Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars' Week 7 leaderboard has been topped by Melissa Rycroft and professional partner Tony Dovolani.

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The reality TV star and Dovolani finished in first place on the judges' leaderboard during Dancing with the Stars' fifteenth-season eighth performance show on ABC Monday night.

The couple topped the leaderboard after they received 39 out of 40 possible points from Dancing with the Stars' new scoring system, which features 0.5 intervals for the first time in the show's history, for their individual routine and "dance marathon" performance from Dancing with the Stars judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.

Last night's broadcast featured each All-Star couple combining two different dance styles in the show's first-ever fusion performances. In addition, they participated in a competitive "swing dance marathon" in which all the couples danced simultaneously onstage and were knocked out one by one by the judges based upon their showmanship and performance level.

The last couple still on the floor, who ultimately danced the best swing dance, received 10 points from the judges, while second place got nine, third place eight points and so on. The "swing dance marathon" scores were added to each couple's initial scores from their first performance, creating a grand total of points on the leaderboard for the night.

Rycroft and Dovolani danced a tango and cha cha fusion which received 29 points from the judges and then earned the highest score of 10 from the "swing dance marathon."

Actress Kirstie Alley and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy finished in seventh -- and last -- place on the judges' leaderboard after they performed a quickstep-samba fusion which earned 24 points from the judges and then received only four points for the "swing dance marathon." The couple walked away from the night with a total of 28 points.

Olympic gold medalist gymnast Shawn Johnson and partner Mark Ballas -- who stepped in for Johnson's real partner Derek Hough for the week's performances because Hough has been suffering from a neck injury -- finished in second place on Monday night's leaderboard with 38 total points. They danced a tango and paso doble fusion which received a perfect score of 30 from the judges and then followed it up with their swing dance worthy of eight points.

Hough announced during last night's broadcast that he will return next week and resume dancing in the performance shows with Johnson for the remainder of the season.

Third place on the judges' leaderboard went to soap star Kelly Monaco and partner Val Chmerkovskiy after they racked up a total of 36 points. In addition to earning nine points for their "swing dance marathon," the couple received 27 points for their initial foxtrot-cha cha fusion dance.

NFL football star Emmitt Smith and partner Cheryl Burke finished with a total of 34.5 points, landing them in fourth place on the judges' leaderboard. They danced a rumba-samba fusion routine which received 27.5 points from the judges and then earned seven points for their swing dance performance.

Actor Gilles Marini and partner Peta Murgatroyd claimed fifth place on the leaderboard. They earned 28.5 points for their tango and samba fusion dance and five points for the "dance marathon' -- making their total for the night 33.5 points.

Sixth place on the leaderboard went to Olympic gold medalist speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno and partner Karina Smirnoff with 33 total points. In addition to the six points they earned from their swing dance, they also received 27 points from the judges for their initial cha cha-paso doble fusion routine.

Due to today's election day coverage, Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars will not air a results show tonight. Instead, the judges' scores and viewer voting from last night's show will be combined with the scores and voting from next Monday night's performance show and two couples will be eliminated during next Tuesday night's special double-elimination results show.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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