Week 6: ‘Dancing With the Stars’ chooses charisma over skill (VIDEO)

Jonathan Bennett and his partner Allison Holker were eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars” on Monday night, and I’m OK with that.

He was a decent dancer and seemed like a very nice person who was popular with his fellow castmates. (Lea Thompson nearly threw herself down the stairs at show’s end rushing to console him.)

But his going means that the show’s two truly bad dancers – Tommy Chong and Michael Waltrip – get to stay another week, and that’s what everyone wants. Because despite being bad (as in bad), they’re both pretty bad (as in good). Though it’s true that neither of them could perform 30 seconds of the dance steps Bennett delivered just on Monday, their stumbling is a bit more charming than his talent. And, fair or not, “Dancing With the Stars” is in fact equal parts talent competition and popularity contest.

Bennett had two things working against him this season. One is that he was the least well-known celebrity on the show. I loved “Mean Girls” but didn’t recognize him at all when he was first announced as a cast member. In fact, I said out loud: “Isn’t that Rodrick from ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid?’ ”

His second problem was his partner. Holker’s choreography just never seemed sophisticated enough for “Dancing With the Stars.” It’s a little jerky and amateurish, with a lot of arm movements that belong on a football sideline, not on a nationally televised dance show. I’ll be surprised if she is back next season.

This season may be the most anticlimactic ever because none of the other dancers can touch Alfonso Ribeiro. He’s so smooth, so fluid, so full of charm and charisma that even the celebs on his tail don’t really compare. His skill is even psyching out the only dancers who might offer him real competition, like Thompson, who this week was pushed out of her comfort zone by her partner’s obsessive desire to beat Alfonso and Witney Carson. It’s not going to happen. Ribeiro finished Monday night with three 10’s and a 9, far and away the best score of the evening.

My favorite dances on Monday besides Ribeiro’s were Sadie Robertson’s PG-rated rumba and Waltrip’s redeeming Argentinian tango, the first dance this season he did not goofily ham his way through. You can’t send a guy home the first week he actually tries to dance, can you?

So what did you think? Did the right couple go home? How much longer can the elder gents survive on charm alone? Did I hear correctly that Len is back next week? Can we keep Leah Remini as co-host even after the World Series ends? And did anyone laugh every time the announcer with the elegant accent asked for the vote from “Peet Bol,” a.k.a. guest judge Pitbull?

This story was originally published October 20, 2014 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Week 6: ‘Dancing With the Stars’ chooses charisma over skill (VIDEO)."