Dancing with the Stars Week 3 Performance Show - a Kate-astrophe?

Dancing with the Stars week three performance show asked the contestants to perform a routine that tells a story. The show kicked off with the DWTS pros demonstrating how tonight's dances should look when performed optimally. As we know, much of the time the dances performed by the contestants don't entirely resemble the moves demonstrated by the Dancing with the Stars pros. Of course this is one of many reasons America tunes in to watch the show. Some people like to see celebrities or athletes that are at the top of their game off the dance floor come into the Dancing with the Stars season struggling to find their way when they are outside of their comfort zone. The time and effort invested learning the dances in addition to making them look effortless is astounding. Most of the Dancing with the Stars contestants are spending extremely long hours learning, rehearsing, and doing promotional work every day.

Evan Lysacek and partner Anna Trebunskaya were the first competitors to take to the floor performing the Quickstep. There isn't much doubt that Lysacek's footwork experience from his skating benefited him greatly tonight. The pair's energetic performance earned them a total score of 26 from the DWTS judges.

Next up Buzz Aldrin and partner Ashly Costa took to the floor and performed the Waltz. The pair's performance had a military theme that obviously connected with the audience. While this performance showed some improvement, Aldrin still appeared stiff and struggled to feel the music. Hey, he's 80, cut him some slack. While the crowd was pleased with the routine, the judges weren't and gave them a total score of 13. The nature of Dancing with the Stars makes it possible that Aldrin will stick around for a while thanks to votes from an audience that clearly adores him. Who can blame them? The world was captivated as he walked on the moon and the nostalgia factor is serving him well so far on Dancing with the Stars.

After struggling through their practices, Jake Pavelka and Chelsie Hightower performed a Quickstep to Walk Like An Egyptian that betrayed those struggles. While the judges weren't thrilled, the performance was good enough for a total of 21.

In a bit of a departure from the comedy we have seen with Niecy Nash and partner Louis Van Amstel, the pair chose a performance that portrayed a story relating to civil rights and forbidden love. Their practice sessions were emotionally charged and the pair became teary while contemplating the inability of a couple to stay together because the law denies them their rights. The routine was popular with the crowd as well as the judges and they came away with a score of 21.

Dancing with the Stars is always filled with ups and downs and Chad Ochocinco and partner Cheryl Burke redeemed themselves with a passionate Paso Doble. This storyline-a seduction theme seemed perfect for this duo. Ochocinco joked that he keeps trying and keeps getting shot down. The judges got their diamond in the rough back and rewarded the pair with a total score of 20.

After landing in the bottom two last week and narrowly escaping elimination, Pamela Anderson and partner Damian Whitewood took to the floor performing the Paso Doble. Anderson has long been an animal rights activist and took the opportunity to express her disdain for the violence of bullfighting. These two move well together and Anderson knows her steps. It's just a question of whether or not the Dancing with the Stars audience is able to look beyond their personal distaste for Anderson. The judges rewarded their performance with a solid score of 21.

Soap star Aiden Turner and Edyta Sliwinska seemed to be genuinely having fun this week as they took to the DWTS stage to perform the Quickstep. The judges saw improvement over last week's performance returning a score of 20.

Dancing with the Stars "story night" resumed with ESPN's Erin Andrews and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy's Waltz. In spite of the off-set drama experienced by Andrews, the pair appeared to be a combination of smiles and serious business when they took to the floor. Andrews demonstrated her mastery of the dance by performing it while blindfolded. With the exception of judge Len Goodman, who complained incessantly about the intro, the dance was very well received and earned a score of 23. It was nice to see Andrews' confidence moving forward this week after everything she had been through over the weekend.

The Dancing with the Stars audience decided that they wanted to keep Kate Gosselin around last week. Gosslin and partner Tony Dovolani came into this week's performance show in second to last place and chose a storyline about paparazzi-something that Gosselin knows a thing or two about. During last week's practices with the pair we saw fighting, crying, quitting, and reconciliation. The Jive the duo performed last week was painful to watch and an acting coach was brought in to aid Gosselin with her ability to get into character. The pair's Paso Doble was performed to "Paparazzi" by Lady GaGa and the audience got what they asked for-another awkward performance. The harshest words came from judge Carrie Ann Inaba when she stated that the dance was very odd and that it didn't work. The two finished with the second lowest score of the night and received a 15 for their efforts.

Week three's performance show on Dancing with the Stars concluded with Nicole Scherzinger and Derek Hough's Quickstep-or was it? The pair were scolded by the judges for breaking the rules tonight and still managed to achieve one 9. They may have colored outside the lines with their performance, but the crowd and judges clearly loved the performance. Judge Len Goodman tossed them a 6 which held their score to a total of 23.

It will be interesting to see what happens on tomorrow night's results show. Dancing with the Stars relies heavily on the votes cast by the audience and Gosselin clearly has supporters or she would have been gone last week.

Source: ABC's Dancing with the Stars