Trav's Thoughts

When it came down to cases, it wasn't so tough to pick an encore from Monday night. Pam and I enjoyed all of the ladies. But the dance that made us smile the most was Miss Jane performing her Foxtrot.



How charming is she...screaming when she meets Tony?!?!?

My second encore is the rockin' pros. Let this buffer for a bit and then skip forward to about 2:47 to see the incredible pro routine that kicked off the show Monday night.



We have always thought that the men have the more difficult competition. They must not only learn to do something totally new, but they must be strong partners who lead the dance. And they will be judged against men who have been professionally trained to do exactly that.

For that reason, we think it's great that the fellas are not being immediately and directly compared with the pros on this night. That will begin next week. But tonight we get to see the first dance without the spector of the male pros.

Yada yada yada!! Cue that theme music!

Ladies threw down last night with the highest scores on an opening night in any season to date. Fellas need to bring it.


Cameron Mathison (actor) is paired with Edyta Sliwinska (International Grand Ball champion), dancing Foxtrot. He's stiff and awkward to begin. We kept waiting for the smooth elegance, but it didn't show up. Edyta made the choreography very simple and gave him a lot of posing to do. It wasn't really awful and we agree with the judges that he has good lines. There's potential. And Pam says he looks dashing in a tuxedo, so there you go. Judges say 7's across for a total of 21. Maybe so.


Floyd Mayweather (boxer) is paired with Karina Smirnoff (US Latin champion), dancing Cha Cha Cha. Naturally there is drama with a top professional athlete butting heads with his top professional dance instructor. He can definitely move. He's not smooth at this point. He does one move, then he does the next step, and then he does the next move. He was also quite jerky in his movement, like he was fighting the dance. But it's all there. He just needs to connect everything and make it smooth. Judges say 6's across for a total of 18. Hmmmm...maybe.


Helio Castroneves (Indy 500 champion) is paired with Julianne Hough (reigning DWTS champion), dancing Foxtrot. OK y'all. Pam says the man is HAWT. We appear to need the drool towel. And that dance was very smooth. Charming, confident, and elegant. We loved it...smiled all the way through. They told a wonderful little story, with great chemistry between them. We join the judges in praising the choreography. That was well done. Judges say 8,9,8 for a total of 25. Yup, and it could have been 9's across.


Albert Reed (model) is paired with Anna Trebunskaya (Latin champion), dancing Cha Cha Cha. Lots of energy and lots of fun. Extremely sexy and enjoyable to watch. Some of his movement was awkward and we don't think there was much Cha Cha Cha. There was some, but I think it was more entertaining than it was great dancing. I kept glancing toward Pam...of course she's got the HAWT-ness meter tonight. But no drool towel appeared necessary. I am certainly glad to see Anna return to the show. She lights me up y'all. It was a good first dance. Judges say 7's across for a total of 21.


Mark Cuban (Owner, Dallas Mavericks) is paired with Kym Johnson (Australian champion), dancing Foxtrot. Cuban gives me the heebies. We did not know he had just had a hip replacement though, so we'll cut him some slack and give him a chance. Interesting and ironic choreography to Roger Miller's King of the Road for the billionaire entrepreneur. And he was actually better than we expected. He was smooth in spots and he can perform. OK. We enjoyed it. Bruno called him the bouncing bionic billionaire. LOL! The fun he had with the dance came across. Pam actually called him charming! Judges say 7's across for a total of 21.


Wayne Newton (entertainer) is paired with Cheryl Burke (2 time DWTS champion and our favorite pro), dancing Cha Cha Cha. That was awkward. We give the man props for doing that. It's clear dancing isn't his talent. But he brought energy to it and he had fun. He's going to be well out of his league against the younger men in the competiton. But he was so charming and he did all of the Cha Cha Cha elements. He didn't do them with any kind of technique, but he got through it. Judges say 6,7,6 for a total of 19.

So the fellas are finished and have earned the title Gentlemen. Here's the leader board for the Gentlemen after the first round of judging:

25 = Helio
21 = Albert
21 = Cameron
21 = Mark
19 = Wayne
18 = Floyd

The combined leader board for the Ladies and Gentlemen is:

26 = Sabrina
25 = Helio
24 = Melanie
24 = Jane
21 = Jennie
21 = Marie
21 = Albert
21 = Cameron
21 = Mark
19 = Wayne
18 = Floyd
16 = Josie

This is a terrific group of celebrities and we enjoyed them all. We suspect that this will be the most enjoyable season yet.