"Dancing with the Stars" 2013 premiered March 18 on ABC featuring a brand new cast of celebrity Mirrorball trophy hopefuls. Although most of the competitors earned respectable comments from the judges for their debut dances, comedian D. L. Hughley took heat for an under-powered cha cha cha, prompting pro partner Cheryl Burke to take to Twitter in his defense following the show.
Wearing a red vest and black pants, Hughley hit the "DWTS" ballroom to the sounds of Flo Rida's "Low." Although he and Burke shared a nice synergy and he threw in some decent hip shakes, the dance was definitely the weakest of the night.
Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman were far from impressed. Tonioli said the routine looked under rehearsed, and Inaba agreed, sputtering "that was yikes" before telling Hughley to work harder. Goodman called the dance "rough and ready," and told Hughley that he needed to step it up significantly or he'll face "the boulevard of broken dreams" on the March 26 results show.
Hughley and Burke earned a total of 12 out of a possible 30 points for their cha cha cha, placing them squarely at the bottom of the premiere week leader board and 12 full points behind leaders Zendaya Coleman and Val Chmerkovskiy. Hughley took responsibility for the weak performance following the show, tweeting "I didnt put in the hours and I paid for it!!! Im gonna rehearse til my feet bleed!! This will not hapoen again!!!!!"
Burke, however, struck back against critics of the pair's offering. The veteran "DWTS" pro tweeted "All of these negative comments especially http://puredwts.com has to stop. Why bad mouth anybody? Positivity is where it's at!" The pretty brunette was no doubt referring to the site's week one power rankings, which placed Hughley last and suggested that he's "probably only in it for the paycheck this season."
"Dancing with the Stars" 2013 resumes March 25 on ABC, when Hughley and Burke will dance the challenging and precise quickstep.
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