On Monday night, Latin and the ballroom came together in one big explosion of fringe and ruffles and male shirtlessness. But who didn’t share their respective bon-bons quite hard enough?

Hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke-Charvet, whose silver dress made her look like a baked potato ready for the oven, first announced that Maria and Derek had been chosen by the judges for the honorary encore dance.

On performance night, judge Carrie Ann chided them for a kiss they staged in their salsa, calling it a “sell-out” move. So during their encore, Derek replaced the smooch by running over and surprising Carrie Ann with a liplock instead. (Funny thing — she didn’t seem to mind that one at all.)

Then it was time to announce the first three safe couples: Maria and Derek, Melissa and Maks, and Gladys and Tristan.

Melissa was so relieved that she let forth a string of expletives that had to be bleeped (Pa Ingalls would’ve washed her mouth out with soap for that):

Even though Gladys hasn’t been getting great judges’ scores, we’re glad she got enough audience votes to survive for next week’s Motown theme. It seems only right.

Then the new elimination method was explained. Citing previous contestants who went home midway through the competition even though they were very good, the judges will have the bottom two couples dance side-by-side to determine who should actually leave, with the judges making the final decision themselves. We like it — this way no one stays in on pity votes alone.

Next three safe couples:
William and Cheryl, Katherine and Mark, and Donald and Peta.
Duh.

That left only one more safe couple: Roshon and Chelsie.

So the bottom two were Jaleel and Kym and Gavin and Karina. Tough break for Jaleel, but as cute and pleasant as Gavin is, he’s been a consistent bottom-two dweller and could probably sense his good luck was running out.

Then it was Dance Dual time — one cha-cha, danced simultaneously by both couples. Since the choreography for each one was so different, it was kinda hard to contrast and compare, but it was pretty clear that Jaleel and Kym looked better.

And the judges agreed — in a unanimous decision, they sent Gavin and Karina home.

Gavin expected it and took the news with his characteristic good humor and grace, but we’re kinda bummed because now we’ll never know what’s under that hat.

See you next week.

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