Dancing with the Stars power rankings: Country Night chaos

Low tier

6. Joe Amabile and Jenna Johnson: 21

This may have been the most questionable styling of all, because they looked like they might have been in Mad Max (yes, I wrote this before Bruno made the reference). The tango, like pretty much every dance, is not easy, but it is difficult to keep giving him praise for the slow steps of progress when everyone else is bringing the top of their game.

He still has trouble with getting loose on the floor, and it was not particularly vivifying — although the flashing lights tried to spice things up for him.

“It was a little bit unstable in places,” Len said, and Carrie Ann basically praised his persistence. These seemed like pity sevens.

Middle tier

5. Bobby Bones and Sharna Burgess: 24

Of course the country music radio host would end the individual portion of Country Night, and he got a Viennese waltz to a country classic. He perhaps didn’t have the smoothness that DeMarcus had had only a few numbers earlier, but the effort just shows through in every dance he does in these past few weeks. There was a clear emotional connection to the song, and even though he’s not the greatest dancer, he’s doing his best and coming at it so earnestly.

“You worked very, very hard,” Bruno said. “Relax more,” Len said, but then dubbed it his “best dance.” Bobby, as a result, kissed both Len and Bruno for giving him eights. The reason that he’s not in the low tier is because he seemed to really earn those eights, and he’s made bigger improvements.

4. Alexis Ren and Alan Bersten: 29

Samba has already had one huge dance this season, but Alexis and Alan’s country samba wasn’t trying to match Juan Pablo and Cheryl’s samba for full on sexiness so much as just getting that party feel and going hard for content. The samba rolls did make an appearance, although not both variants. It was very adorable, ultimately, and it seemed to match their video package, which was about their feelings for each other. (They kissed on camera!)

“It was fantastic!” Len said, with Carrie Ann bringing up some comparatively minor points about her height in her dancing. To be fair, Bruno had just praised her for her samba bounce, but I’m going to be with Carrie Ann on this one.

That’s right: getting a 10 will no longer guarantee a spot in the top. As everyone was fond of noting on last night’s episode, the semifinals are next week.

3. Milo Manheim and Witney Carson: 29

There was plenty of hold in this foxtrot for Milo and Witney, but there seemed to be a lack of musicality or connecting to the song in general. After a performance last week in which musicality absolutely pushed him up to a 10 in some respects, it seemed a bit disappointing. However, he was clearly holding onto his form in order to bring the praise, and it was a pretty foxtrot, make no mistake. (Maybe it was the costuming, which he did comment on.)

Len did request more leg action, noting that he knows all about those height problems, but it was mostly praise all around.