"Dancing with the Stars": Stevie Wonder Night brings out the talent
The eight remaining couples on season 16 of "Dancing with the Stars" strutted to the sounds of Stevie Wonder on Monday night.
The 62-year-old singer was on hand to kick off the show, alongside 21-year-old country star Hunter Hayes.
"We are so happy to have you here on Stevie Wonder Night because had you not shown, it would have been really awkward," host Tom Bergeron joked. Wonder replied, "I (had) to be here or I would have had to watch it on TV."
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Wonder was in for a good show, with one of this season's leading couples -- Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough -- snagging a nearly perfect score of 29. They danced to Wonder's "Part Time Lover," receiving major kudos from judge Carrie Ann Inaba, who said, "Perfect posture, perfect nuance, perfect lines, perfect interpretation." Fellow judge Len Goodman the "best dance" he has seen this season, while Bruno Tonioli called it "Superb."
But Pickler and Hough faced some stiff competition from Zendaya Coleman and Val Chmerkovskiym, who also garnered a score of 29, following their cha cha routine to "Do I Do." Inaba said the dance blew her away, and Tonioli called it "Gob. Smacking. Gorgeous."
So right now, the battle seems to be brewing between celebrity contenders Pickler and Coleman, but that doesn't mean the others out of the ballroom just yet. Alexandra Raisman and Mark Ballas earned a score of 27 for their choreographed dance to "Isn't She Lovely." "You're an understated performer," Inaba told Raisman. "But I can see you're heading toward perfection."
Tuesday will see the departure of another contender. See how the rest of the contestants fared below.
Contestants' scores:
Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough 9, 10, 10 (29)
Zendaya Coleman and Val Chmerkovskiy 10, 9, 10 (29)
Alexandra Raisman and Mark Ballas 9, 9, 9 (27)
Ingo Rademacher and Kim Johnson 8, 8, 8 (24)
Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff 8, 7, 8 (23)
Sean Lowe and Peta Murgatroyd 7, 7, 7 (21)
Andy Dick and Sharna Brugess 6, 6, 6 (18)
Victor Ortiz and Lindsay Arnold 6, 6, 6 (18)
Team samba: Dick, Lowe, Pickler, Raisman 8, 9, 8 (25)
Team paso: Coleman, Jones, Ortiz, Rademacher 7, 8, 7 (22)
