DWTS 23 Week 5 Live Blog and Performance Videos

Last week, we lost both Babyface and Vanilla Ice, making four consecutive male boots to start off the season. Only three males remain, and I would say that Ryan Lochte could very well be next. At that point, we should see some females eliminated as James and Calvin are two of the previously mentioned threats to Laurie. Jana, Amber, and Maureen really need to shine this week.

Many are wondering if we will have an elimination this week. It doesn’t seem likely. We have no result show this week and if they opt to eliminate someone tonight, what will they be basing it on? Last week’s votes? I doubt it considering last week’s scoring went toward the double boot. So the remaining couples may get a night off from worrying about being eliminated. Tonight’s show is the popular theme week dubbed “Most Memorable Year.”

Expect a whole lot of emotional stories and dances (quite a few contemporary routines scheduled) which will give us deeper insight into this season’s cast. This is usually the theme that brings out some great routines, as the celebs really tap into their stories to excel in the ballroom. As always, all couples are tasked to perform in an unlearned style. Let’s see how it all shakes out.

We begin with a performance by Andre Rieu, a lovely orchestral performance of “My Heart Will Go On,” featuring our professional dancers. A huge orchestra is playing on the stage, dressed in elegant evening gowns. Beautiful! And that was choreographed by of course, the one and only Mandy Moore. And we begin with Maureen…  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Maureen & Artem – Foxtrot
Maureen picked 1985, the year she was married. She felt like she had to present herself as Marcia Brady in her personal life. She fell in with a bad crowd, which included drugs. When she met her husband, he helped her come back up from rock bottom. Quite pretty. A lovely and elegant foxtrot. Nothing overly difficult, but that also means there were no glaring issues. It was just a nice, simplistic, and well danced routine. Maureen played the part nicely, which is a big part of making these personal dances work. – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Julianne says we just saw art imitating life. She says Maureen is a different person from week one until now. Bruno found it pretty and calls it angelic. Carrie Ann calls Maureen slow and steady. She sees a winner in Maureen and loves the growth.
Carrie Ann- 8, Julianne- 8, Bruno- 8= 24/30
You can vote for Maureen by calling 1-800-868-3409 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Calvin & Lindsay – Jazz
Calvin went with 2012. It was the year he broke Jerry Rice’s record on the football field. Cavlin’s dad was there to support him and he gave him the football. Lindsay is inspired by Calvin’s love for his family. Calvin wants to be as good a father to his son and his dad is to him. Awesome! Calvin is turning into quite a competitor on this show. This was a crazy good jazz routine. Lindsay did some fabulous choreography here, which included some amazing lifts, all executed perfectly. And Calvin looked like he was having a real blast with the whole thing. Some fancy and impressive footwork too!  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Bruno feels like it was right out of Motown. He loved the style and how much ease and charisma Calvin has. Carrie Ann says Calvin indeed reminds her of Jerry Rice. She gives him one comment to work on- musicality. Julianne loves the combo of Calvin and Lindsay and she believes that Calvin always gives everything he has. She also has a note- she wants Lindsay to push Calvin just a little more.
Carrie Ann- 8, Julianne- 8, Bruno- 8= 24/30
You can vote for Calvin by calling 1-800-868-3403 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Jana & Gleb – Contemporary
Jana picked 2016- she gave birth to her daughter. 10 years ago, Jana was in an abusive relationship. He went to prison for attempted murder. When her daughter was born, it healed her. She is dedicating the song to her daughter. Dang. They pulled out the big guns there with the photo of Jana’s daughter at the end. Jana is in tears. A strong contemporary dance here. Nice fluidity and lines and some very cool choreography from Gleb. I especially loved the trust fall moment toward the beginning. Jana needed something memorable tonight and this definitely did that.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Carrie Ann thought the dance was a breakthrough for Jana. She mentioned one little issue. Julianne says Jana has fought in this competition, and has perseverance. Bruno saw unconditional love and thought Jana was fearless and loved the risks. He thought she was dedicated and he loved it.
Carrie Ann- 9, Julianne- 8, Bruno-9 = 26/30
You can vote for Jana by calling 1-800-868-3406 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

*Next week is Latin Night and Pitbull (who can never let a reality-competition go by without appearing) will be on hand as both a guest performer and guest judge. Boo to the judging part. That’s totally unnecessary.

I guess we have some extra time tonight because we get a whole routine by some pros and troupe members. This was a bit of a plug for the DWTS Tour. You can go to DWTSTour.com for details.

Ryan & Cheryl – Contemporary
Ryan went with 2008. It was the year he won his first individual gold medal at the Olympics. His mother just wanted him to swim so he didn’t get into trouble. Ryan talks about the training for the Olympics. He tears up thinking about the gold medal victory. Of course, he mentions how Rio was a low point but he is dedicating this performance to his mother as a thank you for everything she has done. Hmm. Okay, so the lifts were decent and the dance had a lot of strong points. But it lacked a real story for me. It was basically just a bunch of sharp moves, drop, up, hold on to Cheryl, another sharp move, etc…It didn’t really do much for me emotionally and I would actually place a little more blame on Cheryl for that because of I think Ryan performed just what she asked. But it could have made more of an impact. I think Ryan needed something better here.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Julianne was really impressed. She felt Ryan was really invested and she felt Ryan gave everything he had to the dance. Bruno compliments the vocals that accompanied the piece. He says this was Ryan’s most honest performance to date. He loved the vulnerability and how he felt the music. Carrie Ann has a lot of respect for Ryan and she feels it was by far his best performance.
Carrie Ann- 8, Julianne- 8, Bruno-8= 24/30
You can vote for Ryan by calling 1-800-868-3411 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Laurie & Val – Paso Doble
Laurie picked 2016- the year she went to the Olympics. Laurie has had a lot of injuries in her short career. Her family thought she might give up the sport but of course, she powered through it. Val says she needs now to be better than perfect and this dance is the first time she has to be vulnerable. She is a little frustrated at rehearsal because Val can get intense with her. I really loved that opening. It was fierce. Did Val think this wa a paso doble/tango fusion? It had a lot of elements of the latter. But Laurie was definitely working hard on coming across as powerful and determined as possible. Playing the part is sometimes just as important as the routine itself. The steps were fine. Last week was better but this was another solid routine.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Bruno calls her a force of nature. But says that Laurie did go wrong at one point. He says the footwork wasn’t as good as usual. Carrie Ann says there were moments of brilliance. But she didn’t think the beginning was necessary. She felt the beginning didn’t feel real and yes, a mistake was made. Julianne disagrees. She thought it was fantastic. She wants to see the two (Laurie and Val) connect more.
Carrie Ann- 8, Julianne- 9, Bruno-8= 25/30
You can vote for Laurie by calling 1-800-868-3407 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Interesting scoring there. Are they trying to make this seem like more of a competition than it is? We will see depending on how they score the remaining routines tonight.

Marilu & Derek – Viennese Waltz
Marilu’s year is 1978. Marilu’s mom had a small dancing school and wanted her to go into show business. She was broke and her mom passed away. It was quite a loss. A few weeks later, she landed her role in Taxi. She is honoring her mother tonight. I loved how free Marilu was here. It was like she let go of the nerves and the overall “worry” the last few weeks routine’s seemed to have. This flowed beautifully and she was powerful both in and out of hold. Without a doubt, having a dance that she tapped into emotionally was something positive for her here.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Carrie Ann goes to give her a hug. She says Marilu was a different person tonight. All glowing reviews from Carrie Ann. Julianne is so happy because she knows how much Marilu wants it. Bruno calls it a revelations and says that Marilu was a different person tonight. He calls it brilliant.
Carrie Ann- 9, Julianne- 9, Bruno- 9= 27/30
You can vote for Marilu by calling 1-800-868-3408 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Amber & Maks – Samba
Amber went with 2013. It was the year she gave birth to her son. She wants this dance to be a celebration for women and for mothers. Aww, her son is adorable. Maks is pushing Amber hard during camera blocking. He wants her to perfect the dance. She is crying because she feels like this is very hard. Maks says it is but she just needs to turn it around and do better. Okay. So this might be a minority opinion but I don’t think that dance was all that great for Amber. I was distracted with the other female dancers because they were better. I thought Amber was a little too tentative at times when the samba actually calls for one to lose total abandon. I also felt like she was just behind the music by about half a second. Make no mistake though, this was better than the Amber of weeks one and two of the competition.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Julianne loved the content and costumes. She tells Amber to trust Maks. She feels like when they are together, they need to match the fire as when Amber is alone. Bruno loved the section with the girls and thought he was in Vegas. He doesn’t want Amber to be scared of Maks. Julianne questions Amber on how the dance was for her. She felt Amber got more confident as the dance went on. She feels like Amber is on the right trajectory.
Carrie Ann- 8, Julianne- 8, Bruno-8= 24/30
You can vote for Amber by calling 1-800-868-3401 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

James & Sharna – Tango
James picked the year 2015. He had the biggest crash of his career. He had to have blood replaced 3x and the doctor lost his pulse. Not many could survive an accident like that. In fact, the doctor says the survival rate for that type of injury is zero percent. Sharna is amazed that he is even on the show. Really solid dance. I love that the routine had essentially, two parts. One at the beginning up on the stage and then more of a traditional tango in the ballroom. It had a lovely crescendo. That’s on Sharna. James equaled her choreography with some great posture, fast footwork (with no mistakes that I saw) and good performance quality from start to finish.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Bruno found it super slick and sharp. He loved the poses in the dance that belong in a tango. Carrie Ann calls James a miracle and says he is the one to beat. Julianne thinks he has amazing posture but gives him a note to add a little more and he will be unbeatable.
Carrie Ann- 10, Julianne- 9, Bruno-10 = 29/30
You can vote for James by calling 1-800-868-3405 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Terra & Sasha – Contemporary
Terra picked 2013. Terra and her father had a very strong bond. He wanted her to succeed. He passed away on the day he was to be released from the hospital. She wasn’t there for it and has always regretted that. She feels her father not got to see her exceed. Aww, great stuff here. As good as the execution of the dance was (probably up there with Jana tonight for best contemporary routine), Terra’s emotional performance was even better. Sasha is such a special choreographer this season and has elevated all of this duo’s dances. Terra is hitting her stride in these last couple of weeks.  – Click to Watch Performance VIDEO

Carrie Ann feels Terra is living the dream and this is what she is meant to do. Julianne feels like everyone, just like her father, believes in her. Bruno says it was incredible.
Carrie Ann- 9, Julianne- 9, Bruno-9= 27/30
You can vote for Terra by calling 1-800-868-3412 during the show and for 60 minutes after the broadcast in each time zone. You can also vote online at ABC.COM and/or on FACEBOOK (voting is combined via this method) from the start of the East Coast show till 11AM Eastern Tuesday.

Week Five Judges Leaderboard
James- 29
Terra- 27
Marilu- 27
Jana- 26
Laurie- 25
Amber- 24
Maureen- 24
Calvin- 24
Ryan- 24

No elimination this week, of course. All couples will return next Monday and yes, an elimination will occur at the end of next week’s show and will be based on this week’s votes and scores from the judges.

Well, this was definitely the strongest night of dancing this season. It usually is when the show has this theme. All the couples really excelled at bringing their stories to life in the ballroom. The huge takeaway tonight for me was that Laurie’s trip to a possible victory isn’t as much a shoe-in as many may have thought. James is nipping right at her heels. Calvin is outstanding. Some of the other women tonight (Marilu, Jana, Terra) were mighty impressive. After five weeks, I finally see this season becoming increasingly competitive and that’s a very good thing.

POLLS coming up soon! Thanks for joining me tonight. Hope you all enjoyed the show as much as I did. =)