'Dancing With The Stars' Season 13, Episode 7 Results Recap

This week's elimination thoughts might not win me friends, but something's a little amiss about this particular vote-off.

The couples this week danced interpretive, heartfelt tributes to the most memorable years of their lives, and few eyes in the house were left dry by the end. Army veteran and soap star J.R. Martinez might've danced the most memorable number of the evening with a rumba to Tim McGraw's "If You're Reading This" that he dedicated to every fighting man and woman in the armed forces that didn't make it home.

Former talk-show queen Ricki Lake also danced a reflective rumba to a 2010 that saw her lose her home and all her wordly possessions to a fire, her marriage to a divorce, yet still find a new love coming into the end of 2011.

That dance combined with last week's vast improvement might quickly make Lake a sleeper favorite to take the Mirrorball Trophy.

Then there was Kristin Cavallari. Just watch the dance for yourself, and understand that she chose a samba to Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" knowing that she'd chosen one of the most difficult steps she could've possibly had to learn in just a shade under a week.

You just watched the dance that eliminated Cavallari and pro partner Mark Ballas. It lit the crowd up, it was entertaining, it had personality . . . and it got Cavallari voted off. To her credit, Cavallari was a sport about it. She looked shocked Tuesday night when, between her and Women's World Cup soccer goalie Hope Solo, it was Cavallari going home. However, she smiled, hugged Ballas, said she had a great time and that "It is what it is."

Funny choice of words. Watch this next dance.

That scored an 18 - lowest mark of the week, and the only sub-20 score of all 10 couples, and Bono reacted to the low marks by simply saying "It is what it is."

Indeed. Bono's going onward.

Why even have judges, really? Cavallari and Ballas, if their rehearsal package was to suggest anything, felt they had something to prove this week after Ballas' Week Two post-dance remarks of "They want more, we'll give 'em more." Cavallari chose the toughest possible step she could've. Ballas didn't protect her with pedestrian choreography. And let's face it, that was a smoking little number that the judges and crowd alike loved.

Then there's Bono.

Before anyone types a single solitary letter . . . I get it. He's dancing in incredible pain, and doing what he's doing with the injuries he has takes heart that isn't lost on Len, Carrie Ann or Bruno at all. He's competing despite a large, hateful contingent that doesn't want him anywhere near their living rooms because of a choice he made that is absolutely nobody else's business but his. He's also extremely plucky and likable, and that goes a long way.

But come on.

When Metta World Peace went home after Week One, that wasn't a big deal. That could've been anybody. It was the first week.

When Week Two rolled around and Elisabetta Canalis got sent packing despite a stellar quick step and a hobbled Bono notching a week-low 17, it was a bit surprising, but Bono deserved the mercy pass.

But listen to those judges' marks again. Bono was the only competitor the judges claimed had actually regressed this week. Once more, they all understood the injuries' pain. Once more, they saluted his heart and gumption. But when it came down to his actual performance, it left all three flat.

And that on a night when someone probably should've slipped Bruno a Valium.

Still . . . "it is what it is." I personally believe many voters unfairly decided their votes based on the back-stories behind the dances and that's why Cavallari's remembrance of the year she turned 18, graduated high school and headed for the West Coast left many unimpressed. It's not "Sob Stories With The Stars," folks.

It only gets tougher from here, though. Dancers who looked like underdogs are getting better every single week. Nancy Grace is finding confidence nobody knew she had. Lake looks like she was sold very, very short from the very start. Martinez and Chynna Phillips have both astounded Len, Carrie Ann and Bruno with what quick studies they've been, looking like they were born in a ballroom spotlight.

Bono's mercy passes might run out fast.