Dancing With The Stars Determines Its Season 31 Semifinalists — Who's In?

Dancing With the Stars gave us throwback after throwback during Monday's '90s Night episode, but not even all that nostalgia could distract from the evening's looming double elimination.

With only three weeks (!) left in Season 31, Dancing whittled its Top 8 down to the six semifinalists in its latest broadcast. But before those unpleasant cuts were made to the lineup, the remaining couples took us back in time with their '90s-themed routines.

Plus, the episode also featured relay dances — complete with guest appearances from Salt-N-Pepa, Vanilla Ice and other legends of the decade — in which two couples faced off in the same dance style (to the same song), and the judges awarded five bonus points to the winning duo of each match-up. The results: Shangela beat Daniel in the cha-cha; Trevor beat Vinny in the samba; Wayne beat Heidi, also in the samba; and Charli beat Gabby in a nailbiter of a salsa.

With those bonus points factored in, Wayne and Witney and Charli and Mark finished the night at the top of the leaderboard, and both of them earned a spot in next week's semifinals. Keep scrolling for our full recap of the episode's performances and results, then hit the comments with your reactions!

DANCE STYLE: Samba (to "Spice Up Your Life" by Spice Girls)

Respectfully... a 10 for this samba, Carrie Ann? C'mon now. Which is not to say it wasn't a delight! But, as several of the judges noted, Shangela's footwork and frame got a bit frantic as this routine hit its final chorus.

JUDGES' SCORE: 37 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Salsa (to "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men)

After a rocky quickstep two weeks ago, followed by a so-so contemporary on Halloween Night, I was a little nervous that Wayne had lost his mojo. But nope! Despite the recent scoring setbacks and his crazy-busy schedule, Wayne was in fine form during this salsa — relaxed, in the pocket and delightfully funky.

JUDGES' SCORE: 40 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Jazz (to "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode)

Jazz isn't typically the most emotionally evocative style, but Daniel and Britt worked together beautifully to deliver a profound performance — particularly the sequence in which the music dropped out, to illustrate Daniel's experience as a deaf dancer. Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd did the same thing in Season 22, to similarly moving effect. Tears all around!

JUDGES' SCORE: 39 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Samba (to "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin)

Jenna Johnson's tutorial from two weeks ago, paired with a spicy stint alongside understudy Alan Bersten on Halloween, seems to have given Gabby the confidence she needs to be fully sensual and unafraid of intimacy with her partner. I expected her to stiffen a bit when Val took off his shirt and wrapped it around Gabby's waist during this samba — but she leaned into it! Yay!

JUDGES' SCORE: 40 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Tango (to "Song 2" by Blur)

Surely the show could have avoided Vinny's tango going back-to-back with Charli's, which only served to highlight his weaknesses, right? Give the man a chance! Anyway, Charli was reliably bewitching here, leaning into the drama and sass of the style in a way that might have made her sheepish a few weeks ago.

JUDGES' SCORE: 40 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Salsa (to "Barbie Girl" by Aqua)

It's hard to say which element of this salsa was more impressive: Trevor's eventual mastery of the complicated lifts that he'd feared in rehearsal, or his and Emma's super-fun, totally committed execution of Ken and Barbie's plasticity. I think it's the latter, by a hair: It's tough to forgo opposable thumbs!

JUDGES' SCORE: 34 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Tango (to "What Is Love" by Haddaway)

Vinny was understandably frustrated by the scoring rut he's been in, and I have to say tonight's sevens surprised me, given how much attention was paid to proper technique this time around. Vinny's not perfect, no — and, yes, to call a spade a spade, his time in the competition came to an appropriate end on Monday night. But those sevens from Len, Derek and Bruno indicated zero improvement from recent weeks, which I don't think is quite fair to Vinny.

JUDGES' SCORE: 29 out of 40

DANCE STYLE: Contemporary (to "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette)

The stage was set here for Heidi to have a real moment: The contemporary style! Redemption for last week's appearance in the Bottom Two! The fear of being emotionally vulnerable! And yet, when the time came, the whole performance felt oddly defeated on Heidi's part, with some particularly half-hearted moments in her side-by-side sections with Artem. Perhaps that was all the result of trying not to be too emotional on the dance floor, but I so wish this contemporary had been the breakthrough that Heidi needed after a sluggish few weeks.

JUDGES' SCORE: 35 out of 40