S29.E05: '80s Night

[OnceSane]

Quote

Twelve celebrity and pro-dancer couples compete for the fifth week of the competition.

Airs October 12, 2020.

[LexieLily]

What is the point of Tyra asking the third judge who they would have picked? Just to screw it into the eliminated couple that much more?

[alexa]

Nelly has been one of my favorites, and I loved that dance.

[mtlchick]

Maybe because it's 80s night but I didn't hate Tyra's outfits this time especially the green outfit with the Kangol hat.

Chrishell did not have any cha cha content.  But...she got her NKOTB shout out.  As a fellow Blockhead (yeah, I own that title!)...I couldn't help but smile.

On the upside, Nelly finally looked like he was having fun which was nice to see.

Bye Jesse!  You did...something.  Eventually I'll remember what it is.  

Edited October 13, 2020 by mtlchick

[McManda]

Chrishell's outfit looks like an off-brand version of Princess Jasmine. Those pants are Agrabah-wannabe not 80s. Ann whhhhy is Gleb so ... greasy? Not everything has to be completely sexed up. It's the difference between burlesque and porn. Save something for the imagination. It's far sexier. 

Why are all the song covers so slow?

I'm disinclined to most any jazz or contemporary routine. I'm just glad there are no troupe dancers to act as filler. 

Cheryl's arm bands are stupid but I'm digging the holographicness of her dress. And AJ with a full head of hair!

[Packerbrewerbadger]

Hate, hate hate, that they brought contemporary and jazz. I think it’s so unfair because the judges don’t have the standards of Latin and ballroom to use and it’s basically subjective and easier for celebrities because anything goes.  ( plus all contemporary looks the same to me). 
 

The show use to start with a pro dance, now we get to watch Tyra walk in 🙄. And she talks too much about nothing.

Love AJ and Cheryl !

And did you know Derek is dancing next week ( sarcasm) tho surprisingly I’m loving him as a judge.)

Edited October 13, 2020 by Packerbrewerbadger
Typo

[Callaphera]

Tyra didn't screw up, didn't have to rush the judges, didn't make it all about her... other than Not Being Tom, I have no idea what the masses are going to complain about tonight. I'm sure there will be complaints, vociferous as always, but I can't honestly pick one thing that I can turn into a drinking game for the lulz.

All the wigs were tragic tonight, which is fitting because 80s hair was tragic. I'm just sad that no one went balls to the wall and tried for Flock of Seagulls hair. 

[CraftyHazel]

I enjoyed this tonight, maybe because 80’s music is almost all I listen to.  I didn’t agree with some of the scores, and although I know Jesse isn’t a great dancer, I still would have preferred to lose Chrishell or Monica or even Skai.

I wish AJ would get better.  I have been a fan for decades, and I really thought he’d ace this, but he’s just not quite there.

**ETA: I LOVE 80’s hair almost as much as the music.  LOL...I’m not brave enough at my age to wear it, but I love big hair and crunchy perms!

Edited October 13, 2020 by Marmiarmo

[Roxie]

(1)  I think they are scoring Skai too high.  She has no "polish" IMHO.

(2)  Why did Vernon's partner look so mad?

[Annber03]

5 minutes ago, alexa said:

Nelly has been one of my favorites, and I loved that dance.

I liked that dance, too :). I agree it was his best one thus far.

4 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Chrishell did not have any cha cha content.  But...she got her NKOTB shout out.  As a fellow Blockhead (yeah, I own that title!)...I couldn't help but smile.

That was cute, yeah! I was too young for NKOTB, but as a Backstreet Boys fan, I totally get her reaction and her love for the group :D.

I was looking it up-three of the contestants were all born the same year as me. Vernon, Johnny, and Nev. And Cheryl's my age as well. That's neat. My '80s memories are vague at best, 'cause I turned five at the end of the decade, but I do remember loving a lot of the '80s music, thanks to my parents having MTV on all the time and my dad working in radio and whatnot. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is one of the earliest songs I can remember hearing as a kid, and I also remember loving "Livin' On a Prayer" as well. I even remember seeing the Slippery When Wet album in our home. So I was having fun just with the music itself. I do think the Bon Jovi song was an odd choice for a tango, though. 

Johnny's dance was lovely-his and Skai's both felt like something straight out of the movies, which I rather liked. 

I still can't get over Gleb's look tonight. That getup was....something :p. Stuff like that makes me kinda glad I was too young to get caught up in the '80s fashions :p. 

[nickp1991]

Johnny Weir deserves to win just based off of that performance

[CraftyHazel]

2 minutes ago, Roxie said:

(1)  I think they are scoring Skai too high.  She has no "polish" IMHO.

(2)  Why did Vernon's partner look so mad?

I think they’re overscoring Skai, too.  She always looks gangly and coltish to me, and she comes off more “cheerleader” than dancer.

[Kira53]

Nelly was very good and happy dancing tonight.  It seemed like he really did have the inspiration in the music.  Their samba was so bouncy I was surprised that he was able to get the bounce.

Tyra - The green outfit with the Kangol hat - ugly, ugly.  I have not gotten the point of the green.  I think that they are punking us with all of her outfits so we can talk on social media. This bad costuming is very much on purpose.

The wig department was definitely punking us with the men’s wigs.  The wigs were so bad.  Nev’s was almost ok.

I still find joy in Nev’s dancing.  Never saw him before but enjoy his dancing.  He seems so happy to be dancing and Jenna is a partner Pro.  She is not distracting or desperate. I'm glad they gave him the opportunity to talk a little bit about his dance background so that's not some thing that is hidden anymore. I don't think it was hidden in plain sight because it was clear he had dance training of some sort.

Surprising bottom two.

I'm looking forward to Derrick dancing.  I know he's going to bring it!

[mtlchick]

8 minutes ago, Marmiarmo said:

I wish AJ would get better.  I have been a fan for decades, and I really thought he’d ace this, but he’s just not quite there.

Thankfully he has the votes but as a long time BSB fan (should I mention I went to 6 NKOTBSB shows in 2011?), I'm sort of surprised he hasn't really elevated his game yet.  I loved his dance tonight.  But I was sort of hoping he was past this level at least 2 weeks ago.  If there is a surprise boot this season, I would almost bet it would be him because he's in the middle of the pack score wise.   

[Emily-D]

Skai and Monica were hugely overscored IMO. Monica's scores were probably an unofficial apology for last week's mess up.

I thought at least one of Nelly or Chrishell would be done for tonight, but neither were even in the bottom two! They must be getting a lot more votes than I thought! Chrishell especially, I can understand Nelly to an extent as he's a big name and probably still has fans out there, but I don't understand where Chrishell's votes are coming from. Maybe I'm just out of touch.

[Legalbeagle421]

3 minutes ago, Emily-D said:

Skai and Monica were hugely overscored IMO. Monica's scores were probably an unofficial apology for last week's mess up.

I thought at least one of Nelly or Chrishell would be done for tonight, but neither were even in the bottom two! They must be getting a lot more votes than I thought! Chrishell especially, I can understand Nelly to an extent as he's a big name and probably still has fans out there, but I don't understand where Chrishell's votes are coming from. Maybe I'm just out of touch.

I’m a Chrishell fan and I didn’t even vote for her tonight. I’m sick of watching her pose all over stage. Though I love how much fun she’s having and she’s had a rough few years, so I’m glad she’s having a good time. But I want to see her actually dance.

Nelly was so much fun tonight! Daniella did an instagram Q&A over the weekend and people asked her if he was mad last week and she said not at all. They seem like they have a lot of fun together based on what I’ve seen on social media. 

[Arkay]

What does it mean when there are only three couples remaining and Tyra says, "now, in no particular order, the next couple to stay is..."? Two of the couples will be in the bottom, so there IS a particular order. One of these things is not like the others, right? Maybe it bugs me because Tyra annoys me so much. I could never imagine Tom making the start of the show all about him the way Tyra does. Yes, she's a model but this isn't a modeling show. I am so over her opening runway stomp.

Nev makes me happy when he's dancing, and now there's some life story background and we can see why he lights up so much when he can dance. Nelly seemed so much more relaxed tonight and did a much better job. Kaitlin's a good dancer but I'm not a fan of any Bachelorette, much like Hannah last year, who of course won. I like Chriselle even though I don't think she's the best dancer. Just don't know how much longer I'll watch with Tyra as the host.

[nickp1991]

Sharna Burgess for The Bachelorette season 17

[TenaciousWarrior]

59 minutes ago, Emily-D said:

 but I don't understand where Chrishell's votes are coming from. Maybe I'm just out of touch.

Chrishell was on 3 soap operas, so that’s a built in fan base right there. I know her from Days of our Lives and she gets all my votes every week.  Plus, I’m sure she gets some sympathy votes for being Justin Hartley’s ex that was crapped on by him. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by TenaciousWarrior

[Callaphera]

3 minutes ago, Arkay said:

What does it mean when there are only three couples remaining and Tyra says, "now, in no particular order, the next couple to stay is..."? Two of the couples will be in the bottom, so there IS a particular order.

Basically it's a reminder to the team that is announced safe last that they might not be the third lowest in votes. They could be the top vote getter of the week. It's awkwardly worded but it seems like they want Tyra to stick to that script. 

[leocadia]

I wonder if Tyra was triggered when Derek told Jesse they were all rooting for him?

Also, Gleb finally got a hairstyle to match his personality!

Edited October 13, 2020 by leocadia

[OnTime]

Maybe it was just me but I really didn't like the show tonight. 

Too much Tyra and too much Tyra changing outfits. Monica's dance was not a 9.

Some of the dances felt more like an aerobics class and whoever sang Livin on a Prayer needs to leave.

Tyra says Derek is going to dance, I start changing channels since I'm bored and come back to see who goes home. She says Derek is going to dance next week. This show is all over the place!

[alihart41]

2 minutes ago, Callaphera said:

Basically it's a reminder to the team that is announced safe last that they might not be the third lowest in votes. They could be the top vote getter of the week. It's awkwardly worded but it seems like they want Tyra to stick to that script. 

Yeah, that's nothing new. Tom and Erin used to have to say it too; they were just more natural as hosts and not solemn like Tyra.

When Monica got those insane 9s, I texted my friend, "They're gonna announce her safe first." It was so obvious what they were doing with the scores.

[legaleagle53]

46 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

What is the point of Tyra asking the third judge who they would have picked? Just to screw it into the eliminated couple that much more?

Ostensibly to satisfy people's curiosity and to give the appearance of everything being on the level. Strictly Come Dancing does the same thing in the interest of complete transparency.

[Legalbeagle421]

9 minutes ago, Arkay said:

What does it mean when there are only three couples remaining and Tyra says, "now, in no particular order, the next couple to stay is..."? Two of the couples will be in the bottom, so there IS a particular order. One of these things is not like the others, right?

I vaguely remember Tom having to say this last year too. I think they’re just trying to emphasize that the third to last person is not actually the third to last in votes since everyone called prior is in random order. 

3 minutes ago, leocadia said:

I wonder if Tyra was triggered when Derek told Jesse they were all rooting for him?.

I thought the exact same thing! I was hoping it was on purpose but I’m doubtful 😂

[DEL901]

Artem just seems so happy this year.  Not sure if it because he finally has a partner who can dance and is a contender, because he is a new dad or because Kaitlyn is fun as a partner or what, but I love his smile.  

Loved Johnny tonight.   And Kaitlyn and Nev.  

Very clear demarcation with the bottom few, and the top half dozen are really competitive.   I didn’t think I’d enjoy this year, but I really am. 

[nickp1991]

I really hope that this is the first and last year for tyra

[OnTime]

They use to have the judges have a sign with the couples names when they picked who to save.

Now they just say the names knowing what the judge before them said and can change their mind.

They need to use the signs!!! What happened??

[Morrigan]

I missed last week, so maybe he was ok then - but I was shocked at how much Nelly improved, or even looked like he wanted to be there compared to the first 3 weeks. That was a nice surprise. Don't shoot me but I also thought Tyra was much improved - not as nervous.

Two crap dancers, Jesse and Chrishell, but I was so glad to see one go home and one be safe. Or maybe I was lost in Gleb's eyes... They were smart to give her Aladdin trousers to hide her bow-legs pigeon toes... she's a mess but she's pretty and likeable, unlike Monica who's so cold or harsh or something. really don't like her personality - and Val looked so ugly in that mullet, not that I've ever thought much of his looks - or Artem's - sheesh I'm a bitch, oh well... sorry.

I think Johnny has a thing for Alan. Kept talking about how strong he is. I mean, he's tall I guess, but Keo and Brandon look a lot stronger. Gleb too, for that matter. Delighted to see Johnny do so well and get along with Britt so well, like him and Tara and his other female friends. He has a fun kind of just-us-girls warmth - and he's smart as heck. Just a bit barmy but I guess that's part of his charm too. He won't but I wish he'd win. Probably milquetoast Kaitlyn zzzzz.

[Emily-D]

13 minutes ago, TenaciousWarrior said:

Chrishell was on 3 soap operas, so that’s a built in fan base right there. I know her from Days of our Lives and she gets all my votes every week.  Plus, I’m sure she gets some sympathy votes for being Justin Hartley’a ex that was crapped on by him. 

Thanks for the clarification, I was genuinely interested as I'd not heard of her before this season. When you consider that she got more votes  than at least Jesse and Vernon tonight despite her scores, she must have a good following out there which bodes well for her chances.

[mtlchick]

32 minutes ago, Emily-D said:

I thought at least one of Nelly or Chrishell would be done for tonight, but neither were even in the bottom two! They must be getting a lot more votes than I thought! Chrishell especially, I can understand Nelly to an extent as he's a big name and probably still has fans out there, but I don't understand where Chrishell's votes are coming from. Maybe I'm just out of touch.

Donnie and Danny from NKOTB have been tweeting support for her all day and Donnie has 10x times the Twitter followers she has.  Which is interesting because neither have shown support for AJ or Nelly , who nkotb have toured with (Nelly in 2915.) 

[Arkay]

Thx to those who replied to my complaint about "in no particular order" when there are two bottom couples plus one other left. I think I do recall Tom/Erin saying that, too. It didn't make sense to me then, but didn't IRRITATE me like now, because of Tyra's over-dramatic enunciation and pauses and self-importance. Well, Erin used to have dramatic pauses as well, so I guess that's a producer thing, but Tyra's mannerisms just annoy me.

I miss Len and his curt and candid assessments. Although Derek is diametrically the opposite of Len, I think he's a good judge who gives specific, constructive feedback. Looking forward to him dancing and will FF Tyra. 

[OnTime]

14 minutes ago, nickp1991 said:

I really hope that this is the first and last year for tyra

I really hope this that is the first year the host doesn't last the entire season!

[Legalbeagle421]

8 minutes ago, Emily-D said:

Thanks for the clarification, I was genuinely interested as I'd not heard of her before this season. When you consider that she got more votes  than at least Jesse and Vernon tonight despite her scores, she must have a good following out there which bodes well for her chances.

She’s also on a very popular Netflix reality show called Selling Sunset about real estate agents in LA. She does real estate on the side. She really seems like the nicest person. 

[babyhouseman]

47 minutes ago, Roxie said:

Why did Vernon's partner look so mad?

Peta always looks that way when she's at risk of being eliminated. 

I think I was looking more at the costumes than the dancing. Enough mullets for a Billy Ray Cyrus tribute. My mother said Alan looked like George Washington. Tyra went from solid gold dancer to looks like a 60's dress even though it's supposed to be the 80s to a leprechaun with a yellow hat. I expected Johnny to do well, but Nev is a surprise. 

[scenicbyway]

Derek was supposed to dance tonight, right? She teased it like 3 times and at the end of the show she added next week. Wha? Did they really go over that much? Had they not time out the show?

It’s also clear wardrobe hates Tyra.

 

[Morrigan]

15 minutes ago, mtlchick said:

Donnie and Danny from NKOTB have been tweeting support for her all day and Donnie has 10x times the Twitter followers she has.  Which is interesting because neither have shown support for AJ or Nelly , who nkotb have toured with (Nelly in 2915.) 

I think the producers work pretty hard to dream up "feel-good" themes, scripts, guest-stars, etc., and they probably jumped on her fandom of NKOTB and decided to use it. Somewhere I read Jesse could be a bit of a jerk, so maybe they decided to boost her and oust him?? Oh who knows, but years of watching this show has made me cynical as hell about everything said and done... I mean, look at Monica's outlandish scores sheesh.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Morrigan

[babyhouseman]

3 minutes ago, scenicbyway said:

Derek was supposed to dance tonight, right?

It was announced for next week. The Voice is coming on, and they want to compete with them in the ratings by having Derek dance. That's my theory. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by babyhouseman
add

[Kira53]

 

10 minutes ago, OnTime said:

They use to have the judges have a sign with the couples names when they picked who to save.

Now they just say the names knowing what the judge before them said and can change their mind.

They need to use the signs!!! What happened??

Really I don't recall the judges having signs because with so many contestants they would have 15 signs for the first week.  Maybe going through those signs like it was a deck of cards to find the right one. I really don't recall this?  Anyone recall having Elimination signs with the names because you wouldn't be able to prepare that ahead.

[babyhouseman]

1 minute ago, Kira53 said:

 

Really I don't recall the judges having signs because with so many contestants they would have 15 signs for the first week.  Maybe going through those signs like it was a deck of cards to find the right one. I really don't recall this?  Anyone recall having Elimination signs with the names because you wouldn't be able to prepare that ahead.

They did have signs with the couple's names on them. I guess they make signs for everybody ahead of time. 

[Morrigan]

I remember signs when they had those elimination dances, where they vote off the couples, one by one, and award the winning couple with a bunch of points.  I don't remember them using signs to choose who goes home though, but I haven't watched this show as much as the British one - and I know they don't pick the losing couple with signs over there.

[alihart41]

9 minutes ago, babyhouseman said:

They did have signs with the couple's names on them. I guess they make signs for everybody ahead of time. 

They had signs for the dance-offs, not this elimination format. Plus, it's easier for them to make/organize signs for dance-offs since they know what the pairings are in advance. They can't do it for eliminations since the judges don't know the bottom two in advance, and it would also take them forever to sift through a bunch of paddles when Tyra is rushing them to make a decision so she can talk about what an awesome time she had on '80s Night. We've already seen them mess up with their scores sometimes.

Peta apparently pulled her neck, so that's why she looked "mad."
 

ETA: Dropped word because grammar matters.

Edited October 13, 2020 by alihart41

[PikaScrewChu]

The cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World was horrendous.

DWTS has always been known for bad music choices for certain styles but yeesh. This felt like let's take all these iconic songs of the 80s and hope that they may work for ballroom dancing. If not, who cares. We all had fun, right?

[babyhouseman]

1 minute ago, alihart41 said:

They had signs for the dance-offs, not this elimination format.

You're right. I knew there were signs somewhere. 

[FormerMod-a1]

I've always liked Nelly so I'm glad to see him improving so much, and looking like he's enjoying himself.  I hope he keeps it up.

I think this is the best Tyra has looked, even in that green outfit.  Her hair, while still big, isn't quite so monstrous, and the clothes had a proper fit.  And I think she did well hosting.  Look, I liked Tom and Erin, too (especially Tom), but I'm fine with Tyra and I'm sure she'll grow in the role, too. I'm not going to keep comparing her to them.

[leocadia]

6 minutes ago, PikaScrewChu said:

The cover of Everybody Wants to Rule the World was horrendous.

DWTS has always been known for bad music choices for certain styles but yeesh. This felt like let's take all these iconic songs of the 80s and hope that they may work for ballroom dancing. If not, who cares. We all had fun, right?

There are several covers of that song that are amazing.  This was not one of them.  Even if you don't care for the original music, these covers really make you appreciate the talent of Steve Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, etc.  It sounded like they took the vocals down an octave for both Open Arms and Living on a Prayer.  Its like the Muzak version of '80s songs..

[funnygirl]

2 hours ago, Packerbrewerbadger said:

Hate, hate hate, that they brought contemporary and jazz. I think it’s so unfair because the judges don’t have the standards of Latin and ballroom to use and it’s basically subjective and easier for celebrities because anything goes.  ( plus all contemporary looks the same to me). 

Ditto! 

Once again, Justina was underscored. Especially in comparison to Monica, who I think got a bit coddled to make up for last week's embarrassing fiasco. 

Now that I know no-name Nev came in with a background in dance, I'm less impressed and more annoyed. 

I thoroughly enjoy Nelly. This is so out of his element but I like seeing him take this on and improve week-to-week. 

Edited October 13, 2020 by funnygirl

[boyznkatz]

This episode was meh. Those “jazz” dances were not good. The only ones I liked this week were Nelly, Johnny and Nev. 

Jesse and Vernon were the worst this week so the bottom two were correct. Jesse was a lot more boring so glad he went. Hopefully Monica and Chrishell are next.

Did Nev really claim he hasn’t danced in 20 years? Didn’t he study dance in college? I don’t think Dude is that old. Just admit you are a ringer. At least Kaitlin did.

[PikaScrewChu]

2 hours ago, leocadia said:

There are several covers of that song that are amazing.  This was not one of them.  Even if you don't care for the original music, these covers really make you appreciate the talent of Steve Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, etc.  It sounded like they took the vocals down an octave for both Open Arms and Living on a Prayer.  Its like the Muzak version of '80s songs..

It looked like it threw off Jesse as well. Yeah, he wasn't a great dancer but I'm going to assume he practiced to the original and Sharna choreographed the dance to the original. Sure if you're a seasoned pro, it isn't going to throw you off too much. If you haven't danced for long, you're being set up to fail. 

This season has been feeling lackluster all around despite the attempts to make it more flashy. It feels like they are trying to emulate what the NHL did "in the bubble" to keep things exciting. Nelly was the bright spot of the night (and a pleasant surprise no less!) but it feels like almost everyone is running on or near empty. If it's just 2020 and every day is groundhog day for celebrities like the rest of us peasants, I don't know. There's something extremely off with this season that I can't put my finger on.

[JeezumCrow]

Justina was underscored, Skai overscored again, Monica GROSSLY overscored... and they’re extra harsh on Jesse. 
 

I’m a grump on my way to the grassy knoll.