The Geek Girl's Recap of 'DWTS' Season 28: Week 5

Monday Leaderboard

Kate and Pasha (27/30)

James and Emma (27/30)

Sailor and Val (27/30)

Lauren and Gleb (26/30)

Kel and Witney (26/30)

Ally and Sasha (25/30)

Karamo and Jenna (25/30)

Hannah and Alan (24/30)

Sean and Linsey (21/30)

Bottom Two: Sailor and Val; Ally and Sasha

Eliminated: Sailor and Val

Next Week—Halloween Night and team dances: A double elimination that made up for Disney Night this week wouldn't leave an even number for teams.

Geeking Out

• Ally and Sasha

Ally and Sasha performed a quickstep dance with an eighties theme and earned 25 out of 30 for the night. Like their song choice of Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", the night for them was a bit of a rude awakening between landing in third place this week after topping the leaderboard for several weeks prior, and being called in the bottom two despite being one of the more formidable contenders so far. Despite the standings, the routine was fairly well-praised as "first class" according to Len. Though Carrie Ann and Bruno (of all the judges) called out some lack of synchronicity during their routine.

• Kate and Pasha

Kate and Pasha have waltzed back into first place this week earning 27 out of 30. The scoring lines are fine and fit to be tied though as multiple couples share the top three spots with only a point difference between them (on both the weekly and cumulative leaderboards). This week gave Kate her first nine score and the season its first "triple nine" set.

• Kel and Witney

Kel and Witney danced a quickstep that scored 26 out of 30, tying them in second place. Len calling out an incident that was more Witney's fault seemed to pull a bit of weight for his score and critique.

• Karamo and Jenna

Karamo and Jenna had a contemporary routine this week that earned 25 out of 30, tying him with Ally and Sasha in scores.

• Hannah and Alan

Hannah and Alan blended Brazil and Nashville performing a samba with a country song: Carrie Underwood's "Southbound" to pay tribute to Hannah's roots. They finally fell out of the top three, scoring 24 out of 30 this week bearing a mix of praise and technical criticism. While their dance Carrie Ann called phenomenal and well-executed despite the unique, if not contrasted, thematic blend, but Bruno noted that she danced too high for what the samba necessitates.

• Sailor and Val

Sailor and Val danced into third place with a jive that earned 27 out of 30, and praiseworthy comments across the board. The daughter of the Uptown Girl seemed to finally hit her stride with this performance, but could take it no further for being eliminated, as fate tends to have with this show.

• Sean and Linsey

Sean and Linsey earned their highest scores so far with "perfect sevens". Sean is still a creature of the "leaderboard basement", but he was far from jeopardy on Monday night. He must have some strong favor in votes like he seemed to be a strong favorite with the studio audience, as Carrie Ann noted. Echoing week three, he's working the hardest and more so has been praised for his attitude each week, and this could be some fruits of the labor here.

• James and Emma

James and Emma performed a samba that deservedly tied him for first place. I sarcastically imply there was no pressure for hip action between his rehearsal package and former comments on other sambas, but James delivered the hip action "off the charts" this week!

• Lauren and Gleb

Lauren and Gleb also delivered a strong, emotional contemporary that earned them 26 out of 30—second place this week. They danced to Lauren's new song, "The Other Side" which she wrote for her late stepfather who passed away around this time last year. Surely few eyes were dried, and heartstrings untugged just leading into their performance.