Trav's Thoughts

Time zone notice: To my friends living to the east, please remember that I live on the west coast. You will know the result three hours before I do. Thanks for keeping that result under your hat until I've had a chance to see it "live".

Wooooooooooooooo!! Cue the music!!

Live!! It's the finals of Dancing With the Stars!

Tonight, it's judges' choice for each of the couples and then a free dance with no rules. America votes on these two dances tonight, which will count for 50% of the total score. And then tomorrow night the judges score a dance to determine the winner.

Judges select Paso Doble for Laila & Maks. They have proper Paso music, which we appreciate after some of the silly music we've had to endure. She's bringing the passion and fire to the dance. She was aggressive and her technique and posture were wonderful. The red dress was HAWT. Judges say 10,9,10 for a total of 29. Len picked on technique and foot position just a little bit.

Judges select Rumba for Apolo & Julianne. Oh we don't like this Rumba at all. There was an awful lot of posing and not much real dancing. It was forced and it didn't look smooth. We didn't feel any romance in it. That was actually disappointing. And someone needs to gag Bruno to keep him from talking over the other judges! We agree with Carrie Ann and Len on this one - it didn't measure up. Judges say 9,9,10 for a total of 28.

Judges select Cha Cha Cha for Joey & Kym. We like the funky stuff because they mixed the basic Cha Cha Cha elements into it. The choreography fit the music and as always they performed so well. The judges are picking on the fun stuff. They say not enough Cha Cha Cha content and too much hip hop. We liked it because it was fun and we thought there was enough content. Judges say 9,8,9 for a total of 26. That 8 is too low.

Leader board after judges' choice:

29 Laila & Maks
28 Apolo & Julianne
26 Joey & Kym

Free style is next.

Laila & Maks: Nothing overly complicated or difficult. No big lifts or throws. Well, we can understand that - she's a boxer and quite the big girl. Pam appreciates the shirtless Maks. Just not enough content for us. They had fun and performed well. But it was only hawt, not HAWT. Judges say 9,8,9 for a total of 26.

Apolo & Julianne: Young, contemporary, and fun. Perfect choice for this pair. We didn't really like it that much. It was fun, but it didn't blow our hair back. Judges say 10's across for a total of 30.

Joey & Kym: This is how he made his living gang. And you know what, he danced WITH Kym. That was brilliant. It played to his strengths and was also ballroom dancing. The lifts were amazing. They used elements from the entire 10 weeks worth of dancing. We loved it! Judges say 10's across for a total of 30.

Tonight's final leader board:

58 Apolo & Julianne
56 Joey & Kym
55 Laila & Maks

We spent our 10 votes for Joey & Kym.

So tomorrow night, it's one more dance for the judges to score. And then the champion is crowned.

We've really enjoyed this season. I hope I haven't bored you too much with these weekly reviews. I'll miss sharing my silly obsession!

But...this Thursday...it's the return of So You Think You Can Dance!! Woooo!! So maybe I'll just shift obsessions and do this on a different day! Heehee!!

Later babies!