Monday night we were down to the final four dancers in the semi-final round. After the night’s dances and elimination, we have our final three vying for the mirrorball trophy. The show included taped visits from Judge Len to coach the remaining dancers and other fillers including a visit from Lance’s father and grandfather and Cody’s trip to the CMA’s.

Brooke and Derek danced their first dance, the Jive, with several mistakes and an illegal lift. They scored a 21, and their performance was nothing close to the Brooke we expect to see each week. They finished the night with the Mambo. More fun and Brooke-style…in other words, almost perfect. They scored a 28 on this dance.

Jullianne was back to join Cody dancing the Pasa Doble. He tries so hard. I just don’t think he has it. And then again I’m not 15. Or a Hannah Montana fan. So maybe I just don’t get him. The judges didn’t either and gave him a 22. Next dancing the Salsa the judges seemed to differ a bit on his technical skills. The score for this dance, a 24.

Warren and Kym’s first dance was the Mambo. The judges wanted more content. So far the judges were actually making sense this week. They gave them a 24. Their second dance, the Jitterbug was loved by the judges, but they still didn’t get the top scores. For this dance, 25.

Lance and Lacey gave the performances of the evening. Their Mambo was fun and was given a score of 29. Their Jitterbug was danced in Naval costume and choreography was wonderful. Even losing a shoe didn’t slow him down. Their second dance scored a 29.

Of course it all comes down to votes and no one is safe. We will find out in the finale who is our Dancing With The Stars mirrorball trophy winner!

Brooke and Derek 49

Cody and Jullianne 46

Warren and Kym 49

Lance and Lacey 58

Linda is a product of the TV Generation and blogs at Short Pump Preppy as well as here at Blissfully Domestic.

Have you caught the premiere of Top Chef New York on Bravo yet? If not, then put whatever you’re doing on the backburner and read on!

This fifth season’s Top Chef takes place in New York, one of the world’s best place to eat and my hometown.

At the beginning of the episode, we see Padma ( I can’t believe she was married to Salman Rushdie) Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons all snarling their teeth at the new 17 contestants outside on some green lawn. They introduce the first quick fire challenge. Who can peel 5 apples the fastest. Ugh! If that was me on the show I would have freaked.

Anyway, they all peel the apples and raise their hands to have Tom check them. Turns out the remaining slow pokes have to dice the apples next! Double ugh! After Tom checking who made the neatest diced apples the remaining have to make apple dishes. Out goes Lauren who made the ickiest dish. Lauren heads back on the boat pouting that she won’t even get to see the kitchen!

Next up, each chef has to pick a knife near to snarling Tom. Each knife has a neighborhood like Chinatown, Little Italy, Jamaica, etc. and they all have to create a dish inspired by those locales.

But first, they check out where they all will be living and bitching. Sweet smelling penthouse! Their place is gorgeous and modern. Stefan, a Euro, comments he never knew NYC would be so beautiful. Yes Stefan, it is!

In the next segment, they all go around sweating and gathering food at their chosen neighborhoods and head back to the kitchen to sweat some more.

Jeff, the surfer guy from Miami, almost doesn’t make his food land on his plate on time. Gene, who has never made Indian food, ends up making a traditional curry dish and wows the judges. But it is Patrick (who loved to show off being gay) that gets the boot because his Chinese dish was too predictable.

So far, who do you think has the edge of being Top Chef? Who do you love? Hate? Share with me!

Lisa’s addiction to celebrity news and hip baby gear is chronicled daily at Mrs. Mogul and Mogul Baby.

Kota returns from tribal and pats themselves on the back for getting rid of Marcus. Bob recognizes that he is probably next to go. Kenny confirms it to the camera.

Over at Fang, Matty hopes for a merge as he recognizes it his only hope for surviving. Instead, tree mail reveals a reward challenge. As the two tribes come together for the challenge the old Kota tribe is stunned that Marcus is gone, especially Charlie and Corrine. They can’t keep their feeling hidden as they verbalize that Marcus did not deserve to be voted out. Kenny fights back and states that everyone deserves to be here just as much as Marcus.

Reward challenge involves golfing with a slingshot. Three holes with the winner needing to win two holes out of three. Kota scores the first point. Fang gets number two. Fang ends up winning, but Randy is still ticked because they didn’t listen to him. Bob gets sent to Exile Island by Corrine who hopes that he can find the idol.

Reward consists of taking part in a tribal ceremony at an African village and partaking in an African feast. First each tribe member is bathed, then they eat, then they dance. Matty especially gets into it since he hasn’t really won a reward challenge or frankly much of anything since the start of the game.

Kenny becomes the provider at Kota catching two fish and marveling at how far he has come. Meanwhile over at Exile Island, Bob searches for the immunity idol which he doesn’t know that Sugar already has. He turns up short so instead he fashion his own immunity idol hoping to trick his tribe into thinking he has immunity.

Tree mail seems to indicate there is a fire starting challenge. It is unclear whether it is individual or tribal immunity. When they arrive at the challenge, Jeff announces a merge which could not make Matty or Bob happier. So they make fire for individual immunity. Susie is the first to get flame despite everyone on her tribe talking smack about how she will never be able to compete in this challenge. Sugar is next and no one else is even in the challenge. Susie ends up being the most unlikely person ever to win the first individual immunity.

The tribes head back to Kota as one. And strategy starts immediately. Charlie and Randy immediately gun for Crystal. It becomes quite clear that Sugar is the swing vote each tribe needs. Corinne sweet talks Sugar into voting with her for Crystal and then calls her a moron to the camera. Lovely.  Matty, Crystal, Kenny and Susie go back and forth between Corinne and Charlie, but ultimately land on Charlie. Kenny runs off to try and convince Sugar to vote with them.

The tribe agrees to be named Nobag which is Gabon backwards. Sugar laments that she trusts no one and doesn’t know who to vote for.  She feels loyalty to no one. Yet everybody is kissing up to her because she is key to how each sides vote.

At tribal council Randy and Crystal completely go at it. Everyone else plays nice. In the end Sugar ends up voting with the old Fang tribe and voting Charlie out. Somehow Fang who has been the losers this entire game are now completely in control. Should get interesting.

They have finally arrived in beautiful Hawaii.  Jon, Kate and the children were greeted by hula dancers and a lovely band.  It was a great way to start off their Hawaiian adventure.

The hotel, Grand Wailea, was amazing.  The grounds were phenomenal.  They have numerous pools all connected by water slides.  The kiddie pool has a sand base which was really interesting. They were very accommodating to the family and thought of every little thing they could want or need.  They even had little gift baskets waiting for the family when they arrived. 

The first adventure for the family was trying out the beautiful pools.  Once Jon got Kate and the little ones settled in the kiddie pool, he, Cara and Maddie headed off to give the slides a try.  There were so many to choose from.  I think the water elevator was their favorite.  While Kate was in the kiddie pool with the little ones, Leah decided to give swimming without her floaters a try.  Let me tell you she was a natural.  Like a fish to water.

Jon also took the older two girls snorkiling.  Cara was all for it and loved every moment.  Maddie on the other hand was not into it and ended up with a mouth full of salt water.  YUCK! 

I think the cutest moment by far was when the kids got to make cookies with the chefs from the resort.  Each child got their own chef jacket with the name imprinted on it.  They spent some time making and decorating cookies with the chefs.  Maddie and Cara each got to make their own special recipe which was printed on a card for them to take home so they could make even more batches of these fabulous cookies.  I think the children really enjoyed their day with the chefs.

While Jon took the boys to shop for their wedding atire, Kate and the girls got a special treat, hula dancing lessions.  This was adorable.  They looked so sweet trying out the moves.

Their final adventure was a sailing and snorkeling trip.  The captain of the boat was great.  He was so engaging with the kids.  He even let them each take a turn driving the boat.  The coolest thing was watching the kids on the boogie boards with the built in masks.  Whomever created these boards is a genius.  It was the perfect way for the kids to experience snorkeling without getting their faces in the water.  They were able to see all of the vegetation and the sea turtles with ease.

Next week is the renewal of vows for Jon and Kate.  From the previews it looks like it is going to be a very beautiful ceremony and I can not wait to see it.

Jessica is a WAHM who juggles work, family and some how finds time to blog at It’s My Life Laugh If You Must and A Wealth of Knowledge as well as writing for Blissfully Domestic

Well, fans, after this week we are down to the final 4! Earlier in the evening we enjoyed an hour recapping the previous night’s performances with behind the scenes commentary.  Then because we didn’t get enough, in the results show we were treated to a coffee style chat with the judges while THEY recapped the previous night’s dances.  I think it’s fair to say we were all on the same page by results time.

Warren and Kym got the dance of the night which was expected. Their Tango was so entertaining.  Follow that with Brad Paisley singing his hit “Ticks”  which was actually a shameless ABC plug for the CMA Awards which he is hosting.  It was fun to see Lacey dance with her brother Benji, winner of “So You Think You Can Dance” Season 2.

Julianne was back dancing with her brother Derek. That is some gene pool because I’ve never known anyone who could dance like that this soon after surgery.  They were adorable and the dance was a hit.   Then we had various segments with Dr. Drew as he analyzed the dancing couples as though they were married couples.  We experienced the tears, fights and drama of DWTS.  Seriously?  We could have cut a half hour out of the show and watched a rerun of “Samantha Who”.  Or watched Derek dance some more.  Even brought Cloris back.  It was that bad.

More singing by Brad, more dancing by the touring pros (Maks got a hair cut) and some chatting about the tour, which if you haven’t seen before you should this year. Toni Braxton will be singing as well as dancing.  I saw the tour last year, and it was fabulous!

So did you vote?  The first couple saved were Warren and Kym, followed by Lance and Lacey.   Next off the chopping block were Brooke and Derek.

And finally after drawing it out through more commercials Maurice and Cheryl were eliminated. One more piece of eye candy gone…but next week should be exciting!

Linda is a product of the TV Generation and blogs at Short Pump Preppy as well as here at Blissfully Domestic.