ABC/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — On Monday night’s Dancing with the Stars, it was the men versus the women for the first ever Boy Bands vs. Girl Groups night, with the remaining eight stars strutting their stuff to popular vocal groups. Appropriately, Season 21 runner-up Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys sat in for Julianne Hough as a guest judge.
It was an exciting night filled with splashy performances but the up-tempo theme was overshadowed by the shocking elimination of Glee star Heather Morris.
Morris, a consistently strong performer who has also worked as a backup dancer for Beyoncé, earned the first perfect score of the season with her returning partner Maks Chmerkovskiy, for their rumba to “Waterfalls” by TLC. Guest judge Nick said that was his favorite dance of the night. But in a jarring twist, at the show’s end Morris was in jeopardy and up for elimination, along with Nancy Kerrigan; and based on the combined tally of judges’ scores and viewer votes, Morris was voted off.
The reaction of the studio audience was deafening as they voiced their disapproval, but Morris handled it with grace and said she was happy to have had the chance to be on the show.
Hot on the heels of her high score was Fifth Harmony stunner Normani Kordei. Kordei and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy enthralled the crowd and wowed the judges with an electrifying salsa number to “When I Grow Up” by The Pussycat Dolls. Effortlessly sashaying, twisting, kicking and gyrating around a faux construction site, Kordei continued to mesmerize with her dancing. Judge Bruno Tonioli told Kordei, “You blew my boxes!” She would have had a perfect score but for Len Goodman, who gave her 8 out of 10, for the second-highest score of the night with 38.
Nick “The Bachelor” Viall brought in the lowest score of the evening with a 28 for his jive with partner Peta Murgatroyd to “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys. Of his performance, Goodman said, “I wasn’t picking up good vibrations, if you want to be honest about it.”
The night concluded with team dances as the men faced off against the women.
Viall, Rashad Jennings, David Ross and Bonner Bolton partnered up as Team Boy Band, took off their shirts and danced freestyle to a medley of “Dancing Machine” by The Jackson 5, “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” by New Kids on the Block and “Best Song Ever” by One Direction. Their moves earned them a 33 out of 40 but Morris, Kerrigan, Kordei and Simone Biles pulled through and beat them by a point with their performance as Team Girl Group in a freestyle to a medley of “My Boyfriend’s Back” by The Chiffons, “No Scrubs” by TLC and “BO$$” by Fifth Harmony.
Next week’s show will feature the theme “Night at the Movies,” with the stars trying to capture the spirit of various movie genres.
Monday night’s standout moment:
In spite of some strong individual performances and charm of the team dances, the show was upended by the abrupt elimination of Heather Morris after earning a perfect score earlier in the night.
Monday night’s high scorers:
Heather Morris and Maksim Chmerkovskiy – 40
Normani Kordei and Val Chmerkovskiy – 38
Judges’ Scores:
Heather Morris and Maksim Chmerkovskiy – 40
Normani Kordei and Val Chmerkovskiy – 38
Rashad Jennings and Emma Slater – 37
Simone Biles and Sasha Farber – 35
Nancy Kerrigan and Artem Chigvintsev – 33
Bonner Bolton and Sharna Burgess – 30
David Ross and Lindsay Arnold – 29
Nick Viall and Peta Murgatroyd – 28
Dancing with the Stars returns next Monday on ABC.
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