OK. I get it now. She's still a ringer. But I get it.

I think the scary scores last week were a kick in the butt for our celebrity dancers, because pretty much everybody stepped it up for the samba and the tango, two sexy, sexy dances. Not everyone. But almost.

We start with Jake and Chelsie and their meeting with some sexy Samba dancers. Jake believes they can compete with front runners like Evan and Nicole. Good luck with that, man. I don’t see it. It seemed a little stiff to me. He seems to agree that he lacked rhythm. He seems to have a better sense of humor about himself now. Still don’t love him.

I do love that Evan and Anna. Boy, he’s good, that little ringer-dong-ding. The judges think not. I’m not a fancy-schmancy dancing person, but I really thought they were hard on my boy.

Chad and Cheryl know all about being judged harshly – Although the judges stand by their previous drubbings because they said they didn’t deserve to be judged any higher, they seem to love them this week. Man, was that hot. I got a little flustered during the rehearsal, when Cheryl was all “Manhandle me” and my husband looked up from his paper and said “What did she say?…Wait, she’s hot.” Yeah, she is. And together, she and Chad are smoking Icelandic volcanic hot. Wish their scores were higher, though. Grrrr.

Nicole and Derek are the team to beat, largely because she came into this thing as a great dancer. This is the first week I’ve completely loved her, that I believed her. They’re hot. And they’re great dancers. But you knew that.

Pamela and Damian: Tango-ized “Enjoy the Silence” by Depeche Mode…sexy sexy! What a great use for that song, and what a game, game lady. She’s my absolute favorite now, besides Niecy, who the  judges just aren’t going to consider as a contender.

Erin and Maks: Len is right – Erin is a good enough dancer that she doesn’t need  the gimmicks. I am not complaining about Shirtless Max, because that’s what he’s good at so we might as well let him do that. But she’s great, and like Chad, the judges aren’t putting up with the shenanigans anymore.

Niecy and Louis: I have given up on trying to figure out what the judges want from them. They tell her to be sassy. Then serious. Then funny. Then not that funny. It’s maddening. But I love that Len, at least, gets it – Niecy is about the funny, and, increasingly, about the sexy. You can have both, you know. And I thought that food thing was clever. I don’t think the judges are ever going to see her as sexy, so she’s gotta have a hook.

What say you?