‘Dancing With the Stars’: Lamar Odom out, but audience boos low scores
Week 4 of DWTS began with the introduction of Leah Remini, a Season 17 semifinalist with pro partner Tony Dovolani, as a guest judge as part of ABC’s “Casts from the Past” promotion. Generally, she did a good job, but disagreed with head judge Len Goodman on several scores.
The judges’ scores from last week were combined with this week’s scores, due to Week 3’s Ray Lewis injury and the absence of eliminations. Those combined scores were added to viewers’ votes. Of the 10 couples, eight were saved, including Sean Spicer and Lindsay Arnold. Lamar Odom and Peta Murgatroyd, and Karamo Brown and Jenna Johnson ended up in the bottom. Then it was up to the judges: All three regular judges voted for Karamo and Jenna to stay — and Lamar was sent home.
“My friend, we have to say goodbye to you for a while,” said host Tom Bergeron. “How’s it been dancing with this one (indicating Peta)?”
“It’s been beautiful,” Lamar said. “I’m lucky to be walking and talking so this is just another hill I had to climb.”
Top three
1. If Ally Brooke and Sasha Farber keep dancing the way they have been, there might be a Mirrorball Trophy in their future. This week’s jive was fast and fun, and the judges liked it. “I’m tingling with deligh. It was a diva jive!” said judge Bruno Tonioli. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said, “You nailed it.” Leah thought it was amazing and Len added, “Good technique, great personality. It was very, very good.”
Tonight’s score: Four 8s for 32.
2. One of the real up-and-comers is Kel Mitchell, who performed a cha cha with Witney Carson, moving his hips and doing great footwork. Leah said, “You’re starting to know you are good.” Len added, “You’ve been in the shadows for the first three weeks. You’ve got the cha cha.” And Bruno thought Kel had great hip action, rhythm and musicality. “You only have to believe in yourself.”
Tonight’s score: four 8s for 32.
3. Kate Flannery and Pasha Pashkov are becoming one of my favorite couples. Kate is so excited to be dancing, and the pair’s Argentine tango was very entertaining. Len said the dances were all about expectation, but he thought she struggled — and the audience greeted him with a loud round of boos. Kate has a lot of energy, and Carrie Ann said she was amazing how well she used the floor.
Tonight’s score: 7, 7, 6, 6 = 26.
Oh dear
Unfortunately, no matter how hard Lamar tried to learn the dance steps and how hard Peta tried to teach him, it was just too difficult for him to do well.
The other celeb who is just not getting the dance steps, no matter how hard his pro parter tries to teach him, is Sean Spicer, who is partnered with Lindsay Arnold. They are finishing in the bottom few couples each week. I only wonder how long the voting viewers (for whom he is campaigning so hard) will support him. The risk here is that in keeping him, voters may be eliminating better dancers, which happened in Season 27.
Next week
Next week brings one of the all-time DWTS favorites — “Disney Week” — and the opening number will be performed at Disneyland for the first time. See you next week — keep dancing!
Scores
Celebrities, partners, judges’ combined scores:
Ally & Sasha: Carrie Ann, 8; Leah, 8; Len, 8; Bruno, 8 = 32 + 24 = 56
Sailor & Val: 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31 + 23 = 54
Lauren & Gleb: 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32 + 20 = 52
Kel & Witney: 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32 + 20 = 52
Hannah & Alan: 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32 + 21 = 53
James & Emma: 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28 + 23 = 51
Kate & Pasha: 7, 7, 6, 6 = 26 + 24 = 50
Karamo & Jenna: 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28 + 16 = 44
Sean & Lindsay: 5, 6, 5, 5 = 21 + 15 = 36
Lamar & Peta: 5, 7, 4, 4 = 20 + 12 = 32 (eliminated)