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Another surprising elimination on the November 18th edition of Dancing with the Stars, as Leah Remini was cast off - just one week shy of the Season 17 Finals.  There are two finalists a lot of viewers expected to be there, but there are two more that die-hard fans of the show never thought would have made it this far. 

The biggest surprise, of course, is Bill Engvall.  The popular comedian has scored consistently low throughout the season, but has managed to escape elimination the last several weeks, despite that. Even he's been surprised that he's managed to stick around this long.  He did, however, perform quite an impressive Argentine Tango on Monday night's show.  It was his best dance in several weeks.  His second individual dance would have to be his Lone Ranger-themed Paso Double.  But the "Spooky Bom Bom" team dance was the one I absolutely loved.

Corbin Bleu and Amber Riley are clearly the best two dancers, but no one should count out "underdog" Jack Osbourne.  The Brit, who's battling Multiple Sclerosis, has come a long way since his first dance.  He's improved tremendously, through the pain he's been experiencing lately due to his condition, and I can see him sneaking in and winning this thing, very much like Donny Osmond won Season 9

An added bonus to this week was pro dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy making an appearance as a guest judge.  It was nice to see him back to critique the semi-finalists, and give his advice on how they can improve.  Though his scores were right on par with the other three judges, his comments weren't as harsh as theirs can sometimes be.  Bad boy on the dance floor, good guy behind the judges' table.

There are three people I thought would be shoo-ins for the finals - Christina Milian, Brant Daugherty and Elizabeth Berkley-Lauren.  They got the boot in weeks 5, 8 and 9, respectively.  We should all know by now how fan votes bring an air of unpredictability to this show, and Engvall certainly seems to be the fan favorite this season.  But if past seasons are any indication, if an underdog is going to win that mirrorball trophy...he or she has to really "bring it" during the freestyle dances on Finals Night.  I'll save my predictions until I see those.

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