'Dancing with the Stars': Week 4 Recap

By Rebecca Harper, Hulu | Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 5:25 PM

Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ballas

ABC/Adam Larkey

The ladies burned up the dance floor this week on "Dancing with the Stars" as the celebrities took on the bolero, the lambada, the Charleston, and the country two-step. The campy kitsch of the Charleston gave the week's rising stars, Melissa Joan Hart and Kelly Osbourne, the confidence they were missing in previous weeks, while the forbidden dance, the lambada, got the judges all worked up. The duds of the night were the bolero -- a sultry dance which proved so difficult, only Natalie Coughlin and Michael Irvin attempted it -- and the guys' favorite, the country two-step. Yeehaw! Here's a look at some of the Hulu team's favorite acts of Week 4, as well as a final tip-of-the-hat to Chuck Liddell, the Ultimate Fighting Champion whose lumbering two-step didn't do much to win over the judges or the voting audience.

Comeback Kid: Melissa Joan Hart

Trend alert! Thanks in part to Melissa's campy performance with partner Mark Ballas, we see a flapper revival on the horizon. "The Charleston is all about the three E's: energy, excitement and entertainment," judge Len Goodman said. "You ticked off all the boxes." The former "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" star finally found her dancing rhythm as a 1920s starlet, allowing her to be silly, have fun, and show off her personality as she enthusiastically shuffled in tandem with Mark. 

"Cabaret" Queen: Kelly Osbourne

For the first time since she wowed us with her Viennese waltz at the start of Season 9, Kelly Osbourne came out confident as she and partner Louis van Amstel paid tribute to Liza Minelli and "Cabaret" with their Charleston. It turns out Kelly had tried out for the role of Roxie in another Broadway musical, "Chicago," and was relegated to play Mama Morton because she couldn't dance. With this performance, Osbourne showed she has plenty of moxie to play Roxie. "Watching you is like watching a little birdie find their wings and learn to fly," judge Carrie Ann Inaba told her.

Hot Stuff: Joanna Krupa

Following "Dancing" contestant Aaron Carter's lackluster lambada -- which prompted Carrie Ann to warn him, "You have to chill out. You're trying too hard. You need to turn it off. You're turning people off" -- the crowd was in dire need of a sexy rendition of the so-called "forbidden dance." PETA spokeswoman/swimsuit model Joanna Krupa and her partner, a shirtless Derek Hough, delivered, turning up the heat as they spun and ground up against each other with palpable passion. "I hope that the children are in bed," Carrie Ann said. It had the raunchiness that Len was looking for and then some.

The Frontrunner: Mya

Thanks to her R&B background, Mya's always been a frontrunner on "Dancing," but this week she really pulled ahead of the pack. (Sure, she and Melissa both earned 28s, but the judges rewarded Melissa's improvement this week.) Mya and partner Dmitry Chaplin collaborated on a sophisticated lambada number in hopes of simplifying things to appease Len, who had complained that Dmitry's choreography was often too complicated. Carrie Ann and Bruno ate it up, calling it classy and erotic, but Len, always a stickler, was more reserved, wanting a bit more from the duo. Some dancers just can't win!

Ultimate Champion No More: Chuck Liddell

Of all the frou-frou costumes the "Dancing" team forced upon Ultimate Fighting Champion Chuck Liddell (remember last week's ruffled sleeves?), Monday night's jeans and cowboy boots seemed most appropriate for our heavyweight dancer. Outfit aside, though, the grinning Ice Man never seemed to warm up to the "Boot Scootin' Boogie," with judge Bruno Tonioli telling Chuck he brings "carnage and mayhem to everything you do." Despite the lumbering steps, Len admitted that Chuck is still entertaining to watch -- but that wasn't enough to keep him in the game. He may have been ranked No. 3 (ahead of football star Michael Irvin and snowboarder Louie Vito) by the judges, but it was a surprise to all when Chuck and Aaron Carter ended up in the bottom two after audience voting. The UFC star got the final knockout punch.

Talk About It: Which performances were on top this week? Do you think judge Len Goodman is being too tough on Mya and Dmitry?

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