Melissa Rycroft DWTS Profile and Recaps

Posted by Stiletto Jen On April - 5 - 2009 1,704 views

Melissa Rycroft Profile:

When Melissa was interviewed for Cheerleader of the Week for the Dallas Cowboys squad two years ago, she said her goal was

“Just to be happy, keep smiling, and have no regrets about any of the decisions I’ve made.”

I think it’s safe to say that she is following her goal. Maybe she does have some regrets about everything that has happened in the last year of her life, but you would never know by watching her glide across the dance floor with a beaming smile on her face.

What I absolutely love and admire about this young 26-year-old woman from Texas is that she took the negative fame of being the jilted fiance from The Bachelor and turned it into something great and magical. She really has become America’s Sweetheart AND and amazing star on the dance floor.

Shoot, when I have a breakup I crawl into a hole and don’t come out for months! This girl had her heart smashed on TV and a few weeks later, she was putting herself back out there, with a huge smile always on her face, and showing America what it means to be strong, brave and fearless.

Dancing background: Studied ballet when she was younger, was part of the elite Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders–the most coveted in the land!
Partner: Tony Dovolani. Tony is a ballroom master! I’ve actually seen him on some competitions on PBS and he is really, really good! He’s had the short end of the stick when it comes to partners for the last few seasons.But in Season 2 when he was matched with stunning blonde Stacy Keibler, they lit up the dance floor.

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UPDATE: Melissa came in third this season on Dancing with the Stars! Big congratulations to Shawn Johnson who beat out Gilles Marini by a mere 1% of the votes! This was my fave season to date! All three finalists were so equally matched that I didn’t even care who won!

Recaps! Beginning with the current week and going all the way back to week 1!

The Finale Freestyle “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” C&C Music Factory
- Scores: 9-9-9 =27
- Total for the night: 56/60
- Watch Melissa & Tony’s Freestyle video on YouTube in the sidebar

The Finale Paso Doble Face Off “So What” Pink
- Scores: 10-9-10= 29
- Watch Melissa & Tony’s Paso Doble Face off video on YouTube in the sidebar

Melissa & Tony’s Solo begins at 1:43

Week 10 Ballroom–Quickstep: “I Got Rhythm” Gershwin I have no idea how they managed to be elegant and cheeky at the same time! Amazing! Fun, upbeat yet coy and graceful. Musical, fancy footwork! Loved the ending, dramatic spin. Melissa’s dress was simply stunning! I wish I had it. Len loved it. Bruno and Carrie-Ann thought it was very pretty but not as dramatic and soulful as they expected her to be in the semi-finals.
- Scores: 9-10-9 = 28
- Watch Melissa & Tony’s Quickstep video on YouTube in the sidebar
Week 10 Latin– Cha-Cha-Cha: “Save the Last Dance For Me” The Drifters/Michael Buble Interesting. Very interesting. I loved the dance. I thought it was un-freaking-believable. But like Bruno said “I like my Cha-Cha full thrust and full on” and I feel the same. He called her out that the energy wasn’t there through the whole thing. I also don’t feel it was a “cha-cha.” Fun routine but not the long -legged promenades and sassy-shaking of a cha-cha that I really love. Like Len said “I liked it, but not as much as I thought I would.”
- Scores: 9-9-9 = 27
- Total for the night: 55/60
- Watch Melissa & Tony’s Cha-Cha-Cha video on YouTube in the sidebar!

Week 9 Latin -Samba + indiv solo: Love love love love!!!! She looked amazing! Her solo was awesome and booty shaking-licious! I’m going out there and saying it’s my favorite Samba of all time which is the biggest compliment I can give since I have held Stacy Keibler’s Samba (season 2) as #1 and Apollo Anton Ono’s #2 for years! Len said she 100% deserves to be in Semi-finals. Everything anyone could possibly want and more! Every Samba step, roll and movement you can imagine! Carrie-Ann said it was “Flawless!”
- Scores: 10-10-10 = 30 **Tony said he hasn’t had a perfect 30 since Season 2….which was during Stacy’s Samba!
- Total for the night: 57/60, highest of the night
- watch the Tony & Melissa’s perfect Samba video on YouTube in our sidebar!

Week 9 Ballroom – Viennese Waltz: “Angel” Sarah McLachlan/City of Angels Soundtrack. From the opening moment until the graceful ending spin, I thought the whole dance was simply breaktaking. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. The routine was full of beautiful lines, twirls, grace and fluidity. And through it all there was a wonderful underlying romance. The judges were mixed and still think she has some minor tweeking work to do, but to the novices like myself, it was 10-10-10!
- Scores 9-9-9 = 27
- watch Melissa & Tony’s Viennese Waltz video courtesy of YouTube in our sidebar!
Mel & Tony’s Solo Starts at 1:43
- Week 8 Jive: Melissa could not perform live due to hairline fracture in ribs. They had to judge the taped rehearsal from the morning which is a shame because it looked like it could have been fantastic live. I was impressed that she could even perform that well in that kind of pain. Judges said that rehearsals are for “marking” which means just performing to see if they were in line with the band and the cameras. PLEASE VOTE FOR HER! LET’S GET HER BACK!
  - Scores: 7-7-7 = 21 *** just think of how great that would have been live!!
  - Team Mambo: Because she couldn’t perform, Lacey stood in for her. Melissa will automatically get the same score as Shawn and Chuck, the other two star members of the mambo team. Really wish we could have seen Mel’s version!
    - Team Scores: 8-8-9=25
    Total scores: 46
- Week 7 The Argentine Tango: I thought it was brilliant! I’ve been saying from the beginning that I just like Mel as the sweet girl next door and have a hard time believing her in the passionate, sultry roles but her training with Teri Hatcher must have paid off because I was feeling it! I didn’t like Paso but I loved her Tango! The footwork was just sick! And the “legal lifts” were breathtaking
  - Scores: 10-9-10 = 29
  - watch Melissa & Tony’s Argentine Tango video
- Week 6 Rumba: “If I Were a Boy” It was so poignantly beautiful that I almost don’t words to describe it. The moves and lines were amazing and the costume was gorgeous. I just really wished that she pulled more emotion from within. The songs lyrics really mimic her story with Jason so it would have been nice to see a lot of fire coming from her but otherwise, totally flawless and wonderful!
  - Scores: 9-9-9 = 27
  - watch the video on YouTube
- Week 5 The Paso Doble: The Paso is one of my favorite dances! I love the drama and the passion. But I didn’t really love it on Mel. She looked great but it just didn’t feel quite right. She’s just too cute and sweet to be convincing as the powerful Paso Diva. Had some good moments, but wasn’t my favorite dance at all.
  - Score: 8-8-9:
  - Watch the video on YouTube!
Pretty, but no hot saucy passion!

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- Week 4 Lindyhop: “Brown Derby Jump” Tons of tricks, complicated moves, talent, skill, pop, pizazz, sizzle, sparkle, and FUN! I thought Melissa looked as cute as a sparkly pink button! She was like eye-popping frothy pink cotton candy. It was fun, young, hip and right on point.
- - Score: 10-9-10 It was the highest score of the competion to date…until Gilles came out with the perfect Tango!
  - Watch the video on YouTube
- Week 3 Foxtrot: “Recipe for Love” –Once again, Mel’s classical training showed in this graceful ballroom routine. Bruno said it looks like the “music plays from within” her because of her grace, fluidity and musicality. I thought it was breathtaking!
  - Score: 9-9-9 = 27
  - Watch the video on YouTube
- Week 2 Salsa: “Cup of Life” Sassy! In Week 1, Mel showed off her ballet training in the ballroom and in the Latin week she showed her saucy side! The judges called it the Salsa of the night! Smooth and fluid she made the complicated choreography look effortless and sexy! Not to mention, she looked smoking hot in that outfit and wild hair. Jason Mesnick you can keep your Molly! I want Melissa! And I’m a heterosexual female!
- - Score: 9-8-9 =26 The First two 9s of the season!
  - Watch the video on YouTube
- Week 1 The Waltz: “Moon River” I can’t say enough about this dance. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I had no idea going into the show that she was going to be on it and was just floored by her grace and sophistication. Now, normally I like my waltzes in froathy pink gowns but I thought this was simply fantastic. Timeless, classic, gorgeous, stunning and hauntingly chilling with its perfection and fluidity. And she only had like two days to do it!
  - Score: 8-7-8 = 23
  - Watch the video on YouTube
Melissa and Tony are definitely my favorite couple of the season and I can’t wait to see what they do next!

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Check back after each week, I’ll be adding to Melissa’s profile!

on to Gilles Marini Profile & Recap

on to Lil Kim Profile & Recap

on to Shawn Johnson Profile & Recap

on to Chuck Wicks & Ty Murray Profiles & Recap

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