ET has your "Dancing with the Stars" semi-finals recap!

Monday night, "Dancing with the Stars" launched its semi-final night of competition with some strict rules: No lifts were allowed and the dancers chose their dances randomly, by drawing them out of a giant disco ball. The dances were dances that they had done before, but with new music and new choreography -- so there was a lot of work involved.

"We are expecting you to up your game," declared head judge LEN GOODMAN. "Good dancing is not enough. Tonight, we want to see great dancing."

JASON TAYLOR and EDYTA SLIWINSKA were up first with the foxtrot. Len praised the performance, saying, "I have got to say this to you, you are one of the Dolphins and, like a dolphin glides through the sea, that is how you glided around this ballroom. I loved every part of it. The whole thing was great." BRUNO TONIOLI added, "You are a lucky man. This had plenty of movement and you were a showman tonight." CARRIE ANN INABA pointed out, "All three judges agree. I thought that was really, truly beautiful. Tonight you had a lot more content and a lot more charisma." Jason and Edyta were awarded 28 points out of 30 by the judges.

MARISSA JARET WINOKUR and TONY DOVOLANI drew the quickstep. Bruno declared, "You started like a locomotive and then you turned into the Orient Express, but you missed a jeté. At this stage, we look at things like that." Carrie Ann said, "You are the unlikely contender. Who thought you would still be here? The quickstep is very difficult. I thought you did a great, classic quickstep." Len agreed, adding, "I have to take into consideration the difficulty of this dance. For a dance so technical, I thought you did a great job." When the judges' scores were tallied, they wound up with 26 points.

CRISTIAN DE LA FUENTE and CHERYL BURKE danced the Viennese Waltz for their ballroom dance category performance. Carrie Ann told Cristian, "What I like about you is you look stressed out when you start the dance, but then you pick up steam." Len simply said, "Better content, better movement and better marks." Bruno said, "You play off each other beautifully. Wow." Cristian and Cheryl earned 27 points.

The final dance in the ballroom category was KRISTI YAMAGUCHI and MARK BALLAS' tango. Len critiqued: "I have got to say you did get the drama back, great movement, but sometimes for me, it was a little bit hectic." Bruno praised, "You squeezed every drop of drama out of that. Your footwork was the best." Carrie Ann remembered, "Last time you did the tango, I thought you lacked emotion. This time [you got it!]." Kristi and Mark got the highest score of the night: 29.

Jason and Edyta kicked off the Latin dance competition with the paso doble. Bruno stated, "You have the strength and movement of 'Iron Man' and looked like a real matador." Carrie Ann said, "We have gone after you about not enough content. [This had] way more." Len declared, "You attacked that dance like you attack those quarterbacks. You are like the price of gas, you are going up." And go up they did with a score of 27.

For their second number, Marissa and Tony danced the rumba. Carrie Ann criticized the performance, saying, "I have to say this is the semi-finals and I wasn't excited about that. I really don't feel that was a semi-final dance. It didn't do anything for me." Len disagreed, saying, "The rumba doesn't have the 'Wow Factor' of the paso doble and the samba. It has to be on the money. I thought you did a very, very good job." Bruno pointed out, "The last time I told you it wasn't sexy enough, tonight you did 'Sex and the City.'" Despite the disagreement among the judges, they still were awarded 26 points.

Cristian and Cheryl revisted the samba for their encore dance. It was during the last samba that Cristian was injured. Len said, "I tell you what. That was hotter than a chili pepper. Sometimes with an injury, it can knock you out. I think your arm [injury] has made you focus and come out stronger than ever." Bruno agreed, adding, "Cristian vs. the samba -- the rematch of the century. You came back and made this dance so exciting -- a party dance. Carrie Ann told Cristian, "Tonight you remind me of a fellow I called twinkle toes -- EMMITT SMITH [who was in the audience]. That was fantastic. Cristian and Cheryl tied with Kristi and Mark's earlier high score: 29.

Dancing the jive were Kristi and Mark, who got a perfect score last time they did this dance. Bruno praised, "For me, this was the cherry on the icing of the cake of a sweet, delicious jive. Tonight, you have shown two sides. You can perform. You can do it all." Carrie Ann said, "That was an extremely difficult routine. Tonight you were a hair out of sync, but still fantastic." Len stated, "Great rhythm throughout the dance. I liked the basic steps. You moved great across the floor, but sometimes you were a little bit stiff." Kristi and Mark scored 28 points, which when combined with their earlier 29 made them the top-rated team of the night!