'Dancing With The Stars': Looking Like a Love God

Any questions about whether Jason is for real -- after last week's questionable 10's -- seem satisfied tonight, when he pulls out a trio of 9's on Latin night and Bruno declares him to have "the look of a love god." If, Tom Bergeron likes to remind us, this is supposed to be the sexiest night on TV, well, Jason and Edyta have sexual chemistry in spades. Their major critique actually has to do with Edyta, whose choreography has a few too many moments designed to show off her skills, rather than her man's.

Jason's performance, though, still can't get him ahead of Kristi, who continues to run away with the competition. This week, her one major weakness -- the shyness she brings to her dancing, particularly when asked to express sexuality -- gets a major test with the rumba. In rehearsals, she gets a visit from her two little moppets (very cute daughters!) and NHL husband Bret Hedican (who is finally able to make a guest appearance because his Carolina Hurricanes aren't in the playoffs). Hubby Bret might have joked about Mark's getting things out of Kristi he doesn't get to see, but if the point was to loosen Kristi up, it seems to work. Her lone holdout with the 10's this time around is Carrie Ann.

The other great quote of the night goes to Len, re: the performance by Marissa: "more bounce to the ounce than I've ever seen!" Marissa takes it in stride, and should, given that she uses all of her assets -- all those curves -- to shake up her samba with a *lot* of shimmy. Her opposite? Poor, hipless Shannon, whose leggy, slender, supermodel-esque build gives her nothing to shake to her samba number and leaves her with a trio of disappointed judges. Even Len, who gave her the big 10 last week, can't muster any enthusiasm.

Sliding back near the top is Mario, about whom Bruno declares "if your hips could talk, you'd be censored tonight." Cristian, meanwhile, gets called merely "competent" by Len. Both these contestants seem to be unpredictable at this point.

Let's move on to Marlee. All three judges are clearly disappointed by a lot of missteps in her samba, and all three bring up her deafness as a justification for her mistakes. Which of course it is. This is the fastest, most musically complicated dance she's had to follow thus far. But any sense of judges making excuses just sits wrong, no matter how heartwarming it was to see Marlee and Fabian go to Mexico and give hearing aids to poor children.

Which leaves us with only the bottom to discuss. And that would be Priscilla. She slid into the bottom two last week, showing a decided lack of viewer support, and now she hits the bottom of the leaderboard with a rumba that is as stiff as her forehead. Not looking good for her on elimination night.

The results:

Kristi: 29
Jason: 27
Mario: 27
Marissa: 24
Cristian: 23
Shannon: 23
Marlee: 22
Priscilla: 21

-- JENNIFER FREY

By Jennifer Frey | April 15, 2008; 11:59 AM ET Dancing With the Stars
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Thanks for the recap.

I'm glad the judges called Edyta on her extra moves--it's almost showboating. I like Jason, but it still seems as if his scores are slightly inflated, especially compared to Kristi's.

I wish Cristian and Mario were more consistent. I doubt they have the fan base to withstand too many "off" weeks.

What are the chances Jonathan will replace Derek as Shannon's partner if D keeps having problems?

Posted by: alex | April 15, 2008 2:19 PM

You're right that the judges are more lenient with Marlee in their comments because she is deaf, but I think that the actual scores they award her are fair--she made several mistakes, and her second-to-last standing reflected that.

Posted by: Abby | April 17, 2008 2:45 PM

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