Could Andy Richter Survive Another Week of 'DWTS'?

Spoilers

It happened. Andy Richter finally went home this week. Plenty of people who don’t watch the show (but vote for him anyway) will be disappointed, but it was time. As the show heads into next week’s semifinals and narrows down to the best remaining teams, it’s harder to justify Richter’s spot. He’s a great guy with tons of passion and joy, but so are many others. And Richter? Bless him; he’s just not a good dancer. The audience’s affection carried him far, but there was always going to be a limit.

Last week, I predicted he’d have two more weeks (because, honestly, there are only four standout competitors), but I didn’t predict how good several teams would be this week (there were four with perfect scores) or how rough Richter’s performance would look in comparison. With Tom Bergeron guest judging and handing out fair scores (unlike Flavor Flav, who stuck to 9s and 10s), the gap was just too big to overcome.

My son, like at least one of our regular commenters, is one of the many people who have never watched the show but vote for Richter anyway. (I don’t even understand why my kid likes Richter; I doubt he’s ever seen an episode of Conan’s late-night show.) Last night, we made him actually watch Richter perform, and he was impressed.

In isolation, he’s not bad. If you’ve never otherwise seen DWTS, you might think, “That’s pretty impressive for someone who’s not a pro.” But then we made my son stick around for Dylan Efron’s performance afterward , and my son - who’d never heard of Efron - said, “That’s not fair. They’re both professional dancers.” But Efron isn’t a professional dancer, we told him. “Oh,” he said, then proceeded to vote for Richter 10 more times just to be a troll. But the point stands: the difference between Efron and Richter is night and day. That routine would’ve broken poor Richter’s back. There was a Mission: Impossible move in there. Holy crap.

I’ve had the sense that Whitney Leavitt is the best technical dancer this season, though fans haven’t completely warmed to her. But that legwork to Chicago’s “He Had It Coming”? Absolutely wild. How do you not trip or accidentally kick your partner in the funny business?

Alix Earle’s dance was equally clean and confident, though not as technically demanding as Whitney’s or Dylan’s.

But the showstopper of the night was Robert Irwin, who ended his dance with his sister (and former DWTS champ, Bindi Irwin) over a projection of their late father, Steve Irwin - after Prince Charles called in to cheer him on. Robert got emotional, and so did everyone else. If he’d saved that for the finale, he’d probably win it all. It’s going to be hard to top.

In the end - after four perfect scores, a 37/40 for Jordan Chiles, and a 36/40 for Elaine Hendrix - Richter’s fate was sealed. I thought he might make up the seven-point gap with Elaine, but she’s got strong fan support too (and having Abbott Elementary’s Lisa Ann Walter in the audience every week doesn’t hurt). So this season’s novelty act finally went home, and honestly, that’s for the best. The contrast between Richter and the rest of the field was getting painful to watch. However, Richter is the biggest reason I started watching, and I suspect he brought a lot of new fans to the series. ABC owes him a debt. Maybe next season, they cast Guillermo.

And next week’s semifinals? All Prince songs. If you’re one of those people who stick their nose up at DWTS — like I was for twenty years — give it a shot. It’s so much more impressive than you might imagine.