Chad and Cheryl fell apart last week. But Chad went to visit his fans and it gave him a confidence boost, so now he's ready to tackle the Argentine tango. Cheryl urges Chad to lead, so they don't have to fake it like they've been doing. Their routine is better; he seems more confident and his footwork is better. His posture still sucks, though, and there's a lot of him standing there while Cheryl poses around him.

Bruno thinks Chad proved tonight that he can actually dance. Carrie Ann thought it was really amazing, and they were hard on him before because they knew he could do that. Len says that on this show, you have to either grow or go, and Chad grew. Scores: Carrie Ann 8, Len 8, and Bruno 8 for a total of 24, which is their highest score ever.

Last week, Derek and Nicole were only one point shy of a perfect score. This week, they have the samba. Nicole got all excited because she thought they were doing the salsa. She struggles to get the technique, and Derek thinks she's overthinking everything due to the pressure to stay on top. She's even trying to figure out the best camera angles, instead of just dancing. Can she set it aside to do her samba? They burst onto the floor and take over, but it almost seems angry instead of fun. Like isn't the samba a party dance? Why so angry, Nicole? And it's almost raunchy with the gyrations. She's amazing as always, but it doesn't feel like a samba until the very end when they throw in a few samba rolls.

Carrie Ann just yells and says that she can't come up with any criticism because it was so awesome. Len thought the difficult and performance was great, but her lines weren't good, and he didn't see enough traditional samba steps (which he rightly places on Derek). Bruno loved it and tells Nicole she has nothing to worry about. Scores: Carrie Ann 9, Len 7, and Bruno 10 for a total of 26. Man, have the judges' scores ever been that disparate? And why did Carrie Ann give a 9? Confusing.