping for Jason Taylor or Kristi Yamaguchi to do it. Samantha Harris asked him if the Olympic tie in meant he would favor Kristi there, and he said maybe… Drew Lachey said that he was rooting for Cristian De La Fuente. He also said that Cristian was dancing with his former partner, Cheryl, and that he taught Cheryl everything she knows. Host Tom Bergeron said it was good to see that Drew still had the delusional aspects of his personality.

Then Drew said that his biggest memory as someone watching at home was Marie Osmond fainting after a dance last season, then recovering and going on with it like a trouper, something he said he’s come to expect for her as an entertainer. Mr. Bergeron then reminded everyone that this 100th episode was not just going to be a part, but a parting of the ways, as one of the couples still in the competition would be leaving the ballroom tonight.

Then they asked the dancers remaining in the competition what they had learned from watching past competitors. Cristian said there was a lot they could learn from the former champs.

Kristi said of the past dancers that she admired Joey Fatone’s showmanship, and that this was a comment she had received from the judges early on, wanting more showmanship from her, and she hoped she could work with that. Marissa Winokur said that she admired Mel B’s precision, and how Mel owned the stage with her confidence and fierceness. Mario said that he admired another Mario, Mario Lopez, who had danced with his partner this season, Karina Smirnoff, and that Mario Lopez kept getting better each week, as well as using his ability as an actor and his moves to find his style, and that this impressed him. Jason Taylor said that he admired fellow footballer Emmit Smith, and as a competitor he looked to the champions who had won. He said that Emmit Smith made it cool to dance, and that he wanted to find his own style like Emmit did. Cristian said that he looked to Helio Castroneves, who he liked because he was Brazilian (Cristian is from Chile) and because Helio always brought the element of surprise every week. I believe that Cristian also said that Helio showed how someone could really pull things out in the final weeks of the competition.

After this, it was time to go to the question of which of the remaining couples would be going through to next week. Though this usually is spread throughout the results show, it would be quickly done tonight.

First we heard who the first two couples who would be safe were.

They were Marissa & Tony and Kristi & Mark. They were very happy and remained on stage, Tom Bergeron asked them to break of the hugging so they could go get interviewed. Marissa is happy. Kristi says that the people still waiting for their results just have to believe that they did their best and hope for the best.

This left three couples still with their fates in the air: Mario & Karina, Cristian & Cheryl, and Jason & Edyta.

We heard that Cristian and Cheryl would be safe. That left the bottom two as follows:

Mario & Karina and Jason & Edyta.

We were told that it wasn’t a “true bottom two,” and that the other one in it wasn’t as bad off as they appeared, but that didn’t make it any easier under the lights for them.

Then we heard that Mario and Karina Smirnoff had been eliminated. Mario said he’d had fun. He thanked the judges, and thanked Len for his comments, saying they had helped him become a better dancer. Then he said that Len had called him an inspiration to young people and that he really liked that, but that the real inspirations were the young people fighting for freedom and the country overseas. Then Mario hugged Karina and as they played “I Will Survive” for their final dance, they danced, until the others all came over to say goodbye.

It was a bit of a sad note to end the 100th episode on, but if anything, the night proved that the memory with the fans stayed strong with the former contestants.

I just can’t believe they didn’t feature any of George Hamilton’s dances more, or maybe talk about his style and showmanship. Actually he was one of the guys I watched in the season when he was on, because he really had excellent character and styling, and knew how to have fun and be cool about it while also dancing well.

Until next week and next time, and show #101… your friend in New Jersey, David.