Things weren’t looking too promising for Chrishell Stause after the first episode of “Dancing with the Stars” season 29. She struggled with her tango in the premiere, so it seemed like she might have been at risk of an early elimination. But she drastically improved in week two, so now I’m wondering if she might follow in the footsteps of season one Mirror Ball champion Kelly Monaco. The two have a lot in common.
For starters, both women are Emmy-nominated soap stars. Monaco earned a Best Supporting Actress bid for “Port Charles” in 2003 before winning “DWTS” in 2005, and then she contended for Best Actress for “General Hospital” in 2006. Meanwhile, Stause got her start on “All My Children” in 2005 and has also appeared on “The Young and the Restless” and “Days of Our Lives,” earning an Emmy nom just this year for Best Guest Performer for “Days.”
But that’s not all. Monaco and Stause started with the exact same score on “DWTS”: two 4s and a 5 for an unlucky total of 13 out of 30. The good news for Monaco was that she had enough support from viewer voters to survive in the competition until her scores improved, which they did the very next week when she performed a rumba that bumped her up to 17 out of 30.
Stause also improved in her second week, receiving a score of 18 out of 30. And the dance style that gave her that comeback? You guessed it, a rumba, just like Monaco. Of course, there are differences in their circumstances. For starters, Monaco was up against only five other celebrities in the show’s inaugural season, while Stause has 14 rivals (down to 13 now that Charles Oakley has been eliminated). That alone makes it tougher to win. But if Monaco could rise to the top, we shouldn’t count out Stause either.
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