A defiant Steve Wozniak Monday night shot back with “I’m still standing” after being blasted by the Dancing With the Stars judges for a performance that one said “really stunk.”
Wozniak and his professional partner, Karina Smirnoff, were awarded just 12 points out of a possible 30 for their Argentine tango, making their dance the lowest-scored of the night for the third time in the four rounds of competition so far. Last week, Wozniak and Smirnoff received just 10 points, the lowest score in more than three years.
Even Carrie Ann Inaba, the one judge who had previously managed to find something good to say about Wozniak’s dancing, struggled to remain upbeat on Monday. “I’m trying to find something positive to say, and I’m still searching,” she said at one point.
The other judges had no trouble finding words to describe Wozniak’s routine. “I admire you, and I admire your spirit,” said judge Len Goodman. “And there is an improvement over last week. However, improvement is relative, and last week was so terrible almost anything that happened would be an improvement.”
Goodman gave Wozniak and Smirnoff a score of 4 out of a possible 10 for their tango, a slight improvement over last week when he scored their samba a 3.
But the third judge, Bruno Tonioli, who has consistently been the toughest on Wozniak, said the Apple co-founder just stunk up the dance floor. “We all know that the tango originated in the gutters of Buenos Aires, but the only right thing you picked up from there was the stench, because this really stunk,” Tonioli said.
Wozniak quickly countered with: “Bruno, I have three words for you: I’m still standing.”
That’s not the first comeback Wozniak has offered, or his first knock against the show. After the first week’s dance, he derided the judges as out of sync with the public, and later called the producers “liars” and accused them of rigging the viewer votes to make sure he would be forced into a sudden-death dance-off.
It’s not guaranteed that Wozniak will be thrown off the show during Tuesday night’s elimination episode, because the judges’ scores are combined with results from viewer votes to determine the rankings. Even though Wozniak and Smirnoff received just 10 points last week, they survived elimination because fans voted for them to remain on the show.
Wozniak clearly knows where his support lies. In a pre-taped video segment that ran before he danced Monday, he said, “I realize how important it is for fans and friends to save you with their votes.” Moments later, he added, “The judges have forsaken me, but the geeks shall inherit the Earth.”
Last week, Wozniak called on his supporters to vote, and vote often by text, phone or online to keep him in the hunt. “With enough Internet organization, we can win the whole thing and speak for a type of person who isn’t well respected in this world of beautiful people getting all the attention and respect,” Wozniak said in a message on Facebook last Thursday.
Unlike the past weeks, however, Tuesday night’s results show will eliminate two couples from the competition, not just one. Other celebrities with low scores include Jackass star Steve-O, who received a combined score of 15 out of 30, and Holly Madison, a former Playboy cover model, who was awarded 16 points.
ABC will air the results show Tuesday night at 9 Eastern time, 8 Central.
