"Dancing with the Stars" recaplet: Episode 703

Ted McGinley gets some bad news

***SPOILER ALERT***

It was elimination night on Dancing With The Stars yesterday and Ted McGinley and partner Inna Brayer were asked to leave the tribal council area immediately.  After dancing two routines already this week as part of the show’s three-night live premiere event, the couple was voted off after receiving the lowest overall score.  I guess Ted won’t be dancing for “all the men of America” any longer… shame.

The episode began with a group performance from the dancing pros to “Under Pressure” and went on to feature musical performances by Jesse McCartney and the Jones Brothers (I may have never heard as many pre-pubescent screams in my life as I did last night). 

Jesse McCartney

One of the episode’s highlights was Lance commenting on his time thus far in the competition, saying he’s never before “worn as many rhinestones” or “sweat as much” in his life (…no comments on the latter).

Adam Carolla, of last season’s DWTS, came back to do a short, comedic interview segment with random passersby and fans of the show on the street.  Mostly, Adam joked about jealousy over contestant Cody Linley being paired with his former dancing partner Julianne Hough.  The comedian also made some (arguably offensive) insinuations about the “androgynous man on the street” he spoke to, only being a fan of Lance’s because they were both… “former members of a boy band” (an intentionally transparent nod to Lance’s gayness).

Adam Carolla interviews "weird androgynous man on the street"

Adam’s comment comes after a couple of others on DWTS this week that have casually mentioned Lance’s very-public sexual orientation.  For example, Lance’s partner Lacey made a remark about wanting to marry the boybander while he was in N’Sync, but that she knows now it “won’t happen anymore”. 

Everyone knows he’s gay, but it’s not exactly being said out loud.  Is Lance’s gayness the pink, gay elephant in the ballroom?

That brings the question though: Does it need to be said out loud?  Does it even matter to this competition that Lance is gay?  Presumably it matters to the readers of this blog and those of us at AfterElton.com, but is it relevant to DWTS?  There was also another short segment last night on how “exciting” this new season will be and how many “firsts” there are this year: the first father/son rivalry, the youngest and the oldest contestants ever, an Oscar winner, a Grammy winner, four reigning DWTS champs and so on.  So why not mention the first openly gay celebrity contestant? 

Our only real expectation of how the show treats Lance is that they treat him exactly like the other contestants. Discuss Cloris Leachman's private life? Then discuss Lance's. It's that simple.    

In other news, my Giant-Shiny-Sequin-Of-The-Week Award has to go to Cloris Leachman and her hilariousness.  To the amazement of all, she and her partner have made it through two rounds of voting and have amused many along the way.  The 82-year-old actress has already bribed the Judges, called Carrie Ann Inaba a “b*tch” on live TV, candidly discussed her bunions and osteoporosis, and thrust her leg up on Bruno’s desk… which may or may not be the reason she’s still around.

Cloris Leachman stays sassy

Gosh.  Think that would work for Lance?  I wonder if he’ll be putting his legs up at all this season.  …Wait, did I actually just say that?