DWTS Season 11 – Post Media After The Finale
The DWTS fun continues. First up, Erin Andrews was interviewed about the finale this week by Movie Line. She discusses the judges’ weird scoring, Jennifer Grey’s pain tolerance, and the best moments of the season. Here is a take.
Did you think Bristol stood a shot of winning throughout the episode?I didn’t know because of the way it had gone all season. It was so unpredictable. The only thing I thought that was very telling was just how far apart the scores were. Jennifer had really separated herself and I was just thinking to myself, I remember sitting in the audience after I got the boot last year — I remember Evan was probably five points away from Nicole, and I was sitting next to Cheryl [Burke] and she was like, “It’s too much. He’s not going to be able to make it up; Nicole’s going to win.” I remember looking at Kyle and Bristol’s scores and thinking, “It’s too much of a lead. I don’t think Kyle’s going to win and I don’t think Bristol’s popularity votes will matter.” But then I kept saying to myself, “It can’t be this predictable, right? It can’t be this predictable. Something’s going to happen.” So I wasn’t surprised Bristol got there. In all honesty, of all the dancers left, I think third was the best spot for her. I don’t think she danced better than Kyle or Jennifer, but I congratulate her and think third place was a huge accomplishment for her.
Watching Kyle’s freestyle, I thought, “This is something Erin will love.”I loved it. I just really love his personality and was cheering for him. The one thing I will say about Kyle in the finale — I don’t agree with his scores. I don’t think he was scored correctly at all. I thought a lot of the stuff he did in the finale was right up there with Jennifer. I do agree with Jennifer’s scores though; I thought hers were perfect. But I don’t think he was scored high enough. That bothered me.
I thought the scoring was downright mysterious. Bristol was scoring straight 9s again? What?Oh, her freestyle? She got better scores on her freestyle than I did. I said, “Wow. That’s amazing.” It’s very interesting. I would love to know from the judges where they were coming from with the scoring. Even last night, the dances they did — Kyle got an 8 from Len, and Bristol got a 9 from Len. I was just curious where he was coming from. But that’s part of the whole thing; the [producers] don’t hold the judges accountable. They don’t need to explain their scores. I just don’t think Kyle was scored high enough.
There was plenty of ridiculousness in the finale. Any particularly cuckoo moments you liked most?I thought the finalists didn’t have any ridiculous moments, but I thought the skits were hysterical. I thought the David Hasselhoff thing was great. Nothing else struck me as, “Oh my gosh, this is ridiculous.” I did love the part — once I figured it out — the watermelon thing with Jennifer Grey. I thought it was perfect. “I carried a watermelon.” That came up again and again in my mind. I loved that Kyle and Lacey did the Tootsie Roll. It was phenomenal. He’s so stinkin’ cute. I think if anything, I’m bummed out. I mean, I’m happy with Jennifer winning, and I thought she was phenomenal — particularly for someone who ruptured her disc? That must’ve been some major drugs she was on. My dad has two herniated discs in his back, and he said, “Ruptured discs? How do you even walk right now?” I give her kudos for everything she put her body through. I just don’t think the scoring difference between her and Kyle should’ve been as great as it was. But I don’t mean to take the mirror ball trophy away from her — she was phenomenal.
Mark updated his blog on USA Today. Here are his thoughts on the finale. He also speaks of his future plans which you can read more on at the link.
I think I’m ready to sleep. For a week!
After the exhaustive 14 weeks of the show, which included not one day off, I didn’t know what to do with myself on Thanksgiving. Fortunately, I was able to sleep in and spend the day with family and friends. After a nice meal, I went to see a movie with my mom and Derek (Hough). It’s great to have the time again to spend with family!
The whirlwind of Tuesday night’s finale lasted for 24 hours. Immediately following the end of the show, we did press in the ballroom. Then we hopped a plane for a red-eye flight to New York. As you can imagine, we really didn’t sleep much on the plane because of the excitement. With bloodshot eyes, we arrived and went directly to Good Morning America for our live segment. That was followed up by a visit on The View, then straight back to the airport to fly back home. I was only gone for 21 hours. That’s crazy!
When I was headed to the airport in NYC, I said goodbye to Bristol. It played out like a sad movie scene: The door closed to the car and she placed her hand on the window after we waved goodbye, and the car sped away with me looking back, Bristol getting smaller and disappearing in the horizon.
Sure that’s a little dramatic, but I’m really going to miss my time with Bristol. It’s not possible to live and experience what we went through and not remain close or miss each other afterward. This really was the most memorable season for me and I’m sad that it’s over.
Mark also posted this fun picture of himself and Derek for their “annual Christmas card noting how many championships their extended family has to its name”. He also posted a picture of his Mom, Shirley (who has helped 9 of the current DWTS pros). Be sure to see it too at the link.
Speaking of pictures, here’s one Brandy posted on her twitter of her and Maks where she said, “You will forever be my champion!! Love you so much:) ” (a little “awww” moment there 🙂 )
Zap2it has a fun Photo Gallery up of all the best and worst moments on the show this year. Be sure to see it HERE !!!
Jennifer was also interview by Zap2it. Here is take of her talking about her injuries this week before showtime.
“I think it might have been one of those flips or kicks or splits,” Grey says, with a blue icepack slid behind her tasseled pants. “When you dance with a 25-year-old, it’s a risk you take.”
But now that show is over, so is any anxiety over the toll on her body. Thanking Derek, her family and the fans, Grey is quick to point out the small group who really kept her in the game. “My doctors kept putting me together,” she says.
Looking back on the experience, Grey says that, win or lose, she got what she wanted from the series. “The destination for me was the journey,” she says, “and in the truest since of the word, this journey was the gift… It’s so much fun, glamour and sillyniess. It’s a great gift to be part of a show that gives people so much joy.”
Lastly, don’t miss seeing this funny skif of Tom Bergeron on the Jimmy Kimmel Show this week if you missed it. “The Burden of being Tom Bergeron”. lol ;
Ok, that is all for now! Dance the day or night away whichever is best!! 😉 xxx
I said it under another article and I still believe the dancers are training too hard. Not to mention, more injuries and bad tempers when the body is so fatigued. There should be at least one day when practice studios are closed. Let the mind and body relax; let the routines sink in. Even pro sports teams don’t go full out one day after another.
Erin comes off bitter. I thought Kyle was cute too but what he did, the tootsee roll, does not compare to the lifts Jennifer pulled off in her freestyle. His scores were fine. I don’t think his scores should have been closer to Jennifer’s at all. It was Bristol who was overscored. Erin was rooting for Kyle so that is her bias but she still sounds bitter that her bestie Evan lost to Nicole last season. Also that Maks has not won but Derek has won three times. Erin seems bitter.
I got the same impression, John. I think she means well, but a lot of it comes off wrong. I also thought Kyle’s scores were fine, maybe even a little higher than they should have been (but I was alright with that). Bristol was overscored, and I think there should have been a wider spread between them, so I’ll agree that his scores were wrong for that reason, but I don’t think he should have been scored closer to Jennifer. Kyle probably could have won, especially if Bristol was able to outlast a number of better dancers with higher scores.
@ Bruce – I agree. In the early days of the show they never used to train that hard. Lisa Rinna said it was 2-3 hours a day, and not daily. Now it’s like 8-12 hours a day, 7 days a week. There has to be a happy medium out there somewhere.
@John – Those were my thoughts exactly when I read the article.
Agree with what everyone has said – both about Erin and the training. My gosh…. why so many hours??!! I thought last season they put limits? Am I remembering wrong?
If you’ll indulge me, though, I’d like to take one moment to vent. I was very unimpressed with Maks’ reaction to the finale. He tweeted something about the season finally being over… not a mention of the finalists, no congratulations to any of them in any way – unlike the other pros.
In an interview (was it Extra?) he said “My winner already went home… so…. ”
I mean, he’s just been coming off as quite a bitter man. And I’m sad about it because I liked him before this season.
I hope he gets whatever is his issue sorted out so I can like him again. And remember… this is my own opinion. Nobody needs to agree.
@christy Maks said that? What a poor sport. Erin probably means well but it does come off bitter. Maks isn’t hiding anything. He needs to take some time off from this show. Maybe he should think about why Derek has won three times. Derek knows what people want in a freestyle. He picks a song that gets the audience involved, he includes complicated lifts and fun dancing. Kym Johnson did the same thing and Mark did that with Shawn and Kristi.
Erin keeps saying how the dancing was on another level last season and she is right. But it wasn’t just Nicole. Last year had three ringers. Erin danced, Evan is a skater and Nicole is a singer. Erin would have more credibility with me if she would stop just pointing out Nicole’s dance background but admit her own.
I’ve never got the feeling Maks was bitter. But, if he was, I really didn’t blame him for feeling that way with how him and Brandy were eliminated unfairly from the show. Imo, he’s made his peace with it (that’s why we didn’t see a Free style on the last night) and he’s fine with all the pros. They seemed to be having a lot of fun during the GMA show (when he danced with Robin Roberts). Maybe instead of congradulating them on twitter, he did it in person. So, I wouldn’t base a lot of judgement on twitter. He really hasn’t been much on twitter anyway since he was flying back and forth from one side of the country to the next and now he’s spending time getting caught up with his studios, with his dog, and his family.
Brandy and Maks were not unfairly eliminated. They just didn’t have enough votes. It is about unfair edits either. Jennifer also had an unfair edit focused on her injuries and crying. Brandy and Maks just didn’t have as many viewer votes as Marie. Derek wasn’t bitter when Marie outlasted them in season 5. Neither was Mark or Edyta who also got eliminated before Marie. The way he spoke and wrote on twitter, it seems like he is not over their elimination. I don’t think Brandy’s freestyle would have been that great anyway.
Erin came off bitter when she was ON the show, let alone right now. Jealous. She seems to make a big distinction between her own dance background and Nicole’s – they both have one and Nicole admitted hers. Erin? Not so much. Sorry, Erin, even without some dance classes, Nicole would still be better than you. Frankly, I think the way she talked about Nicole as a “trained” dancer was insulting to all the actual professional dancers on the show. So, Nicole’s dance classes are equal to the years of training at these professionals have??
Maks is Maks – he had an initial bad reaction but he seems to have gotten over it.