Dancing with the Stars – Season 11, Performance Week 3

Brandy and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (24/30) – They had some miscommunication last week that played out on TV probably worse than it actually was. So this week, Brandy comes in with a roll of duct tape, and tapes her mouth shut. They’re taking the premise from The Bodyguard, and that’s pretty much the story right there. She does not actually wear the tape on her mouth in practice, but that’s probably a bad idea to exercise with your mouth sealed off. The dance starts with Brandy solo, because Maks is standing still and surveying the crowd, since he’s the bodyguard. That’s actually pretty well done. As is Maks’ outfit, which suggests a shoulder holster while still looking like dance gear. Their dance is perfectly fine, with good energy, but there’s nothing especially memorable about it. It’s good, but not earth-shaking. Len doesn’t feel like the story came through in the actual dance. Len also criticizes the way Maks trains, which shouldn’t count. Bruno says it’s a great improvement from last week, and uses crazy hand motions to do so. Carrie Ann summons Maks over so she can slap his ass, but he’s not falling for it. They’re very upset, that he did that to Brandy in practice, but it seems like they have the kind of relationship where that’s what they do. It didn’t bother Brandy, at any rate. And then, Maks gives Tom a little pat on the way out. His reaction is priceless. They get a 24.