Lysacek's tango gets a perfect score on 'DWTS'

Evan Lysacek may have embraced his teammates for the group cha-cha, but at the end of Monday night, he'd have been better off without them.

The Naperville Olympic gold medalist and his professional partner Anna Trebunskaya received a perfect 30 for their fierce and dynamic Argentinian tango, but the team dance knocked down their total score.

After their free fall into the bottom three last week, Lysacek encouraged his partner to push him and it paid off.

Lysacek channeled his inner James Bond and the duo earned the best scores of the night - and the season.

"I always knew you were nice on ice, but I had my doubts if you were going to be good on wood," judge Len Goodman said. "I have a paddle here I haven't used yet. I'm going to be dusting it off."

Goodman then awarded the pair the only 10 he's given all season.

Trebunskaya and Lysacek topped the leaderboard after the individual dances.

But the team cha-cha left them conveniently tied for first with rivals Nicole Scherzinger and her professional partner, Derek Hough. Both couples have 54 points out of a possible 60 total.

The team cha-cha pitted "Team Madonna" (Lysacek, Trebunskaya, ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews and her professional partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and comedian Niecy Nash and her partner, Louis van Amstel) against "Team Gaga" (Hough, Scherzinger, actress Pamela Anderson and her professional partner, Damian Whitewood, and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and his partner, Cheryl Burke).

Team Madonna rocked out to "Holiday," but they ultimately couldn't call up the sexiness Team Gaga channeled.

It didn't help that Team Madonna's cha-cha was marred by obvious syncopation errors, and in the end the judge docked them for it. Team Gaga won the dance with 27 out of 30 points. Team Madonna was awarded 24.

One couple leaves the dance floor tonight. "Dancing with the Stars" airs at 7 p.m. on ABC.