'Dancing with the Stars' leaderboard topped by Brandy and Maksim

Dancing with the Stars has a new leaderboard champion.


Singer Brandy Norwood and professional partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy topped Dancing with the Stars' judging leaderboard for the first time during Monday night's live performance show.

Norwood and Chmerkovskiy finished in first place on the eleventh season's Week 5 leaderboard after their quickstep dance earned 27 out of 30 possible points from Dancing with the Stars judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.

All three judges raved about the performance before revealing their scores.

"I'm so impressed with that!  No joke!" Goodman said.  "The quickstep is really a tough dance... it was without a doubt your best dance, well done."


"Brandy, Maks -- you've found the right formula, because I'm telling you it's working!" Tonioli said.

"You're at a whole other level now, great job," Inaba added.

Actress Jennifer Grey and partner Derek Hough -- who topped the judges' leaderboard last week, as well as during the competition's first two weeks -- finished in second place on the leaderboard after they received 25 points for their foxtrot.

Third place finished in a tie between former NBA basketball player Rick Fox and partner Cheryl Burke as well as recently retired NFL quarterback Kurt Warner and partner Anna Trebunskaya after both couples received 24 points from the judges.  Fox and Burke performed a rumba while Warner and Trebunskaya danced a quickstep.

Former The Hills star Audrina Patridge and partner Tony Dovolani finished in fifth place after they received 23 points for their rumba and were followed by actress Florence Henderson and partner Corky Ballas, who earned 21 points for their tango.


Disney Channel star Kyle Massey and partner Lacey Schwimmer finished in seventh place after their foxtrot performance earned 20 points from the judges.

Teen mom Bristol Palin and partner Mark Ballas finished in eighth and last place on the leaderboard after their jive received only 18 points.

"Any regrets about the monkey suits?" Dancing with the Stars co-host Brooke Burke asked the couple after the judges revealed their scores for the performance, which began with Palin and Ballas wearing gorilla suits.

"No, we had a blast in the monkey suits.  We just messed up some of the steps, it happens," Ballas replied.

"Yeah," Palin added.


The judges' scoring and home viewer votes that were cast after Monday night's performances will now be combined and one of the eight celebrity and professional pairings will be eliminated on Dancing with the Stars' fifth eleventh-season results show tonight at 8PM ET/PT.






About The Author: Steven Rogers