chelsie hightower

He may have the best smile, but Mike Catherwood is also the least-known star on season 12 of 'Dancing With the Stars', and his combined score of 30 after two weeks of dancing is the lowest. Can the Los Angeles disc jockey and his partner Lacey Schwimmer evade tonight's elimination on 'DWTS'?

"I have the lowest fan base and lowest score," Catherwood told TV Squad on the post-show press line last night. "If anything keeps us on the show beyond this week we'll have to do things differently. It can't be just, 'Oh, I'll try harder.' We'll have to go back to the drawing board and break it down."

If Catherwood manages to avoid being sent home during tonight's elimination show he'll have Schwimmer to thank. She brings her own fan following, not just from 'DWTS,' but also from 'So You Think You Can Dance' on which she appeared from 2007–08.

Ralph Macchio, 49, and Kirstie Alley, 60, are two of the older contestants on season 12 of 'Dancing With the Stars,' but after the first night of dancing they took early leads with top scores of, respectively, 24 and 23.

The star of 'The Karate Kid' and his pro partner, Karina Smirnoff, performed a Foxtrot that judge Len Goodman called the best one of the night.

Macchio's an actor; did that play a role in how successfully he embraced his part on the dance floor?

"Yes. Dancing is like acting only you use your body," said Smirnoff. "It allows him tap into the character so much better."

"[Acting] is less painful," joked Macchio. "Less painful."

It's time to move to the groove on 'Extreme Makeover' (Sun., 8PM ET on ABC). The 'Makeover' crew visited Neenah, Wisconsin -- where they helped out Rhex Arboleda and his family.

Rhex Arboleda and his wife were living in a tiny house with their five children. Rhex is a hometown hero -- despite his tough circumstances, he created a local program called "Move to the Groove," to help fight childhood obesity.

So it was appropriate that 'Dancing With the Stars' cast members showed up to help out. Derek Hough even insisted on pitching in with the construction work during the week-long "build."

The first night jitters are officially out of the way. Twelve stars and their celebrity pro partners took to the dance floor and performed either a Cha-Cha or a Viennese Waltz on the 'Dancing With the Stars' season 11 opening night show. Actress Jennifer Grey, singer Brandy Norwood and athletes Rick Fox and Kurt Warner performed well -- as expected -- but the surprise of the night was teen actor Kyle Massey, who brought to mind a young Warren Sapp (Kym Johnson's season 7 partner) when he performed a dynamite dance with Lacey Schwimmer.

TV Squad was on the post-show press line to get reactions from all 24 participants. For one unlucky couple, alas, it's their second-to-last interview, because tonight one duo is going home.

On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' (weeknights, 12:05AM ET on ABC), the host had a few things to clear up with Jake Pavelka and Chelsie Hightower, the latest 'Dancing with the Stars' castoffs. First, he asked 'The Bachelor' star if it was "hard to be on a reality show with a woman [he was] not sleeping with." Then there was the issue of Hightower's involvement in the Jake-Vienna nuptials...?!

Watch the video after the jump.

Another celebrity has been booted from 'Dancing With the Stars' (Tue., 8PM ET on ABC). Former 'Bachelor' star Jake Pavelka got the axe on the show. He and actress Niecy Nash had the two lowest scores, but it was Pavelka who was cut. During his farewell speech, Pavelka got a little emotional.

Watch the video after the jump.

With ABC confirming a tenth season of Dancing with the Stars on March 22, let's take a moment to realize several of the flaws with DWTS. Season nine popped up some very obvious problems. I'm not talking about ringers; there will always be someone who obviously has more potential than others. For example, the musician has rhythm, the athlete has endurance, and the actor can fake confidence. I accept that Samantha Harris isn't going anywhere.

I'm happy that DWTS hasn't added any judges like American Idol, and I don't mind judges ranking scores either. Here are five of the biggest pet peeves that Dancing with the Stars needs to fix.

(S9E08) This week on Dancing with the Stars we welcome four new dances: Two-Step, Bolero, Charleston, and Lambada. Lifts are allowed, so Carrie Ann really has no reason to be here this week. Also, most of the professionals have no clue what they are doing this week.

With the opening credits being shown, I know it's going to be one of those nights where it's dance, commercial, dance, commercial, with a lot of Tom hyping up the results show. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of fast forwarding past Samantha Harris. I really dislike the use of the 60-second commercials; let me get the scores right after the judging.

(S05E21) I'm happy to hear Cat announce that the filler in this episode would be the four Emmy nominated performances. It would actually be interesting if next season they could try a "Where are they now?" segment on the results shows.

The eliminations weren't shocking to me, but watching Cat announce that Jeanine and Brandon were the two that didn't have to perform solos was a relief and a pain. They had the best performances last night.

With the second week of competitions tonight on So You Think You Can Dance, I wanted to point out a trend: reality dance show contestants can't leave television. Several contestants and a few choreographers have jumped ship and have appeared on other reality shows.

The jump basically can plant an already established fanbase onto a different television show. One great example is Ty Murray on Dancing with the Stars. I'm not sure what the percentage of votes for Ty came from fans of Chelsie Hightower and her work from SYTYCD or his charm, but he definitely benefited from someone who knew to make routines that were camera friendly.

(S08E03) With the results of week one, it could go either way. Either a non-contender bites the dust, or someone just doesn't have the fanbase. You can't say that Gilles has no fanbase after two really strong performances.

The recap show somehow managed to squeeze 26 performances in an hour. I now realize how much time I've wasted having to sit through Samantha Harris. Along with the results, and 30 minutes of other filler, Jewel performed. I'm sure someone out there was giving her the evil glare. The results after the jump.

(S08E02) - "We all know what Bruno wants." - Chuck

The show was a little off this week with the random sound cue during Ty's judging, the frozen video with Lawrence, the new judges paddles and Steve-O, but the performances were a lot better than last week. Most of the weaker dancers improved, and the rest basically stayed in the same scoring bracket. After the jump, an overall look at all the performances.

(S04E21) Nigel told the final six that while they were getting plenty of applause and adulation on the show, they would have to get used to rejection if they continue on this career path. He advised that they use the rejection to propel them forward. But, the final six shouldn't feel too bad because each one of them got over a million votes going into this results show.

And the stakes are even higher going into the finale. Adam Shankman has added a role as a featured dancer in his new movie to the winner's prize package.

So let's see who will be battling it out next Thursday on So You Think You Can Dance.