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Dancing With the Stars Watch: Halloween Creeps Onto the Dance Floor

6 minute read

Welcome back to Dancing With the Stars. This week the stars are swapping spandex for spider webs as they hit the ballroom floor for some interpretative dance on the Halloween tip. The creepy clown who is stalking the DWTS set isn’t the only terrifying thing on this week’s show, because after a string of guest judges kept his seat warm, the show’s wayward judge, Len Goodman, finally returned from two-timing on Dancing With the Stars with Strictly Come Dancing. If you like even scarier thoughts: team dances are also on the agenda for this week. It’s a night of horror all right.

Here’s what happened on Dancing With the Stars:

Tommy Chong and Peta Murgatroyd: It seemed that the quick step would get the best of the last old man standing on the show, but Tommy managed to pull off the fast-paced routine with panache and style. The judges — even Len (or, rather, Julianne Hough who regularly out-Lens Len)— loved the magic-themed routine. Turns out Tommy has made it further in the competition than any other senior citizen who dared don sparkles and bronzer on the ballroom floor, a fact that brings Peta to tears. (She probably cries at Kleenex commercials too.) 28/40

Lea Thompson and Artem Chigvintsev: In the rehearsal footage it appeared that Lea was cracking under the pressure of the Argentine tango, but they channeled the fear of slipping further down the leaderboard (they are currently in fifth place out of eight dancers) to hone their dance. As Lea cried on the dance floor, truth speaker Julianne suggested they give themselves a break, which is the best advice ever doled out on this show. Then Bruno Toniolo fell off his chair groping Julianne in excitement over the dance, and it made you wish the show had instant replay so you could watch it on a loop. Fingers crossed it will be GIF’d tomorrow! 34/40

Bethany Mota and Derek Hough: Derek picked on Bethany throughout their rehearsal-footage reel, which is the No. 1 sign of a Derek Hough Routine for the Ages. Their paso doble was dynamic and dramatic with a black-and-red theme and a shirtless drum corps. It would definitely be worth watching over again and not just for the shirtless men. Len thought the atmospherics overpowered the dance itself and yearned for the days of a simple paso doble, but the rest of the judges were more than happy to dole out 10s. 39/40

Antonio Sabato Jr. and Cheryl Burke: With Antonio holding down the last spot on the leader board, Cheryl knew she has her work cut out for her. She planned a Viennese waltz to the classic “I Put a Spell on You” that was simple enough for Antonio to handle, but challenging enough to hopefully sate the judges. Unfortunately, “the spell didn’t work” for Carrie Ann Inaba, and the other judges quickly agreed in less eloquent terms. Antonio didn’t mind the criticism, though. He announced that he was “doing it for the fans” and then pointed at the upper echelon of the ballroom stadium and got the entire balcony pregnant. 27/40

Michael Waltrip and Emma Slater: Michael’s jive to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” turned into a Halloween house of horrors once he hit the judges’ table. Len bluntly told Michael that he was “surprised he made it to Week 7” and told the NASCAR star that he was “running on empty.” Julianne called it “kind of a nightmare,” Bruno said he broke a record for being off time, while Carrie Ann called it “a great freestyle … but it was supposed to be a jive.” 20/40

Janel Parrish and Val Chmerkovskiy: At long last, Janel decided to tap into her Pretty Little Liars fan base and set a Viennese waltz to the PLL theme song. She got back into character as Mona, tortured a Val doll and even got to kill off her partner at the end of the routine. The audience — including a number of PLL peons … er, supporting cast — loved the dance, but A had clearly gotten to the judges already, and they mysteriously decided that the routine had a few problems. 31/40

Alfonso Ribeiro and Witney Carson: After an injury-addled week, Alfonso managed to keep his body together long enough to deliver a respectable rumba set to a live performance of Ella Henderson’s “Ghost.” For the judges, it was a breathe of fresh air that made Bruno willing to risk another tumble by enthusiastically critiquing the routine. Len appreciated that Alfonso didn’t “hang about washing windows,” which is a perfect example of a Len-ism. Alfonso used the opportunity of being on live, national television to announce that his wife is pregnant again and make d-ck joke at his own expense. 36/40

Sadie Roberton and Mark Ballas: Mark choreographed a dramatic zombie-themed paso doble routine set to the ominous tones of Kongos “Come With Me Now.” While the routine was an audience-pleasing blend of Thriller and The Wizard of Oz, the judges thought the theme got the best of the routine and the content was lost. Luckily for them, fans choose who stays and goes and it was a fun routine. 30/40

Team Itsy Bitsy: As Team Captain, Bethany chose Janel, Lea and Michael, who was the self-professed “weakest link” and made matters worse by missing rehearsal for a charity event. The routine to Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” started in a foggy forest and ended on a plus-sized spider web and was filled with fun bits in between. The judges thought the spider women “killed the number” and applauded Michael for not messing up too badly. Tom Bergeron took the opportunity to tell the team members that all of them (including Michael) were safe and that all of Team Creepy was in jeopardy. 36/40

Team Creepy: Alfonso’s team — Sadie, Tommy, and Antonio — set their circus-themed freestyle to the Rocky Horror campy soundtrack staple, “The Time Warp.” The routine was fun and frivolous with a few moments of brilliance and their energy was only slightly dampened by the fact that they had just found out they were all in jeopardy of elimination. They earned 32/40, meaning Derek held on to his undefeated team dance streak.

In Jeopardy: Alfonso and Sadie were quickly freed from the confines of jeopardy purgatory, leaving Tommy and Antonio to twist in the jeopardy winds.

Who Went Home: Antonio was sent home to return to his day job of being a professional hunk.

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