Season 22 of the popular show Dancing With the Stars kicked off last night on ABC. Twelve "stars" and their professional dance partners tangoed, fox-trotted, quickstepped and cha-cha'd out on the dance floor. Some wowed the judges and the audience, and some left a little more to be desired.
There were definitely some top dancers of the night. Three of them tied for first place with their combined judges scores of 23. Wanya Morris, one of the original Boyz II Men singers, surprised everyone with his cha-cha. Len Goodman quipped that he "could make it to the end of the road."
Ginger Zee, Good Morning America's chief meteorologist, also impressed the judges. Despite being a new mom and dealing with breastfeeding and flying back and forth to NY, she was able to pull off an impressive jive with her partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy. Carrie Ann even compared her to last season's mirrorball winner, Bindi Irwin.
The third score of 23 went to Nyle DiMarco, America's Next Top Model winner, who didn't let the fact that he is completely deaf stop him from burning up the floor in a cha-cha with his partner, Peta. He can't hear the music at all, but told the judges that he follows Peta, and it really seemed to work. He also got his first injury during a rehearsal when Peta accidentally knocked into him, causing him to need four stitches near his eyebrow. He said, "I definitely realized today that dancing is definitely a full-contact sport... and I like it!"
Four other dance teams tied with a score of 21.
Paige Van Zant, with Mark Ballas, showed off her "girly side" in a foxtrot. Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown and his partner, Sharna Burgess did great for their first dance of a quickstep. Denver Broncos' Super Bowl MVP- Von Miller performed a proper foxtrot with Witney Carson, in spite of their size difference. Marla Maples, who wants to make a name for herself apart from her ex-husband, also did well in her quickstep(one of the hardest dances on the show).
A couple of combined scores of 20s were given out. Facts of Life star, Kim Fields, was very excited and energetic, as she cha-cha'd last night with professional dancer Sasha Farber. She tied with the other childhood sitcom star, Jodie Sweetin, from Full House(and now Fuller House). Her partner, Keo Motsepe taught her how to tango, and they didn't do too bad.
Mischa Barton got a 16, which was a bit of a shocker because she was confident that her dance lessons and experience she had growing up made her a dancer. Artem Chigvintsev found out that she's not a "natural" dancer. Carrie Ann and Bruno were a bit nicer to her than Len in the judging comments. Goodman told her that it wasn't a dance, it was walking.
Doug Flutie, the former football star and Heisman trophy winner didn't make it very close to the mirror ball trophy last night. He received a 15 out of 30, but he does get points for trying.
And at the bottom, Geraldo Rivera, with a combined judges' score of 13, let Edyta do most of the dancing during their cha cha. Bruno told him, "Very cunning strategy... maybe you could dance next week, yeah?"
Next Monday, the dancers will all be back, but one will go home at the end. Who do you think that will be?
The "Dancing With the Stars" season 22 recap video clips can be watched online on ABC's website.
