By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Marla Maples and Kim Fields cruised through week three of "Dancing With the Stars," remaining firmly in the middle of the pack.
Kim said 1976 was her most memorable year because it jump-started her acting career. She was able to book a "Mrs. Butterworth" commercial at age seven, beating Janet Jackson. Three years later, she was on "The Facts of Life."
Kim received her highest score so far with a lovely, precise foxtrot with Sasha Farber, dressed in her "Facts of Life" outfit from decades ago. (Her "Facts of Life" cast member Charlotte Rae, who played Mrs. Garrett, was in the audience.)
Carrie Ann Inaba: "Why do you look exactly the same? You dance like Wonder Twins... Together, you are the A team."
Len Berman: "It was like maple syrup. It was smooth and tasty." (Fields loved that compliment.)
Bruno Tonioli: "You got the fun of it all. You had a lot of foxtrot content."
Carrie Ann gave her an 8 while Len and Bruno dropped her 7s. She came in fifth.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Marla's most memorable year was 1993 when her daughter Tiffany was born.
She danced a very happy jive to "Happy," which included a flip.
Bruno: "A ripe, zesty canary. It was a proper jive all the way through. You have to be careful with your timing and not to go flatfooted."
Carrie Ann: "You are just so bright. There is so energetic. You didn't take shortcuts. You did start off with the wrong foot but clearly remedied that."
Len: "You're happy? I'm happy."
She received 7s across the board.
She tied for sixth out of 12.
Who was cut? Poor actress Mischa Barton, clearly not cut out for this competition and deeply frustrated by that fact.
Deaf model Nyle Washington drew the highest score of 25, followed by Wanya Lucas of Boyz II Men, who picked 1996 as his most memorable year, the year he performed at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. He got a 24 and remains someone likely to finish in the finals.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
And then there were none.
All four metro Atlantans lost their knockout round battles on "The Voice" and nobody was saved.
So there will be no locals on the live shows this season.
Jessica Crosbie of Marietta was the last hope after Angie Keilhauer, Nick Hagelin and Peyton Parker were cut in last week's episodes.
She was paired with Laith Al-Saadi, a veteran who has a much bigger voice and massive beard. Adam Levine had stolen Crosbie during the battle round from Pharrell Williams. He liked her voice.
Crosbie picked Avicii's "Wake Me Up" because she felt it paralleled her life of getting wiser as she got older.
Mentor Miley Cyrus said she needs to be looser and more passionate. Adam repeated the same thing. "She needs to do something that makes her stand out and be a little more out there," Miley said.
"Musically, you are pleading that case," Adam said.
Ultimately, her performance was very pleasant but lacked a certain edge, especially during the chorus. She didn't have that big moment that could have given her a shot against Laith.
Laith covered Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" with more passion but it wasn't quite as good as his past performances.
Blake: "You sang it pretty good [to Jessica]. With Laith, your vocals are incredible. You steamrolled that."
Pharrell said Laith didn't give the soaring emotions he expected. He felt Jessica showed more range and would pick his former team member.
Christina said she was consistent. She felt Laith was "missing the magic."
Adam said he may have jumped the gun with his song choice. The same went with Jessica: "You can hear the goodness but it didn't come out." In general, he didn't love either performance. So he gave Laith the pick given his potential for greatness. "He has a big powerful voice. I was more engaged."
"I feel so blessed to be here," Jessica said in her departure.
In a follow-up interview Tuesday, Jessica said she is leaving Marietta at the end of the month and moving to Los Angeles. She would like to write songs for other artists as well as be her own performer.
In retrospect, she said she might have picked a song which displayed more of her emotional range although she really connected with that Avicii song.
She felt both she and Laith did a great job and ultimately for Adam, "it came down to personal preference."
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
I already previewed the "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta" season 5 premiere episode last Friday. The big reveal I didn't include was the fact Mimi Faust is dating a woman named Chris Gould. She surprised all her friends (except Ariane, who knew ahead of time).
Good news: her ex and former sex-tape partner Nikko is 100% out of the picture and off the show. Mimi knows how to keep things interesting!
Learn more about Chris here. She's an Atlanta native and personal injury paralegal. She met Mimi at a club. She knew who she was but wasn't a "Love and Hip Hop Atlanta" expert.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
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