‘Dancing With the Stars’ results recap: End of the rainbow

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This whole results-show hour had been a bit of a mix-up. First off, they switched the order of the recaps. Then Brooke sneaked in that Rick Fox and Cheryl Burke were in jeopardy -- and then had to repeat herself after Cheryl and Rick thought they were safe.

But ‘story week’ marked the end for one celebrity, and alas, there was no mix-up with those results. Sadly, it was Margaret Cho who got the heave-ho. And although it was inevitable that the low-scoring comedian was the one to be eliminated this week, it was still heartbreaking to see her go. She took it all with pride, though, and through her obviously disappointed tears came a rainbow of smiles and much love for partner Louis Van Amstel. Hope she’s able to continue to love herself as much as her fans adore her, fight the good fight and continue to dance it all out. Too bad she couldn’t go out in that blast of rainbow-colored flurries, like she did Monday night. But at least she can have that drink now.

And while we’re at it, why don’t we also toast last week’s evictee and this week’s class act, Michael Bolton, for rising above Bruno’s comments and coming back as a last-minute pinch hitter for the ailing Susan Boyle? It was great to see him in his element, rather than in the doghouse, so we could be reminded that this guy has ton of talent (and not long ago, a ton of hair to match). His rousing version of ‘Hallelujah’ was accompanied by real-life marrieds Anna Trebunskaya and Jonathan Roberts, with Anna in a lovely Disney princess sparkle dress. And then a children’s choir materialized from nowhere! It all came together so lovingly. ‘Wouldn’t you say this is a triumphant return for Michael Bolton?’ asked Tom to the crowd. Cut to Bruno with a frozen smile plastered on his face.

In what may have been the lowest-scoring encore dance ever, the Situation and Karina Smirnoff reenacted their fox trot/time machine/Black Eyed Peas mash-up. ‘There’s something fascinating about it,’ Len remarked. Loved again how the Sitch raised his arm in salute when his name was announced. And yes, I was mesmerized again by that meshy pleather outfit, and those bedazzled shoulder coverlets. ‘Plus, we got to amortize the cost of the time machine,’ Tom pointed out.

Continuing in the theme of story night, Ne-Yo sang his new single, ‘One in a Million,’ and chased a girl at a cafe out onto the ballroom and out of the soundstage. Season 9 champ Donny Osmond took to the Las Vegas streets to grill passers-by about their favorites, and the contestants spoke about the roller coaster of emotions that they ride every week.

In the experimental portion of the evening, guitarist Mark Ballas stared steely eyed against violinist and pro dancer Val (brother of Maks) Chmerkovskiy in a ‘string duel to the death.’ ‘String it on,’ challenged Val. ‘It’s already been strung,’ responded Mark. It was ‘Toxic,’ and Tanisha Belnap and Lacey Schwimmer offered sparkly, high-kicking dance support. Britney Spears is having a pretty good pop culture week: Between her ‘Glee’ appearance last week and this strung-out performance, she’s hitting all the pop culture markers. Speaking of pop culture markers, Tom remarked that the string-off was ‘like ‘High Noon’ with Spandex!’

What did you think? Did the right person go home? Was the results show a little more convoluted than usual? Are you ready for next week’s ‘most dramatic ballroom ever?’

-- Allyssa Lee

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‘Dancing With the Stars’ recap: Story time

‘Dancing With the Stars’ results recap: Bolton booted

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