'Dancing with the Stars' Season 11 - Week 5 Recap with Kurt Warner & Bristol Palin

The fifth week of "Dancing with the Stars" found Bristol Palin and Kurt Warner competing for the mirror ball on the show's "TV Theme Week." After Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino was sent home last week, eight dancers remained in competition for week five of "Dancing with the Stars."

Dancing with the Stars Season 11 - Week 5 Performers

The eight "Dancing with the Stars" performers remaining for Season 11 Week 3 were as follows:

Singer, actress - Brandy
Former LA Laker - Rick Fox
Actress - Jennifer Grey
Actress - Florence Henderson
Actor - Kyle Massey
Teen advocate - Bristol Palin
Reality TV actress - Audrina Patridge
Football star - Kurt Warner

The show began with the three judges--Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli--critiquing the contestants

Len Goodman's Critique of Kurt Warner.

"Dancing with the Stars" judge Len Goodman commented that the transition from the football field to the dance floor is challenging, saying, "Kurt is a true gentleman. He's a family man, one of the great quarterbacks of all time. He's a man's man. In week 1, I thought, 'No way,'" talking about Warner's "huge hands and lack of elegance." Goodman stated he was impressed with Warner because "He took it like a man and came back week 2 with a jive that was fabulous."

"What I'd like to see from you, Kurt, is more musicality in your upper body. You've got to disguise your hands and make them look smaller."

Len Goodman also commented on Kurt's footwork, pointing out that in Warner's rumba, his toes were turned in.
Goodman thought the jive was Kurt's best dance so far.

Bruno Tonioli Critique of Bristol Palin

Brono Tonioli said he was very impressed with Bristol Palin because she "came from the middle of nowhere" adding that Palin "seems to be a natural mover. Bristol has great coordination, great musicality, she's light on her feet but she is not an entertainer. She doesn't know how to sell a performance."

Tonioli indicated that being sexy is a crucial part of being a dancer, especially in Latin dances. "Bristol is not very comfortable about being sexy. Mark is working very very hard to get that out of her."

Tonioli stated he wants Palin to "explode out, blood, sweat tears and guts. Open the door and let the minx out." He felt like the quickstep was one of Bristol Palin's best dances so far.

Kurt Warner on Dancing with the Stars

Coming from one of his worst dances so far, Superbowl MVP Kurt Warner said he knew how to "go the long route" and to come back and persevere. "It worked for me in football, hopefully it will work for me on the dance floor as well."

Clips showed Warner and his partner Anna Trebunskaya joking about their cultural differences during rehearsals as Warner explained the story line of "Bewitched" to Trebunskaya. Warner share that he was, "really hoping to improve our score so I can continue to grow as a dancer."

Their dance depicted a cute dancing story of Trebunskaya bewitching Warner into a better dancer on the quickstep.

Dancing with the Stars Judges on Kurt Warner

Carrie Ann Inaba - "I think I just saw the spirit of Gene Kelly enter the body of Kurt. Gene Kelly was a manly man that made everything look so casual and so easy and you just made that look like it was nothing."

Len Goodman - "After last week the only way was up and up you have gone! Your posture was great, it was a vast improvement and a great improvemtn. Well done."

Bruno Tonioli - "The magic is back. I like it when you are bewitched because it is working. You were on spot in form and timing. You managed to get all the musical accents."

Kurt Warner received straight 8s for week 5, earning his highest score yet - a 24 for his performance.

Bristol Palin on Dancing with the Stars

During rehearsals, Bristol Palin commented, After being in the bottom t of the leader board I am just lucky to still be around. Before Palin took the dance floor, her partner Mark Ballas sent Palin to Clown School to get some coaching in making different facial expressions. Then Ballas said that the couple would be doing "something a little over the top--I don't think it's ever been done before and I don't think it will ever be repeated." Ballas and Palin donned monkey costumes to dance the theme song to "The Monkees."

Dancing with the Stars Judges on Kurt Warner

All the judges made enthusiastic comments about Palin's performance saying in that aspect, it was her best dance yet. However, they didn't say much about her actual dancing except for Carrie Ann Inaba who said, "You forgot a lot of the moves but this was a big step forward," calling Palin's dance "a real transformation."

In spite of her improved performance, Bristol Palin only scored straight 6s from the judges giving her a total score of 18 for week five of "Dancing with the Stars."

More on Week 5 of "Dancing with the Stars" at Florence Henderson bids farewell to 'Dancing with the Stars' on week 5 results.

Previous: 'Dancing with the Stars' Season 11 - Week 4 Recap. Next: 'Dancing with the Stars' Season 11 - Week 6 Recap.

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