Guys. Guys. GUYS.
Tonight was a weird week. Like half the dances felt very…bland I suppose you could say. I found myself getting bored tonight as I watched which typically isn’t the case. But I don’t know, so many dances felt off or awkward or just lacked a certain energy necessary to sell a performance. Basically AJ’s dance saved the show tonight, really. Let me start with the competition. And all the ones I’m going to bring up are the ones that tied with him.
So Monica. Monica was given a rumba with Val and I know I said last week she was overscored, and I don’t use that lightly because for the most part I feel the judges are being fair. I even got heat on Twitter for saying AJ wasn’t underscored the past two weeks. (Which I do stand by, because while not perfect AJ has been steadily growing and improving.) But her tango last week wasn’t perfect so the 10s she got were confusing and her rumba tonight while not bad, was basically Val dancing around her. And there were practically no hips in that dance at all. But did she get all 9s? Yes. Confused? I am.
What about Kaitlyn? She had a Samba as well and she’s probably been the most consistent this season so I was nervous about her being compared to AJ. And her dance was flawless on the technical side for the most part. But there was no passion, no fire, it was rather boring. Like I can’t get mad because her dance steps were absolutely on point but it was almost robotic in how they were done. Probably why she didn’t get 10s. It was boring. And no offense to her, but it’s how she’s been as a cast member this season for the most part. I can’t see her winning.
Then there’s Justina. Justina has been the surprise of the season but she’s definitely good and continues to do well. This wasn’t my favorite by her, I think her energy is what sells so many of her dances outside of the fact she does in fact dance well. And in a Vienesse Waltz, you can’t use that at all. But it was absolutely beautiful and her message about body image I felt was really sweet. She definitely deserved her score and is the one I’d say is the most dangerous of the competition right now.
I know I said I’d only talk about the top four but I’m going to bring up Nev for a moment because he was only a point short and he’s been the competition all season. I’m still salty admittedly at the fact they won’t admit to how much dance experience he has, last week’s downplay of it and trying to make it look like it’s just his childhood doesn’t count. That said, he’s not a professional. I just wish the show would fully acknowledge it. Tonight’s dance was the strangest Jazz I’ve ever seen. Bad choreography I think is to blame? It didn’t suit the music at all and made it so weird. Even the judges were baffled. Jazz is generally an easy high score with Contemporary, so this should’ve been easy. But instead he got two 9s and an 8 which hey, at least he’s not at the top.
Okay, now we’re going to talk about AJ. Because we need to talk about AJ. I need to.
First off, can we talk about how cute he and Cheryl are? They’re so damn adorable. AJ apologizes to her so much they made sure to show how many in the rehearsal clip and I was dying. Poor AJ. He wants to be good for her so badly. That’s probably why he was in his head. But I think she finally got him out of it! Because remember how I’ve been wanting him to have his breakthrough? I think he finally got it. He got out of his damn head! I was super nervous this week. Sambas are one of the hardest dances technically and due to the music chosen he was going to be have some high standards to meet. And you know what? HE. SLAYED. IT. I mean he absolutely killed that dance! His feet were clean. His hips were feeling that music. Like his confidence on this dance was through the damn roof.
Let’s put it this way. I stream this on my Chromebook and write notes due to the time difference. I screamed at my screen because I got so damn excited about how good it was. I freaked out and fangirled hard. If Nick heard a random scream in Vegas it was probably me. This was AJ’s best dance of the damn season. This was the AJ I have been waiting for all damn season. We knew it was in him to do this well this entire time. To see him finally break out was so freaking satisfying I could write all night about how happy I am. I am so happy. I’m insanely proud.
Ugh, I will be rewatching that dance over and over.
It was so good.
And he TIED for the top of the leaderboard!
It’s a marathon guys, not a sprint. And he’s getting there right at the pace that suits him best. Like I said, I’m so freaking incredibly proud of him right now. We all knew you could do it AJ.
So who went home? Well…Johnny landed in the bottom two. Skai who had the lowest score, did not. Vernon was the other person in there and was voted off so the judges could save Johnny. And they were split on who to save because Johnny is inconsistent and Vernon keeps growing. That’s why we have to our part in making sure AJ never lands in the bottom. You just never know.
Votes matter! So please make sure you’re voting during every episode.
AJ and Cheryl — 27
Monica and Val — 27
Kaitlyn and Artem — 27
Justina and Sasha — 27
Nev and Jenna — 26
Jeannie and Brandon — 25
Nelly and Daniella — 24
Chrishell and Gleb — 24
Johnny and Britt — 22
Vernon and Peta — 21 *ELIMINATED*
Skai and Alan — 18
Again, super proud of you AJ! And I’ll see you guys next week for Villains Night. Which should be insanely fun as we know from Dead 7 that AJ makes a really damn good villian.
What did you think of AJ’s dance tonight? Comment below!
The Dark Side 