Spray tans for everyone on 'Dancing with the Stars'

With the Samba and Rumba, tonight's Dancing with the Stars is what hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris repeatedly said was historically "the sexiest night" of the competition. Too bad no one told the house band that. Terrible.

Spoilers!

Since it's Latin night, the pros made sure everyone was nice a bronzed...even Jason Taylor. I'm sure that will be the subject of one of tomorrow's many, many, many time-fillers.

1. Mario & Karina
Dance/Song: Samba - A "latinized" version of "A-tisket, A-tasket"   
After Len told him to work more on the style, Mario is really trying hard to improve. To pick his spirits up, he goes on a local Los Angeles radio morning show hosted by Stevie Wonder and got some advice which really gave him a boost. I do like the energy he brought to the performance, a sort of understated smoothness. His posture and legs were good as was his hip action. A nice performance all around but the music was very...eh to me. Not terrible but not great.
Judges: All three really enjoyed it and Len said the dance suited him and it was his best so far.
Score: 27 (all 9's)

2. Priscilla Presley & Louis
Dance/Song: Rumba - "the First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack    
Recovering from being tagged by the Lift Police last week, a disappointed Priscilla is looking to make a comeback. And yes, she does emote well in the performance but...um...I wasn't really feeling it. She had trouble keeping her shoulder/arm lines and her hip action was inconsistent. That's the downside of getting the slow songs - it takes extra effort and concentration to maintain those things, it's not fast enough to cheat. Plus that lean at the end was sketchy, Louis should never have put it in. And what's up with the blah music tonight?
Judges: Bruno complemented the performance but said the slow pace exposed some of her flaws, Carrie Ann said the choreography was a little too difficult because it looked like Priscilla was thinking too much, and Len was bitterly disappointed.
Score: 21 (all 7's)

3. Marissa Jaret Winokur & Tony
Dance/Song: Samba - "Tamborine" by Eve. UGH! Please tell the band to stop covering hip hop songs. It never works. Thank goodness for the mute button.   
Marissa bought this giant peacock feather head-dress to help her get into the Brazilian/Carnival spirit. It was super big, especially since she's so short, and kind of awesome. You know, I'll really give it to her. She was really shaking it out there and holy crap is that Adrian Zmed in the audience?!? *Ahem* Excuse me. As I was saying, she has definitely improved from last week. The footwork was better, she had good stage presence/energy and Tony has learned his lesson, giving her solid content to work with. She was a little off at the beginning but so were the singers and I think that messed her up. I will, however, reiterate that she needs to watch her facial expressions. She has Muppet Syndrome like Helio Castroneves.
Judges: The judges all complimented her bounciness and Carrie Ann says it was her best routine by far. Len adds that it had "more bounce to the ounce."
Score: 24 (all 8's)

4. Cristian de la Fuente & Cheryl 
Dance/Song: Rumba - "If You're Not The One" by Daniel Bedingfield - finally a song with some momentum, too bad they're playing it so bloody slow and that last chord was so very painful   
They're having some issues with the whole "romantic quality" of the dance because they have a brother/sister relationship so Cheryl tells him to think of this as a movie with her as the leading lady. He did a lot better than I thought he was going to. Not so much with the emoting part, but with the posture. He always seems so...stiff but the flexibility in his back has really improved. He needs to do some Yoga or something. That would help tremendously.
Judges: All three feel that it was just so-so with Carrie Ann advising Cristian to work on connecting the steps better. 
Score: 23 (7-8-8)

5. Marlee Matlin & Fabian
Dance/Song: Samba - I don't know the name of the song but it was the first legitimate Samba song of the night    
Marlee and Fabian travel to Guadalajara with Bill Austin, founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation to provide children in need with hearing aids which allows some of the kids to hear for the first time. Before I get to anything else, I have to say that Marlee looks fan-freakin'-tastic in her shimmy outfit. For reals. This was, to me, the best dance of the night thus far. Was it technically perfect? No, but Marlee was shaking it like a maraca and really maintained her composure despite any problems she might've had.
Judges: Sure, Marlee had some trip-ups but the judges all thought she brought good energy to it.
Score: 22 (7-7-8)

6. Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark
Dance/Song: Rumba - "Say (What You Need To Say)" by John Mayer - ick   
Kristi decided they should come up with alter egos (Kristiana & Markucio) so she can really get into the character of the dance. Somehow I think it was the producers idea that her family should stop by this week for some potentially awkward moments (there thankfully weren't any - and her kids are adorable...and her husband ain't too shabby either). It was a great dance, I have nothing bad to say about it at all. There were some really cool position holds, especially towards the end, and Kristi really did emote well.
Judges: Nothing but love with Carrie Ann saying that Kristi really connected emotionally but sacrificed some of her movements, which was a good call.
Score: 29 (9-10-10)

7. Shannon Elizabeth & Derek
Dance/Song: Samba - "Pon De Replay" by Rihanna - a surprisingly competent cover   
Poor Derek can't catch a break - he went to the emergency room with food poisoning early in the day but returned to dance. After getting a 10 from Len last week, Shannon really wants to keep her scores up. There was a lot of good stuff in there but she's still having problems connecting her feet and her legs. She wasn't shaking a whole lot but I knew she wasn't going to be coming into it since she expressed having issues with hip action during the rehearsal package.
Judges: All the judges basically agreed but Carrie Ann gave the best feedback stating that it's good Shannon is fearless and will push herself to get difficult steps.
Score: 23 (8-8-7)

8. Jason Taylor & Edyta
Dance/Song: Rumba - "You're All I Need" by Tammi Terrell & Marvin Gaye    
The best part of the rehearsal package was seeing Jason try some of Edyta's crazy flexible moves. Comedy. I liked the number - Jason had good hip action, solid footwork and nice lines.
Judges: They all thought it was good, though Len predictably chided Edyta for doing that one crazy move (an assited standing/horizontal split essentially).
Score: 27 (9-9-9)

Bottom Two: It was a generally lackluster showing all around but I'm thinking it's between Priscilla, Cristian and Shannon.
Who's Out?: Hmmm...it could be Priscilla. I think it should be but everyone's so close in score, it could go a few ways.

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