Please, 'Dancing with the Stars,' don't show us...

No surprise seeing celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito eliminated from "Dancing with the Stars" Tuesday, but it was unnerving to see judge Bruno Tonioli, at Rocco's request, show the meatball-loving cook how to swivel his hips more, um, swively.

Bruno and Rocco swiveled away, leaving this viewer with the prayerful hope that when 300-pound NFLer and increasingly sweaty Warren Sapp is eliminated, nothing similar occurs.

There wasn't much for even the judges to say about former Olympic sprint star Maurice Greene. Except that he looked goofy in the disco Afro wig the costume experts put him in. An Afro?

And here's a combination you'd never think of seeing. The junior competition began last night and the first winners were Kirill and Hannah from Staten Island. Kirill either wants to be a professional dancer or a hockey player when he grows up. Maybe Kirill can mambo is way to the NHL.

Each blog post is supposed to have a photograph, but Bruno and Rocco dancing a last dance? That's a picture no one needs to see again. Just use your imagination and picture Bruno teaching Warren how to swivel better instead.

And I'm checking out, just for research purposes of course, a new Bravo TV reality show -- "Real Housewives of Atlanta." Apparently many of the involved housewives have some connection to athletes -- NBA guard Eric Snow's wife is one of the gilded wives down south.

This will be for blogging purposes only, of course. I would NEVER watch "Desperate Housewives of Atlanta" ... or New York ... or Orange County. Ever.

-- Diane Pucin

Editor's note: TV show title corrected at 6:37 p.m. to read "Real Housewives of Atlanta."

Photo: In this image released by ABC, Rocco DiSpirito and his partner Karina Smirnoff perform Monday on "Dancing With The Stars."

Comments

[Lauren West]

I think the judges were too hard on Rocco DiSpirito. At least he danced. Cloris doesn't dance, she's a joke. If this was a slap-stick comedy competition she might qualify, but a dancer? Come on. The show is so wonderful with all the "dancers" but when you let non-dancers such as Cloris, Rap-Singers, etc. stay on more than one night, the show loses integrity/credibility. If it is a popularity contest, then name it that. If it is a dancing competition, then get rid of the non-dancers first. This has happened in several seasons and it is ridiculous. What is scarry is these same people that don't have a clue about dancing and are voting for non-dancers are voting for our President. Makes one wonder why they are choosing the candidate they choose.

[Bill Covey]

Cloris should never have been signed to do the show in the first place. After the first show she should have been given "zero" and sent on her way. She is an embarassment and should appear on darkened screens, or not appear. At any rate, I turn it off while she is making her scheduled appearance and again when she pushes her way into the time that should be given to others.

[GALSAL]

WHAT IS KEEPING CLORIS STILL IN THE COMPETITION?

[Peggy]

When is Cloris going home, while she is a great actress she needs to go home. I am so done watching her make a fool out of herself, she has more class than that! It is painful to watch.
Let her go home.

[Don Gargano]

Concur on all the Cloris 'chirping'. Not fair that other dancers are putting in all the effort, and taking competition seriously....and she has survived thus far on viewers' apparent need for slapstick.
Derek and Brooke should take home the hardware as they clearly have the talent. Really wish someone would talk to that boy about where to put his hands during the post dance interviews. He looks uncomfortable and grips her right shoulder as if she were a fellow rugby player in a scrum!!! It truly hurts to watch.

[Cait]

Ah, quit your whining. Cloris Leachman is awesome. This show isn't rocket science, it isn't high-stakes economics, it's entertainment, and week after week Cloris is entertaining. Get on the phone and vote her off if you don't like her; I assure you that those of us who love her will be dialing like mad to keep her on until the very end.

[Janet]

It is not fair to the good dancers to keep Cloris. Why is the public doing this???

[Joan]

I didn`t even watch the show Tuesday night. I checked who won on my computer and saw that Rocco got kicked off so I decided not to waste my time.The judges are making a lot of people very angry giving Cloris an eight when she deserved an "E" for effort and that is all. Oh and by the way I am a 79 year young lady and Cloris is embarrassing to me!

[spb]

Come on! Cloris is 82 years old for pete's sake! It is amazing that she is even attempting to dance. And that at 82 she can still be so lively?! She is hilarious and deserves our admiration. Granted - she should be eliminated. Probably next. But for an old dame at 82 to get out there and give it a go - give her some credit!

[James]

Here in the UK we see both DWTS shows back to back on a Friday evening. What everyone here in the UK cannot understand is how judges Len and Bruno, who are also judges on our UK show "Strictly Come Dancing", shown live here on Saturday evenings, change their points of view between US and UK competitors. Some moves that are carried out exactly the same in both shows and marked as 4 or 5 here and 8 or 9 in the US. Don't even get me started on Cloris! We have a total of 4 judges and two of them Craig Revell Horwood and Arlene Phillips, would not have even given her a single point for all her routines put together. All ABC are doing by keeping her in the show is to make it a laughng stock in other countries where we don't even know who Cloris is! Come on producers get your act together and bring the correct good dancers through, or are you making too much money from the telephone/sms voting?

[Kate Smith]

OK people, DWTS is a show designed to entertain viewers. Does anyone's purpose or happiniess in life really hinge on who takes home the trophy? Cloris is entertaining. Period. If you take yourself and the show so seriously that you can't see that, maybe you should find something else to watch. Even DWTS doesn't take itself that seriously. Part of what's so great about the results show is that they all make fun of themselves. It's not the Olympics. Chill out and sit back and enjoy...

[catt3690]

Yes we should all admire Cloris who at 82 is out there giving it her best. But come on, this is a show about dancing and it's supposed to be the best dancers who continue each week and there's not a single person out there that can say Cloris is a better dancer than Rocco or Ted McGinley. Personally I think even Kim Kardashian and Jeff Ross were better than Cloris. She is entertaining (some of the time), but she is not a dancer and she should not still be on the show.

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Are the Americans not tired of voting for athletes in whatever they do? And the judges. Are they under pressure to give scores? Why is Maurice still here? Maurice’s dancing movements (don’t even think of techniques) are on the same level as Cloris, who God knows why is still here. Either Maurice or Cloris should have been eliminated. There’s absolutely no graciousness as far as Maurice’s DANCING is concerned. Shaking one’s shoulders doesn’t count.

Warren is just a touch better. I mean he’s not bad, but that’s all: not bad, but not good. Give you an example: the Japanese sumo wrestlers don’t play American football(No offence, I think they’re great). But if you put a teacher on them for a few days and make them play a game, you can imagine what it looks like. However, let’s say one wrestler turns out that he’s not as bad as one expects, he can actually catch a ball avoid a couple of tackles and run a couple of yards. But he’s still far from being considered skillful. That’s what Warren is: like a Japanese sumo wrestler playing football who is not too bad.

On the other hand, Maurice is like the other wrestlers.

So please stop voting just because they’re athletes, except in the case of Kristi Yamaguchi who was the best in that season. You don’t need to be a dancing critic to tell who looks better than the others, just like you don’t need to be an expert to tell whether a girl is pretty or not.