Dancing With The Stars (U.S. Season 8) - Overview

Overview

• Week 1: Gilles Marini & Cheryl Burke received 24⁄₃₀ (the highest score of the night) for their cha-cha-cha. Although having only two days to practice for their Waltz, Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani tied for second place with Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas. Steve Wozniak and Karina Smirnoff received the lowest score of the night, a 13⁄₃₀, for their cha-cha-cha.
• Week 2: Steve-O suffered a pulled back muscle while performing his salsa during dress rehearsal, and therefore could not perform live. Instead, the judges' scores were based on his pre-recorded dress rehearsal video, which earned him a 14⁄₃₀, the lowest score of the night. Gilles Marini performed a quickstep, which earned him a 27⁄₃₀, the highest score of the night. Once the scores from weeks one and two were combined, Gilles & Cheryl held the top spot with 51, Mellissa & Tony, were placed in second, with 49 points, and Shawn & Mark, in third with 47. Steve Wozniak and Belinda Carlisle were revealed to be in the bottom two. They both participated in a dance-off, and they both scored 17⁄₃₀. In the end, Belinda & Jonathan were eliminated.
• Week 3: Shawn & Mark, Melissa & Tony, and Gilles & Cheryl all scored 27⁄₃₀, making a three way tie. David Alan Grier improved greatly from his score of 17 the previous week, to a score of 24⁄₃₀ the next week. Steve Wozniak & Karina Smirnoff received the second lowest score in the history of the show for their Samba: 10⁄₃₀ (4, 3, 3). Still, Wozniak managed to escape the bottom two and avoided the dance-off. Denise & Maks and Holly & Dmitry were revealed to be in the bottom two, and they would be participating in the dance-off. Holly improved her score by one point, receiving 18, while Denise improved by four points, receiving a 20. However, Denise Richards was eliminated. This was the second time Maksim Chmerkovskiy was eliminated after a samba, since Tia Carrere in season two.
• Week 4: Gilles & Cheryl received the first 30⁄₃₀ of the season for their Argentine Tango, tying him with Sabrina Bryan in season five for the earliest 30⁄₃₀ awarded. Melissa & Tony came in second, receiving a 29⁄₃₀ for their Lindy Hop, while Lil' Kim & Derek came in third, receiving a 27⁄₃₀ (9, 8, 10) for their Argentine Tango. Steve & Karina received the lowest score, a 12⁄₃₀ on their Argentine Tango. Holly & Dmitry, Steve & Karina, and Steve-O & Lacey were revealed to be in the bottom three. In the end, Holly Madison and Steve Wozniak were eliminated in the show's only mid-season double elimination.
• Week 5: Once again, Gilles & Cheryl climbed to first place, with a score of 29⁄₃₀ for their Paso Doble. They were also the only couple to receive 10s (from Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno). Shawn & Mark and Lil' Kim & Derek, both came in second place, receiving 26⁄₃₀ for their Vienesse Waltzes. Steve-O & Lacey Schwimmer received the lowest scores of the night, a 18⁄₃₀ for their Viennese Waltz, yet they still managed to escape the bottom two and the dance-off. David & Kym and Lawrence & Edyta were revealed to be in the bottom two and the dance-off. David danced his Viennese Waltz and improved his score by two points to a 24⁄₂₀, while Lawrence did not improve his Paso Doble receiving a 20⁄₃₀. However, David Alan Grier was eliminated.
• Week 6: For the first time since the start of the competition, Gilles did not receive the highest score. Lil' Kim & Derek had the highest score, with a 28⁄₃₀ for their Jive. Steve-O & Lacey received the lowest score of the night, 16⁄₃₀ for their Rumba. Len Goodman gave them a 4, and Carrie Ann gave them a 7. Such a difference between judges' scores is rare. Furthermore, 4 is the lowest Week 6 score in the history of the show. They were subsequently eliminated.
• Week 7: The stars were given the chance to design the costumes for their dances. Also occurring for this week, was the first group dance of the season dedicated to the 1960s. In fact, this is the only Dancing with the Stars season to say the "Treasure of Rainbow Beard's Motto" in this show's history. Melissa & Tony took the top of the leaderboard for the second time with a near perfect 29⁄₃₀. Lawrence Taylor & Edyta Śliwińska ended up with the lowest score, a 21⁄₃₀ for their Waltz, and they were later eliminated.
• Week 8: Melissa suffered a hairline fracture in her ribs, and could not perform her Jive live. Instead, the judges' scores were based on her rehearsal video. She received the lowest score of the night, a 21⁄₃₀. Lil' Kim & Derek received the highest score, a 28⁄₃₀ for their Paso Doble. Team Tango (Gilles & Cheryl, Lil' Kim & Derek, and Ty Murray & Chelsie Hightower) managed to beat Team Mambo (Shawn & Mark, Lacey Schwimmer & Tony, and Chuck & Julianne) with a 28⁄₃₀ to Team Mambo's 25⁄₃₀. Melissa's spot in the Team Mambo was filled in by Lacey Schwimmer who learned the dance in less than a day. Lacey and Tony were ignored during the scoring; however, the team score was added to Melissa's individual score. Chuck Wicks was eliminated in what Tom Bergeron called "the most shocking elimination this season".
• Week 9: Despite her sustained injury, Melissa & Tony scored a perfect 30⁄₃₀ for their Samba, the second perfect score of the season. This, combined with their score of 27⁄₃₀ for the Viennese Waltz landed them in the top spot, with a total of 57⁄₆₀. Ty and Chelsie landed in the bottom with a total score of 46⁄₆₀, scoring a 25⁄₃₀ for their Argentine Tango (their highest individual score of the competition) and a 21⁄₃₀ for their Rumba (the lowest score of the night). However, Lil' Kim was eliminated. This elimination was met by boos from the audience and the judges gasping (with Carrie Ann Inaba holding back tears).
• Week 10: Shawn and Mark received their first 30⁄₃₀ for their Argentine Tango. Gilles and Cheryl received a perfect 60⁄₆₀ for their Waltz and Salsa. This was the first time since season five that a perfect 60 has been achieved in the semi-finals as well as the first time since season five that a 30 alone was achieved in the semi-finals. Ty Murray and Chelsie were at the bottom of the leaderboard with a 48⁄₆₀, receiving 25⁄₃₀ for their Viennese Waltz and 23⁄₃₀ for their Samba, and were eliminated.
• Week 11: Gilles received a perfect score of 30⁄₃₀ for the Group Paso Doble. Shawn and Mark were the only couple to receive a perfect score for the Freestyle round. Shawn's combined score of 88 gave her the highest score of the night, tied with Gilles; the first time in eight weeks. Mark became the third, and only male, two-time champion. Shawn, Gilles, and Melissa are the only three couples to get perfect 30s this season, they were also the part of four dancers to maintain above a judges score of 7 (along with Lil' Kim) with Gilles receiving nothing below an 8 and Shawn receiving only one 7 (in week 1). Shawn and Gilles were the only couples not to be in the bottom two or at least not under the red light. Shawn Johnson, Drew Lachey, Brooke Burke, Kristi Yamaguchi, Donny Osmond, Nicole Scherzinger, Hines Ward, Melissa Rycroft, and Kellie Pickler are the only winners not to be in the bottom two on their winning season. Shawn is the fourth female winner, and additionally the sixth winner to get a perfect 30 on the freestyle.