Dancing with the Stars: The Bedroom Dance

Tuesday night is going to be interesting.

(No, I’m not talking about the last performance of episode of “American Idol” — that show has no shot at being interesting this year!)

I’m talking about the crowning of a new champion on “Dancing with the Stars” — and the handing over of that simultaneously glorious and hideous mirrorball trophy.

Coming into Monday night’s performance episode, I would’ve bet money on an Evan win. He had the technical goods and I believe he has the fan support.

However, heading into Tuesday’s finale Evan found himself on the bottom of the judges’ leader board. On top of that, Erin Andrews, the darkest (and blondest) of dark horses found herself tied for the lead with Nicole Scherzinger, who really may be the best celebrity dancer this show has ever seen.

How did we get here? I’m glad you asked.

Erin Andrews and Maks: I hate to be conspiracy theory guy, but it felt to me as if the judges were working overtime to give Erin a boost (and to keep Evan down — more on that later). Then again, this is “Dancing with the Stars” — nothing’s really at stake other than that hid-glorious trophy, so even if it IS fixed, who cares, right?

For her redemption round, Erin performed the samba, which was a great choice for her since she has vastly improved on her Latin dances over the course of the competition. And the dancing portions of her performance were indeed impeccable. The problem I had is that she didn’t dance enough. I thought there were too many shenanigans in the beginning with Maks threatening to take off his vest and thinking better of it. There was also a fair bit of “messing about” toward the end of the performance. I was shocked Len didn’t call them out on it, and I was even more shocked they earned two 10s from the judges. I was about to call Bruno the lone voice of reason for giving her a 9, but then I remembered him screaming “look at your ass!” at Erin during rehearsals. “Bruno” and “voice of reason” do not belong in the same sentence.

As for their freestyle — I liked Erin’s attempt at trying something different and making a bold move because she IS the dark horse. Although she didn’t embarrass herself by any means, her Mandy Moore (not that one) contemporary routine was admirably competent at best and a head-scratcher at worst. Maybe I'm just spoiled by all the incredible contemporary dancing on "So You Think You Can Dance."

Evan Lysacek and Anna: Len came to work with the couple on their Viennese waltz and made sure Evan understood that he needed to connect with Anna throughout the dance.

Though I would’ve liked to have seen more moments of connection between the two, the routine was so damn fast they barely had any time to look at each other. That being said, I thought Evan executed his VERY challenging dance excellently while also keeping the performance fun and delightful.

The run up to their freestyle was considerably less delightful. Evan — seemingly under the impression that he was WAY behind Nicole and needed to put out something incredible — put too much pressure on himself and on Anna, causing her to have a mini-meltdown and say “it’s your freestyle, do whatever you want.” (I say that all the time myself.) They brought in a choreographer who was allegedly supposed to split the difference, but it seems like Evan won out in the end. (Anna had a bummed, “I told you so” glint in her eye during the judges’ overly harsh critiques.)

For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed their freestyle. Yes, Evan was dancing SO hard that there was a whiff of desperation emanating from this performance, but this was one of his last dances this season and he SHOULD be dancing hard. I also thought their aerials were really impressive. Carrie Ann (Stickler Ms. Stickleton) busted them for not being completely in synch in their side-to-side work. From what I saw, there were times when they weren’t supposed to be doing the same side-to-side moves (and when they did, they were perfectly together), so I didn’t think this was a fair criticism.

I still believe Evan has the biggest fan bases, and I believe the judges and the producers know this. If he had been at the top (or even in second place) heading into Tuesday, you had to like his chances to win. Now, I don’t know.

Nicole Scherzinger and Derek: Usually, “Dancing with the Stars” fans have a strong resentment for the season’s “ringer.” However, Nicole has been SO good (and not as annoying as you might expect her to be), that lately I’ve started thinking that maybe fans of the show will reward her with the championship.

Personally, I don’t get mad at ringers for being really good — it’s just that I PREFER seeing someone with little or no dance experience improve before my eyes. Still, a part of me likes having the ringers around because they can deliver performances regular non-semi-pros simply can’t.

Take Nicole’s rumba last night. Absolutely excellent and scorching hot. Usually, the rumbas on this show are sweet and dreamy, hence their status as "the bedroom dance." But as soon as Nicole came out in her red lingerie/costume, we knew we were in for something different. Boo to Carrie Ann for denying them their rightful 10 for some BS lift at the end of their stunning final pose. (If she wanted to be all lift police-y, why didn’t she mention the lift near the beginning?)

The duo had a more egregious lift-related violation during their ridiculously ambitious freestyle. The real shame of it is that they messed up what looked like a relatively easy move, robbing them of a perfect store. At least it looked like a relatively easy move when you take into account all the preceding acrobatics and the different styles they incorporated.

So what’d you think of this episode? Was Erin over scored? Was Evan underscored? Was that thing at the end of Nicole’s rumba a lift? Finally, who do you think will win tonight? (I’m sticking with Evan, now in the comeback kid role.)