DANCING WITH THE STARS Showdown: Halloween Special!

Tonight DANCING WITH THE STARS celebrates Halloween! The show's gone all out, with stars transformed to zombies, ghosts and vampires galore - and the introduction of a team dance, splitting up the stars into two groups for a second score in addition to their regular routines.

David Arquette's the first to hit the ballroom floor. He and Kym are still looking to find a balance between enthusiasm and technique and this week even Len is impressed: "You've turned yourself into a dancer, well done to you." It earns him a solid 24, but there are still another set of scores to come.

J.R. Martinez channels Ghostbusters for his dance. After a near-perfect routine last week, the pressure is on for he and partner Karina. Though he initially struggles in the rehearsal footage and loses the timing a few times on the floor, there's a reason that J.R. is consistently near the top of the leaderboard and Bruno sums that up, saying "Another solid performance." They earn 25 points.

Next up is Nancy Grace with Tristan, trying to keep on an upward trend from last week. They're dancing to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" in appropriately devilish red costumes; Nancy seems to be more and more energetic each week, and while she brings the most spirit this time she loses her choreography a few times and receives just 21 points.

Rob Kardashian tries to scare his partner Cheryl with a series of pranks. "Our tango is going to scare the living tens out of the judges," he promises, and it's as Morticia and Gomez Addams that they intend to do just that. Unfortunately for Rob, although he's been showing solid improvements, he still has a bit of work to go for a perfect score. He's not too far behind, though, tying for highest score of the night so far at 25 points.

Despite an inflamed nerve and the news that she'll have to rest for a week or so to cure it, Ricki Lake is going to continue on in the competition. She's Little Red Riding Hood to Derek's werewolf in this week's routine - another fast-paced dance that has all of the judges gushing and earns Ricki and Derek 27 points.

Hope Solo has some ground to catch up on after her partner Maks got into a bit of a spat with the judges last week. She and Maks dance to "Werewolves of London" and Carrie Ann is a fan, telling Hope that "You had this lightness and it was so much fun to watch. There's a newfound ease of motion with you!" It's reflected in their scores: 24 points.

Then it's time for the team dance, with the leaderboard toppers as team captains. J.R.'s team consists of David and Nancy, while Ricki is joined by Rob and Hope.

J.R.'s team is up first, dancing the tango to Rihanna's "Disturbia." "All those parts were good...each one of the individual performances was a disaster." Len says, and Bruno and Carrie Ann agree. It's a strong start with a weaker finish, but as Carrie Ann says, "Overall, very nice." J.R., David and Nancy all add 23 points to their score.

Ricki's team will finish out the night. In spite of tension in rehearsal between Maks and Hope, the team rallies to help Hope learn the dance and the result is a very sharp and energetic routine all around. "That was amazing!" Carrie Ann Tells them. "Well done!" Len adds. Ricki, Rob and Hope will each add 26 points to their scores.

With the boost in scores for three of the contestants, will the other three be in jeopardy? Find out tomorrow with a performance from teen superstar Justin Bieber and more!

Viewers may cast their votes for their favorite teams via phone on Monday night during and up to 30 minutes after the "Dancing with the Stars" performance shows. Wireless customers with AT&T may also text message their votes by texting the word "VOTE" to the number that corresponds to the team they want to support (message and data rates may apply). Viewers may also vote online at www.abc.com starting from the opening of each episode on the East Coast, until 8:00 a.m., PT the following day. Fans may cast the maximum limit of votes for each voting method.

"Dancing with the Stars" is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, "Strictly Come Dancing." This version is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Conrad Green serves as executive producer and Rob Wade is co-executive producer. Alex Rudzinski directs. "Dancing with the Stars" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound.

 

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