‘Dancing with the Stars’ Recap: One Judge’s Knit-Picky Critiques Kill on Queen Night
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Dancing with the Stars absolutely rocked Queen Night. We’re now half way through season 30 and the competition is getting fierce. While no couple received a perfect score tonight, was it due to lack of skill, or one particularly cranky judge?
This whole season, fans of Iman Shumpert have known judge Len Goodman has been extra critical. Tonight, it seems there was no end to his crotchety attitude. There wasn’t a Len Ten in the house. In fact, some of his critiques were downright odd, telling Cody Rigsby his “bum stuck out occasionally” was just unnecessary.
There must be something in the air on Queen Night because Goodman wasn’t the only unimpressed member of the audience. Frontrunners JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson, who have earned perfect scores twice this season already, ended up in the bottom two against Mike “The Miz” Mizanin and Witney Carson.
This was such a surprising bottom two The Miz couldn’t keep his comments to himself. After host Tyra Banks explained how the judge save works and asked for the votes, The Miz could be heard saying “can’t wait.” It was a unanimous save for JoJo and Jenna.
“You were iconic throughout this entire season, you should be very very proud,” judge Derek Hough told The Miz.
What’s Going On With the Bottom Two?
This isn’t the first time a couple landed in the bottom two after earning high scores from the judges. After Grease Night, Spice Girl Mel C. was eliminated when she was up against Olivia Jade to be saved. Both couples had scored highly in the competition up to that point.
When it comes to the judges’ save, they’re really voting based on the scores they give. That means when fans don’t show up to vote, the original judge scores seems to be the deciding factor. Considering The Miz only scored a 32 out of 40 after his “stiff” Foxtrot to “Radio Ga Ga” and didn’t manage to grab any points during his relay, he was the lowest scoring dancer of the night, and eliminated.
JoJo and Jenna, on the other hand, are a perfect example of what happens when a pair scores high according to the judges, but the celebrity may not have as many fans (at least who are voting.) JoJo scored second highest tonight earning a near perfect 39 out of 40 for her gorgeous Tango to “Body Language.” Unfortunately, it just doesn’t seem like as many viewers turned out to vote for the young pop star.
The Relay Dances Return, Adding Extra Points to the Competition
Tonight, the relay round of the competition returned to give an extra boost to certain couples. Relays were first introduced to Dancing with the Stars in Season 9. The couples are split into three groups and each group performs the same style of dance to the same song. The judges then award one point each to whichever group they think performed the dance the best, for a total of four points available per relay.
This is what sealed The Miz and Witney’s fate tonight. While they were tied for the lowest score of the night with Iman heading into the relays, Iman managed to grab two bonus points, giving him an edge.
JoJo also could have used some bonus points, as she was tied for the best score of the night with Olivia Jade who then shocked everyone by earning all four bonus points for her round and skyrocketing her up the leader board.
Cody Rigsby and Melora Hardin also managed to nab two bonus points each while Suni Lee and Amanda Kloots each earned one point, likely helping them avoid the bottom two. Suni powered through being sick this week and was obviously relieved when she wasn’t eliminated because of it. After her first performance, she ran off the dance floor to vomit, but still managed to bounce back for her relay performance. That extra point was well-earned.
Next week, it’s Janet Jackson Night and two couples will be eliminated as we head toward the grand finale later this month. As always, voting will be open throughout the show and close during the final commercial, and it’s more important now than ever before as only a few points separate these talented dancers.
