'Dancing With the Stars' recap: Muniz and Fisher bring the fright, Bella and Lachey go home
The eight remaining couples performed scary routines and performed team dances.
— -- Monday night was Halloween night on "Dancing With the Stars," and it was filled with surprises. On the night before Halloween, the eight remaining couples performed scary routines and joined forces for team dances.
Frankie Muniz and Jordan Fisher wowed with their individual numbers. At the end of the night, with four competitors up for elimination, including Terrell Owens and Drew Scott, the biggest shock of the night was that Nikki Bella and Vanessa Lachey were both eliminated.
Among the highlights of the night was Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold’s paso doble to “Animals” by Martin Garrix. Arnold was Little Red Riding Hood, and Fisher was the big bad wolf. The performance was a hit, and judge Bruno Tonioli called it “the biggest, baddest paso ever.” Len Goodman told Fisher, “You little devil, you dance like an angel.” Fisher and Arnold were rewarded with perfect scores from the judges.
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas also performed a paso doble, to an original number by Arnold, “Roundtable Rival.” We learned that she was injured after she displaced a rib last week. The pain became so pronounced that she was in danger of not making it Monday night. But she proved a trooper and danced through the pain, wowing the audience and the judges for a score of 27.
After failing to impress the judges last week, Frankie Muniz came back strong — and a little creepy. His contemporary number with Witney Carson, set to Chase Holfelder’s slowed-down R&B interpretation of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” was an homage to slasher flicks like “Halloween” and “Scream,” with Muniz portraying a serial killer with eerie forcible violation undertones stalking Carson. The dance so impressed the judges, they awarded him the second perfect score of the night.
After the individual performances, there were two freestyle team routines. Bella, Fisher, Arnold and Owens were on Team “Monster Mash,” dancing with one another and their partners, with the dance floor set as a corn maze. The performance was slightly confusing to the judges, with rows of corn stalks moving about during the number, making for some tight spaces to perform in when the group was together. Bruno called the performance “a nightmare at the garden center.” Still, the competitors earned 24 points for their effort.
Team “Phantom of the Opera,” which consisted of Victoria Arlen, Vanessa Lachey, Muniz and Scott, brought the house down with their lavish take on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The dancers were tight, in sync and fully committed to their parts, with no mistakes. The judges fawned and gave them a perfect score — the second of the night for Muniz.
Four stars were in jeopardy at the end of the night: Owens, Bella, Scott and Lachey. Tom Bergeron revealed a double elimination shocker at the end of the night, and Bella and Lachey were sent home. The crowd was not pleased and booed the results.
Next week, season 1 champion Kelly Monaco, season 19 champion Alfonso Ribeiro and season 17 runner-up Corbin Bleu will return for trio dances.
Scores:
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold, paso doble, 30
Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson, contemporary, 30
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy, Viennese waltz, 27
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas, paso doble, 27
Drew Scott and Emma Slater, Charleston, 27
Terrell Owens and Cheryl Burke, tango, 25
Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev, jive, 24
Vanessa Lachey and Maks Chmerkovskiy, paso doble, 24
"Dancing With the Stars" returns next Monday night at 8 p.m. on ABC.