‘Dancing’ features three-way tie for first

It wouldn’t be a week of “Dancing” without an injury, and this week’s was the second for the already broken-footed Steve Wozniak. He pulled a hamstring during practice, and it’s not like he could really spare the rehearsal time. Could he even survive the samba? Sort of. He looked like he always looks: disorganized and not graceful, with the addition of The Worm, which is not an entirely authentic samba element. Carrie-Ann called him “cute,” but also said that “the novelty wears off.” Len: “Terrible from start to finish.” Bruno: “The worst samba I’ve ever seen.” The total: 10 points, which is probably the worst score in history not given to Master P as the judges were trying to force him off the show.

“Bachelor” participant Melissa Rycroft once again claimed discomfort with elements of the foxtrot, but once again, she looked every bit the trained dancer/performer in a field of genuine amateurs. Len still urged her to get off her ballet toes, but the judges were broadly positive — except for an odd comment from Carrie-Ann, who couldn’t think of anything negative to say, but insisted that something was “lacking.” Still, Melissa scored the third straight strip of 9s of the week, tying her with Gilles and Shawn.

One of the surprising contenders has been Lil’ Kim, who has tremendous charisma and appeal, and whose booty-shaking skills fit the samba perfectly. It’s easy to chalk her success up to her uninhibited approach, but she also danced pretty well — not perfectly, but with enough skill to back up the passionate delivery and not wind up being, as the judges might say, “all sizzle and no sausage.” She and Derek Hough wound up with 25 points, a good score for Week 3.

Closing the show was a foxtrot from cowboy Ty Murray, who looked awful in the first week and substantially better last week. He seemed completely lost in rehearsal, but he’s developing a nice chemistry with partner Chelsie Hightower. Chelsie fell during the dance, but they recovered, and he continued one of the more dramatic arcs of improvement in the show’s history. “It was just top-notch, I’m so pleased,” Len said. For Ty to get 23 points in a dance where his partner hit the floor was a feat indeed.

There are, increasingly, three easily distinguished groups of dancers: there are Melissa, Gilles, and Shawn; then there are Kim, Chuck, Lawrence, Ty, and David; then there are Steve-O, Denise, Holly, and Steve. It seems unlikely that any of the bottom group can escape, or that the middle group can best the top group, so the results will likely turn predictable.

Steve Wozniak has to be the most obvious candidate for booting, but it could easily be any of those bottom four, depending on votes. But most importantly, nothing about these performances changed the apparent inevitability of an ultimate Gilles-Melissa showdown. And without a significant stepping-up from someone, that’s where we’re headed.

Linda Holmes is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com

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