'Dancing With the Stars' Week 7 Recap: The Stars Go Gaga

Going into this week's "Dancing With the Stars" results, just five points separated the teams on the leader board, and that's with Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek earning the season's first perfect score for his Argentine tango. It came down to two dancers: ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews and former "Baywatch" pinup Pamela Anderson, and given the lavish praise Andrews has been receiving all season (granted, crankypants judge Len Goodman typically bashed her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy), the decks were stacked in Andrews' favor. In the end, it was time for the "Baywatch" babe to pass her torch on to the next blond bombshell, as Pamela Anderson was sent on her way. Here's a recap of the night's best dances, as well as a final sendoff for Anderson.





Perfect Score: Evan Lysacek

Until this week's Argentine tango, Lysacek's ice-skating background inspired his form; he oozed grace with lyrical movements on top (though he was at times a bit clunky on his feet). This time, however, his partner-choreographer Anna Trebunskaya dropped any and all balletic motions from their sharp, crisp routine — and it paid off in spades, with judge Carrie Ann Inaba declaring, "Lysacek has the eye of the tiger!" Meanwhile, Goodman announced that he had a paddle that needed dusting off; that's right, our gold medalist earned the first triple 10s of the season. Their score after the team dance: 54.




Cha-Cha Challenge: Team Gaga

In a change of pace, "Dancing" split the dancers into teams for a little cha-cha dance-off. Team Gaga (football wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, and Anderson) played up the over-the-top sexuality of their group, and it paid off. Scherzinger's hips were smoking hot, while judge Bruno Tonioli noted that Ochocinco "turned up the heat" and Anderson did a good job of keeping up with the others. A solid set of 9s added 27 points to each of the dancers' final scores.




Cha-Cha Challenge: Team Madonna

Meanwhile, the other team — Andrews, Lysacek, and comedian Niecy Nash — danced their hearts out to Madonna's "Holiday." Their routine was less about sex appeal and more about fun, and clearly lacked the polish of the Gaga set — though makeup and wardrobe really had a blast dressing the leggy Andrews up to look like Madonna circa 1984. The judges were more conservative here, granting the group 24 points toward their final scores.