Dancing with the Stars – The History of Judges Scores, Part 1
Obviously, season 11 made a lot of people crazy, what with all the good dancers that left before a much lesser dancer. I’ve said over and over that the judges scoring was at issue – too high for some, too low for others – but lets take a look at if that’s really the case or not…and if it was at all out of the ordinary. The question is – was Bristol scored in line with previous younger contestants with little dance ability?? Or was she given an easy ride?? I put it in the context of Bristol because of the uproar her continued presence on the show created – many claimed that either there was a huge voting block for her (already debunked that one, IMO) or the judges were much easier on her than they were on similar contestants in the past (me included).
This is going to be a series, because once I started I realized that it was likely going to be too large of a project to fit into one post. So, it will be broken down by season, starting with Season 5, and then there will be a summary post at the end. What I am doing is -re-watching the seasons, starting each at episode 5 in order to weed out the really pathetic people. 🙂 I’m watching with an eye to the judges – how they score, do they have patterns, how they behave toward the contestants. I expect to note other, related patterns – have they always had the same bits that annoy/please them? Do they have a favorite pro? And so on. What we all (me included) will have to remember is that even though this will have the appearance of a scientific study, it is still highly subjective. There is only so much a bunch of numbers can do for you – at some point, personal bias comes into play during the analysis (like it does during the judging). Not to mention that there isn’t likely to be enough data for scientific validity anyway. 🙂
Let’s start with the contestants and their scores for Season 5:
Season 5 Weekly Scores (Part I)
Celebrity | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 |
Helio | 23 (Rumba) | 28 (Cha Cha) | 25 (Tango) | 27 (Paso Doble) |
28 (Samba) | 30 (Quickstep) | |||
Mel B | 29 (Samba) | 30 (Rumba) | 24 (Foxtrot) | 27 (Tango) |
30 (Paso Doble) | 29 (Mambo) | |||
Marie | 21 (Samba) | 23 (Paso) | 28 (Quickstep) | 24 (Rumba) |
24 (Cha Cha) | 25 (Jive) | |||
Jennie | 25 (Samba) | 27 (Mambo) | 25 (V. Waltz) | 24 (Jive) |
28 (Rumba) | 26 (Foxtrot) | |||
Cameron | 26 (Rumba) | 25 (Samba) | 24 (Quickstep) | 27 (V. Waltz) |
27 (Jive) | 24 (Cha Cha) | |||
Jane | 26 (Rumba) | 22 (Jive) | 24 (Quickstep) | |
26 (Cha Cha) | ||||
Sabrina | 28 (Rumba) | 25 (Foxtrot) | ||
Mark | 21 (Samba) |
Season 5 Weekly Scores (Part II)
Celebrity | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week Finale |
Helio | 30 (Foxtrot) | 25 (Jive) | 30 (Quickstep) |
30 (Cha Cha) | 29 (Freestyle) | ||
Mel B | 30 (V. Waltz) | 28 (Cha Cha) | 30 (Mambo) |
30 (Paso Doble) | 27 (Freestyle) | ||
Marie | 29 (Quickstep) | 24 (Samba) | |
27 (Mambo) | 22 (Freestyle) | ||
Jennie | 28 (Tango) | ||
30 (Cha Cha) |
At the time this season originally aired, many thought that Marie was a much worse dancer than Jennie. While I’m inclined to agree that she was not as good, the life and entertainment value Marie brought to her dances is no small thing either. I think the thing that sticks in people’s minds is the dreaded doll dance and the fact that Marie’s retorts to the judges made her one of the most annoying contestants in memory. I would say that, by week 6, the quality of dancing was pretty high, even including Marie. Her dances were pretty up and down in terms of score, but she gave everything she did a lot of life – something Bristol never did.
Now the judging – my recollections that I voiced during season 11 were correct. The did tend to judge harder going into the semi-finals and they did appear to have a favorite – Mel B. By week:
– Week 5: The judges pretty much shredded Helio’s rumba and Len was pretty critical of Sabrina’s as well – over the top was his comment. Agreed. Mel B was in the bottom 2 the previous week, so she got a 29 on a Rumba that wasn’t as good as the one Edyta choreographed for Cameron – in my personal opinion. 😉 I was actually pretty surprised at how good Cameron and Edyta’s rumba actually was.
The problem with comparing Cameron and Mel is, of course, they are not the same gender – what is required in the rumba is different for each of them. Mel was the best dancer of the season, but I think the judges were a tad generous in the interest of keeping her out of the bottom 2 (and yes, it was a REAL bottom 2).
– Week 6: Nothing much of note, here, except the judges all comment on Sabrina’s Foxtrot as being too hard – which coincidentally has always been my comment about her and Mark’s partnership.
– Week 7: The judges on a “the finals are coming up you have to do better” kick – they said something of that sort to both Jane and Helio. They said Marie’s Cha Cha didn’t have enough content (and I would agree) and they were pretty critical of Mel’s first dance. You’ll note that most of the couples have one high scoring dance and one much lower scoring dance. Of course, it wouldn’t be DWTS if the judges weren’t erratic; Cameron noticeably missed steps in his Quickstep, yet got the same score as those who did NOT miss steps, namely Mel and Jane. For some reason, they were much too hard on Jennie’s Viennese Waltz.
– Week 8: In week 8 I got the feeling that the judges had figured out who they wanted in the final two – Mel and Helio. Now, Mel and Helio WERE awesome, but once they made their decision it seemed they judged accordingly, instead of judging the actual dances. That is, at least one of them played spoiler on the other couples. It is very hard to objectively look at these dances and say the judges were unfair – so remember, these are my feelings from watching the show a long time after they originally aired. This is not commentary disparaging Mel or Helio – I loved both of them and think they, at the end, got scores they deserved. What I’m saying is that I think the judges were harder on those they didn’t see as good enough for the finale – regardless of how they actually danced.
Anyway, Marie’s scores were fair, although I think Len overscored her on her Jive. All three agreed she didn’t have enough content on her first dance and Carrie and Bruno said the same for her Jive. While I agreed with the comment Jennie got about her posture not being great, I thought a 24 was too low. Then, some of you may remember she did a lovely Foxtrot and Bruno, of all people, said he wanted to be “dazzled” and he wasn’t. Ridiculous. They said Cameron’s Cha Cha was too “hard and stiff” – maybe so, but a 24? You can see they are indeed getting much tougher because it’s later in the competition – whether you agree with them or not.
– Week 9: Well, I guess if you actually make it to the semi-finals, they let up a little bit. 🙂 Why do I say that? Well, all the judges comment on Marie messing up her footwork, yet she gets a 27 on that dance. Yet, Carrie Ann says she doesn’t see a connection between Jennie and Derek – who danced perfectly otherwise, and she gets a 28. Oookay. I do think the judges also overscored Marie on her first dance. Looking at the scores, it sure seems to me that they ranked the dancers. One part of me doesn’t have a problem with that – except I don’t see as much of a gap between Helio and Jennie as they do, and I see MORE of a gap between Jennie and Marie than what they actually scored.
– Week 10: And Marie’s scores plummet. Of course, that doll dance was a nightmare and the 22 was being kind, but they also scored her Samba very low. I don’t disagree with that in the finals. If you’re in the finals you have to BRING it. I think they underscored Helio’s first dance by a point and overscored Mel’s freestyle by a point or two – that thing was BORING. But really – the writing is on the wall here in terms of the judging. I don’t think they are picking a favorite that was undeserving in the slightest. No storyboarding here. 🙂
Season 5, in Summary: Well, they DID comment on the fact that they were scoring harder later in the season. Several stars were victims of this, including the final 2. So, when did this change – and do you agree it did change?? Other than that, I didn’t see anything seriously out of order with the judging, beyond the occasional wacky call. I will say that the worst dancer in the final 6, Marie (IMO) was a MUCH better dancer than I remember and easily a more entertaining/better dancer than Bristol – yet she was scored tougher than Bristol.
Random Observations:
- Up until Week 7, they did a real “bottom two” every week. I think the reason they didn’t do a bottom two in the 7th week is because it was the week Marie’s father passed away – and she was in the bottom two but safe. After that, they realized they liked the drama of “in jeopardy” better than showing a real bottom two. And thus endeth my conspiracy theory for Season 5. 🙂
- Late weeks formula was to do the couples choice of Latin and Ballroom for the Semi-Final. Then in week 10 it was Judges Choice, Freestyle and then the final dance of the final 2’s choice.
- I actually agreed with the judges most of the time. This will likely be significant later on.
- I think Mel B might have been the best of all of Maks’ partners. I like how she handled him and how they were with each other.
- The weeks where there were two dances, they still only had ONE package – this was before they got greedy and felt the need to keep the show at 2 hours no matter how many contestants there were. 🙂
- Cameron and Edyta dance a Viennese Waltz to the theme from Harry Potter in Week 8; this makes me realize that the crazy ass songs for certain dances is not a recent thing. Edyta’s doing? Or the producers? In more recent seasons – the producers.
- In week 10, Maks wastes quite a few bars with Mel B in the audience – so when Courtney and I were commenting on it in recent seasons, it was not a recent phenomenon. 🙂
I’m looking forward to this Heidi, a really nice post that will hopefully put an old muskett of a controversy to rest. I do agree Marie was the worst of the final 6, and I was super upset she beat Jennie out of the finals (who should’ve been there definintely), but Marie was a great entertainer and was far better than Bristol IMO. The judging overall in Season 5 was pretty fair I thought too, though I thought they shreded Helio’s rumba a little too much, Jennie’s VW was a bit underscored, and I think the gap between Marie and Jennie should’ve been bigger like you said.
What a great project. It will be interesting to read the results as it goes along – I’ve always thought they’ve gotten easier on the scoring in recent seasons – and spend a lot less time providing feedback, going for the ‘soundbite’ instead (but that is tough to chart…).
Will look forward to the rest of the seasons….
I am looking forward to the upcoming parts of this analysis; very insightful part 1 and inspired me to look again at some of these dances as well. On thing that I feel changed in Season 11 was the harder scoring later in the season. (example – Jennifer’s jive week 2 gets 24 – Bristol’s jive week 10 gets 27 for a clearly inferior dance)
Great job and thanks for taking this on.
Thank you so much for doing this Heidi! You are taking me down memory lane. Season 5 was one of my favorite seasons ever. I was 100% Team Jennie that time although I did LOVE Sabrina and Mel B. As much as I hate to admit it, yes, Mel’s freestyle was Boring with a capital B. But for some reason in my delusional head I thought that America would remember her dances throughout the season and she would come out victorious…WRONG. It was here that I learned that everything goes out the door and the freestyle truly is what counts…although it still didn’t REALLY hit me until Season 9 when Mya and Dmitry screwed up and Donny won. Bummer BUT I do have a happy ending in Season 10 with Houghzinger WOO HOO! Thanks again Heidi! Love this!
Great analysis Heidi, I’m looking forward for the other seasons analysis 🙂
I totally agree that Mel was the best of Maks’ partners – she was a good dancer, and I thought their personalities were a good match. I just have to wonder if they could have taken the MBT had they done something with a bit more pizazz for their freestyle. I know a lot of people seem to think that a couple’s progress throughout the season can trump a bad freestyle, but here’s one instance where it obviously didn’t. As for Mya – I don’t think she stood a snowball’s chance in hell in overtaking a voting juggernaut like Donny from day 1, but I don’t think that bizarre freestyle helped her much either. I still think Gilles could have gotten the necessary votes to beat Shawn had they not gone with a freestyle that featured Cheryl more than it did him. Freestyles are important, kids!
I think the judges comments in season 5 definitely illustrate that they’ll say one thing, then dish out a score that’s inconsistent with whatever they said. They point out Marie fouling up, then give her a 27. WTF. That’s what’s always pissed me off about some of the judges…the scores they give don’t often match up with the words that are coming out of their mouths. Always makes me wonder if they’re manipulating things a bit to either create suspense or the illusion that it’s “anyone’s game”.
Bristol getting a 27 on that second Jive was absolutely the most ridiculous scoring that I can recall on the show. I remember that as I was watching it I turned to my boyfriend and said “I hope they don’t give her three nine’s for that atrocious dance”. Of course they did 🙂 They were easy on her throughout the season but that was just ludicrous. Her feet barely left the ground. Oy!
There is no doubt that TPTB with Judges help (among other things) confuse and manipulate voters. Again, they can’t and don’t manipulate votes…just voters/viewers.
The question is WHY? Did they pimp Bristol to help Jennifer (the chosen one?) Maybe! I doubt Jennifer would have won if Brandy and Audrina were in the finals.
Another thing that is confusing is what Edyta said last season. She said she wasn’t pleased with her role on DWTS. Does role playing influence the outcome?
Great post and observations Heidi!!! I can’t wait to read what else you have in store for this series.
I agree about Mel and Maks. She wasn’t my favorite celeb to be paired with him. But, she had a special way with him for sure (and he with her). I felt like she was so strong at the end. A total powerhouse. The one thing they awlays lacked though (imo) was a certian chemistry. I just never felt it.
I agree too how the judges seem to change how they vote in the end. I know they try not to be biased. But, I think their bias shows at times each season.
As for Bristol, I was never more aggrivated with the judges as I was last Season. I hope we never see a repeat of that.
Here’s to your upcoming editions.
Jennifer, I don’t think the judges have an interest in Jennifer winning over Audrina OR Brandy – but they do want a good dancer to win. I do think Jennifer would still have won mainly because Maks doesn’t have a good history with Freestyles and, well, if Audrina were that popular she wouldn’t have gone home when she did. She didn’t get the votes, therefore she never would have won against Jennifer. Remember, the week she left she had like the second highest score. As for Brandy – I was very afraid she was going home the week she did because she was a non-entity in the show that night. Utterly forgettable. Not because she wasn’t a fantastic dancer – she was. But she was up against someone who had a few more fans (Bristol), a very likable kid (Kyle) and the ultimate in sentimental favorites who was paired with arguable the best male pro (Jennifer). Brandy faded into the woodwork in comparison.
So, the question is – if the judges had scored Bristol according to how she actually danced, would Brandy still be there?? That is impossible to tell. She didn’t have the votes to stick around with a few point lead on Bristol, so I don’t think there was any way she would have ended up beating Jennifer. If the final three would have been Brandy, Kyle and Jennifer, they likely would have given Jennifer and Brandy very similar scores, like they did Helio and Mel – then the voters decide. If Brandy can’t muster the votes to beat Bristol with a lead, I don’t see her beating Jennifer if they were tied. But the point of this post is, in any other season a dancer like Bristol would not have made it to the final 4, let alone the final 3. If Bristol had gone out when she should have would Jennifer still have won?? I think so, based soley on who Jennifer is and who her parter was. But we will never know. I think what we’re going to find (again) is that the judges don’t really understand the math of their own scoring.
I used to split my votes that season. I voted for Marie every week (my mother has all the osmond records and is a big fan of both of them and i even saw them when they were in NYC this winter). I used to vote for Cameron as well. He was my fav that season. I knew Helio was going to win the entire time since week one though. He really ignited the crowd/audience like no other contestant that season (only comparable to Kristi, Brooke, Joey Fatone, Nicole, and Shawn in this area of performance. These guys were the total package on the show).
Oh Heidi, but they do. They do know their comments influence people to vote or not for certain celebs more so than their scores. I hardly remember couples’ scores but I still might remember what CAI said to this or that couple during this or that dance.
They never told Bristol to “step it up” or “it’s time to hit the trail.” WHY?
Good questions Heidi. I’ve always thought Brandy and Maks would have made it to second place if it weren’t for Bristol making it (which still makes me mad thinking about it). But, they wouldn’t have beat Jennifer and Derek. Jennifer and Derek hit it over the top at the end and truly were the best dancers imo.
What are you talking about, Jennifer?? They do what? Their comments might influence people, but they praised Brandy and gave her good scores – and actually did the same for Bristol. So, your argument doesn’t really work. You can’t have it both ways – they never told Bristol to step it up. Well, they never did Brandy either. So….???? They didn’t talk Bristol UP and Brandy down – not at all. So where did the influence come in?? And there was plenty of praise for Jennifer too – so, if ALL the dancers were praised, then everything is equal in terms of “influence” if it exists. Which suggests that ALL viewers are mindless idiots, which I don’t agree with. Frankly, if there is ANY influence it will come from NEGATIVE comments, which will make people vote harder for their favorites. Well, they weren’t exactly slamming any of the contestants the last two weeks, and they should have. In fact, I think that they refrain from being overly negative toward someone like Bristol at that point in the competition for a variety of reasons – one is because there is some embarrassment when someone who’s not good makes it that far – you praise them so that the show looks better. Two is because being very harsh with Bristol would only make her fans vote HARDER. The SMART thing to do would be to find nice things to say, with a few minor critiques and then give her a real score she deserves. They think they are doing that, but they’re not.
Well, I go back and forth, Vogue. Brandy was 4 points ahead of Bristol and couldn’t beat her in the end. Which means that Bristol was getting a good number of votes MORE than Brandy was – at least 17,600 – but we don’t have a clue as to how many. We can’t honestly say that if Bristol had been given a lower score she wouldn’t still have beaten Brandy. Bristol got a 27 on her first dance and a 26 on her second. At the time the show aired I wrote that I thought Kyle was way over scored and that Bristol was overscored on only her second dance. So, if they had given her a 24 (that I thought she deserved) instead would Brandy have made it?? Who knows?
I have to think, based on the way it played out, that if Bristol had been gone when she was supposed to be gone – like, week 5 – then Brandy MIGHT have gotten to second place. But it would always have been between Brandy and Kyle. I don’t see a scenario where Jennifer doesn’t win – they even gave her the worst packages in history and still she won. And she was only 2 points ahead of Kyle going into the final night.
If there’s any “manipulation” going on from the judges, I think it’s just to get people to watch & vote PERIOD, rather than for any particular contestant. How do they do this? By making the playing field look artificially level. Saying things like “It’s anyone’s game!” and giving scores that results in a suspiciously small points spread. It creates suspense & drama, and it keeps people watching & voting. They want a good dancer to win, I agree, but the bottom line for them is always ratings.
As for Brandy (or Audrina) winning over Jennifer – I don’t think it would have happened. If they couldn’t get the votes to overcome Bristol, I doubt they could have gotten the votes to overcome Jennifer, who was the runaway favorite. I think Brandy may have had a decent shot at 2nd place over Kyle had Bristol gone home instead, but I couldn’t see Audrina placing any better than 3rd. Jennifer, Brandy, & Kyle all had more entertainment value.
I would have to agree with you, i think Mel B is the best partner Maks has ever got, we can actually see that their chemistry is so great that they bring out the best in each other, for me, it’s really like tony and Melissa in Season 8. I love these partnerships.
“Cameron and Edyta dance a Viennese Waltz to the theme from Harry Potter in Week 8; this makes me realize that the crazy ass songs for certain dances is not a recent thing. Edyta’s doing? Or the producers? In more recent seasons – the producers.”
Are you kidding? Did you remember Cameron and Edyta’s Paso to Superman theme? that was a nightmare!
and the mess up of “mas que nada” as a mambo… =(
#sigh
I agree I think that Mel B was the best partner Maks had. That’s why he was so sure HE would win the throphy. I’ll never forget that interview to larry king show, when he was very indelicated to Helio…
=/
Carlos, that’s called Karma. 🙂
^^^^^^^^^
LOVE IT, Heidi!
true heidi… hehe
About judges being partial… IMO, the problem is: each one uses a lot of different points of view to score the competitors.
Ordinary Example: Len give a 5 to Mya’s V. Waltz. and a 8 to Kelly O’s.
Last season Carrie Ann was particularly incoherent and pro-Bristol.
Can’t remember which week, but she said something like she doesn’t use the same criterion to score the couples. For example, she would score Jen Grey based on her dance skills, but will score Bristol because of her development/growth.
I can’t buy it.
To me, DwtS is a competition of dance skills, entertainment and charisma.
That’s what I want see and why I vote. That’s why I voted for Helio and Apolo – that danced well and were very charismatic and entertainers -, or Warren and Kyle – that weren’t the best dancers but were so much fun to watch and very competent to dance.
I don’t take off the factor “dance”.
Thank you for doing this. It is very interesting and helps those of us who haven’t watched all the seasons get some background.
Thanks Jay – Part II hopefully coming soon. Part 1 took me far too long to write. Gotta do better.
I don’t know why negativity in regards to Bristol still continues nearly three months after the finale of Season 11.
While analysis of the judges scoring may be interesting, Bristol stayed not because of her scores, but because her fans (and devoted Mark fans like myself) voted hard to keep her in.
Yes, if the judges had created much more of a gap between her scores and the others’, it would have made it harder for her voters to overcome the difference. However, apparently, the judges and her fans don’t believe she danced that poorly to warrant such a gap; on the contrary, there are many who recognized the VAST improvement in her dancing and performing over the course of the season (compare her first cha cha and her finale cha cha), even if others don’t or won’t.
Mark and Bristol fans continue to miss the point – she was not worthy of 3rd place, no matter how much she improved. Keep spinning that “that’s what the show is all about” – that is utter bulls*&t. Much better dancers left before she did – period. Ask the judges after getting them drunk (because that’s the only way to get their true feelings) if they believe that Bristol was worthy of third place and you’d likely get a resounding NO. The judges DID in fact put a pretty sizable gap between Bristol and the others, but it was too little, too late. Look at her monkey dance and tell me that you can say with a straight face that it was worthy of the score it got. Point is – the judges were much easier on Bristol than they should have been. Probably for ratings. Then when they wanted her to go, it was too late.
No is questioning the fairness. Bristol’s fans voted for her for whatever reason. Even with improvement, she wasn’t third best. She did place higher than dancers better than her. It is like Marie who wasn’t the third best. I argue Helio wasn’t third best either that season. Looking at Cameron’s dances again, he was pretty decent and not worse than Helio. But Cameron lacked Helio’s charm in my eyes. Marie had entertainment and that is something she had over Bristol. Marie brought entertainment while Bristol didn’t. Don’t bring up she was not a performer. Lots of non-performers danced better than Bristol including Audrina her season and Brooke who won season 7.
Can’t wait for you to analyze Brooke Burke’s season. I always felt that Lance got underscored while Warren was overscored. Marie was a greater entertainer and really was one of the biggest stars that season. I actually remeber reading Helio was gonna do the show and was like “Who is he?” He really benefited dfrom winning the show. I wouldn’t mind any other race car drivers on the show on future seasons (I WOULD love to see Jeff Goron on the show 4 sure.) I’m surprised the Bristol debate/drama is still happening to be honest with you. I think people need to get over it…there is nothing anybody could do about it now that her season is over. Whil;e she overstayed her welcome, she always gave it 100% and seemed like a very nice person. In the end, (at least in my opinion) thats all that really matters. If I remeber correctly, even brandy defended Bristol at one point as well after Brandy was eliminated. If anything, Michael Bolton should be getting flack for his outburst not Bristol for lasting as long as she did because viewers voted for her.
No one is debating Bristol or her drama. Just discussing her participation on the show and her legacy on the show which includes her staying past better dancers in my eyes. People say the same whenever Marie is mentioned and some still complain about Donny winning. I don’t think Bristol being defended by others means much. That is DWTS and everyone. They all defended Kate Gosselin and Heather Mills. I also don’t think she is evil but I wouldn’t say a nice person. In one of her rehearsal footage, she went on about how she is not fake like other Hollywood types. That came off very judgmental to me. She also said she wanted to give a middle finger to everyone who hates her and her mother. I wouldn’t call that mature or nice.
John, THANK YOU for reiterating what Heidi & I have been saying this whole time – votes and scores aside, Bristol did not deserve 3rd place. It’s nothing personal, there’s no “negativity”, but it is somewhat of an anomaly that has not happened at any other time in the history of DWTS. Hence, I think it deserves further analysis. If the Bristol fans can’t handle a simple analysis, then I suggest they don’t read any more of this series.
I am still scratching my head at why some people think Bristol is untouchable when it comes to criticism – literally, some of her fans go absolutely apesh*t whenever anyone breathes one word about her that isn’t all sunshine & rainbows. Reminds me of the crazy “Leave Britney ALONE!!!!” guy from a few years back. Calm down, folks…
I’ve noticed on virtually EVERY site that mentions Bristol even the simplest statement will inflame her fans. I wonder if they are so sensitive because they have no answers as to why they are fans of this young girl. She’s just an average girl with no real exhibited talents or achievements of merit–yet. Why the hero worship?
And the claim that Bristol is to be admired for giving it 100% is a complete falsehood. She said on-air that she didn’t give her full efforts in rehearsals.
And claiming the story that she is just an innocent girl who didn’t even want to be famous is false as well. In aired interviews she said that she’d like to explore TV opportunities in the future.
She is a pretty girl who has been given special treatment and privileges. She can’t expect it all to be sunshine and roses. It isn’t mean nor is it unfair when people say that she stayed on DWTS far longer than her skill level should have allowed for.
Cori, I agree with you wholeheartedly on this one. You’ve pretty much summed up in one post what I have been saying ever since about the semifinal week of season 11 – that’s when this strange “Leave Bristol ALONE!!!” phenomenon seemed to begin. All of a sudden, at the slightest whisper of negativity towards Bristol, her fans were coming out of the woodwork telling us that Bristol was just some “innocent girl” that was “doing her best” and “should be commended for her effort & improvement”. My personal favorite was when they told us that we should “be ashamed of yourselves for picking on a poor teenage girl!” HA. Bristol signed up for DWTS knowing that it would make her the target of criticism, so I see no need to treat her with kid gloves and go easy on her, especially when she make judgemental statements herself in the media like the ones John mentioned above. There have been other, younger contestants (Cody Linley, Shawn Johnson) who’ve handled their time on the show without any sort of special treatment – and they did so with much more class than Bristol, IMO.
Courtney/Cori – it runs in that family. They sign up for things that put them in the public eye, but then cry the victim when people criticize them. Just imagine if Sarah got to be president – she would complain and whine every time someone LIKE HERSELF attacked her and then would quit office halfway through her first term. They can dish it out but they can’t take it. And the apple didn’t fall far from the tree on that one. I would pity Bristol, if she hadn’t turned into such a bitch there at the end.. And now she’s thinking of running for office……
People keep saying that Bristol did not “deserve” third place, that it’s “unfair” she got as far as she did or for her to get the scores she did, when actually…there is no fair or unfair. It’s a reality TV show where they never say to vote for the “best” dancer,” but instead actively encourage you to vote for the couple(s) you want to see return each week. Samantha/Brooke say that after EVERY couple each week in the competition. I guess they could give the top couples immunity from elimination, but the show doesn’t choose to do that.
Fans get naturally sensitive and defensive when their favorite competitor gets criticized or becomes a target of negativity because it implies that they are wrong or stupid to choose to support a particular person, when in fact, there is no right/wrong. Different people choose to vote for different reasons.
To bring it back to topic, the premise and/or catalyst for the in-depth analysis is Bristol. And while very detailed and thought-through, it DOES continue to shine a negative light on her, so you can’t blame the Bristol fans for getting all riled up.
Well, DWTS Fan, the actual POINT of the series is to see if the Judges changed their juding style in Bristol’s favor, with the end result her sticking around longer. But to say that she’ is the “premise” for it I think is rather simplistic. IF the judges were easier on her, score-wise, than ANY OTHER dancer of similar quality or if they changed the way they score such that it benefits her at the expense of other dancers, then no, that’s not fair. That’s life, that’s TV – but to CONTINUALLY try to claim that she had a big fanbase that made her stick around is disingenous in the extreme. If she had been given scores that ANY OTHER dancer would have recieved when wearing a monkey suit to dance, odds are extremely high that her fanbase could not have saved her. Period. You can’t just say “well people voted for the best dancer” – that’s just silly, but that’s what the show tries to sell all the time and what Bristol’s fans bought hook, line, and sinker. The judges scores count just as much and if they are giving her inflated scores, THEY are as much at fault for a poor dancer sticking around.
Of course, Bristol’s fans comment time after time after time with excuses like “she’s what the shows all about” or “she had the huge fanbase to save her and that’s what counts” and so on – it’s all bullshit excuses that shows that not only do they understand how the show works, but the don’t READ when someone tries to explain it to them. And since I just re-watched Seasons 5 and 6, I can say that the judges have changed how they score.
I think you missed the point of my beef with some Bristol fans, DWTSFan – they cannot accept any critiscism of her, even from a purely objective standpoint. As Heidi & I like to say, we’re “equal opportunity offenders” around here – we even have negative things to say about our favorite couples from time to time, and we can accept if other people don’t share our opinions. What I don’t tolerate is when some fans think a certain couple is above all reproach, and come out swinging at the slightest sign of negativity – and this is exactly what has happened in Bristol’s case. Bristol says that she wants to give everyone that didn’t believe in her the middle finger? Her fans claim she’s just a teenager, and isn’t responsible when things like that come out of her mouth. Bristol gives a lackluster performance in her rumba? She isn’t a “performer”, so we can’t expect her to really emote. Bristol misses steps in her jive? She’s under a lot of pressure and we should “give her a break”. Some of them literally have an excuse for EVERYTHING she does. And believe me, they can dish it out about other competitors – but try and say anything about Bristol? Then you “ought to be ashamed of yourself” and should “burn in hell” (actual quote from Twitter…some of her fans are real class acts). I invite anyone to feel free to intelligently disagree with me about anything I say about her – but when you try to call my own morality into question, and try to use flimsy excuses that basically absolve Bristol of any fault whatsoever? Then all bets are off. I’d do the same thing for any other contestant.