After years of coming in no further than third place, you knew it was just a matter of time before Tony Dovolani revealed a crack in his “nice guy” facade. Unfortunately for Kate Gosselin, she was at the receiving end of his blow up during last night’s episode of Dancing with the Stars.

Question is: Did she give him reason to lose his cool—or was he simply being an impatient teacher? Since we only got to see a portion of their rehearsal session last night, our snap judgments are simply being based on a just a few seconds of television.

In Tony’s defense, he is professional who has worked with countless dancers and students during his career. His experience has lead him to win a number of championships (outside the show). Dovolani also hasn’t established a reputation of being “difficult” (like, say, Maksim) and has worked (seemingly) well with his other ladies such as Marissa Jaret Winokur, Marie Osmond, Jane Seymour and Stacy Kiebler.

In Kate’s defense, she came into this show with a reputation she may never live down—whether it’s warranted or not. So, of course, if she has any problems learning the choreography - we assume she’s got to be the problem, right? Is she really lacking passion like Tony said last week, or could she simply lacking the entertainment gene? And if Buzz Aldrin can ask Ashly Costa to draw out the steps for him, why can’t Gosselin ask her instructor to come up with a new teaching method?

Luckily for Kate, Tony didn’t end up quitting on her - this time - like “a lot of people” in her life. But how much longer can these two last (assuming the fans even vote for them at all)? And who needs to start adjusting their attitude if they are going to make this partnership work?