‘Dancing With the Stars’ recap: Bindi Irwin snags season’s first 10; Gary Busey goes home

Can we get real for a moment, “Dancing With the Stars” fans? Let’s admit that if this long-running reality contest is good at honing any of its participants’ skills, it’s this one: shameless self-promotion.

And so we had three competitors – that would be nearly every singer in the group – performing to their own songs on Monday. They can be forgiven (or can they?) because this is the “most memorable year” episode, one of the most popular theme weeks, intended to pull our heartstrings and tell us something intimate about the celebrities.

Maybe it just tells us that they’re good marketers and relentless builders of their own brands?

However you feel about it, there’s plenty to see here, with an homage to ’90s pop, Paula Deen’s legs (!) and the first 10 of the season. Tamar Braxton may well end up winning this entire thing, but Monday’s episode shows that she has serious competition from the teenagers. Bindi Irwin, with the aforementioned 10, and Hayes Grier, with a genuine breakthrough performance, had stellar nights.

Gary Busey, on the other hand, did not. He and his “from Russia with love” partner Anna Trebunskaya went home, with Gary threatening to haunt the place (I think) because his elimination was “false.” Oh Gary, we will miss you. Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson were in jeopardy, so maybe Paula will be sticking around even longer than anyone predicted. Actually, she already has.

New ABC utility player Alfonso Ribeiro subbed for host Tom Bergeron, who hopped a plane to be with his ailing father. It’s the second case of body swap for these two, since Ribeiro will take over Bergeron’s longtime post on “American’s Funniest Home Videos” when it returns in all its pratfall glory Oct. 11. And the former “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” star was a guest judge on “DWTS” last week. He’s everywhere!

Update on “Tardy for the Party” star Kim Zolciak and her partner Tony Dovolani. They won’t be rejoining the show, even after a #BringKimandTonyBack petition gathered some steam last week.

The rules are the rules, say “DWTS” shot-callers, and Kim’s mini-stroke and subsequent missed performance means she has to bow out of the contest.

She’s not the first casualty of the ballroom. The Associated Press recently published the litany of bumps, bruises, sprains, tears and fainting spells that have piled up since the show premiered in 2005. That’s a lot of boo boos and not a single do-over.

Here’s the competitor breakdown from "Most Memorable Year" night, in chronological order:

Alexa PenaVega and Mark Ballas

Foot fault! Foot fault! Already, it was going to be tough to top all those 9s from last week for the universally praised “Breaking Bad” routine. But Alexa had a few missteps near the end of her foxtrot to The Shirelles’ “Mama Said,” done in tribute to her single mom and the family that moved to Texas with her in 2000 so she could co-star in “Spy Kids.” She recovered, but the damage was done. Bruno Tonioli liked the cinematic feel of the dance, and Carrie Ann Inaba said she found her theatricality.

Score: a rather harsh 21

Gary Busey and Anna Trebunskaya

Gary could’ve picked 1988 as his year because he survived a near-fatal motorcycle crash, as his family talked about in the pre-taped segment. But more predictably, he chose 1979 as a nod to “The Buddy Holly Story,” which launched his acting career and earned him an Oscar nomination. I’m not sure what that dance was supposed to be to Holly’s classic, “That’ll Be the Day,” but Gary mostly vamped and lip synced in nerd glasses and a fright wig (or was that a dye job?). Bruno was distracted from his footwork, such as it was, by his “unique interpretation of the dance,” and said he needed to “nail the precision.” Carrie Ann didn’t see much improvement and started to pick him apart, but she backed down when the audience started hissing. Let the woman speak! Julianne saw some mishaps but liked his persistence.

Score: a paltry 16

Tamar Braxton and Valentin Chmerkovskiy

In 2012, Tamar’s husband nearly died from blood clots in his lungs, and while he was in the hospital recovering, they decided to have a child. So Tamar’s rhumba to her own song, “King,” was dedicated to her husband, Vince Herbert, and their son. It was technically stunning and emotionally moving. Carrie Ann said the story touched her deeply, “but your dance touched me even more deeply,” and Bruno thanked them for “a proper rhumba” that followed all the ballroom rules. Julianne thought she was “completely vulnerable” and “free” and “open.”

Score: 27 (perfect 9s across the board)

Hayes Grier and Emma Slater

Since he’s an Internet sensation, it’s tough to think of 15-year-old Hayes as a shy kid. But he was and still is, in some ways, he explained during his pre-show video, even as he and his brother, Nash, have become stars on Vine, the six-second micro-video platform. He has millions of fans now, but he still seems like a humble, grounded kid. He takes direction from his pro perhaps better than anyone in the contest. The result? He absolutely smashed that contemporary routine to Shawn Mendes’ “Stitches.” Julianne, with her jaw dropped to the judges’ table, asked breathlessly, “What just happened?” He’s broken out of his shell, she said, maybe a direct reference to the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” dance from last week that didn’t go so well. Bruno called him a “superstar” who “didn’t miss a beat” and Carrie Ann felt the storytelling in the piece. Score: 27 (all 9s)

Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold

So far, 2015 has been a seminal year for Alek, who helped tackle a suspected terrorist a few months ago on a Paris-bound train. Presidential commendations, hometown parades and dinner with Arnold Schwarzenegger followed for him and his two childhood friends and fellow heroes. But that wasn’t the end of the chaos for Alek, a student at Umpqua Community College, the site of a mass shooting last week. He rushed back to Roseburg, Ore., to be with family and friends, but returned to “DWTS” for a paso doble to “Wake Me Up” by Avicii. He dedicated the performance to the victims and the town. Carrie Ann declared it “strong and sturdy,” and Julianne said that because dance is an expression, it’s OK to show anger and frustration. In short, it was a bit stoic but solid.

Score: 24

Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess

Can we play some Backstreet music and do some Backstreet moves, Nick Carter has asked practically every single week. Sharna’s cool with it because she was a wide-eyed teenage fan when the boy band was in its heyday. So, 1992 it is! That’s when he was 12 years old and auditioned for the group, escaping a dysfunctional family situation, he said in the rehearsal video. The other guys became his support system, and he dedicated his jazz number to “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” to his fellow pop stars. Julianne giggled about how smokin’ hot he was, and Carrie Ann said every girl in America wanted to be Sharna. Bruno called it a “mega sexy, mega hit.” Was there any doubt that he would kill it? Please. I still say he’s been a ringer from day one, but this performance was a really entertaining trip down memory lane.

Score: 27

Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson

Carlos’ boy band, Big Time Rush, was at the peak of its success in 2012, but when the tour ended, he was lost to depression and drugs, he said during his video package. He went with a friend to church, where he heard “Amazing Grace” and quickly met his wife, Alexa. “In one week my life changed forever,” he said. His waltz had a bobble at the end but it was heartfelt. Julianne deemed it “beautiful,” but noted that he’s in the middle of the pack and he’ll have to work on his shoulders and chest to leap up the leader board. Bruno called it “luminous” and “totally mesmerizing” but also harped on his posture. Carrie Ann was a much bigger fan, saying he danced from his soul and that the piece was “mind blowing.”

Score: 25

Paula Deen and Louis van Amstel

Paula ditched her unhappy 27-year marriage in 1989 and took control of her life, starting her first catering business. Her cha cha to “Respect” by Aretha Franklin – in a short, fabulous dress! – might’ve been one of her best performances, even though she nearly lost her footing at one point. She’d rather do her own dance “steps,” she told co-host Erin Andrews. Choreography is for the birds, y’all! Bruno advised her to “camp it up even more” but thought it was “a step in the right direction.” Carrie Ann wished she could remember the steps because “the way you move is so hot and sexy,” but then any semblance of a routine sort of drops off a cliff. Julianne gave her some daily affirmations with words like “awesome” and “fierce.”

Score: 18 (better than Busey)

Andy Grammer and Allison Holker

Andy lost his beloved mom to breast cancer in 2009, and was “dazed and confused” after her death. Still a street busker at the time, he wrote the song “Good to be Alive” to try to pull himself out of his grief. He and the four-months-pregnant Allison – congrats, girl! – did a chipper cha cha to that tune, and the judges were rather split on the results. Carrie Ann thought the top and bottom halves of his body didn’t exactly work together, but Julianne felt he was the most comfortable she’d seen him all season.

Score: 23

Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough

Apropos of nothing, Derek Hough now has a baby koala named after him at the Australia Zoo. That’s Bindi’s stomping ground back in Queensland. Apropos of everything, she dedicated her performance to her late father, Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, picking 2006, the year he died, as her watershed time. Father and daughter were inseparable, Bindi’s mom said in the pre-show video, and the love they shared was obvious in a series of touching photos included in the package. The contemporary dance she and Derek did to “Every Breath You Take” by Aaron Krause was pretty darn close to flawless. Julianne dubbed it “breathtaking,” Bruno said that Steve was dancing with her “every step of the way,” and Carrie Ann brought up “beauty” and “passion” and said, “You make every dance a moment of your life.”

Score: 28 (the first 10 of the season, from Bruno)