Dancing With The Stars 13 Premiere Recap: J.R. & Chynna Shine, Chaz Surprises!

The widely anticipated 13th season of Dancing With The Stars premiered last night, and it did not disappoint!

There were some surprises and a few let downs when it came to this new group of 12 celebrities. We’ll start off with the show’s most controversial contestant ever Chaz Bono, who has been receiving some backlash due to the fact that he is transgendered.

So how did Chaz, 42, measure up? Not too shabby. Chaz alongside his partner Lacey Schwimmer, gave a pretty memorable first performance which garnered him 17 points for his cheeky and fun cha cha. “Chazzy Boy, you can dance!” said judge Carrie Ann Inaba. Bruno Tonioli added, “So cuddly and cute. Great, great debut, Chaz. You should be proud.”

The best performers of the night were Chynna Phillips, and war veteran turned soap star J.R. Martinez. Chynna sizzled with her graceful waltz, earning her the highest score of the night – 22 points. “You looked like you stepped out of a dream and into my heart,” said Bruno. J.R. tied with Chynna for the high score with his impressive Viennese waltz.

In the middle of the pack were reality stars Kristin Cavallari and Rob Kardashian. Kristin fared a bit better than Rob, receiving a decent score of 19 points for her feisty cha-cha with partner Mark Ballas. Kristin definitely showed some promise with her fiery stage presence! With his famous sisters in the audience cheering him on, Rob failed to impress as he received a score of 16 for his waltz with Cheryl Burke. “I’m not impressed, but I’m not depressed,” said judge Len Goodman.

This season’s Kate Gosselin Nancy Grace also had a so-so debut as the 51-year-old news anchor received 16 points for her sassy cha-cha with newcomer Tristan MacManus. “You got the moves, but you don’t seem to believe in yourself,” said Len.

Below are the full scores from last night –

Chynna Phillips & Tony Dovolani – 22

J.R. Martinez & Karina Smirnoff – 22

Hope Solo & Maksim Chmerkovskiy – 21

Ricki Lake & Derek Hough – 20

Kristin Cavallari & Mark Ballas – 19

David Arquette & Kym Johnson – 18

Carson Kressly & Anna Trebunskaya – 17

Chaz Bono & Lacey Schwimmer – 17

Nancy Grace & Tristan MacManus – 16

Rob Kardashian & Cheryl Burke – 16

Elisabetta Canalis & Val Chmerkovskiy – 15

Ron Artest & Petra Murgatroyd – 14

The show returns tonight at 8/c with the first results show of the season, during which one “star” will be voted off.

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