'Dancing With the Stars': The Priscilla Question

Let's dispense early with the obvious question: How did Kristi do? She didn't totally light up the room, and she got criticized by the judges for her lack of emotion. And she got three 9's--the best score of the night. Again.

In other words, this time, the judges didn't have to hold back on the 10s -- they had a legit reason to downgrade her a point -- but she's STILL the best of the contestants. And so the trend will continue, it appears. Kristi is just that good.

Which brings us to the next best performance of the night, which came from Priscilla Presley. It has been very very difficult not to raise the Priscilla Question in these early weeks (especially since my e-mail inbox has had its share of links to Web sites involving awful plastic surgery). Her performance this week was another hit, she definitely has the charisma and the moves. And she's got energy to die for at 62.

So (gulp) I'm just going to say it: Is there a negative factor? A sympathy factor? A fascination factor? Because she has been the victim of a widely reported (and painfully obvious) plastic-surgery debacle? It seems to be an almost unavoidable distraction to her dancing. Okay, there--I said it.

The disappointments of the night:

* Mario (whose score of 21 was explained-away in the pre-performance clip, which shows him rehearsing between tour stops up and down the Eastern seaboard).

* Jason, who gets plenty of props for his upper-body control, but drops to 23 after last week's electrifying 27.

* Marlee, who climbs from a 22 in Week 1 to a 24 in Week 2, only to slide down to a 21 this week.

Surprises:

* Steve Guttenberg. He finally gets across-the-board 7s.

* Cristian: Bruno declares him to have "rocket fuel tonight!"

As for the most likely losers tonight, it'll be low-scorer Marissa, who manages not to tear up when she gets shredded for a jive that Carrie Ann flat-out calls "boring" and--no surprise here--Adam, who has his best dance yet, but then uses his mouth to put himself back in the basement again. (Yes, there were four dancers who shared the second-lowest score of 21, but Adam has the history).

Adam presents himself as being newly devoted because talented partner Julianne "deserves better than me" (total understatement), but he then sees too many "jokes" fall flat in the aftermath. He speaks words running through this viewer's head when he describes Julianne's tango get-up as "The Sandy Duncan wig and the Friar frock" -- but then he goes on to ascribe it to the gay guys up in the Costume department. (Thunk). And backstage, he follows up with a failed Mormon joke.

It would be no surprise to see the viewers keep bubbly Marissa over Adam, but the wild card is how powerful the Julianne Hough vote is among loyal and long-term viewers.

The scoreboard:

Kristi: 27
Priscilla: 26
Cristian: 25
Shannon: 24
Jason: 23
Adam: 21
Mario: 21
Marlee: 21
Steve: 21
Marissa: 19

-- JENNIFER FREY

By Jennifer Frey |  April 1, 2008; 12:36 PM ET Dancing With the Stars
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