iStockBy ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
LA Rams 24, Chicago 10
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ABC/Kelsey McNeal(LOS ANGELES) — With fangs bared and red eyes flashing, Dancing with the Stars paid homage to Hollywood’s most terrifying antagonists for “Villain’s Night.” Despite the constant thrills and chills brought on by this season’s top 10 competitors, the Halloween special ended with Cheer coach Monica Aldama being sent home by the judges.
The Netflix star found herself in the bottom two alongside The Real host Jeannie Mai, which turned out to be a nightmare of a situation for judges Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. All three struggled to decide who deserved to stay in the competition, which ended with Judge Carrie Ann casting the tie breaking vote in favor of Mai.
The shocking elimination wasn’t the only twist during Monday’s terrifying episode. The leaderboard also witnessed a major shakeup.
Since the start of the season, Catfish host Nev Schulman consistently brewed in second place. The streak was broken Monday when he gave all three judges and host Tyra Banks “swan bumps” following his Swan Lake-inspired Paso Doble. His sharp, powerful and overall chilling performance delighted Inaba, Tonioli and Hough, who excitedly awarded him the season’s first perfect score.
Meanwhile, the pressure was on for Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, who was almost sent home last week. The athlete triumphed on the ballroom floor, delivering a fluid and graceful Viennese Waltz to Radiohead’s “Creep” that hypnotized the judges and earned him the second highest score of the night, a 27 out of 30.
Also making a comeback Monday night was Disney Channel star Skai Jackson, this season’s youngest competitor. The 18-year-old actress, who earned the lowest score last week, shined with her sharp and precise Argentine tango to Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted.” The Jessie alum secured a second-place finish alongside Weir and rapper Nelly with a final score of 27 out of 30.
Speaking of Nelly, the Grammy Award-winning rapper finally achieved his breakout moment Monday night, performing a creepy yet powerful Argentine tango to The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face.” All three judges praised the “Country Grammar” artist for breaking out of his shell.
The most notable dance of the night didn’t come from a celebrity dancer, however, but from dance pro Cheryl Burke.
Despite suffering a seemingly serious head injury the previous day during practice, Burke powered through the pain to perform a tense and thrilling Tango alongside partner A.J. McLean that honored the horror movie Psycho. The Backstreet Boy spoke about the panic he felt when Burke fell during rehearsals, saying he was “completely mortified” by the accident.
“She’s family now. I got to protect her, just like she does for me,” McLean expressed.
As for Burke, the pro dancer assured the audience that she is completely fine and cracked to Tyra Banks, “I’m hard-headed, thank god, right?”
Dancing with the Stars will be full of double trouble next week, promising two eliminations and the added challenge of competitors mastering two dances for the first time this season. The episode airs next Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Here are the current standings:
First Place:
Nev Schulman, host of Catfish, with Jenna Johnson — 30/30
Johnny Weir, Olympic figure skater, with Britt Stewart — 27/30
Nelly, Grammy Award-winning rapper, with Daniella Karagach — 27/30
Skai Jackson, Disney Channel star, with Alan Bersten — 27/30
Justina Machado, One Day at a Time star, with Sasha Farber — 26/30
A.J. McLean, member of Backstreet Boys, with Cheryl Burke — 26/30
Chrishell Stause, Netflix’s Selling Sunset star, with Gleb Savchenko — 26/30
Jeannie Mai, host of The Real, with Brandon Armstrong — 25/30
Lowest score:
Kaitlyn Bristowe, former star of The Bachelorette, with Artem Chigvintsev — 24/20
By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Connor DwyerYou’d be hard-pressed to think of a more-anticipated sophomore album than Sam Hunt‘s Southside, which arrived in early April 2020, more than five years after Montevallo in the fall of 2014.
“After I put out my first record and toured, toured, toured, I got a little bit out of shape in terms of making new music,” Sam admits. “I won’t say that I forgot how to write songs, but I certainly got out of rhythm, I guess.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic made touring impossible this year, Sam was unexpectedly able to resume the process that yielded Southside number ones like “Kinfolks” and “Hard to Forget.”
“Because the tour got canceled,” he explains, “I was able to just jump right back in the studio and kind of pick up where I left off with that record and build on it. And so, fortunately, I’ve been able to knock out some new songs over the past few months.”
“And I’m hoping to be able to make up for lost time,” Sam continues, “and put out music a little sooner than I maybe would have been able to had we been on the road for the entirety of the summer.”
In fact, Sam says it’s entirely possible his third record could be ready next year.
“I’ve been writing new songs and putting together a new project…” he reveals. “So I’m hoping to make up for lost time. I don’t have a full record ready, but I certainly have some songs that I’d like to put out in 2021.”
“If I can scratch up another several songs between now and January, February, March, I may have a full record,” he adds.
For now, Sam’s just put out “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90’s” as the latest single from Southside.
By Stephen Hubbard
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ABC NewsBY: KARMA ALLEN, ABC NEWS
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Zeta strengthened as it made its way toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Monday, and is set to make landfall along the Louisiana coast later this week.
Zeta strengthened into a hurricane on Monday and is expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The hurricane was moving northwest at about 10 mph with its eye located about 90 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico. It had maximum winds of about 80 mph as of Monday evening.
The hurricane is forecast to bring strong winds and a “dangerous storm surge” to portions of the Yucatan Peninsula, according to the National Weather service. Coastal areas along the Northern Gulf Coast were placed under hurricane and storm surge watches, and Louisiana, Florida and Alabama were given warnings, the NWS said Monday, noting threats of coastal flooding, heavy rain and possible tornadoes.
Louisiana declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the storm Monday night. Louisiana Gov. John Edwards said he issued the order despite uncertainty surrounding the storm’s final path and urged residents to follow the guidelines.
“While there is some uncertainty in Zeta’s track, it is likely that Louisiana will see some impacts from this storm, and the people of our state need to take it seriously. It’s easy to let your guard down late in the hurricane season, but that would be a huge mistake,” Edwards said.
He said state officials were already assisting local authorities with “critical items like pumps, generators and food and water” for first responders.
“We stand ready to expand that assistance as needed,” Edwards said in a statement. “Everyone should be monitoring the news for information and should heed any direction they get from their local leaders.”
A storm surge watch is in effect in several areas between Intracoastal City, Louisiana and Navarre, Florida, including Lake Pontchartrain, Pensacola Bay and Mobile Bay.
A hurricane watch is in effect from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Mississippi/Alabama border, putting residents in areas like Lake Maurepas and metropolitan New Orleans on alert.
The storm also triggered several tropical storm watches from the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Okaloosa/Walton County Line in Florida, and from west of Morgan City, Louisiana, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana.
The NWS said residents in and around those areas should monitor the storm closely, as the agency will likely issue additional hurricane and storm surge watches as Zeta progresses.
Zeta is forecast to make landfall along Louisiana’s northern coast Wednesday night. Meteorologist said the storm could decrease in strength by that time, but it’s expected to be at or near hurricane strength at the time of landfall.
It’s expected to bring heavy rainfall across the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the Cayman Islands and central to western Cuba through Tuesday, causing flash floods in some urban areas.
Portions of the central U.S. Gulf Coast, the southern Appalachians and some Mid-Atlantic states will likely experience heavy rain as well between late Tuesday and Thursday, according to the NWS.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin and Josh Hoyos contributed to this report.
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ABC/Image Group LA(LOS ANGELES) — black-ish creator Kenya Barris has signed on to write, produce and direct an upcoming biopic about legendary comedian Richard Pryor.
According to Deadline, Barris will make his directorial feature debut with a yet-to-be-titled project on Pryor that will center on his life, career, and how he become one of the most influential comedians in American history.
“The way Pryor did what he did — with truth and specificity that was somehow self-aware and self-deprecating, and said with an unmatched level of vulnerability — that was the power and impact of his work,” said Barris in a statement. “Pryor had a voice that was distinctly his and, in many ways, comedy since then has been derivative of what he created. To me, this is a film about that voice, the journey that shaped it, and what it took for it to come to be.”
Barris will co-produce the project with Richard Pryor’s widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor.
During his illustrious career, Pryor appeared in over 50 films, had his own TV series — The Richard Pryor Show and Pryor’s Place — and won an Emmy and five Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. In 1998, he became the first-ever recipient of the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Pryor, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986, died in 2005 at age 65 of a heart attack.
This is the latest project for Barris, who not only created his ABC hit series, black-ish, but also its spinoffs, Freeform’s grown-ish and ABC’s mixed-ish. Barris is also the writer behind HBO Max’s Witchesand the Coming to America sequel, Coming 2 America: The Quest.
By Candice Williams
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