Dancing With the Stars returned to the ballroom Tuesday for the third episode of the season, with guest judge Michael Strahan: Motown Night.

At the show’s third week, it’s becoming clear who the frontrunners are. But for every competitor, this week was an improvement, in some way.

The first dance was Barry and Peta, and again, it felt as though he was afforded some generosity on scoring because of his age. His dancing skills truly aren’t bad, but when you compare his scores (25/40) to others, his dancing just doesn’t match up.

There were some other dances that showed improvement, but lacked the energy or intrigue of the top scorers.

Alyson and Sasha were solid, but there wasn’t anything about their dance that was magical or energetic. It seemed like it was dragging slightly, and very stiff.

Mira and Gleb were another pair that failed to wow the audience and judges. Mira definitely showed improvement and touched into her acting skills for the stage, but the overall dance still didn’t match up with some others.

Adrian and Britt were also lackluster. Britt is an amazing dancer and choreographer, however, their dance just wasn’t memorable.

Harry and Rylee upped the intensity this week, but the dancing was still lacking overall.

Lele and Brandon did very well this week compared to others. However, Lele’s past performance has been incredibly dynamic, and this week her nerves seemed present the first time and the dance had some bumps.

There was also some consistent underscoring this week, especially from Derek Hough, but also from Bruno Tonioli.

Mauricio and Emma showed great improvement from Latin Night, where Mauricio lost his place, yet their scores didn’t reflect that. He was clean and sharp, and while he may have lacked some sparkle, that didn’t warrant how low his scores were.

Charity and Artem had a great performance, as well as Xochitl and Val, and they could’ve both easily gotten one more point especially when you look at their dances compared to those right below them on the leaderboard.

The true stars of this episode were Jason and Daniella, and Ariana and Pasha, who both tied at the top of the leaderboard.

Jason and Daniella were incredibly dynamic and it was hard to keep your eyes away from them. Jason is a great dancer, but Daniella truly shines and her incredible dancing only elevates him. Their choreography is also consistently more exciting and adventurous, not just relying on technique or performance.

Ariana and Pasha killed the quickstep this week. Their chemistry on stage was fantastic, they had amazing liveliness and the choreography was clean and executed well. Ariana bounced back from lower scores last week.

The couple eliminated was Tyson and Jenna. It wasn’t all too surprising, as they fell at the bottom of the leaderboard and lacked some of the refinement other couples have developed.