‘Dancing with the Stars’ recap: ‘Virile!’ Flutie impresses in Week 2
“Dancing with the Stars” welcomed many an NFL player over its first 21 seasons, but Season 22, which premiered on Monday, March 21, features three: newly-minted Super Bowl MVP Von Miller from the Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro Antonio Brown and former Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, a Canadian Football League legend who also spent 13 years in the NFL. We’ll be posting recaps each Tuesday morning until all three are eliminated – or one wins.
The ‘DWTS’ producers seem intent on creating an Antonio Brown vs. Von Miller competition-within-the-competition, with Brown asked during his video introduction this week if he and his partner, Sharna Burgess, are better than Miller and his partner, Witney Carson.
Gamely taking the bait, Brown says, “I know me and Sharna are better than Von and Witney – we’ve got better chemistry, I’m lighter on my feet than Von. We’ve got all the ingredients.”
This was “Latin Week” in the dance hall – there are themes every week, as you’ll soon learn – and Brown and Burgess are given the rumba, which Burgess tells the receiver is an intimate dance. “We are still getting to know each other and I’m about to ask you to invade my personal space,” she tells him.
In rehearsal, Burgess instructs Brown to run his hand down her body. “It’s kind of like ‘Dirty Dancing.’ Have you ever seen ‘Dirty Dancing’?,” she asks. “I’m seeing it right now,” Brown answers.
Groan.
As often happens with male dancers on “DWTS”, Brown has a shirt on for their performance, but it’s not buttoned. The two dance to “Adorn” by Miguel, and the two aren’t as well-received as they were in Week 1, with Brown getting criticized for his lack of technique.
“Look at you – you really are blessed and gifted with all the right equipment,” judge Bruno Tonioli says, spreading his arms for effect. “But a moment of tough love: you have the affinity for the music, you have the chemistry with Sharna, you just need to apply it more.”
Judge Carrie-Ann Inaba notes Brown didn’t provide a strong enough “frame” for Burgess and tsk-tsked the pair for a lift, a no-no in rumba apparently.
Len Goodman, the third judge, knocked Brown’s lack of finesse – “it was a little bit scruffy here and there,” he said.
Fellow receiver Chad Ochocinco Johnson, who was on the show in Season 10, was on hand this night.
Score-wise, Brown took a step back this week, receiving a 6 from Inaba, 6 from Goodman and 7 from Tonioli.
Odds of winning: 6/1
Last week, Miller called 5-foot-3 blonde Carson his “Barbie drill sergeant” and the nickname is apparently going to stick.
Miller has at least two bad habits we learn about in their video: he’s not always punctual and he has a fondness for farting (with flair, too – he’s shown dramatically raising an arm as he flatulates). Whenever either of those things happens, Carson fines the linebacker $100, and after their dance, she giggles when she admits she collected $1,500 off Miller last week – but says she’ll be donating it to charity.
“Well, then, keep farting!,” host Tom Bergeron quips.
The two dance a cha-cha, which requires “a lot of sass,” according to Carson. To our eyes, it was more hip-hop than cha-cha, which might be why Tonioli admonished Carson; “we have to see the style of the dance,” he told her. “Don’t let (Miller) drown it with his personality.”
Goodman said the performance was “a bit like a taco – it was tasty in places, but there were some funny bits going on in there.”
We won’t have whatever tacos Len is having.
Cornerback Aqib Talib, who just got married over the weekend, was in the audience to support his teammate.
Miller’s scores: 7 from Inaba, 6 from the always-tough-to-please Goodman, and 7 from Tonioli
Odds of winning: 7/1
Flutie was one of the last dancers of the night, and danced the paso doble, which mimics a bullfight. Partner Karina Smirnoff tells us the paso “is about fighting, and Doug is very accustomed to fighting for what he wants.”
In his video, he notes wistfully that the last time he heard fans chant, “Flutie! Flutie!” as they’d done after his Week 1 dance was after his last NFL play, when New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick let Flutie pull off a rare drop-kick extra point in the 2005 regular-season finale.
Flutie gets a visit from his daughter Alexa, a former dancer, during rehearsals, and he also talks about his son Dougie, who has autism.
During their performance, Flutie is markedly better than last week, and the judges praise his improvement.
“So virile! So masculine! It was like watching ‘Spartacus,’ with dancing gladiators!,” Tonioli exclaims (why does he always have to stand and yell at us??).
Inaba passive-aggressively calls the routine “simple and basic” but says Flutie owned every moment.
Goodman was blunt: “It had attack, it had purpose, and it was better than last week.”
After posting just a 15 last week, Flutie scored a 20 this week, on par with Miller.
Though he was in the bottom three during eliminations (based on last week’s judges scores combined with fan votes), Flutie survived, with painfully stiff newsman Geraldo Rivera booted.
Odds of winning: 15/1
