Middle tier
7. Evanna Lynch and Keo Motsepe: 24
In our preview, we noted that Evanna has great musicality, and she definitely put that to display in a jazz routine set to “When Will My Life Begin?”, which hails from Tangled. She’s light on her feet, and it was a very sweet routine.
“I can’t say it was a spectacular number,” Len said, but most of his feedback was actually positive. However, the judges had mostly minor notes — and Carrie Ann finished by saying “we believe in you” to her. To be fair, this song didn’t lend itself to a huge, showstopping performance in the first place. It’s hard to know how much is the song and how much is this couple.
5. Mary Lou Retton and Sasha Farber: 25
A contemporary piece set to “Reflection” from Mulan? There were a few moments that almost didn’t seem to fit the music, with Sasha using his acrobatic skills at one point and Mary Lou starting the routine with a sword, but for the most part, it was a beautiful piece.
“It was gentle, it was understated,” Len said, before saying he didn’t like “roly-poly” Sasha, which means that I’m in agreement with Len on something, weirdly enough. It’s middle-tier at best — yes, even with that 9.
5. John Schneider and Emma Slater: 24
Emma dubbed this quickstep “demanding” even before we actually saw the full routine. Here’s the thing, though: he’s shown that he can rise to the challenge before, and he did it here. Even with the jungle theme and the gold everywhere, John had the charisma and a touch of suaveness in this routine. To be fair, even this non-professional saw a few tiny missteps, but he really showed that he can bring it when he wants to.
“I thought you did a spectacular job,” Len said, and Carrie Ann said it was “your best performance as a whole,” and then she said that she saw “snafus,” which seems quite validating for this non-professional, thank you very much. He’s back in the middle tier!
Ultimately, what ranks these two over Evanna and Keo as well as Mary Lou and Sasha is that the performance as a whole was simply more memorable. As much as scores matter, big routines win votes; this matched the song in every way.
4. DeMarcus Ware and Lindsay Arnold: 26
He came out into this Charleston a little flat-footed, and there was a sharpness that seemed to be missing many of his kicks. Here’s the thing, though: DeMarcus is still really strong, and that made the lifts patently ridiculous in the best way. There was a moment where he and the male pros basically had Lindsay and the other female pros in a merry-go-round style lift.
Also, Lindsay did most of the routine with a broken shoe. Despite that, though, it seemed like this couple got this song. After a few weeks that didn’t go so well, these two are still threats to improve and stay close to the top tier.
“A hero is born!” Carrie Ann praised. “I thought actually, your Charleston was very good,” Bruno said, before dubbing it his “most complete performance to date.” That brief moment of danger might have stopped him from getting to the top tier, but the top of the middle tier is better than nothing, right?