Safe again, Michael Irvin charms judges on Dancing with the Stars with passionate paso doble

by Sarah Blaskovich

Former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin kept himself safe this week on Dancing with the Stars with his best score of the season -- a 21. His paso doble was judge Carrie Ann Inaba's favorite dance so far, and even grumpy judge Len Goodman said he liked it.

Perhaps more impressive than Irvin's surprisingly good scores was his posture. Partner Anna Demidova (performing this dance with striking brown hair) told Irvin early in rehearsals that the best way to keep good posture for a paso doble is to pretend he's squeezing a, um, coin in his butt cheeks.

So forever the competitor, Irvin grabs a nickel and sticks it down the back of his pants during rehearsal. He learns the correct form and actually looks pretty good in his final dance. Since the beginning, Irvin has been near the bottom in terms of skill but has risen nicely from fan votes and determination. His paso doble started out weak, but before we knew it, he was sliding across the dance floor on his knees toward his partner, then stomping and ripping off her skirt. And at the end, judge Bruno Tonioli -- known for his less-than-masculine comments -- says the coin-in-the-butt-cheeks made all the difference.

“Keep that nickel in your butt, because it's working for you!” Tonioli exclaims. A smiling Irvin then hands Tonioli the coveted nickel. And the crowd goes wild.

The remainder of Monday's performances saw a bit of a shake-up: One-time leader Melissa Joan Hart returned to the middle of the pack. Sabrina the Teenage Witch tells the camera, “I don't know what he was talking about! I was so sexy and sultry! I mean, c'mon.”

Donnie Osmond, who's always been near the top but unable to edge Mya out of the way, earned top marks for his Argentine tango with a 29 out of 30. (He also made a ton of cheesy comments to the judges.) Then the group performed their first group dance, a '70s hustle that was entertaining but reminds us why we don't wear those clothes anymore. Irvin sported a hilarious afro.

Tuesday's results show was tight competition since each celebrity has seriously improved since the first few weeks. “With only 8 points separating our stars, anyone could be going home tonight,” says Tom Bergeron in his first of many before-the-commercials cliffhanger. They zoom to Norah Jones, who later performed two sultry and beautiful songs but for some reason looked shell-shocked every time the camera panned to her before a commercial.

The contestants were reduced to the bottom four: Joanna Krupa, Aaron Carter, Natalie Coughlin, and Melissa Joan Hart. Irvin was pronounced safe from the beginning for the second week in a row. “You are the great survivor here,” says host Samantha Harris. “Each week you think you're going home.”

Before declaring the bottom two, the professional dancers performed a Michael Jackson tribute. This dance alone is a good reason to watch the results show; their performance showcased some of the king of pop's greatest songs and was complemented with tons of fun Michael Jackson throwback steps.

The hosts then called Carter and Coughlin to the bottom two. “[They] definitely don't deserve to be in the bottom two,” Goodman says, who was surprisingly cheery this week. Coughlin (who received a score of 22 from the judges) was then sent home. She was visibly upset, the first to apologize to the crowd for not showing how much she loved the competition.

Judges reflected that Coughlin has the look of a competitor but not of a compassionate dancer. Her cute little smile made her lovable, but it just wasn't enough.