'Dancing With The Stars': Let's Talk About Those 10s

I think this episode is great -- because it just screams out for discussion of what's behind judging decisions.

Let's recap prior to this week: Kristi Yamaguchi has been so good that the judges have had to handcuff themselves not to dole out 10s to her in the first few weeks. Even with that, she's never gotten ANY score lower than a 9. Public perception -- and fellow-dancer perception -- is starting to build to a point where Kristi seems potentially unbeatable. Not good for the show.

Tonight, Kristi dances first. Kristi, being the figure-skating champ she is, seems to have a bit of wariness, backstage, about the starting-off slot--no figure skater wants to go first, because in subjective judging, it's hard for judges to hand out perfection at the start of a competition. (What then, do they do, if another competitor comes along and is just as technically perfect, but wows above and beyond? The judges have already created a glass ceiling for themselves. So it's not unusual to see judges show a little more hesistancy in terms of handing out high scores in the early going.)

But Kristi is spectacular, again, and this time Carrie Ann and Bruno can't resist: They bust out the 10s. Len, who has his crotchety underpants on, refuses to concede and gives her a 9. Still, looks as though the balloon has popped--10s are out, and what's left to be seen is how many of them Kristi can accumulate in the coming weeks. Even her fellow competitors are conceding the total uphill climb they have to face,.Marlee Matlin is saying backstage that it would take "an asteroid" to beat the skating queen.

Then along comes Jason. He does a Viennese Waltz that is pretty incredible, but he stumbles, unmistakably, during his performance. Carrie Ann--who has always seemed the most nit-picky of judges (hey, she did her first call-out of the season on an illegal lift on Priscilla Presley earlier in the night)--declares him so seductive and elegant that she's already decided to forgive him for the foot slip. Okay, fine. Bruno declares his waltz "sexy, sensual and erotic" and starts to say, it appears, that he was less willing to forgive the misstep, but he gets cut off.

Cut to scores, and Carrie Ann throws up a 10! And so does Bruno! Only Mr. Crotchety Underpants holds steady with the 9.

So here we are with Kristi sharing the leaderboard with Jason. And the evil manipulative recesses of my mind start thinking: Is this the judges' way of indicating to everyone--viewers, contestants, VIEWERS--that this competition isn't a done deal?

Fast-forward to the performance by Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough, who injured his neck during rehearsals and had to have Jonathan (whose apparent consolation prize for being paired with Monica Seles in this competition is to be the permanent stand-in) rehearse for him most of the week. Bruno and Carrie Ann say very nice things about their performance, then Len chimes in by pointedly declaring it the best dance HE's seen all night. Ahem.

Ding-ding-ding! Len doles out his first 10, to Shannon, who gets 9s from Bruno and Carrie Ann.

(In other judging disagreements, Mario gets a 7, and 8 and a 9).

Before going to our leaderboard, a few more points:

Adam Carolla performs the start of his paso doble on a unicycle, dressed in full Zorro gear. This wins him no style points. And despite Julianne's expressed hope that he stick to the dancing and not offend anyone...sorry, sweetheart. Adam cracks on the wardrobe department again for making him look like "a porn star." He also finishes at the bottom of the barrel (a 19).

Biggest comeback goes to Marissa Jaret Winokur, who was called "boring" by Carrie Ann last week. Clearly a fan favorite (she got saved by voting public), she's suffered from harsh criticism from the judges. Partner Tony makes the obvious point this week--"the judges expect more out of Marissa because she's won a Tony." Well, why wouldn't they? So they ramp it up, and she lands in a three-way tie for fifth.

Marlee Matlin's dance makes Carrie Ann CRY. But it is only worth an 8. So fear not, lovers of Carrie Ann's backbone. She's not mush. Wait a minute, how about those 6-foot-6 NFL superstars....?

In this week's results show, they're finally going to reveal the Bottom Two, and I'm grateful for that, because any more insight into viewer choices would be enlightening. I'd offer my most likely suspects, but, wow, did I get killed on that last week. (Okay, I'll do it anyway. Adam is obvious, Priscilla strikes me as someone who might not have the strongest fan-wagon and thus her plummet this week is dangerous, and Mario is wavering). But you tell me.

Meanwhile, here are the numbers:

Jason: 29
Kristi: 29
Shannon: 28
Cristian: 26
Mario: 24
Marissa: 24
Marlee: 24
Priscilla: 22
Adam: 19

--JENNIFER FREY

Jennifer Frey  |  April 8, 2008; 8:35 AM ET Dancing With the Stars
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Posted by: gail24 | April 8, 2008 7:15 PM

Posted by: XXX | April 8, 2008 8:02 PM

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