'Dancing With the Stars' results recap: Out of the end zone

Sadly, there were no victory touchdown poses Tuesday night. During this eighth week of Season 11, dashing football star Kurt “Crunch Time” Warner and his pro partner Anna “Can-Do” Trebunskaya got crunched right out of the “Dancing With the Stars” competition.

It was clear from the judges’ comments that the quarterback did not have quite the technical capacity to compete with some of the other more advanced contestants. But I’ll sure miss the former Arizona Cardinal’s positive energy, frying pan hands and his seven adorable kids.

Of course, Kurt’s elimination also meant that bottom-dweller Bristol Palin was safe to dance another week. And I have to say, the tenacity of the Pistol’s voting bloc is quite something. This girl has outlasted not one, but two pro athletes who had consistently scored more judges' points than she did. Though had Kurt received the higher scores from the judges for his dances on Monday night like he deserved, could this fate have been avoided? “Life isn’t always about winning and losing competitions,” the ex-NFL player stated graciously. Kurt is a stand-up guy, even in his flouncy fluorescent green shirt. So let’s give him his flexed- (or is it bent-) knee due.

The encore dance was the feel-happy routine of the season: Kyle Massey and Lacey Schwimmer’s jumping jive. And as if for a reward for giving us that jolt of pure joy, the couple was spared from having to endure the hour under those harsh red lights and deemed safe from elimination right off the bat.

“DanceCenter” came back! I know some of you out there in Commentland don’t care for this segment, but I love seeing Loser Club inductee and Best, Worst Dancer winner Kenny Mayne’s dry humor on full display, pink tutu and all. Season Two runner-up Jerry Rice just seems to get more off his rocker with each passing season. This time, the ex-49er sported some fake eyelashes alongside those blinging face decals, and that blousy shirt that looked like a tequila sunrise with sequins went well with his random nonsequiturs. And sure, that one ad with Mark, Tony, and Len all passing by topless while Jerry demonstrated how to “pinch the egg,” seemed like a blatant show of skin (not that I minded). But we also found out why Len likes Brandy so much — turned out homeboy/head judge was casting his points for the X.O. Reserve liquor as much as he was for the erstwhile Moesha. “I love Brandy,” Len declared. “I look forward to Brandy every week.” “More like every day,” Kenny corrected. Ha!

Taio Cruz performed his hit “Dynamite” with able assistance from Chelsie Hightower, Tony Dovolani, Peta Murgatroyd, Kym Johnson, Dmitry Chaplin and Louis Van Amstel. John Legend and the Roots performed two numbers: The first was “Wake Up!” a nice, positive little ditty about forward thinking and living in harmony, accompanied by Cheryl and Maks, and Chelsie and Tony on double duty. The second was Legend-ary hit “Ordinary People,” with Mark Ballas and “So You Think You Can Dance” Season Five champ Jeanine Mason performing a lovely contemporary routine front and center.

And in a small preview of what’s to come during Season 30 of “Dancing With the Stars,” five young musical and ballroom wonders took the stage in a segment that managed to be simultaneously adorable and a sobering wake-up call to stop slacking already. Nine-year-old piano prodigy Emily Bear, who’s already performed at Carnegie Hall, ticked the ivories for a rendition of “Tutti Frutti” while pint-sized ballroom dancers Sophia Latessa, Tyler Golman, Rickie Taylor and Erik Linder jammed out a rocking jive. Thank you, kids, for turning out an impeccable performance, and for reminding me of how little I’ve done with my life.

What did you think of the results hour, ballroom fans? Can anything stop Bristol the Pistol? Should Maks and Carrie Ann just bury the hatchet? Was Bruno making a plug for that other reality show when he said Kurt was an American Idol?

—Allyssa Lee

Related:

‘Dancing With the Stars’ recap: Instant hit!

‘Dancing With the Stars’ results recap: Out Fox(ed)

Complete ‘Dancing With the Stars’ coverage on Show Tracker

Photo credit: Adam Larkey / ABC

Comments

[jazmine62]

Why would someone want to stop Bristol Palin? She is trying hard, and she is a very good example for this kind of competition. Someone who doesn't have a dancing background. The only thing that can stop her is herself. I'd like to see the face of those democrats if she ends up to be the winner of DWTS.

[DOUG]

1)Disappointed to see Kurt Warner leave but his departure was imminent. He is a classy guy, a great role model, and a true gentleman. But he's not the greatest dancer-- a little wooden and slow, with calculated dance moves, and little "musicality"--and not in the same class as Jennifer, Brandy and Kyle.
2)But last night should have been Bristol's last ride.
3)I don't get the Kenny Mayne/Jerry Rice moronic act, season after season.
It's not funny and it is quite lame. Time to retire it once and for all.
4)Brooke Burke is appealing eye candy for the gentleman viewers.

[Jonny]

Kurt Warner is an impressive athlete with a fantastic winning attitude, even if he did reach the limits of his dancing ability. One small nitpick, though -- he is not yet an "NFL Hall of Famer". I am sure he will be one day, but he has not been selected yet.

[Helen Jackson]

Every season on Dancing with the Stars they have a favorite. The judges dogg the other competitors and critize them for every little thing and heep praise on their favorite. Its a joke because they know who is going to win before the season. They keep some of their favorites around regardless of how sucky they are. This show is a fake and I stopped watching the same after the third season when I realized I was constantly complaining about it. I realized "Why the heck am I watching this show?"

Bottom line - Quick Complaining and stop watching the fake show!

[Jeri Shay]

I am so disappointed with Dancing With The Stars? This show is not about who is the best dancer, it is about who gets the most votes called in.Bristol Palin? Give me a break, she is a terrible dancer. There must be an awful lot of Palin supporters calling in their votes!

[Dave Eilar]

Every year the producers "fix" the showvia the judges. They want their favorite to win, usually someone with some dancing in their background or musicality. Bristol has none of that yet she does the steps correctly according to the judges. So give her a break, it is obvious that she has a lot of fans who do not like Liberal media and love the conservative views of her Mom. I give all of my votes to Bristol and I have three cell phones. I feel Cari Ann is a picky little expletive deleted. Bristol's partner, Mark made a mistake and Bristol got a low score from Miss Inaba. Maks makes a mistake and Brandy gets a nine. Tell me they do not have favorites. Personnally I can't stan Brandy's bossy attitude. She will probably win.:(

[JS]

Hooray for Bristol!. I will see her dance again next week!. I love watching her dance. She has her own style of dance moves, entirely hers, not copied from great dancers. And I am not a pistol wielding person.

[ByeBristol]

I am afraid that the tea party is voting for Bristol the same way they voted for their political candidates. With the same results. Not always the best person wins. "Who cares if she cannot dance & has no personality? Let's vote for her because her name is Palin! " It would be funny if this people did'nt have such a childlike mentality to voting. Sigh... What a perfect ironry.

[willowbe]

All these folks who say Bristol is working hard, deserves, to stay on, yada- I have one question: In all your seasons of watching the show, have you EVER seen anyone GAIN weight after weeks of 6 hrs a day practice? No! They become tight, svelte and more confident and graceful. A week 5er dances twice as well as they did in week 1. Not Bristol, who has a nice fat underchin. I'm not upttng down her looks; she actually looks better with more weight, very sleek, and healthy, shiny-haired. Like the epitome of feminine beauty last century. She looks good.

But she ain't practicing like everyone else is, or she'd be thinner, and the only reason you don't practice more is because you don't want it, and I bet you anything SHE would LOVE to go home at this point. So do her a favor and quit voting for her!

[KarenJ]

Amazing. First comment out of the box is political. What is it about Bristol the Pistol Palin that is political? She didn't vote last week.

Oh, yeah.....there's that relationship to celebpol and Fox "News" opiniator Sarah Palin, who's going to tenaciously cling to her "I'm just a private citizen and why is everyone attacking me" claim right through her daily political barrages based on faulty or mis-information, and her avid and disrespectful stalking of President Obama for the next year or so.

The only connection I can see that Sarah Palin's most devoted followers are forcing onto the Bristol-Palin-on-DWTS-until-it-hurts issue is that Bristol's likely last dance will segue right into her parents' fakey "reality show" on TLC.

All Palin, All The Time.

P.S. You'll LOVE how A-#1 American Mom Sarah Palin lets heretofore ignored daughter Willow push third daughter Piper's face into her birthday cake with barely a "Willow!" admonition.

[ARKpuppies]

I stopped watching as soon as it was announced that Bristol Palin would be on again next week. It makes me wonder if it's worth watching the show when so many people vote for the worst dancer. It's not fun to see better and more entertainng dancers get booted knowing that we'll have to watch Bristol stumble around weeks after she should've gotten the boot.

By the way, I voted.

[k]

This is a DANCE competition, people. Bristol Palin should have gone home either just before or right after Florence Henderson. She is not a better dancer than Rick Fox, Audrina Patridge or Kurt Warner, and she is only marginally better than Henderson was.

Either her mother's fans are stuffing the DWTS ballot box to keep her in the competition or the producers are manipulating the numbers for ratings.

My fave from the beginning is Jennifer Grey. If she is eliminated before the winner is chosen, I won't have reason to watch anymore because I'll know that the best dancer won't win.

[Kathode]

Ugh, I so wanted Bristol gone by now. I don't know how people can be voting for her. Jimmy Kimmel in his monologue last night said it best:

"How is Bristol Palin still on this show? It's called 'Dancing With The Stars.' She can't dance. She's not a star. The only part of 'Dancing With The Stars' that applies to her is 'With The.'"

I can't stand it when people (like some of the commenters here) explain voting for Bristol by saying something along the lines of "she's what this show is about: someone with no experience, trying hard each week." Sorry, but NO. What the show is about is DANCING. People come in not knowing diddly about ballroom dancing, and they have to learn it fast and make it pretty or else they get kicked off. Kyle and Kurt and Rick are what this show is about, and 2 of them are gone now in favor of someone who has NOT learned fast, who does NOT make it pretty, and frankly has little to offer in the way of entertainment value, especially in comparison with the other competitors.

I'm sick of people being rewarded for something other than merit. So if you just "try hard" you shouldn't fail a class? If you just "try hard" you should earn your driver's license? Florence Henderson tried hard too, but you didn't see droves of people maxing out their votes for her. Margaret Cho tried hard too. "Trying hard" isn't enough at this stage of the game. There are people with just as little ballroom experience as Bristol had, who have long since passed her on the learning curve, and they are going home. Why? Because a bunch of morons are voting for reasons that have nothing at all to do with dance, and everything to do with making some kind of political statement in the most ludicrous forum one could possibly imagine.

[Linda]

I am a definite Democrat, Obama fan, and NOT Sarah Palin fan. I thought Bristol would be a total joke like Kate Gosselin. I was surprised - she is not the best of the stars but she gets better every week. I have been impressed - she has no performing or athletic background. I have been voting to keep her because I would prefer to see her again over others - including Rick Fox and Kurt Warner. She is a nice sweet girl too. But I won't be able to keep voting for her anymore because I like Kyle better, Brandy deserves to win, and Jennifer dances better - (although I am sick of her whining). So don't assume votes are political - I vote for who I want to see dance again. Kyle is amazing - Totally impressed with his lightness of feet, musicality, grace, and emotions. But I think his body type will keep him from winning.

[Bud]

I suspect Bristol's time is up on DWTS. If she manages to win the competition, then ABC's franchise will be worthless. Part of the competition is to take someone with no or little dancing skills, work with them, and see how they progress. Bristol hasn't. All we've been treated to is her crying about missing her son along with videos of mom.

On the other hand, she got $250,000 to appear, so maybe the voters are just trying to get Bristol to earn her money?

[chockfullanutz]

"Wake Up Everybody" is not just some inconsequential little "ditty" - Legend is singing the hit from the 70s by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Just how young are you, Ms. Lee?