Given the size of the cast on this season of Dancing With the Stars, it was inevitable that there was going to be another week where two celebrities packed up their rhinestones and headed home. But an injury to one of the contestants moved the timetable forward. Actress Debi Mazar, who never quite found her footing, was voted out by the viewers; and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay left the competition voluntarily, reasoning that since his stress fractures in both feet made rehearsing impossible, there was little point in going on.

Dancing with the Stars through the seasons

DeLay was a lightning rod for controversy during his time in public service, but for those viewers with no opinions about his politics either way, he proved to be a relatively likable and game upholder of the DWtS tradition of the older, rhythm-challenged male battling the odds. But DeLay was bothered by foot pain from the early days of rehearsal, and once the stress fractures were diagnosed, it was only a matter of time. "If you can't practice, you make a fool of yourself out there," said DeLay as he announced he was giving up. Host Tom Bergeron invited him back to do the Texas two-step for the season finale, since that was to have been his dance next week. Before the season began, the DWtS producers announced cutbacks in rehearsal time that would hopefully stem the recent glut of injuries on the show, but the withdrawal of DeLay makes this the third straight season where a contestant has wound up hobbled and had to pull out.

Mazar reminded us during the season's first week that she got her start in television on a New York cable dance show in the 1980s. But she had no background in ballroom dancing, and DWtS can be hard on women over 40 unless they have some special bond with the audience like Marie Osmond did. Mazar, a supporting player in her acting career, had one of the lower profiles in this cast. And while it was inevitable she would have some clashes with her temperamental partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy, their little fights in rehearsal weren't the sort of thing that made viewers look forward to seeing them again. Her departure would appear to leave Michael Irvin in serious trouble, as he was in the same next-to-last spot that Mazar inhabited last week. Joanna Krupa and Aaron Carter were also announced as being "in jeopardy;" whether to create artificial drama or because viewer votes are not keeping pace with their overall good judges' scores, who can say. It can't help that Carter is looking more like Eraserhead with each passing day.

The other fifty minutes of show featured appearances by Queen Latifah, who is finally starting to get the hang of this singing thing; and the dance crew JabbaWockeez, who were joined by Mark Ballas and Lacey Schwimmer in masks. But the days of filler on the results show may be numbered, as the Tuesday DWtS is now getting crushed by NCIS: Los Angeles. We need gossip and intrigue to keep folks tuning in on Tuesdays. Quick! Somebody have an affair with somebody.

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