Mambo Competition Shakes Up Rankings On 'Dancing'

Mark Dacascos, Joanna Krupa, Donny Osmond ABCAccess Hollywood

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- A new round of competition on "Dancing With the Stars" shook up the standings on the ABC reality show on Monday night.

But before the new round - a competition mambo - pitted star against star, two contenders stepped up their game in the pair dance round.

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Food Network host Mark Dacascos who has been steady thus far in competition, cut an amusing and energetic jitterbug rug with his partner, Lacey Schwimmer, to take the lead.

"Absolutely full on, full of energy, great," British judge Len Goodman raved as the two grabbed 26 out of 30 points, the highest score for a paired dance, matched by just one other couple - model Joanna Krupa and pro Derek Hough.

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Derek, back after a week off with the flu, helped take his celebrity partner to a 26 with a traditional and graceful waltz that Len enjoyed.

"Your footwork wasn't too brilliant... But what I loved -- you went straight into the dance. No messing about," he said. "It's the best waltz we've seen tonight."

Pop star Aaron Carter, who has been inconsistent of late, managed to regain his stride during his waltz with Karina, which brought praise and 25 points. Meanwhile, the always-consistent Mya showed off some fancy footwork with Dmitry Chaplin, but lost points (they scored just 24 in the opening round) due to the skit she and her partner performed at the start of their dance.

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"You're such a great dancer, it's not worth [spending] 20 bars [of music] polishing my desk," Len said. "What you did, you did well. I just wanted more of it."

As for Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson, who led the pack last week, they netted 24 points for their jitterbug after a few missteps.

But the stakes changed when the competition mambo round came into play.

The new feature to the show, which found all of the couples freestyling mambo moves until the judges eliminated them one by one, changed the rankings. Mark and Lacey were the fifth couple pulled out, giving them just 6 out of a possible 10 points; Donny and Kym took fourth for 7 points; Aaron and Karina nabbed third for 8 points; Mya and Dmitry slid into second with 9 points and Derek and Joanna won the round, netting all 10 possible points.

As a result, Derek and Joanna will go into Tuesday's elimination round with the highest score - a 36 out of a possible 40. Mya and Dmitry were second overall with 33 and Mark and Lacey slid into third with 32 points.

Two couples will be eliminated on Tuesday night.

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