'The Jeff Probst Show' Has Been Canceled
'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
'Dancing With the Stars' Recap: Kirstie Alley Falls During Week Three Performances
by Katy Kroll, posted Apr 5th 2011 1:00AM
In week three of 'Dancing With the Stars,' the celebs told personal tales of tragedies and triumphs set to music. But a shockingly unexpected story stole the show: dancing pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy dropped partner Kirstie Alley during their live performance, and the two hit the ground ... hard.The theme for the night was that each of the 10 remaining contestants had to reveal something intimate about themselves through choreography and a handpicked song.
Some got teary-eyed -- Chris Jericho dedicated his rumba to his dearly departed mother, while Romeo put on his dancing shoes for his two cousins who lost their lives when he was young. Others said "thank you" to those they loved in the audience -- Hines Ward did a booty-bouncing salute to his mother, and Ralph Macchio took some sweetly sentimental steps to celebrate his 24th wedding anniversary.
But it was Kirstie who had the most memorable moment of the night; surely not in the way she had hoped.
The 'Cheers' star based her dance on the "agony and ecstasy" of how, in 1980, her mother was killed after being hit by a drunk driver right before Kirstie landed her first big movie role in 'Star Trek II.' She had hoped that performing the rumba to the song 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' would show her "vulnerable" side, and boy did it ever ...
Just seconds into the performance, Maks crumbled to the floor as Kirstie leaned into him, and they became a jumbled mess of sequins and flailing limbs amid gasps from the audience. But as quickly as they went down, they got right back up. Kirstie amazingly never lost her cool, even as Maks grabbed his leg in pain and took a what-seemed-like-forever moment to catch his breath before continuing with the routine.
Although Maks winced his way through the rest of the moves, the duo finished the dance almost effortlessly. As they limped up to the judges' table, the worst was assumed: They'd surely be ripped apart for such a monumental blunder, right? Wrong.
The judges were surprisingly forgiving, and even thought the way Kirstie and Maks handled the situation made the duo look "better than ever." It no doubt helped that "vulnerability" was key to Kirstie's performance to begin with -- because even famous people surely feel powerless when they fall on their butts on live TV in front of millions of gawkers. And that palpable moment of recognition that something horrible could happen to any one of us, no matter who we are, allowed Kirstie to come out smelling like a rose, garnering straight sevens from the judges. Chances are she nabbed more than a few sympathy votes from viewers for staying graceful under pressure, too.
Despite taking one of the worst tumbles in DWTS history, Kirstie and Maks are most likely still safe from elimination. But, overall, the leaderboard got a good shake-up. Ralph fell from the top, opening up the playing field to newly anointed leaders Hines and Petra Nemcova, whose poignant waltz was inspired by what she experienced after surviving the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.
Meanwhile, Wendy Williams, Sugar Ray Leonard and Chelsea Kane delivered awkward routines. Not only was Wendy's footwork still a mess, but her inaccessible tale of how badly she wanted to become famous fell flat, and felt shallow. While the judges enjoyed Sugar Ray's 'My Prerogative'-themed, boxing-heavy paso doble, it came across as cheap pandering to focus viewers on the fact he's an all-American icon rather than a not-so-great dancer. And Chelsea Kane self-indulgently cha-cha-chaed to a virtually unknown song (shamelessly titled 'Chelsea') that her first love wrote for her. Of course, the judges loved it. But, really, it was a lot less entertaining than her jive last week.
When it comes to who'll stay and who'll go, all signs point to Wendy being in deep trouble. So, tell us: Do you think she'll indeed be the next to exit or is there a surprise elimination awaiting us?
'Dancing With the Stars' airs Mondays at 8PM ET and Tuesdays at 9PM ET on ABC.
Watch the full episode here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 2
15 Comments