Lysacek Wins First Perfect Score on "DWTS"
On a night filled with flowing waltzes and sporadic quicksteps, Olympic figure skater Evan Lysacek took command and danced to the top with his steamy rendition of the Argentine tango on Monday night's episode of "Dancing with the Stars."
After receiving a weak score from the judges last week with his samba, and for the first time not landing in the top two, Lysacek and his coach Anna Trebunskaya were out to prove a point.
And they sure did.
The couple received this season's first perfect score of 30 and redeemed themselves from last week with their fierce, dominating and impressive tango. Their performance brought the audience to their feet and won the judges over.
"You danced like a true alpha male -- strong, powerful, aggressive, determined and sexy," said judge Bruno Tonioli.
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High scores of the night also went to Erin Andrews and Nicole Scherzinger, both received 27 points from the judges. Andrews danced a flirty quickstep and the judges said it was her best performance yet.
Scherzinger had a few points deducted from her score due to some minor technical errors, but the judges still praised her.
"You are by far, the best dancer we've ever had on the show," said judge Carrie Ann Inanba.
Chad Ochocino and Niecy Nash both earned 25 points for their dances. Ochocino, wearing all white, charmed the crowd with his emotional Viennese waltz. Nash's quickstep was on point and quite impressive.
Pamela Anderson fell to the bottom with her waltz at 24 points. The judges said she got the character right, but still needs to work on her technique.
Monday night's episode ended with a team dance, or a cha-cha-challenge.
The celebrities and their respected professional partners were divvyed up into two teams: Team Gaga and Team Madonna. Each group performed 30 seconds together at the beginning and the end, with solos performances in between.
Team Gaga consisted of Scherzinger, Ochocino and Anderson. The three danced to the Lady Gaga's latest hit, "Telephone." The group's performance was fairly crisp, but nonetheless really entertaining. Being the weakest dancer of the three, Anderson and her partner were the first to dance. Her performance was a little sluggish, but Ochocino and Scherzinger were able to come through and pull her weight.
Andrews, Nash and Lysacek of Team Madonna danced to Madonna's "Holiday," while the ladies of the group wore "Like a Virgin"-type of outfits. Judge Carrie Ann Inaba thought the routine was fun, but overall the performance wasn't as lively as Team Gaga and fell a little short.
Team Gaga won the challenge and each pair in the group earned an additional 27 points to their individual dance scores, while members of Team Madonna received 24 points.
With only six remaining dancers, it's pretty much anyone's game right now since the judges scores alone are not enough to escape elimination. We'll see who made the cut and who gets the boot on Tuesday night's elimination episode.