The Bachelorette: Roses for commuters

(Bachelorette Ali and host Chris Harrison in an ABC photo by Rick Rowell) 

Even though Ali Fedotowsky is the one handing out the roses on The Bachelorette, the blooms are for the ladies this morning at Yonge and Bloor Sts.

On the street close to the subway station, four Canadian "Bachelors" in tuxedos will be asking the women of Toronto to accept roses. There will also be a chance to win prizes with trivia questions between 8 and 9:30 a.m.

Of course, it's all part of a campaign to get you to tune into The Bachelorette on Citytv Monday at 8.

You may remember last week, Ali gave roses to 17 men, including Justin and Craig M. from Toronto, and Chris H. from Vancouver. Tonight, Ali will have a date with one of the men on Hollywood Blvd., meet 12 of the men at a Malibu beach house and have another one-on-one on a private jet to Las Vegas. There's also a promise of some drama at a cocktail party when one of the men confronts the others, and Ali sends three men home.

You can check back here for my recap after the show and share your comments.

So You Think You Can Dance: Welcome back old friend!

 (A dancer auditions for Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance/Fox photo by Michael Williams)

I love So You Think You Can Dance. I love sitting back on my couch and being amazed at the things that the human body can be made to do. So I am one happy camper that SYTYCD is back on the air.

Sure the audition shows are formulaic: dancers lining up in the rain or the heat or the cold, some voiceover from host Cat Deeley, a few back stories here and there, footage of the judges grimacing or smiling or laughing or even crying, glimpses of the choreography round, rejected dancers tearfully exiting the audition room, successful ones hurtling out the door and onto the street. But the dancing on display keeps it from getting boring.

And I find that SYTYCD strikes the right balance between airing the freak shows and the genuine talent.

Thursday night, the first show of Season 7, we got auditions from New York and Miami.

New York brought out plenty of talent, with 31 dancers getting tickets to Vegas.

The standouts included ballroom dancers Giselle Peacock and Henry Byalikov, and contemporary dancers Teddy Tedholm, Daniel Baker, Anthony Burrell and Edward Spots.

You may remember Teddy from last year's auditions when he turned up with his shock of blond hair, yellow and black harlequin pants, and a bowtie. 

This year he looked like he could have been going door to door hawking Bibles in a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and the boy made a believer out of me.

His routine, which seemed to convey the anguish of rejection, brought judges Mia Michaels and Adam Shankman to tears.

"The pain and the reality that you tapped into as a young man 18 years old, it's pretty genius," said Mia. "You are something else, Teddy."

"You put yourself out there and that was so naked emotionally, and to be so connected emotionally to all that facility of movement, I know you don't even know how special that is," said Adam.

"I am going to just sit back and tell you how honoured I am to just be able to sit there and have watched that."

The emotions were of a different sort when Latin ballroom dancers Giselle and Henry burned up the Bronx audition stage just the way they did the Broadway stage in Burn the Floor.

"Omigawd, you're so hot," exclaimed Mia.

"You just tore up the floor. That was awesome and a huge turn-on," said Adam.

"The last time I saw you was in Burn the Floor. You two were the stars for me and you continue to be the stars," said judge and executive producer Nigel Lythgoe before handing over a couple of Vegas tickets.

I have to say even though he didn't make it to Vegas, I was fascinated by Wadi Jones. Dude was running up walls like SpiderMan and, as Nigel pointed out, did a somersault during his routine without any preparation.

The comic relief in New York came from the likes of Mike Perlman, whose bad dancing led him to create the guerilla group 123 Party! He bounced, ran, leapt, somersaulted and did aerobics-style moves in a bright green T-shirt, black short shorts and multi-coloured leggings.

Country line dancer Scott Vogel kept the judges fascinated not with his steps but with the fact he cleans up blood and other bodily fluids for a living.

And cross-dressing vegetarian and horror movie maker Jamie Greco wore his food preferences, well, not exactly on his sleeve, with a fruit headdress, a pink tutu and bunches of broccoli for breasts. 

"I just want to say I get it. I feel exactly the same way," said Adam.

"I'm not the only fruit here," Jamie retorted to Adam, who is gay, bringing laughter from the judges.

There wasn't so much laughter in Miami, where auditions landed next.

If I heard Cat correctly, only 21 dancers got through to Vegas. And the judges complained about the mediocrity of some of the dancing.

"I'm starting to get annoyed with the really bad dancing," Nigel said.

Among the good dancers were German ballroom dancer Michael Petr, whose inspiration when he started out was Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing; a stunning contemporary dancer from the rough Liberty City neighbourhood of Miami; Ami Aguiar-Riley, a mother who was praised for her aggressive contemporary dancing, and Jose Ruiz, a B-boy who thinks he's better than Season 6's Legacy Perez.

Jose had some really impressive B-Boy moves (I'm not sure I've seen someone balance that long on their head) but wasn't up to Legacy's standard when he did the choreography round, but he'll get a chance to improve in Vegas nonetheless.

And that's it until next week when the series returns to CTV with another two-hour audition show on Wednesday. Tune in at 8 p.m. and look for the recap here after the show.

More American Idol: Why Adam Lambert wasn't on the finale

It looks like a bit of a controversy blew up over Adam Lambert's non-appearance on the Idol finale Wednesday when the PopEater blog reported that Adam had been bumped from the show because he failed to show up for rehearsals.

Adam himself addressed the rumours on Twitter.   

He says he was never asked to appear on the finale "in any capacity."

Plus he had been put on vocal rest as he prepares for his North American tour, which begins June 4, after coming down with laryngitis on the weekend. 

"Would have loved 2 have been at the Idol Finale to wish Simon farewell and support the finalists, but this tour for my fans is my priority," Adam tweeted.

"Sad that I'm forced to defend myself bout situation no one pointing fingers knew any factual details about. I'm working so hard on this tour!!

"All I ever heard was: 'you've not been asked to perform on finale. Would you like to sit in the audience?' Me: sorry -- Too much work to do today.

"Sick of certain journalists and jealous people in the industry trying to stir up bullshit drama. Must not be getting laid. GET A LIFE! HAHA."

Then later, Adam tweeted, "Don't worry, I just had to get it off my chest (publically) (sic). I'm totally over it now."

So there you have it.

American Idol: The day after (spoiler alert)

(Lee DeWyze sings during the American Idol finale in a Fox photo by Michael Becker.) 

Simon Cowell got it right; I got it wrong.

 I was convinced it was Crystal Bowersox's name that Ryan Seacrest was going to read out on the stage of the Nokia Theatre on Wednesday night. Instead it was Lee DeWyze, who looked like he was going to throw up waiting for the results and then could barely speak when they came.

Good for Lee, I say. I was not strongly emotionally invested in either finalist. Nor can I give a detailed analysis of why Lee won instead of Crystal after she so clearly outperformed him on Tuesday night.

I'm sure even Simon was feeling he'd made the wrong call on Ellen DeGeneres's talk show earlier that day, especially when he gave Lee the "You're a really, really nice person" speech on Tuesday night, which seemed to be his way of saying that Lee wasn't going to win, despite Simon's earlier prediction.

But maybe something else that Simon said Tuesday night holds the key: "This is what this competition was designed for, which is somebody who needs a break, has a normal job working in a paint shop ..."

The thing about Crystal was, good as she was (and I believe she is the better singer), you just expected her to do well every week and that made her performances sort of predictable -- for me, anyway. 

Lee's dominance in the competition was a surprise. His initial awkwardness onstage and his early pitch problems didn't mark him as a sure bet for winner. And then he had some breakout performances -- "The Boxer," "That's Life," "Hallelujah" -- and he became a contender. 

I suppose that kind of "underdog prevails" narrative is attractive to viewers who vote. I also suspect far more females than males vote, and with eye candy like Tim Urban and Casey James out of the running perhaps Lee was the next logical choice for them. Plus Lee was the pick of the website Votefortheworst.com, which was taking credit this morning for his victory.

I also wanted to put down some of my impressions of Wednesday's show, seeing as how I live-blogged it last night, which is more a stream of consciousness thing than my typical blog post (I think I messed up by not moving the link for the live blog to the very top of my page last night, perhaps making it harder to find, but hindsight is always 20-20).

I found the show as a whole somewhat disjointed and almost anti-climactic. There wasn't any real build-up for the big-name acts that came on. And no disrespect to the artists involved, but I found myself wondering where they dug up all the fossils. I mean, Alice Cooper? The Bee Gees? Doobie Brothers? Hall and Oates? Alanis Morissette? Joe Cocker? Okay, Alanis isn't that old, but when was the last time she had a hit song?

True, we had Christina Aguilera and Carrie Underwood and Janet Jackson, who gave us the kind of spectacle you'd expect from an American Idol finale.

And I did enjoy Crystal and Lee singing "With a Little Help From My Friends" with Joe Cocker.

Plus the Bret Michaels appearance with Casey James created some buzz, seeing as how the guy nearly died (Bret, not Casey).

As far as the Simon tribute went, I found the early bits -- the "funny" videos by Ryan and Randy Jackson and the other judges, the Dane Cook song, even the Ricky Gervais appearance -- kind of silly and obvious. 

And when Paula Abdul finally did take the stage, I couldn't help but wonder what she was on. "There's a baby backstage with Simon's haircut and, honey, it's your turn to feed him"? What the hell did that even mean?

But the song tribute by all the previous Idol winners (except David Cook, who reportedly was attending a charity event in Kansas) was classy and the sort of thing that Idol does well.

Simon seemed genuinely touched by it.

I could go on about what I think was wrong with Idol this season and how I think the show will fare without Simon, but I'm going to save that for another blog post.

I really, really would like to hear what all of you thought about last night's show and about the results, so please share.

American Idol: Crystal leaves her heart on the stage

It seems we've come full circle on American Idol.

The season started with the judges insisting it was a woman's year, then the women got voted out until only one remained, but now it looks like they were right all along.

If you'd asked me last week, I would have said Lee DeWyze was cruising to victory over Crystal Bowersox.   

But Crystal got back in the driver's seat on Tuesday night.

Crystal seems to want to win more than Lee, or at least to believe more that she can win.

Lee seemed to come down with a case of what I'm calling Caseyitis.

His songs -- a reprise of "The Boxer," REM's "Everybody Hurts," chosen for him by Idol boss Simon Fuller, and his "single," U2's "Beautiful Day" -- were pleasant enough but never pushed the limits, which could be said of a lot of second runner-up Casey James' performances.

"I've got to be honest with you, Lee, this is the big one, right? So I'd expect actually a lot more passion, excitement. That was a kiss on the cheek when I want a kiss on the lips, not from you, but you know what I'm saying," Simon Cowell told him.

Crystal, on the other hand, was giving kisses on the lips and going a lot further.

Her reprise of "Me and Bobby McGee" got off to shaky start, far too quiet on the verses, but she was in full voice by the end of it.

She cranked it up a notch with a full-throated version of "Black Velvet" and really went for the gusto with her "single," Sam Cooke's "It's Been a Long Time Coming." Her voice was infused with so much emotion the song had truly spine-tingling moments.

"I'm so proud of you, man," enthused Randy Jackson. "This is one of the greatest performances and one of your best moments at the perfect time on this show. That was incredible."

It's looking like Lee might have to settle for Mr. Congeniality at the Nokia Theatre Wednesday night.

Simon made a point of telling him what a great guy he is.

"This is my final time I'm ever going to judge this show and what I just want to say about you is that this is what this competition was designed for, which is somebody who needs a break, has a normal job working in a paint shop, you've worked hard, you've remained a really, really nice person throughout and I genuinely wish the best for you."

Simon also had kind words for Crystal and seemed determined to end his Idol career without the nastiness he's been known for.

"This is becoming a bit of a love fest tonight. I thought that was the best performance and the song of the night. Since this is going to be the final critique I'm ever going to give, I would just like to say that was outstanding," he told Crystal after her final song.

Crystal thanked Simon earlier for his critiques and wished him luck in his future endeavours. 

She and Lee were asked by Ryan Seacrest to comment on their Idol experience.

"This whole thing has been amazing from the very beginning to right now," said Lee. "I want to be doing this for a long time. I will be doing this for the rest of my life in one way or another."

Crystal said she was beside herself ("I'm actually beside Ryan Seacrest, but you know what I mean") and expressed gratitude for "my family and my life and my son. Just, I'm ready for anything."

Anything like winning American Idol Wednesday night.

(The Fox photo of Crystal performing on Tuesday is by Michael Becker. Wednesday's finale will air at 8 p.m. on CTV and I will be blogging it live here, so feel free to comment live.)

Dancing With the Stars: And the winner is ... (spoiler alert)

If you think back to the beginning of this 10th season of Dancing With the Stars, this is where we were headed all along.

There were weeks when it seemed figure skater Evan Lysacek might snatch victory from ex-Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger.    

And it still seemed possible Tuesday night, given that the winner was decided by a combination of viewer votes and judges' scores. As judge Carrie Ann Inaba pointed out, Evan had been winning hearts throughout the season.

Plus the show does have a tradition of awarding its mirror-ball trophy to Olympians like Evan, who was a gold medalist at the Vancouver Winter Games.

But Nicole's routines with Derek Hough were so good Tuesday night it seemed like a no-brainer that she would win and win she did.

The night began with all three finalists, Nicole, Evan and sportscaster Erin Andrews, doing Argentine tangos with their partners, the dance all three chose as their favourite routine of the season or at least favourite that the judges might like, too.

It was no surprise when Erin and partner Maks Chmerkovskiy were ranked third by the judges, and no real surprise when a combo of votes and scores knocked them out of the competition.

The pair were awfully kissy and huggy throughout the show, adding fuel to the rumours that they're a couple outside the ballroom.

"I came here in really crummy circumstances," Erin said, referring to the stalker who shot nude video of her and posted it on the Internet. "I just wanted to get my life back together and my smile back, and I just wanted to be myself again ... This one just put my life back together and I'm so thankful," she said, pointing to Maks.

"The second I saw you happy, for me that was enough," Maks gallantly told her in one of their exit clips.

The judges had nice things to say about Erin, with Len Goodman telling her, "You proved last night and again tonight you're in this final on merit. You have danced brilliantly."

Bruno Tonioli said Erin had the most spectacular growth of all the competitors. "Whatever happens, what you've achieved is incredible."

With Erin eliminated, Evan and Nicole moved on to their final dance of the competition, a jive for Nicole and a quickstep for Evan.

The judges had all but crowned Nicole after she performed first. Her routine with Derek to "Proud Mary" was fast, precise and exhilarating.

"Nicole, let me tell you, there were 12 days of Christmas, there were seven dwarfs, four Beatles; there can only be one winner of Dancing With the Stars. It should be you," said Len.

"This has been the best season of Dancing With the Stars ever," said Bruno. "You two have constantly produced some of the most inventive, exciting, creative, stunning dances I have ever seen. This was a crowning glory of an amazing season."

When it came to Evan and Anna's quickstep, you just knew that unless his fans stepped up in a huge way it was over. Nothing wrong with the routine, but it was underwhelming and almost a bit prissy after seeing the jive.

Still, Len told Evan he had been a joy to watch.

"Nicole and Derek may be winning the scoring right now, but I swear you have won the hearts of not only myself but I think everyone here," Carrie Ann told Evan.

Evan had nothing but kind words for Nicole after the victory, saying he was proud of her and Derek: "They deserved it."

He said he was satisfied with everything he'd done on the show and happy about the lifelong bond he'd formed with Anna.

Nicole had said earlier that she had already won just by getting so far in the competition, but that victory scream she let out after the announcement tells me she must have really wanted that trophy.

Of course, this being the finale, we got to see all the not-so-good contestants too.

Everybody danced except Chad Ochocinco, who'd injured himself in football training.

Mercifully, the worse the dancers the shorter their segments, so Shannen Doherty, Aiden Turner and Buzz Aldrin were done in a flash (speaking of flash, Tom Bergeron said Buzz's sparkly flight suit was "from the NASA Liberace collection.").

But Kate Gosselin was an exception to the rule. 

Not only was she featured in a video package rehearsing with Tony Dovolani, she got to reprise a version of her infamous "Paparazzi" routine.

"I would guess that 90 per cent of my audience doesn't like me," Kate told Tony. "I'm so controversial. C'mon, you know.

"It doesn't matter if I did a Nicole or an Evan performance, I would still get picked to pieces so I might as well have fun with it."

Her idea of fun did not include a spin, which she said she was afraid to do even though she'd asked Tony to make the choreography harder "because that's really who I am. Give me a challenge." (Here's one: suck it up, princess.)

In the end, Kate did the routine with slightly more personality than last time but still no dancing skill whatsoever. "Paparazzi" morphed into "I Will Survive." Tony ripped Kate's skirt off to reveal sparkly black shorts and she ended up atop a crane staring into the camera, which had Tom and co-host Brooke Burke laughing so hard I'm not entirely sure they were laughing with her.

In another segment, Jake Pavelka waltzed with Chelsie Hightower and his fiancee Vienna Girardi with Dmitry Chaplin, and Jake and Vienna ended up waltzing together. Vienna wasn't half bad.

My favourite non-competition routine was Pam Anderson and Niecy Nash doing sexually charged dances with Tony, Dmitry, and ex-partners Damian Whitewood and Louis van Amstel. You go girls.

And that's it, a pretty good end to a pretty great season.

(The photo of Nicole and Derek dancing the jive is by Adam Larkey for ABC.)

American Idol: We're going live

I'll be live-blogging the Idol finale Wednesday night. So come hang out and share your comments live.

Two for one Canadian reality TV stars at Hugh's Room

Theo Tams, the last Canadian Idol winner, plays a gig tonight with talented Toronto singer/songwriter Sara Kamin and singer/pianist Jeffery Straker at Hugh's Room.

But there's another face you might recognize on the bill: Janna Polzin, who was runner-up on the reality show How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? She's singing with Sara.

The show starts at 8:30 p.m. sharp. You can get tickets at 416-531-6604 or at the door. And you can find more info here.

Hugh's Room is a great place to see live music. I'd be there myself tonight if I didn't have to blog Dancing With the Stars and American Idol.

The Bachelorette: Ali's first 17 (spoiler alert)

(Ali pins a rose on Justin during the premiere of The Bachelorette in an ABC photo.) 

How about those Canadian guys?

All three of the Canuck contesants made it through the first rose ceremony on The Bachelorette premiere Monday night, but not without controversy.

It seems that Justin, a pro wrestler from Toronto, and Craig M., who's from Sarnia but works in dental sales in Toronto, rubbed their competition the wrong way.

The other guys piled on Justin after he revealed a T-shirt bearing his wrestling name, "Rated R," and bantered with Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky about his line of work.

Craig R., a lawyer from Philadelphia, seemed to be leading the charge against Justin, declaring that "if I hear you say something that says you're promoting yourself, I'm not with you."

And because this series just loves to stir it up, the guys were asked to write down the names of the man or men they thought were there for the wrong reasons: Justin was the overwhelming though not unanimous choice.

But Craig M. appeared to get some votes, too.

The move backfired, though. Justin explained that the other guys had been attacking him over his wrestling. "It might not have been appropriate to show that on the first day. It's something that's important to me and I wanted to express that," Justin told Ai, assuring her he was there to find a wife and a best friend.

Ali gave him a rose right there and then without waiting for the rose ceremony.

Later Craig M. (whom Justin accused of being there "to get more hair products") and Chris H., a real estate developer from Vancouver, got roses, too.

Chris H. didn't get much airtime. Craig M. got plenty, but it wasn't too flattering. His intro segment had him bragging about all the women he meets at clubs in Toronto and he came across as argumentative during the party at the mansion, chastising Texas weatherman Jonathan for not letting Ali get a word in edgewise during their chat.

Here are my first impressions of the guys who got roses Monday, in the order in which they received them:

Roberto, insurance agent in Charleston, S.C.: He charmed Ali right off the bat with his good looks and, during their one on one, he taught her some salsa dance moves. "You're sweet and you taught me something new and I feel really comfortable with you," Ali told Roberto when she gave him the first impression rose. He could be the real thing, but as we learned the hard way on The Bachelor last season, appearances can be deceiving.

Justin, wrestler from Toronto: He got Ali laughing with his wrestling shtick and got her sympathy with the ankle he broke doing a wrestling move. The self-admitted mama's boy seems like a decent guy if a little full of himself. 

Jesse, contractor from Peculiar, Mo.: He started off on an awkward foot with a lame joke about whether Ali would date a peculiar man (hardee har), but he made up for it by giving Ali a homemade wooden heart and seems like a harmless guy.

Ty, in medical sales in Franklin, Tenn.: We know that he's divorced and that he does everything with his dog. Beyond that, he didn't make a strong impression one way or another.

Craig R., lawyer from Philadelphia: He seems like a bit of busybody after warning Ali that not all the guys were there for the right reason (with Justin in mind) and did anybody else think the matching yellow running shoe keychains were kind of dorky?

Tyler V., in online advertising in Milford, Ct.: Tyler who? He didn't get enough airtime to leave an impression one way or another.

Frank, retail manager and aspiring screenwriter from Chicago: He's very focused on winning Ali's heart, perhaps even a little over-confident, but the same could have been said of Vienna at the beginning of The Bachelor.

Steve, sales rep in Cleveland, Ohio: Another blank slate for me. His opening line, about being surprised Ali wasn't wearing yellow, didn't seem particularly clever or memorable.

Chris L., landscaper from Cape Cod, Mass.: This guy seems to have a heart, having given up a teaching job in New York City to move back home to be with his dying mother, but the fact he didn't tell Ali about his mom right away could bite him later, given her stated desire for honesty and openness from her suitors.

Kirk, sales consultant in Madison, Wis.: He distinguished himself by giving Ali an origami rose and a scrapbook about things that were important to him (like fishing and his family). Is he the Bachelorette equivalent of The Bachelor's Tenley, a little too sweet?

John C., hotel business developer in Issaquah, Wash.: His ploy was to give Ali a cubic zirconia ring and propose some alone time, which is sort of overly cute, but at least he stuck up for Justin.

Chris N., entrepreneur from Orlando, Fla.: Another guy who didn't leave much of an impression, beyond giving Ali a rose when he first met her.

Chris H., real estate developer from Vancouver, B.C.: He got an exclamation of "Aw, he's cute" from Ali after proposing they go off to the mansion by themselves before the other guys had even arrived, but given how little screen time he got he may not stick around long.

Hunter, Internet account executive from San Antonio, Tex.: He broke the ice by telling Ali how much he had to use the bathroom after the long limo ride, and he sang a silly song and played the ukelele, but his comment about the hispanic Roberto doing "a hot sauce dance" with Ali wasn't so funny.

Craig M., in dental sales in Toronto: He came across as cocky and over-impressed with his own charms, leading to snipes from some of the other contestants about his hair and his attitude, but that could just be a trick of the editing. Still, I have a feeling this won't end well.

Jonathan, weatherman in Houston, Tex.: He seems pleasant enough, but he seems to think pretty highly of himself, plus I'm with Craig M.: he does talk too much.

Kasey, ad executive in Clovis, Calif.: Kasey actually worried me a little. From telling Ali at their first meeting that he "will always be here to protect and guard your heart," to his oversharing about his parents' divorce and his father's cheating, he seems like he could be the equivalent of The Bachelor's Michelle.

It looks like there'll be plenty of drama to go around this season based on the promos at the end of the episode, from a hint at a suicide attempt, to physical aggression between the men, to one contestant making Ali cry. You can watch it unfold Mondays at 9 on Citytv.

Dancing With the Stars: Beware the freestyle

Love was in the air on Dancing With the Stars but, unfortunately, not all of it was coming from the judges.

We had Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough in what was arguably the most sensuous dance of the season, with a steamy rumba; Erin Andrews and Maks Chmerkovskiy coming the closest ever to admitting they're a couple off the dancefloor with their contemporary freestyle routine; and Evan Lysacek and Anna Trebunskaya in a Viennese waltz that judge Bruno Tonioli said caused sparks.

But there was a sense of anticlimax to the evening compared to last week's performances, and a bit of disconnect between the judges' words and their scores.   

Let me say off the top that I'm not sure how Erin earned two 10s (from Carrie Ann Inaba and Len Goodman) for her samba, the so-called redemption dance chosen for her by Bruno.

Sure, it was better than the first time around, but I didn't think her hip action was all that and a bag of chips.

Nonetheless, Len declared the routine fantastic, Carrie Ann said Erin had moved herself up three notches and Bruno (who scored the number a 9) declared it "hotter than noon in the tropics."

Strangely, the scores were reversed for Nicole's redemption dance, the rumba, with 9s from Carrie Ann and Len, and a 10 from Bruno, despite Carrie Ann declaring it mesmerizing.

The dance was so steamy (how about the part when Derek loosened Nicole's hair?) I'm surprised Nicole's boyfriend could sit comfortably through it in the audience.

Carrie Ann told Nicole during rehearsal that she had to allow herself to be vulnerable. Nicole did that, along with living up to her usual level of technical difficulty. But then Carrie Ann pitched a small fit because Derek picked Nicole up and carried her at the end of the number, breaking the no-lifts rule (he explained he thought the music had ended) and Len, inexplicably, said Nicole seemed to lack a little confidence (I'm with Carrie Ann on that one: What?).

Even weirder to me were the 9s across the board for Nicole and Derek's freestyle number, an extremely fast and precise piece of choregraphy to the Elvis song "A Little Less Conversation" that Carrie Ann declared was "the freestyle we've all been waiting for ... You guys were like this crazy, high-octane, dancing octopus." Len pointed out that the routine contained Lindy Hop, salsa, quick step, jive and who knows what else.

I suppose the judges all took a point off for the fact that Nicole struggled with the last lift, but it seems a shame.

"There was a slip at the end, but it's because what you're trying to do has never been done," said Bruno.

Still, it could have been worse. Evan and Anna netted just three 8s for their freestyle, an extremely energetic routine to "Footloose" with lots of side-by-side dancing.

Certainly, it lacked the polish of Nicole and Derek's number, but I thought the judges were overly harsh.

Bruno said Evan was "jumping about. You looked like you'd been bitten by a tarantula." Carrie Ann complained they hadn't matched their lines in the side-by-side pieces and Len stated bluntly, "It certainly wasn't what I wanted to see."

And yet, the pair did a great job earlier with the Viennese waltz, Len's pick for their redemption dance, and earned just 9s from Len and Bruno.

The lines were lovely, the movement smooth and there were some nice whimsical bits, like Evan "playing" Anna's piano-keyboard dress at the end.

"Fluidity and lyricism good as always, very, very good in hold and I like to see the connection between you two: smiling, romantic, sweet, I could feel the sparks," Bruno said.

Carrie Ann called it "a beautiful, emotional, endless, enchanting dream" and backed up her words with a score of 10.

Len quibbled over the fact Evan supposedly collapsed a little through his standing leg during some of the moves. Guess there's no pleasing some people.

Case in point: the reaction to Erin and Maks's freestyle number, a contemporary lyrical routine to the song "Alone" with some challenging lifts, a chance for Erin to show off her long, long legs, and a bed for a prop.

"Our freestyle is very passionate, it's very emotional and I think in a way it'll tell the story of Erin and I," Maks said in the rehearsal footage.

The judges acknowledged the risk the partners took in choosing that style of dance, but Len gave it just an 8, calling it a mix "of emotion and commotion."

Carrie Ann pointed out a stumble during a spin on the bed, to which Maks replied, "It wasn't the bed we rehearsed on."

"In 10 seasons, 'it's not the bed I rehearsed on' is my favourite excuse ever," quipped co-host Tom Bergeron.

When all was said and done, Erin and Maks were tied with Nicole and Derek for high score, with 55 points out of 60. Evan and Anna earned only 52.

(Tom said Nicole had earned the highest score ever at this stage of the competition, with 363 judges' points in total.) 

Each couple has to perform two more routines on Wednesday's finale, for further scoring by the judges, but viewer votes, which make up half the total score, are based only on Tuesday's dances.

The finale promises to be entertaining with all of the season's contestants coming back to dance (yes, even Kate Gosselin) and a waltz by former Bachelor Jake Pavelka and his fiancee Vienna Girardi.

And note, if you've been setting your PVR to A channel in past weeks, make sure it's switched to CTV for the two-hour finale, which airs at 9 p.m.

(The photo of Maks and Erin doing the samba is by Adam Larkey for ABC.)