#apolo ohno

Surprise! I'm writing about this week. And it will be the last week that I write about because the judging was atrocious and the level of dancing for it to be week 9, is so incredibly weak. But I felt like this was a good week to write about to sum up my thoughts on each couple.

Before we get into the couples, I want to get into the celebration piece of the show. I'm gonna be honest with y'all, I wish they were given a separate special like they got for the 10th anniversary. While it was nice to see old pros and stars in the audience and I loved that Tom was the guest judge, I don't think we got to celebrate everyone in the way that I felt was sufficient. I mean this is 20 years! How many shows do you all know that make it that long? It was nice seeing old winners (although half of them were from some of the more recent seasons). And I'm glad we got to see the six original pros, even though I felt it was too short. But I wanted to see other performances like we saw in 2015. Now that there's enough of them, we could've done an all NBA/WNBA (s/o to Arike) dance. And there could've been other performances. I just think there were so many missed opportunities for this one. It felt like the 500th anniversary special from last season. And I think they could've gone harder for the 20th year anniversary. If they had, we might've gotten more people from the past to come back.

Freestyle Homage Round

Elaine and Alan (Mario and Karina from Season 3)- Salsa (Score=36)- Elaine did a really good job here. She didn't miss a step. The dance was rhythmic. Her arms looked good. And her hips were great. I wish her legs had been a bit stronger and sharper. That was the one thing that was missing here. So I agree with the 9s. This dance was fantastic and Elaine is hitting her stride at the right time.

Robert and Witney (Bindi and Derek from Season 21)- Foxtrot (Score=40)- People have been mad at this score all week, but honestly, it was well deserved. There were slight issues with his frame, but sometimes the emotional performance of a dance kinda trumps that. And I also want to add that Robert's technique was really good outside of the small (and I do mean small ) frame issues. He is so much more fluid in his movements now than he was when he started. His lines were gorgeous. His attention to the details was so good. There's a certain thing that he did in all of his previous dances that stops the fluidity of the performance. However, I did not see that in this dance. It was great seeing Bindi out there on the floor with him. Witney's choreography was beautiful. Yeah, this was the dance of the night for me.

Andy and Emma (Jordan and Lindsay from Season 25)- Quickstep (Score=29)- Yikes. This was bad. I've been avoiding Andy's dances all season, because I just don't think he's the enjoyable type of bad. His bad is very pedestrian and annoying and I feel nothing when he dances. So I would've given this quickstep a 5. It was WAY overscored. I'm sure he was trying, but no. It was slow. His frame was terrible. He was out of sync. It lacked musicality. I hate how they invoke Len's name for dances that he would've hated and act like he would've loved it. Len would've chewed Andy and Emma up after that dance, told them that it's their time to go and thrown out a 5 or 6.

Dylan and Daniella (Milo and Witney from Season 27)- Argentine Tango (Score=40)- While I had issues with Andy's scoring, I think this was WORSE. It was a fine Argentine tango, don't get me wrong. But take Daniella out of that routine and what do you see? Dylan was hesitant. His ins and outs of the lift were not seamless. He didn't dance much. The in between moments left much to be desired. His frame needs work. It just wasn't perfect score worthy. And it definitely wasn't deserving of the crown of best male Argentine tango. That Gilles tango was superb and there were others right on his heels. Like I did for male rumbas when CAI made a similar wild claim about Joseph Baena and Daniella (go figure), I will be posting some of the best male Argentine tangos to show you all what Dylan is up against and what she conveniently forgot. Anyway, 36 max for me. That 40 was a crime.

Jordan and Ezra (Wayne and Witney from Season 31)- Cha-Cha-Cha (Score=37)- This would've been an appropriate score for Jordan if Dylan hadn't gotten a perfect score and if Andy had been given 6s. But as soon as those two events happened, she needed a perfect score for this. While it was a very very good dance, there were a couple of issues. The first is that Jordan's free arm becomes a little gymnast-y. So she needs to loosen up the arm that isn't doing anything. The other thing is that at one point in the routine, her legs were lagging just a tad. Great dance overall, but I did notice those things.

Alix and Val (Nev and Jenna from Season 29)- Foxtrot (Score=40)- It was good. Great even. And the perfect score was deserved. But Alix bores me as a dancer. Sorry. I wish I felt something when she dances. I don't though. It's nice. That's it. She's the only one left in the cast that I feel like that about. She's a "meh" kind of performer.

Whitney and Mark (Gabby and Val from Season 31)- Argentine Tango (Score=40)- It was good. I think Whitney has a tendency to lose a bit of control when she dances. And while it wasn't big this time, I saw slight moments where her legs lost some polish. I also think her legs were a bit soft in certain spots. It was great. But meh.

Relay (Really Just a Dance-Off) Round feat. Previous Winners

So this round was silly. I didn't particularly care for the idea of it. These celebs are not professionals and many of them have been out off the dancefloor for over 10 years. Anyway, let's get to it.

Jordan and Apolo vs Elaine and Rashad- Quickstep- This was my favorite relay of the three. I think it was evenly matched. Both couples had similar problems (timing and synchronicity). But for me, the couple that won was Jordan and Apolo. Their frame was better to me. I gotta really commend Apolo for that frame. That was the best frame that I've seen from a male celeb on this show in years. Rashad and Elaine were great too. But yeah, the frame took those two over the top for me.

Dylan and Rumer vs Andy and Kaitlyn- Viennese Waltz- An obvious Dylan win here. This was the best I've ever seen Dylan. Probably because he couldn't hide behind how good Daniella is. Rumer also partnered him really well and her lines were gorgeous. As for Andy? Well, yeah. What I will say is that Kaitlyn really bored me throughout her entire season. However, this little thing was the most I enjoyed Kaitlyn on the dancefloor. So that lets me know that Artem was the problem there. There was so much to that performance and I was feeling it.

Robert and Xochitl vs Alix and Joey- Jive- People are trying to make this close, but it was not. Not at all. Robert was the winner here. He was made to jive. He and Xochi also had great chemistry. I want to shout Witney out here as well. She had to teach Xochi the technique for jive since she never actually did it in her original season. And that girl was good. I wish the judges had pointed that out. Their kicks and flicks were sharp and super energetic. Alix and Joey? A different story. Those kicks lacked sharpness and energy. And Joey's footwork was atrocious. I told y'all all last season that his feet were bad. Now that we have another capable male up there with him, everyone can see exactly what I was talking about with him. Zero technique from him. Just vibes and tricks that didn't pan out.