Jay-Jay Harvey shows off her cheerleading moves on Dancing With the Stars.
Jay-Jay Harvey shows off her cheerleading moves on Dancing With the Stars.
The dancers went all out to impress the judges, with new looks, X-Men haircuts and, for Jay-Jay Harvey, a raunchy cheerleading outfit. But did it pay off? Calum Henderson takes in all the action.
In years to come, dance historians will remember this series of Dancing With the Stars as having two distinct eras - the Pam era and the post-Pam era.
During the Pam era the show sailed on an endless ocean of possibility. With every week Pam hung in and avoided elimination, viewers were buoyed by the sense of hope she embodied.
Last Monday, Dominic Bowden paused for a nerve-wracking 17 minutes and then carefully enunciated a single syllable - "Pam" - thus vanquishing her from the dancefloor, and that hope was scuttled.
Teuila Blakely and Scott Cole perform on Dancing With the Stars.
We kick off the post-Pam era, and Movie Week, with last week's hip-hop cha-cha pariahs Teuila and Scott. They are determined to regain their dancing credibility, so they've dressed up like Storm and Wolverine and are doing a pasadoble to the X Men theme. Didn't they learn last week that the judges share a pathological hatred of fun? A fancy spinning move and lift at the end offers the leathered-up pair a glimmer of redemption, but the judges are unanimously lukewarm in their appraisals, holding up 6, 6, and 6. Uh oh ... Judges' score: 18
Jay-Jay Harvey & Enrique Johns
Jay-Jay Harvey shows off her cheerleading moves on Dancing With the Stars.
666. The number of the beast. An ominous portent of something very sinister to come. The judges have unwittingly summoned Jay-Jay to the dancefloor for a cheerleader-themed Step Up 2-homage samba. It's something of a return to the triumph of week one for Jay-Jay and Enrique, but the judges hearts have irreversibly hardened since those carefree days. Despite a successfully-executed lift, the pair can only command a middling 19. Judges' score: 19
Shane Cameron & Nerida Cortese
Shane Cameron performs on Dancing with the Stars.
It is a week of firsts for the strangely adorable pugilist - the show's first Argentine tango, the first time extras have been employed for the staging of a dance (to horrifying effect when Dominic Bowden tries to interact with one of them), and the first time Shane has dressed himself. He's forgotten to put on a shirt under his little suit vest, but you can't get everything right the first time. Shane and Nerida's tango is spellbinding, and it looks for all money like the pair could be in for a windfall of 9s or even 10s. But they aren't. Still, Shane is the dead-set dark horse of the competition now, steadily improving week-on-week. Judges' score: 23
Chrystal Chenery & Jonny Williams
Chrystal Chenery woos the judges on Dancing With the Stars.
With the notoriety of having been on The Bachelor eight weeks ago slipping through her fingers, and the sieve-like memories of all 150 people not boycotting TV3, Chrystal is on thin ice. She has been hovering around the bottom two despite consistently strong judges' scores, and she probably needs to be the best dancer on the floor to have any chance of not landing back there again. With across the board 9s for her Burlesque-inspired quickstep, she just about is. Chrystal should live to see another week. Judges' score: 27
Siobhan Marshall and Charlie Billington perform on Dancing With the Stars.
Ability-wise there's not a great deal that seperates Siobhan from Teuila, but the two couldn't be playing more different games. While Teuila incurs the judges' wrath with her populist fusions, Siobhan is doggedly conventional and sucking up to them like crazy - after Stefano requested she and Charlie try a lift last week, they throw no less than four in this week's rhumba. But will Siobhan's judge-pleasing conservatism outlast Teuila's crowd-pleasing populism? It's one of the enduring questions of our time. Judges' score: 24
Ben Barrington & Krystal Stewart
Ben Barrington and Krystal Stewart perform on Dancing With the Stars.
Ben Barrington's continued survival on this show is a mystery that has puzzled New Zealanders for weeks. Finally, it has all became clear: he's a vampire. In the hermetic enclosure of the Dancing With the Stars studio, he is immortal. Unburdened from his horrifying - yet sexy? - secret, he is finally free to do some good dancing. Weirdly, this week's Viennese waltz to Twilight anthem A Thousand Years is the second week in a row Barrington has danced to a song by the all-but-obsolete singer-songwriter Christina Perri. Judges' score: 22
Simon Barnett & Vanessa Cole
Simon Barnett performs on Dancing With the Stars.
Last week's Herculean dancing effort from the Pride of Christchurch was surely the apex of his run on the show, if not his entire life. The 27 had to have been an anomaly - he'd settle back into low-to-mid-20s scores the rest of the way. But as soon as Simon Barnett strode out with his inexplicably-ripped torso bared, and his eyes steeled with determination, you knew that wasn't to be the case. Simon and Vanessa's Eye of the Tiger pasadoble enraptured the audience, and drew a perfect 10 from a besotted Candy Lane. They must now be at incredibly short odds to win the whole competition, although Simon's dicky knee looms as a potential stumbling block. Judges' score: 28
Leaderboard:
1. Simon Barnett & Vanessa Cole (28) 2. Chrystal Chenery & Jonny Williams (27) 3. Siobhan Marshall & Charlie Billington (24) 4. Shane Cameron & Nerida Cortese (23) 5. Ben Barrington & Krystal Stewart (22) 6. Jay-Jay Harvey & Enrique Johns (19) 7. Teuila Blakely & Scott Cole (18)
* What did you think of their efforts? Post your comments below.
