Michael Irvin “does it for Dallas” on Dancing with the Stars

by Sarah Blaskovich

Dancing with the Stars is all over the map. In five weeks, the show has seen five different celebrities claim the highest scores of the week. (It might be noted, however, that our former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin was never one of them. But he certainly has an incredible fan base and a personality that's charmed the judges on nearly every occasion.)

At the beginning of this week, nine celebrities and their partners were in the contest; after a double elimination and the first-of-the-season dance off, seven are left.

Monday's performances required contestants to dance the jitterbug or the waltz. Then, everyone competed in a “dance marathon,” where contestants took the dance floor to mambo at the same time. Each couple did their own routines -- some choreographing intricate moves and others freestyling -- until the judges voted off each couple one-by-one. The longer each lasted, the more points they added to their total score.

We start with Irvin's waltz. Practice with partner Anna Demidova again showed Irvin in locker-room mode, pumping himself up and spouting go-get-'em one liners like, “It's not about how you start; it's about how you finish.” His waltz was elegant and his smile contagious. Irvin still doesn't look like a natural-born dancer, but he gets mad props for being so lovable. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli weren't impressed with his technique, but Len Goodman stood up for the footballer. “You had the best footwork of any waltz we've seen tonight. You moved very well. It was really, really good,” Goodman said. Irvin received 20 points, the lowest score of the night tied with Kelly Osborne and Melissa Joan Hart.

His fate didn't get better when Irvin and Demidova were the first voted out of the competition mambo. (They weren't on camera long enough to even really notice if their mambo was up to par.) Irvin received the lowest extra point total of 2 points, upping his score to 22. In a surprise twist of events, model Joanna Krupa and partner Derek Hough were the last to be voted off the mambo marathon. For winning, they received 10 extra points, giving them a high score of 36.

While Krupa became this week's leader, the celebrities who are most likely to win at this point are still Mya, Donny Osmond, and Mark Dacascos.

Tuesday's results show then saw an unsurprising turn of events: The three with the lowest scores were voted into the bottom three. (Because audience votes are part of the equation, sometimes the celebrities with the lowest scores are actually pronounced safe much sooner. But not this week.) Put in jeopardy of going home were Irvin, Hart, and snowboarder Louie Vito.

After two cutsey performances from Taylor Swift, host Tom Bergeron explained that of the three celebrities left, the first name called would go straight home. The remaining two would dance off for judges votes. This is an important twist because it means that fan votes don't count. For Irvin, his fans are his lifeline.

First to be called was Hart, who seemed surprised to be immediately voted off. Sad: She said her husband and kids were planning on coming next week to see her on the show.

Next was Irvin and Vito's dance off. Irvin chose to perform the samba, and I'll be darned if he can't shimmy! Love-him Len told Irvin that he's “really come alive” in the past few weeks.

Vito's jive was noticeably not as good. His partner Chelsie Hightower worked it like mad, but her hotness couldn't save the fact that Vito missed a bunch of steps. Len called it well done, but in the end, Tonioli was the only judge who chose to save Vito. That means Irvin was favored by Inaba and Goodman -- and safe for another week.

Irvin is a warrior, that's for sure. He's been voted to the bottom time and time again, each week getting through with personality and fan votes. But let's face it, he's probably the most famous celebrity left in the game -- and he sure isn't complaining about being loved by the audience.

“I'm doing it for Dallas,” Irvin reassured us.