Dancing with the Stars: So Long, Chuck!

If you had told me last (or any other) year that I would actually be glad to see Julianne and a partner of hers voted off DWTS, I wouldn't have believed you. She has been such a favorite of mine that, notwithstanding my complete distaste for Chuck the not-so-charming, I was shocked to find myself rooting for Tony and Melissa (she of the broken ribs) during the elimination last night. And yet I was rooting for them. Enthusiastically.

I do want to say that I have tried hard to like the country crooner this season. Why? Because I wanted to feel that Julianne had found herself one of the "good guys," a man this formerly unabashed fan could deem worthy of her. Instead, what I saw was a seemingly petulant, frequently pouting, and inexplicably peevish person whose insecurities were only thinly masked by his look-at-me-I-deserve-to-win attitude. Talk about entitlement. Sheesh.

I went into last night feeling slightly better about him after their performance the week before, where his pleasure at having been recognized for dancing well allowed us to see him at his best. But this week his true colors shone through once again. My first recoil came after his "cute" remark about his improved dancing being attributable to Julianne's wearing fewer clothes. Somehow that did not amuse me. Joke or not, it turned me off big-time. Yeccch.

Just as unattractive were his churlish words after being voted off, when he attributed his loss to being "taken down" by the team dance a week earlier (translation: anyone but me must be to blame). The announcer cut him off rather quickly, but it wasn't pretty. And when Mr. Wonderful glibly announced that he would be going back out on tour to do the glorious thing that he really loves...country music...all I could say to myself was: So long, Chuck! And don't let the big barn door hit your flimsy facade on the way out.