Lysacek's futuristic cha cha doesn't wow judges

It was doubles night on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars," and several of the pairs clearly felt the pressure.

Each couple was asked to perform both a ballroom routine and a Latin dance inspired by a certain decade, which, as judge Carrie Ann Inaba pointed out, left little room for error.

Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek of Naperville and his professional partner, Anna Trebunskaya, struggled, but still were one of the luckier couples Monday night.

One of the biggest knocks on Lysacek all season has been his difficulty connecting with his dances and with Trebunskaya.

"Sometimes you can come across as cold in our dance," Trebunskaya told Lysacek. "I want to show your warm side."

Lysacek and Trebunskaya's waltz was gorgeous, full of beautiful lines that wowed the judges.

"Your lyrical lines are really something to behold," judge Bruno Tonioli said. "Impeccable,"

But the judges continued to hammer Lysacek on his lack of emotion and awarded the pair a 27 out of 30 total possible points.

"For your next dance, I'd like to really see you lose yourself," Inaba said.

But for the next dance, emotion was a moot point.

Trebunskaya and Lysacek were assigned a cha-cha from the future and the figure skater immediately got in touch with his inner robot.

"I can do no emotion," Lysacek assured the audience.

As if there were any doubts.

But the results were mixed. Lysacek and Trebunskaya nailed the chirography and danced cleanly, but the mashup of cha-cha merged with the dance of the future didn't work for the judges.

"I'm confused again," judge Len Goodman said.

But Tonioli loved it.

"It was Doctor Spock meets Barbarella in 'Star Trek' Cha-Cha," he said. "Your stick movement worked well."

Still, the judges awarded them 26 of out a possible 30.

The only couple who never faltered were Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger and her professional partner, Derek Hough. Their fun, flirty fox trot and creative paso doble received top marks from the judges.

Scherzinger and Hough were well out in front with a total of 59 of out 60 total points.

Lysacek and Trebunskaya ended the night tied with ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews and her partner Maks Chmerkovskiy. Both couples earned a score of 53 of 60.

At the bottom of the leaderboard are Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and his professional partner, Cheryl Burke, and comedian Niecy Nash and her partner, Louis van Amstel. Ochocinco looked winded after two routines and Nash's disastrous paso doble was the lowest-scored dance of the night.

There are only two weeks left until the finale; one couple will leave the dance floor tonight. "Dancing with The Stars" airs at 7 p.m. on ABC.