DWTS Season 12 Gossip and Innuendo – LeAnn Rimes
I saw this the other day and ignored it because I thought it was likely just more crap. LeAnn is a bit too big for the show – or she was. LeAnn says she was asked three times, including (or in addition to) this season. I don’t think I believe LeAnn here. For one thing, she implies that Benji Schwimmer is on the show and that she would only do it if he did it. Really?? I hope like hell they don’t hire Benji to get LeAnn. A DWTS sans Derek I can deal with. A DWTS WITH Benji? Not so much. I didn’t think he was a ballroom dancer, in any case.
Has she had some plastic surgery? She looks so different. Anyway, I hope it’s not true about Benji. Not sure I like the idea of her dancing on the show either. But, hey, I thought the same for Kyle last year and I really ended up enjoying him.
Sorry, but I don’t like Leann Rimes. She is a homewrecker to the nth degree. Eddie Cibrian and his ex-wife had just adopted a baby when Leann entered the picture and she was married too. From what I know about Benji, he has always been described as only a swing dancer. Lacey has been described as both swing and latin. She likes/wants Benji because he is her artistic director according to wiki. Lacey is already lacking in her ballroom technique. I wouldn’t want to add another Schwimmer knowing that their expertise is not in ballroom. However, I do think Benji is a great dancer. Just not the type of pro dancer that should be on DWTS.
LeAnn Rimes is one of my favorite singers! (Geez, I say that about everyone don’t I?) I really love her music. I would love her to be on the show but with Benji? Nah. I can barely stand Lacey and then add Benji? No thamk you, I’ll pass
Sorry that was no thaNk you! Wow, how did I misspell that? I’m embarrassed!
i’d rather see her paired with Maks.
Time for an emphatic eye roll. I agree with you totally Heidi – I think she’s lying through her teeth here. Asked THREE times to do the show? Doubt it. Maybe twice, tops, before they looked elsewhere. The whole scandal between her & Eddie Cibrian may have been a deterrent – hell, if CSI: Miami can give Eddie the boot for being so unpopular with viewers, it wouldn’t surprise me if it also kept Leann off DWTS. And I don’t think TPTB have any intention of bringing Benji on board – you are correct, he is not a Latin dancer, and if he’s so wrapped up being Leann’s creative director, he likely doesn’t have time for DWTS. One Schwimmer is plenty – and even her Latin is iffy. Don’t get me started on her ballroom…yeeeesh.
I don’t know how good Leann would be on the show, anyway…check out this video from her performance of “Swingin'” on AGT this summer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOMjhcjpV6A
Yes, that is Benji with the chili bowl haircut cheesing up there with the rest of the dancers. Oh, and Kherington Payne too, with a far-larger-than-necessary blonde bouffant. I don’t know that this performance could have gotten any more annoying. And I’m apparently not the only one that thought so – I remember The Soup having a heyday with this one. 🙂
I am not a fan of LeAnn Rimes. I used to like her music, and still will listen occassionally, but like someone else said, she’s a homewrecker and that I can not stand. I know next do nothing about Benji Schwimmer as I don’t watch SYTYCD, but I do not want a new face at the expense of Jonathan or Damien coming on to replace Derek. Uh-uh. Go away LeAnn
I always thought Lacey rocked the latin dances actually. her energy in those are amazing. She did a really good tango with lance, a great paso with the iron chef guy (can’t remeber the name lol), and a great tango with kyle (i purposley left out any dances with stevo since he really overstayed his welcome and should have been gone week one….im a big “wildboys” and “Jackass” fan and thats more his speed not anything like dwts). As for Benji, I agree and disagree at hte same time. i cannot imagine him choreographing any ballrom dances but I really think they should get him to choerograph the big group number the stars and their partners do at the midpoint of competiton. I remeber that the cotton eye joe one, the hustle one, and i think the two swing ones were choreographed by others. Swing and fast pacd dances is what Benji is good at so that seems perfect 4 him.
i know some of leeann’s music and definately remeber the performace on AGT. The Soup loved that clip lol. She can really sing but dancing not so much lol.
@vin – I think Benji has choreographed on the show before – once during the Brad Paisley performance when he danced with Lacey, and once during some other performance when he danced with swinger Torrie Smith. He might be ok choreographing the big group number – if they brought it back. I doubt they will, though – they seem pretty happy with the marathon dance & team dances, which seem to have replaced the group number.
As for Lacey’s dances – I agree that the energy and entertainment value are there, but man, some of her technique is downright AWFUL. Some of her footwork is just not clean, and the fact that her legs aren’t quite as long as some of the other female pros really draws attention to any mistakes she makes. Her hold & frame in the ballroom dances is atrocious – you could drive a boat show between her and her partner, oftentimes! I know a lot of people loved her “Disturbia” tango with Lance, but as creative as it was, the execution was awful. Her foxtrots also really bother me – they seem dreadfully slow, and she seems to lead with her butt 🙂 Overall, she has great energy & creativity – but she is by far the weakest female pro in terms of technique. Karina, on the other hand, has fantastic technique, but somewhat lacks the creativity aspect. Who has been more successful on the show thus far? Lacey. So I guess it’s okay that Lacey is more style than substance. Maybe it’s just people with a dance background that seem bothered by her.
“Maybe it’s just people with a dance background that seem bothered by her.”
You may be right, Courtney. I don’t have a dance background other than I love to watch it. I know a little bit abut technique, but I think that’s only through years of watching DWTS, SYTYCD, SYTYCD Canada etc… The thing is, I believe, folks like me realise that Lacey’s (for example) technique in some things doesn’t measure up to a Karina or an Anna, but we don’t give it as much weight as folks with a dance background such as yourself might, when ‘judging’ a performance. For me, if the performance makes me smile, makes me happy, makes me tear up… in other words, if I feel the emotion and it looks good… I really don’t notice or care much if there were a couple of not quite on moves or executions. Sometimes, I wouldn’t even know unless the judges point it out – and God knows. So sometimes Lacey is a hot mess, yes, but sometimes her energy and sense of fun and the way she brings both out of her partner is what I enjoy about her. I guess if I were looking for perfection, I’d search out the ballroom competition shows on PBS with more regularity. (Do they even broadcast them anymore? I actually would be interested in catching them. *g*)
@Evaine – Everyone enjoys and watches the show for different reasons. I guess it’s hard for me at times to put aside my dance background & enjoy some of the dances for their entertainment value alone. Lacey is great at what she does, no doubt, and it works for her just fine on the show – I just look at other dancers on the show (namely Derek, Maks, Anna, & Chelsie) and I see that they’re also able to crank out entertaining routines without sacrificing technique. I can see why Len gets frustrated with her from time to time – great, high-energy routines, but lacking fundamental ballroom basics. I just hope that a lot of viewers realize that most of what they see on DWTS is not “real” ballroom – it’s a fluffed-up, crowd-pleasing cousin of the real thing. My boyfriend is a dance teacher, and one thing he struggles with is having new students come in “wanting to dance like they do on DWTS & SYTYCD”. They get a bit disappointed when he tries to start with the basics, instead of giving them flashy, exciting routines outright. One student even stopped mid-tango and said to him “This is boring. Can’t we do something like Lacey & Kyle’s tango on DWTS?” I guess it’s just a matter of real ballroom vs. “pretend” ballroom.
Speaking of real ballroom – yes, America’s Ballroom Challenge is the gold standard of actual ballroom dancing on television. Unfortunately, when the economy tanked in ’09, PBS simply couldn’t scrape together the funding and there hasn’t been a new show since. Shame 🙁 However, they sometimes do rerun old episodes – you might try checking your local listings to see if any are coming up. You can also look on YouTube – some people have clips of specific dances, while others have the entire show, just broken down into chapters. You can catch some of the pros from DWTS on there during their dancing heyday – namely Tony, Anna, Jonathan, Elena, Inna, & Jesse. It’s definitely something to check out to really get a feel for what some of these dances should look like in terms of technique.
Oh yes, Youtube and I are GREAT friends. *g* I have many clips bookmarked (okay, it’s mostly Maks clips, but you know I’m a huge Maks fan. *g*)
I imagine that your boyfriend and many teachers are feeling the same frustration. It never fails to amaze me how people expect to do anything immediately well without learning the basics.
And I might be in the minority, but I often appreciate Len’s “Dancemaster” critiques. I’ve learned a lot from him. Sometimes he gets a little too cantankerous for me, but the show definitely needs someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. When he goes in to coach one of the final three couples, he’s often the one that makes the most sense and offers the most useful advice.
As much as Lacey has exceled on the show ( I can see you’r point about her technique sometimes during her performances for sure), Karina has something Lacey doesn’t: A more wider reputation. She has dvds, has been on a lot of shows, etc. Perdoanlly my fav. is the fact they used her name on Family Guy in an episode last season. link for wikipedia page is attached lol. She has gotten more press than Lacey which is better in my opinion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Stewie_Go
Personally*
I saw Leann at the lastest awards show and she was so skinny that she looked anorexic. I would be afraid they would break her in half! I like to watch Benji dance (loved the performance with Lacey to Brad Paisley’s “Ticks” song!) but he is not a ballroom dancer so I’m not sure how I’d feel about him being on the show(I think maybe he did dance latin when he was a kid but moved to all swing after that). But then again, two of the judges arent ballroom dancers either so what difference would it make in the long run I suppose. Its all about ratings anyway, not about doing ballroom properly. (sigh)
I agree that Benji doesn’t seem qualified to be on DWTS. Although, I love him doing swing and really love when he just freestyles it with someone. Although, Benji and Heidi’s black mambo is one of my favorite dances ever. Now Heidi (Benji and Lacey’s cousin) is someone I’d love to see on the show. She’s what started all these blogs anyway, so thus my bias.
Although, the best reason for Benji to be a pro on the show is how much Heidi dislikes him. Unless she takes the season off because of it, then we’d all miss out on the cheesecake.
Benji has not a got a lot of experience in ballroom, odd choice if true. He has got Latin experience though.
I’m not the slightest bit worried about Benji being ask to be a pro on DWTS (now just watch, because I said that, he will end up on the show just to spite me!). There’s plenty of more qualified pros waiting in the wings, he’s busy, and he doesn’t have the professional street cred that all of the other pros do. One thing I do have to credit TPTB for is choosing pros that are decorated – each of the pros on the show has at least one amateur or professional ballroom title under their belts. Benji has multiple swing titles, but none in Latin or ballroom.
As for Heidi going apesh*t if Benji does the show – she won’t be the only one. The guy reminds me of the kid on the cover of Mad Magazine. I don’t know if I could hold my tongue for the cheesecake…;-)
Lacey’s lack of technique is bad enough, I don’t want to see Benji on the show. However, I can’t picture him being asked to join the show as a pro, not even to get LeAnn Rimes to do it. She’s put a lot of people off recently, and I don’t see ABC dying to get her, and fulfilling her every wish to do so.
I’m not bothered by the idea of Leann Rimes being on the show. Since I’m not privy, nore do I want to be, to what really happened I’m not going to throw any stones. Hopefully, all parties will be able to put it behind them and move on with some hard learned life lessons.
I don’t think that Leann has been TOO BIG for DWTS ever and certainly not now. And I don’t think anyone who has been asked to participate on the show has had the clout to bring in their own pro–especially one who doesn’t have enough ballroom training.
I’m always surprised by the comments that dance teachers get upset when students want to learn to dance like they do on DWTS. I’d think that the vast majority of people that take dance lessons do it for fun and exercise and not with any intention of going pro and making a career of it.
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I said at the close of season 11 that I would not be surprised if LeAnn Rimes was in the next season. I personally don’t care for her, her music, or her personal choices – but I did feel that she was a good fit for the show given that her popularity has waned and her need to clean up her image. I won’t miss her not being there but I won’t be surprised if she ends up on the show someday.
@Cori – I agree about whatever is going on in Leann’s private life – I’ve always been aversed to the phrase “homewrecker”, because I do think it takes 2 to tango and a home that’s prone to wrecking is probably not so sturdy to begin with, but aside from that, I think her flippant attitude is just a bit off-putting. Bringing her own pro? Asked 3 times but she keeps turning them down? Just a bit presumptuous to me.
As for dance teachers being “upset” about students wanting to dance like they do on TV – it’s not so much the fact that they want to dance that way, but that they EXPECT to dance that way right off the bat. Getting to a skill level where one is able to execute routines like that without looking like a complete fool takes time & effort, just like excelling at any other sport takes time & effort. Dance teachers that take pride in their work, and they don’t want to throw together some haphazard routine for their students to go out and embarass themselves with. It reflects poorly on them. Most want to give their students a good foundation and understanding of the basics before they teach them more difficult, flashy moves. You have to crawl before you can walk. And a lot of the routines you see on DWTS are not really conducive to either social or competitive dancing – too much open work, too many improvised steps. They could work as a showcase routine, but that’s about it. As for motivations for learning how to dance – everyone has their reasons, but not all of them are in it casually & for fun. My boyfriend has quite a few students that compete as amateurs, and I know a few couples that have started out dancing “just for fun”, then started competing, then decided to go pro. Whatever a student’s motivation is for taking up ballroom dancing (or any dancing, for that matter), I think they should be prepared to do the work and gradually improve, rather than just expecting to dance at a high level right off the bat.
” EXPECT”
Gottcha now Courtney thanks.
I agree–not sure why anyone would be foolish enough to think that they could learn to dance like they do on DWTS without many many hours of practice. Wishful thinking I guess. LOL
Courtney, thank you for pointing out Lacey’s ballroom. She does seem to lead with her rear and her hold is awful. Even worse when compared to other female pros. Benji might be worse but he would be fun to have leading a group dance.
Laugh it up, funny boy John – you want to test the theory of Heidi-free season?? 🙂 Just campaign to get Benji on board.
Or I could stay around and the Maks fans would be happy – because while Maks bugs me, I DESPISE Benji. 🙂
[…] Then she said “big things are ahead” and hopes we’ll join her for the ride. LeAnn Rimes -LeAnn said she’d do the show if Benji Schwimmer would. Lee Meriwether – Lee is tight lipped […]