It was another night of perfection in the ballroom.
A week after J.R. Martinez scored back-to-back 30s on Dancing with the Stars, a contestant did it again as the final four celebrities battled in the semi-finals.
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This time, Ricki Lake – dressed in a bright yellow feathery costume – dazzled with a sleek samba with partner Derek Hough that had the audience on its feet and the judges reaching for superlatives.
“Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous,” gushed Len Goodman after the first-round dance.
“Sizzling hot, bright and brilliant,” said Bruno Tonioli.
Lake followed her first perfect 30-point performance by wowing judges with a tango that got her 10s from Goodman and Tonioli and a nine from Carrie Ann Inaba.
Martinez, meanwhiled, followed his best night with one of his worst.
Hobbled by an ankle twisted in rehearsal, Martinez scored a disappointing 23 for his paso doble with Karina Smirnoff.
In pain and frustrated, he cursed at the end of his second-round tango, which he danced with a taped ankle, but the judges were more impressed, giving him 27 points.
Also charming the judges was Rob Kardashian, whose rump-shaking samba with Cheryl Burke earned a standing ovation and left his mom, Kris Jenner, sobbing tears of joy in the audience.
“Rob, it was amazing,” said Inaba, giving him his first 10. Goodman and Tonioli awarded him nines.
His second-round tango was nearly as successful, earning 27 points.
Hope Solo overcame a shaky first-round paso doble with Maksim Chmerkovskiy that the judges found overly aggressive – giving her just 21 points – with a sexy 24-point tango.
In the final round, the pairs performed a cha cha relay, dancing consecutively to the same song. First place – and 10 additional points – went to Kardashian, giving him 65 points for the night, just behind Lake with 67. Martinez finished in third with 56, and Solo earned just 49 points.
Story courtesy of Mike Fleeman of people.com
