'Dancing With the Stars' recap: Actress Lea Thompson leads the pack
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After Olympic athlete Lolo Jones became the first celebrity contestant to leave the show last week, the second week of the nineteenth iteration of “Dancing With the Stars” began with celebrity contestants choosing which song to dance to, a theme that was titled “My Jam Monday."
“Back to the Future” actress Lea Thompson and her pro dancing partner Artem Chigvintsev performed a jive to the song “Land of 1000 Dances” by Wilson Pickett and the routine earned the highest score of the night with 35 points out of 40. Judge Bruno Tonioli said Thompson had “the incandescent appeal of Ann-Margret in her prime,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Janel Parrish of the ABC Family show “Pretty Little Liars” and her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy performed a foxtrot routine to the Carly Rae Jepsen song “Call Me Maybe” and the two received the second-highest score with 34 out of 40, with judge Carrie Ann Inaba calling it “close to perfect,” according to TV Guide.
Bethany Mota, a YouTube star, and her partner Derek Hough (brother of new “Dancing” judge Julianne Hough) also performed a foxtrot, this one set to the song “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor. They had the third-highest score with 33 out of 40, and Tonioli praised what he saw as a Bob Fosse influence on the routine, which he said “really tickled my fancy,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The night’s lowest score was claimed by race car driver Michael Waltrip and his partner Emma Slater, who danced a samba to “Girls in Bikinis” by Lee Brice and were given a score of 24 out of 40. Meanwhile, four pairs all earned scores of 28 out of 40, the next-lowest score: wrestler Randy Couture and his partner Karina Smirnoff, who did a cha-cha to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones; TV host Tavis Smiley and his partner Sharna Burgess, who performed a cha-cha to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland”; fashion designer Betsey Johnson and her partner Tony Dovolani, who did a foxtrot to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”; and comedian Tommy Chong and his partner Peta Murgatroyd, who performed a salsa to Gloria Estefan’s “Higher.”
After audience input is taken into account, the results will be announced on the episode airing on Sept. 23.