SPOILERS!!! DWTS Season 14, Week 3 – Who Got the Boot??
Hold on to your hats, I’ve got a lot of complaining to do. Wait for it. 
First though…
Anyway, our second elimination is: Jack and Anna (sob)
Our mini scorecard reads as follows:
Heidi: I had a lot of trouble deciding, waffling between the bottom 5, but I finally decided on Gavin numerically…but I had a suspicion about Jaleel.
Courtney: Had trouble as well, but said Gavin as well, with Jack or Gladys in the possible next position.
Again they do a real live bottom two, with Gavin in the safe position of the bottom – what is UP with that??
But worst thing of all possible things…we get three weeks of the judges deciding who goes home out of the bottom two scorers. This is the biggest load of bull in the history of the show, worse than the winner take all cha cha. That was, at least, a one time thing. But now, for the next three weeks, the two low combined scorers will dance off in front of the judges and then the judges decide who is safe. So, even if William or Jaleel aren’t getting any votes or they dance like crap on the night, the will likely stick around…possibly over someone who danced very well. You better hope your favorite doesn’t end up in the bottom two against Katherine or William (or Sherri).
You know? Let the show WORK without freakin’ tinkering with it!! It works quite well. But one of their favorites isn’t getting the votes and they want to make sure he (or she) sticks around for at least three more weeks. At least if Derek and Maria go out the regular way, I will know that it’s the way the show works. It’s in the rules, that’s how it’s always been. But if Maria ends up in the bottom two against William and the piece of meat stays just due to the vagina vote?? That will piss. me. off. Is your favorite Sherri or Melissa or Gladys or Gavin?? Forget it. If, as I suspect, William or Katherine isn’t getting the votes, you guys are screwed.
The thing is, who ever they consider their favorite could be the low scorer (combined judges score and viewer votes) by a significant margin, yet will stay over someone who actually did quite well on the night and is doing well with the viewers. Someone like Sherri. Or Melissa.
My suggestion?? Vote like you’ve never voted before. If William and Katherine both end up in the bottom (unlikely due to judges scores on the front end) then Katherine will stay. MAYBE. Jesus.
WHAT?!?! When was this crap announced(not Jack and Anna, but how eliminations willl work). Is it a good idea to boycott DWTS??? I’d rather have a WTA dance each week, although it would either go to Willliam or Katherine each time. Although I HATE the idea of the judges picking who goes home, I wish it was done this week so Jack could stay.
Oh yeah, someone is NOT getting the votes. Most likely William or Katherine. The thing that bothers me about this is that the beauty of this show is that the Judges have their say, and WE THE VIEWERS HAVE OUR SAY! A Judges’ save takes away OUR VOTES. Let’s do this Menough fans! We can conquer!!!
It was announced by Tom right near the end of the show.
Did the couples have forewarning?? If not, this was a last minute thing due to voting. I bet none of them have a bottom two dance.
Heidi, I am so with you on this. There was a curse-fit in my house when Tom B announced this “Dancing Duel.” I am STUNNED! Clearly, an ABC employee or “hot piece of a**” isn’t getting the votes. My money’s on Roshon and William.
Like I said on Twitter, if the judges are just going to do this, then why have the viewers vote at all? Why not just let the judges decide the final 3 right now and send everyone else packing? It makes no sense!
They’re going to really start low-balling the fan favorites and continue with the ridiculous over-scoring of their favorites and if, God forbid, the “favorite” is in the bottom two… it’ll be just like you said. Buh-bye to Gladys, Melissa, Maria, etc. I have no faith in the Three Stooges to score fairly, especially CAI and Bruno.
RIDICULOUS!!!
Honestly, this move is ridiculous and hypocritical. If you’re going to pimp the show as viewer’s decide, then let the viewer’s decide. To me, this is the quickest way to turn people off. At least if their faves go now it’s not the show’s fault – they just didn’t get the votes. This “judges save” smacks of stacking the deck or rigging the show or whatever. I kind of hope this blows up in the producers’ faces and they stop messing with it.
So we know for sure we’ll end up with William, Katherine, Donald and Maria in the final four. Why bother to have 10 weeks of dancing??? Let’s just jump to the semi finals. We already know how it’s going to end up? Just take the voting public out of it and all the fun and anticipation too!
This is just all so sad!! It shouldn’t be Jack leaving. It should be Jaleel, Melissa, or Gavin. I hate surprise eliminations like this. Jack had such a beautiful heartfelt storyline too. I am just sick about this. So sad.
Isn’t it a new variation of the knock-out dance from season 9?
Except they have to dance at the same time this time…
But I agree about it being a stupic idea (and I’m not thrilled about the return of rock-week either)
Ahh, people were being all distracting and interruptive when that happened, which is the #1 way to tick me off. I hate it when my brother talks all loud while I’m watching DWTS, I miss nessecary information.
I totally agree and was guessing for TPTB to totally change the format at this stage has to mean William or Katherine is not getting the votes. The way William has been pimped I would put money on him staying if he ever ends up in the bottom two. If William or Katherine is in the bottom 2 the other couple leaves without a doubt.
Bleh I really don’t like this idea of saving the judges favorite (or, as they’ll probably market it, “the better dancer”). Didn’t they do that in Season 9 when they had a dance off and the judges chose the winner? And I remember I didn’t like it then either. Why don’t the judges just say, “if we don’t like the eliminated contestant, we’ll save him/her just because we feel like it”?
I suspect the people they are ‘protecting’ are the ones that always perform at the second half of the show. They tried to raise the votes by putting them at good running order, that didn’t work, so they do this ‘dancing duel’. My bets are on Katherine or/and William.
Also, it was sad to see Jack go. I guess that’s what happens when you have a season with no clear “bad” dancers and only good or decent ones.
Wow, and this is unbelievable about the judging. I haven’t watched the show yet and now I’m not sure I want to?
Wasn’t Jonathan and Anna’s dance beautiful? I’m so sad for Julia and Igor. I’ve seen them dance in person and on tv…they were one of my most favorite international standard couples. Their dance to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at Ohio Star Ball (on PBS as America’s Ballroom Challenge) was iconic. I knew they retired but I didnt know she was sick to the point of not having much time left. So sorry to hear that.
Wow, I can’t stand that idea. I agree, worse than the WTA Cha cha. At least with that, Chelsea deserved to be in the finals skill wise.
As pissed and upset as I would be if Maria, Katherine, or Roshon left before their time, if they left because they just simply had the lowest total, I would eventually accept it because that’s how the show is. Tptb have been playing favorites since Season 12 or so and it’s ridiculous. I hate seeing fantastic dancers go home early as much as the next guy, but seriously, if they go, that’s just unfortunately how the show is.
I will be especially pissed if they use this to save William, at least with Katherine, she deserves to stay over most of the others and has the skills to back it up. William deserves to stay over 2 or maybe 3 skill wise, that’s it, and I still want him to go home over most e They are doing everything they can to push someone up to the top, and for me, I bet it’s someone who doesn’t even have the skills to back it up.
If they seriously use this dance to save those who deserve to stay, I may end up at least tolerating it. But, if they use it how I think they might…well…you may hear my screams of rage from Uruguay.
So, this judges thing starts next week. I wonder which favorite isn’t getting the votes. Were Jack and Gavin the “real” bottom two vote getters this week? Why are they fixing what isn’t broken? And are they going to fix the voting glitches that made it so hard to vote last night? This season is getting curiouser and curiouser. Heidi is right…. the cow plop is getting too high to wade through.
Looks like the producers want complete control over the contestants’ exits and don’t care who knows it. This season had the potential to be one of the most enjoyable ever – and the show wasn’t broken, it didn’t need to be fixed this way. this is really awful.
Bye Jack, We will miss you! BOO, I hate this result. I wish it would have been Gavin.
I hate the thought of the judges have TPTB to call the shots. If Mr. Peanuthead stays over one of my favorites I am gonna be pissed!!
If the judges hadn’t been overscoring some couples to the point of nowhere left to go this early in the season…. if your favorite is in the middle of the pack you’d better hope that they improve a couple of points each week. A$$wacked judges
Sad to see Jack and Anna leave – I enjoyed watching them.
This is just plain strange. The show now seems blatantly rigged and has since the overscoring began on the 1st episode. I can’t even tell what the agenda is. Somebody’s been denigrating the integrity of the show for the second year (airing the Max/Hope abuse package was the first strike). What a shame.
It seems suspicious they throw the save in the week before William does the Jive. Do each of the bottom couples get to pick anything they wish for the dance off?
Vogue I’m with you – I’m west coast and haven’t watched, now can’t bear the thought. I’ll see the video of Anna and Jonathan’s dance, not the rest. There must be millions of people who feel as I do, that my fave show is being frivolously attacked and won’t be the same.
This is the biggest load of B.S they have ever dropped on us. It’s one more way for the judges to show favoritism. A lot of good it does us to vote for our favorites when the judges will get the final say and just put their favorite through. As if the unfair scoring the judges favorites get isn’t bad enough, now we have this load of crap to deal with. Thanks for screwing all of your fans over, Dancing with the stars. Just give that mirrorball to one of the judges favorites right now and save us all the time and trouble of voting for who WE like. Our votes don’t mean anything anyway.
I think that it is Katherine not getting the votes. She has a double whammy. Not being known and having Mark as a partner. Trust me, William is getting votes and you know where he is getting the votes. I am not surprised that Jack was voted off. Fan base is a factor here. Love Anna but he just did not have the fan votes.
Faby, I agree with you too. Why ruin one of the best seasons ever? The show isn’t broken, so why this? This is just sad.
I have an idea, let’s get everyone who watches to stop voting, and just hope our favorites dance well. I wish that would happen, I wish there was a way to show TPTB that we have been pissed at them since season 12 because if their BS. Sorry, I know this is me 3rd post, but Im really passionate about this topic.
Good to see I am not alone in being annoyed by this ploy. It would not surprise me if Katherine and Will are not bringing in the votes. No way they would do this just for say Roshon, Sherri or Jaleel. Their pets are Katherine and Will and it has to be to save them.
Jack leaving is like Kristin. They were fine went early often but not memorable. I love Anna but her costumes for him did him no favors.
But I loved her dance with Jonathan. Sigh, imagine Jonathan with Katherine. He is so lovely in ballroom and reminded me how aggressive Mark dances and is not lyrical.
Disgusting. Eeeww, DWTS producers why do you have to tinker???? It’s a great season, everybody CAN DANCE, why do you HAVE to keep your favorites????? At least on season 9 there was some kind of legitimate reason. What the hell is this? It screams last-minute desperate act to save their faves. I fought hard for Ralph on S12, I will again as far as I could.
Btw, so sorry to see Jack and Anna gone
Jack NEVER got half the pimpage other couples are getting………..
I am done! This is it. I will watch The Voice.
I bet it is because of Katherine. She has such a buffer with those high scores, but I bet she doesn’t have that large a fan base. And I have to say I would be livid if she went home before Jaleel, Gladys, or Gavin. Or even Sherri or Melissa at this point.
Sad that Jack left but hoping he makes some appearences in Port Charles (General Hospital). He is such a sweet guy and seemed to really enjoy the whole experience.
Does anyone have the specifics on the dance off? Will they get the music ahead of time to rehearse or will it be like an instant dance?
In Season 9, the dance off consisted of an extra routine the team came up with. I was so upset because the judges voted off Chelsie and Louie. This time around I will be fine with it as long as the judges vote for my favorites:) It will be interesting to see who is in the bottom 2 next week.
Actually, Laurie, if Katherine went home before Jaleel, Gladys or Gavin, I would be bummed out too…BUT THAT’S HOW THE SHOW is supposed to work. This manipulation is bad.
Do you think the bottom 2 will re-dance the dance of the wk or will it be a new piece that the Pros will need to choreo?
If they re-dance, that actually may be good for some couples. For example, Tony and Chynna last season when she forgot the routine. It still won’t combat judges favorites, but they would have a second opportunity to correct what was missed etc the first go around.
While I can understand why they are doing this, I don’t agree with it. I understand because season 13 was crazy with the eliminations. Kristin Cavelari and Chynna Phillips being eliminated while others like Chaz Bono was declared safe week after week.
It seems they are taking an idea from another show. That is the X-Factor(which is like American Idol on crack). On that show America votes for the bottom 2 and the judges. The bottom two contestants have a “sing for your life” round and the judges decide who goes home. Only problem(and those who watched the U.S. X-Factor likely know) is that the judges often get it wrong.
I advocated for them to take something from American Idol and that’s the judges save. That is the judges have the right to overrule one elimination and two people leave the following week. So therefore if there’s a Kristin or a Chynna moment then the judges can overrule the vote and keep Kristin or Chynna in and they can only do it once a season.
Doesn’t it seem like the producers were flying by the seat of their pants tonight? The envelope that held Sherri’s name, the announcement of this rule change squeezed in? Very unusual shenanigans..
This is insulting. It will work against them to counteract what the audience is voting for. No better way to keep your finger on the pulse of an audience’s desires than to do as they say in the voting.. especially important when ratings are dipping as they are
Seems like my first post didn’t go through due to technical error but if I get a double post I apologize.
Now maybe I misheard (so clarification would be great) but I thought I heard Tom say that the dance duel/judges save starts next week and continues for the subsequent 3 weeks, so if that’s true wouldn’t that make it 4 weeks of this B.S.? This is just the worst idea ever. It’s like a big F you to all the voters and they aren’t being subtle about it at all. argh
It was sad to see Jack and Anna go. I wish it had been Gavin but that’s how the show works. I absolutely loved Anna and Jonathan’s dance tribute to Julia. Just amazing. I wish that they’d do more dances on Tuesdays because they are just amazing together.
@Laurie:
Yes it did. Couple that up with the “red light music” mishap and things seemed a little shaky all around.
also tony got kicked in the face.. this show is falling apart
I thought Tom B. said “next week and the three subsequent weeks”, meaning four weeks (10th through 7th contestants)! Unfortunately, we cleared our DVR. Can somebody please go back and confirm?
If it’s four, that’s just more unbelievable.
I didn’t like the dance off on season 9, but this time, I have to say, I’M LOVING IT!
Seriously.
I love Gladys but we have to agree she’s not the best dancer. I don’t wanna see anyone “bristol” until the finals. So, to me, it’s fair. Let the better dancers stay.
I have my top 5: Katherine, Maria, William, Donald and Roshon. Hope the 6th spot on team dance week is Sherry’s.
I wish the next eliminated is Jaleel, but what can I do?
The thing that is really throwing me for a loop is OK, you want a format change, but would it not make more sense to announce it at the START of the season and carry it through the ENTIRE season?
My guess is that a celeb has been promised they will have “x” number of wks on the show and there is panic ensuing because the votes aren’t ensuring that outcome.
Therefore, we’ll do this format change to ensure the celeb is around and we’ve met contract terms, then we’ll go back to how it has always been.
I had only seen comment through No. 35 when I posted, and it looks like Allie (Comment #38) heard it like I did – four weeks.
It’s got to be because somebody isn’t getting the votes. Several weeks of being in the bottom two and being saved by the judges would be highly embarrassing, no matter how could you are.
Guys, do you really think that Maria is the one who are getting more votes this season?
Sorry I didn’t proofread – comment No. 44′s last line should be “how good you are”.
@ Ms. Taz – Do they actually promise certain celebrities a certain number of weeks?
Ms. Taz #43 Your theory works for me.
Has anyone thought that it might be Gladys they are protecting instead of William and Katherine?
She is the heavy hitter of the entire lot. Katherine has been at the top, and William is not far behind. However, Gladys has been towards the bottom for 2 wks now.
IMO I would be pretty ticked off if I agreed to do the show, seemingly last minute, setting my commitments to one side to be voted off within the first 4 wks of competition regardless of my dancing ability.
I swear to God if William and Katherine are in the bottom two and William stays over her shit will hit the fan. I don’t know which producers pet isn’t getting the votes but I would bet good money its William because his overscoring has been the most evident from Week 1- Cheryl almost falls on her ass and they still get a ten!?!?!? Maybe if this thing had happened the first 4 elimination weeks so that we knew about it before the season started and it didn’t reek of manipulation I would be okay with it- then it would just be a variation of what happened in Season 8 and that wasn’t so bad. But somehow surprising us and making it last the 4 middle weeks up until team dances just makes me sick!
@Lee:
Honestly, I don’t know. I’m trying to come up w/ why they are doing what they are doing. We don’t know what gets placed in the contracts, but its obvious someone is going to have a clear advantage by this happening. Again, it is the whole timing thing too. Why do it for 4 wks only? That doesn’t make sense.
I don’t see how this is taking the vote out of the fans’s hands. The fans are still voting and it’s their votes that will decide who ends up in the bottom 2.
I also don’t see why this is something that needed to be done because so and so isn’t getting enough votes. If William or Katherine or anyone else isn’t getting the fan vote and they were truly trying to manipulate something, all they have to do is keep giving them 9s and 10s and go back to proper scoring for everyone else now that they’re done with sob story sympathy scoring.
And think about it – if your favorite has the lowest combined score, this could be a reprieve for them.
I don’t necessarily care for this decision, but I don’t think it’s terrible either.
@Ms. Taz (comment #48): I could see them trying to protect Gladys but to me it seems to be a bit more of stretch. I don’t think we know for sure she was a last minute sign and might never know. She’s touring while doing DWTS and who knows if the number of stops would increase had she not agreed to do the show. She is 67 and has a family so I don’t see a big deal being made about lost tour opportunities from being on the show, even if only for a few weeks. In my opinion William and Katherine have soooo much more to gain the longer they are on this show.
I just find it so odd that they are suddenly saying they are doing this with no advanced warning to the audience. I’ll be very curious to see what the pros say about in their blogs (well the ones that do blogs anyways).
hands down, ms. Taz. #43
(as well, I wish they announced all these theme weeks and crap they create, like WTIA chacha…)
hands down and I take a bow, ms. Taz. for #48
Question: Is the majority always right (talking about dance skills, of course)?
———————————-
Well, I think Maria is wonderful, very very likeable, did a great rumba and is improveing week after week. I see no reason for “panic” about her.
I can see her in the finals. Sometimes it seems like some of you think that she’s the most threatened/injusticed of all the stars, which I disagree. Derek is doing a good job this season too. I’m really not afraid about them.
Good point, Donna.
@Donna The best way to explain how this takes the vote out of the viewers hands is to use a real elimination but add some imagination. Season 11 semi finals, Brandy vs. Bristol. Pretend they were doing this and pretend Bristol would go home on a normal night. The judges decide Bristol danced better than Brandy, so they send her home even though she didn’t have the lowest combined total of scores and votes. The bottom 2 was up to the viewers, but not tge actual elimination. Do you understand why now?
The producers could always change the scoring system and make it like the old figure skating system: a technical and then an artistic/performance score. Then, combine both scores. But that might be too cumbersome. I wish they would do scores in .5 increments too since the scoring has been so close this season.
@Allie:
I wasn’t referring to lost opportunties on tour. It was just the extra stress of doing the tour plus the show. Some people would look and say “well that is an additional headache I don’t need right now” sort of thing.
ITA w/ you as well re: the Pro’s reactions. It should be interesting.
You still have a point there Donna, about how my favorite could still stay if they have the lowest total. I just meant our power as the viewers just got a lot smaller, and we don’t have as much of a say.
#Dwtsfreak honestly no I don’t. But I also don’t subscribe to the idea that the judges are manipulative and sneaky or that they have it in for a particular pro/celeb or many of the other things I often see them accused of. Yes, the bottom 2 are going to dance a final dance for them but I don’t think that final dance, or just the one night of dancing that put them in the bottom 2, is going to be what the judges decide on. I think the potential and the total body of work will play into their decisions as well.
I’m really disappointed with DWTS for taking the decision away from the fans. The judges get their vote. They get 10 “votes” per celeb every week to balance off our votes. Fair is fair. They vote, we vote. Lowest score goes home. So what to do? Vote my ass off every week for my favourite couple so they don’t end up in the bottom 2. Menoughsaid.
@Harriett:
LOL – don’t ask me why, but when you said about using the 0.5 in the scores, a pic popped into my head of the judges holding up one of the paddles in one hand and a lollipop in the other to represent the 0.5! :mrgrEen:
Gotta be time for bed….
I am perfectly fine with Jack leaving. He was forgettable every week. And there is just something creepy about a man with a stretched face.
Gavin is done next week. No way he stays out of the bottom 2. But I am happy he made it past the first 2 eliminations. So much for being the first boot!
HATE HATE HATE that the judges are getting to decided who stays the next 3 weeks. It is outrageous. Don’t know why everyone is blaming Katherine and William for it. I highly doubt they are getting less votes than most of the cast.
This was a great season but this rule change may ruin it.
The next contestants to leave based on dancing are probably going to be Gavin, Melissa, Gladys, and Sherri. And if a Jaleel or Roshon went home before them why would they care enough to change the rules like this?
@Ms. Taz (comment #57)
Got it. I still don’t feel to sorry for her because she would’ve known what she was in store for or could’ve easily done the research to find it out. So far she on the show she seems to come across as a pretty classy lady so I don’t think she’d throw a fit if she left early or demanded special treatment. But that’s just me.
Re the pro’s opinions: if you’re going to get anything slightly undiplomatic I’d look to blogs and/or interviews from Louis (blog), Mark, and Maks. If any interviews were done tonight after the elimination I’m sure they were asked about it.
# Ms. Taz commented on April 3rd, 2012:
Has anyone thought that it might be Gladys they are protecting instead of William and Katherine?
Unfortunately this season some people feel the need to blame everything on either Katherine or William for some odd reason. I highly doubt either of them would have been voted off the next 3 weeks for them to do this. They are getting high scores whether inflated or not and I’ve had a ton of busy signals on both lines. And look at the Youtube/Twitter stats. They are getting a ton of views.
This just seems like what has done in DWTS in most recent seasons, over producing.
The number of views of dances on Youtube is small enough to fall within a +/ – error percentage when compared with the general viewing audience numbers.
Not buying it. Most of the fans going to Youtube are going there because they are viewers of the show and want to rewatch the dances back, especially their favorites.
Martina and Jack has by far the fewest twitter followers of anyone on the cast and they are gone. You can’t tell me this doesn’t matter. Gavin has some of the fewest views on Youtube and he has been in the bottom 2 both weeks. So it does matter right now. Maybe not later, but certainly it gives us some statistical feeling.
I was on this Youtube channel this afternoon and William had like 20,000 views for his dance last night. The next closest was like 5,000+ and it was Katherine. I highly doubt these 2 are pulling in such few votes that someone like Gavin, Melissa, Sherri, are in dancer of knocking them out anytime soon.
I thought we have been over this Youtube views before. It doesn’t translate to voting. Kendra and Kim K almost always have high views. Their similarity with William – they all have posed naked (or more). That can only carry them through the mid-season, unless William can nail down his technique which we all know is lacking than some others. But wait, he is already judges’ favorite, so maybe he doesn’t have to…
I just finished watching the show on the West Coast. It sounded like Tom said that the week after next they will start doing the judge’s save for the following 3 weeks. So next week is a regular week with the dancer that gets the lowest combined score being eliminated.
There seems to be no end to the show’s efforts to manipulate the results. Very disappointing in a season that held such promise.
Ms Taz, I went the same place you did – that Katherine and/or William, and/or someone else has been promised a minimum number of weeks.
I dunno. I’m still on the fence on the whole dance-off thing. I like it in theory, but it certainly gives them scope for manipulation.
Don’t know why this should go against Maria–she’s been getting high scores and great judges’ comments.
I also don’t understand all the negativity toward William. He has a lot of fans. They think he’s sexy. Deal with it.
Don’t mind about the twist–it’s a show and they want people to watch. The viewers maybe aren’t the same as the the hardcore callers, so if they want to avoid a boring 2nd half of the season by making sure interesting people and/or good dancers are in, then fine with me.
Unless I’m wrong, this is pretty much like those “knock out” dances they’ve had in the past in Season 8 and 9. Horrible idea! All I can say is this could be happening because so many people complained about the best dancers leaving. That’s not the judges’ complete fault. The scores are only half, the votes are the other half. People just need to vote more and there’s no way that everyone will be happy, no matter who goes home or who stays. I think it’s hilarious that people complain about their favorites leaving but admitted they didn’t vote. If you didn’t vote, why complain? It’s impossible to satisfy everyone. This horrible idea won’t work. It didn’t before. It never have and never will.
If they want to protect Gladys, they could give her better scores. That 5 from Len last week says to me they’re not protecting her.
If this goes through, the decision I was considering (to do the phone votes during the show for someone I know I like, but not watch the show till later, so I can fast forward through the ads) is easy. They want to cheat their own system, why should I give them eyeballs on their ads?
DWTS is my only “watch live” TV show (the performance show only). They’ve just lost me as an ad watcher.
Note that I’ve also been considering not watching at all. I think maybe I’m actually there.
So Jack and Anna got the boot. Well, on to next week.
It seems to me that the one TPTB would want to protect is Sherri. She is “in the family”, gets DWTS lots of free (?) publicity on The View and because she really isn’t a very good dancer, they would need to protect her. Of course, they can continue to overscore her performances, but if she isn’t getting enough votes to keep her ahead of couples with lower judges scores, this would certainly solve the problem for them. It just seems more likely to be Sherri to me, than Katherine or William, or even Miss Gladys.
Carlos, you & I seem to have the same top 5 (but not in the same order)
Ms Taz, you may be right about Gladys.
I have to agree with Ayana(comment#49) — William might have an issue with votes. Len gave him a 10???????? It was definitely not THAT good. Left me scratching my head. The only thing interesting about this new way of elimination is that we will know for sure who was the second lowest scorer — the last two or three who are “in jeopardy” we are always reminded, are not necessarily the lowest scorers (except for one, obviously). I also wonder if this has been prompted by “high caliber” ** celebs being unwilling to come on the show, knowing that no matter how well they actually perform, the could still be eliminated very early due to a popularity contest and embarrassingly so (e.g., being deemed “worse” than total train wrecks like Bristol or Kate G.). “High caliber” meaning folks who are currently considered on top of their game, not “has beens” looking to resucitate their careers –which has been a popular charge against this show. Both Katheine and Wiiliam are very big in their home geographies –so it’s a risk for them to put themselves out this way and would have a reluctance to come on, especially with the show having a reputation for being, in part, the refuge for the “has beens.” Also reluctant for this very same reason would be folks who are genuinely “stars” of today and talented and known within a niche who would normally be interested in raising their profile to a broader audience — Nicole S., Margaret Cho, Maria M. and a lot of the pro athletes coming to mind. I think the title “Dancing with the STARS” doesn’t help this situation — the British title takes away any notion that the contestants are anything more than “personalities” as a group, and therefore, could be entertainment “stars,” politicians, musicians, teen mothers, reality stars, athletes, writers, etc. — which lessens the charge that one is a “has been” if you are competing on the show.
THIS!!^^
I agree Vogue about Jaleel. Do you really think William or Katherine aren’t generating enough votes?
William is just all sex, doesn’t mean he’s a great dancer. Katherine is wonderful. This whole thing doesn’t seem fair and I guess calling the network or complaining via email will just not help as well.
By the way what week are the team dances?
The dance off is something they have done with the British show (Strictly Co e Dancing) since the beginning. From reading the blogs when the show is on, the viewers don;t like it either. they are always complaining about it.
Also, are they not doing the dance encore this year on the results show as in past years. It just dawned on me that they have not done it yet this year.
Also that Macy’s stars of dance; whomever the guys were was great. I really enjoyed it. anna’s and Jonathan’s dance was beautiful.
I think the judges already have their top 4 or 5 celebs selected….
Just like when the little kids are practicing baseball, the coaches size up the players at the beginning and start weeding out the good and the bad for their team…
I know at least a couple of the guys in the Macys dance were winners from SYTYCD. Twitch was one and another face I recognized but not the name. They were un-be-lievable! It was amazing how fast they were dancing in sync.
I was listening to a DWTS podcast and an idea they had was, instead of the judges picking who leaves, pick out an odd number if random people from the audience(not celebrities) and ask who they want to save. But, make sure there are a few men in there, so if William does end up in the bottom 2, he isn’t saved for being hot.
No, Gladys has not been near the bottom every week – we don’t actually know who has been toward the bottom because they don’t reveal that. We don’t actually know that Katherine or William have been near the top either. How long have you guys watched this show? Besides, if they were wanting to protect Gladys, Len wouldn’t have given her a five.
I don’t see how they can re-dance the same dance because Tom said they will dance simultaneously. If one is doing a samba and one is doing a tango that would be difficult to say the least.
Again, it’s very obvious they are taking away the choice from the audience. What if one of the people with the lowest combined total (one of the “bottom two”) is a good 20k points ahead of the other by the time the votes are added and would have been easily safe otherwise but they get booted because the judges like the other person better? Screw what the audience says.
You think it’s a great idea, Carlos? What if Gladys is one of the high vote getters and never hits the bottom two, but Maria, Donald, william and Roshon do?? Will you still love it then? I wouldn’t be so sure your favorites are safe.
You think the judges can manipulate the scores to make sure they stay in? You don’t remember Audrina Patridge very well.
Spare me the youtube views crap. That’s indicative of exactly nothing. You don’t always watch what is “good” do you? It’s been shown dozens of times that twitter followers doesn’t necessarily correspond to votes, why would youtube views? Don’t buy it if you don’t want Andrea, but it’s still math and mczetting is correct. You can’t hang your hat on it. As is the person who brought up Kim K and Kendra.
Sure it’s fine by you, Lenka, you’re a william fan. And don’t use the words “deal with it” here – I might think you’re telling other people how to post or think and that’s NOT okay.
Katy, the British version has also been suffering in the ratings. Go figure.
I was sad to see Ana and Jack going home…but why are you people againt William so bad omfg …the haters !!cannot see a good looking guy getting all the attention…hmmmm ..that’s so sad
the guy dance very well and he can dance Salsa like a good Cuban …wondering if you guys can dance as well as him..Im not saying he is perfect I do beleive Katherine dance almost like a pro…and she might be the one winning..but if William is getting all the screams and all that please dont blame the guy ..geeesssss…..
Why do I think this is being done for Melissa? Maybe they thought she’d be a better dancer from the get go? They were EXTREMELY generous with 8,8,8 and last weeks 7s.
I have seen people bogging that they can’t get through for Katherine so they add emails and vote online. Isn’t a constant busy signal a GOOD thing? Also, my students who chat about the show during homeroom on Tuesday mornings said they vote online at 8:00pm and then call be fore the go to bed. They don’t stay up past 10-10:30pm —perhaps that’s a problem for Roshon & Chelsie? “Youngsters” don’t vote online in the morning either. Some of them LOVE LOVE LOVE Gavin, and vote for him—they have been wearing his shirts to school for the last 2 weeks.
Actually, Reina, some of us don’t believe William can dance as well as the scores he’s getting implies. If that makes us “haters” – well, gee, too bad. I think that’s a rather immature view point but whatever. Word to the wise, don’t come in here complaining about what other people think. That won’t get you far.
I’m calling the BS on the Dancing Duel, too. Though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious to see just exactly how this plays out. There are so many different scenarios that could play out.
I was heartbroken for Jack last night. He wasn’t one of my favorites, but the look on his face when they called his name. He was devastated and it showed. I’ll miss Anna, too. Her dance with Jonathan…geeze. They had me crying. I love the two of them dancing together. I mentioned that to my husband just before they danced, so he stopped what he was doing and watched them. Even he said “damn”, kind of quietly. They are so powerful together. And whoever said upthread about “what if” Katherine were dancing with Jonathan. THAT would have been amazing.
Reina, get a grip. No one is hating on William personally – we just fail to see how “great” of a dancer some of the rest of you seem to think he is. I know plenty of real Cubans/Puerto Ricans/Mexicans/African Americans/Asians/Caucasians/etc. who are better dancers than William…starting to REALLLLLY get sick of the whole “he’s Cuban so he’s really good at salsa!” argument. And as for you “wondering if you guys can dance as well as him” – what an irrelevant, immature argument. Actually, that’s not even an argument – it’s a feeble attempt to sound relevant and to deflect from some pretty big holes in your defense. I highly doubt the bulk of the viewing audience has any dance experience – but that doesn’t preclude them from having an opinion of the show. They are the ones casting the votes, after all.
Oh goody, the tired ass “Twitter and YouTube followers totally matter!” argument. If you believe that many-times debunked statement, I’ve got some swampland in Florida to sell you.
Interesting how all of the William fans think this whole dance duel fiasco is just fine & dandy. I think they’re gonna be in for a rude awakening should he suddenly fall into the bottom 2 with Katherine…because for all the hooping and hollering that goes on in the studio over His Hunkiness Sir William Levy, I daresay they will probably save Katherine in a heartbeat. At least she is a legitimately good dancer.
May I ask….
Are the dances Tango, Paso, and Jive next week? Thanks.
Princess Heidi, I’m not a fan of William, I’m a fan of the show, which means the dancing and the pros and Tom and also the the judges. I’m not heavily invested in any one star and don’t care what kind of tweaks they do to the system or why they might be doing it.
Hope those are the dance choices since a samba or waltz seems odd choices. Or tougher. I was nt a fan of rock week. Hopefully these will be better.
Sukra, those guys did not win. But they are excellent and very popular dancers from so you think you can dance.
@sheery
Wiki for DWTS has most of the dances listed for next week but sometimes they are not correct so early in the week. It says Paso, Tango, V. Waltz, or one unlearned dance.
Will this Dancing Duel improve ratings on the performance show?
I don’t understand the rational from TPTB. If ratings ARE down – which you have proved to be only in relevance that all numbers are down – and ABC is getting antsy about said ratings, WHY of WHY screw your hard core audience? Why alienate the people who keep you in business – making the FAN FAVORITES – the contestants that people actually tune in to see, less important than some PTB pet? That is just not good business. Nor is announcing it part way in. If you sign a contract to play a game, is it ok for the rules to be changed mid-game? I would be pissed if I was dancing this season. And why this season of all seasons – everyone is good. They have the added quality of suspense this season because virtually anyone could go home any week. They were already working the good old fashioned overscoring – was that not enough padding for them?
As a dancer I didn’t see the judge’s save as such a bad thing. I sort of assumed it was because they knew the worst dancer didn’t get kicked off this week and since quite a few dancers are doing well this season that it was likely to happen again. I just like watching everyone’s progression and if this keeps those who really would progress (like Jack) in the show, I don’t see what is so bad about it.
Plus maybe seeing people dance side by side will show the viewers what the stars actually dance like when not aided by props, lights, and poses.
on a light handed side – I had to laugh at how fast Tom announced it and pushed on quickly to the next thing – you could tell he was cringing at the reaction this was gonna cause.
It must just be the controversy from past seasons – Bristol overstaying her welcome, and Chaz…all the good dancers eliminated before them ticked me off, and quite a few commenters here. But Bristol was a combination of overscoring and people with an agenda cheating the system and Chaz was political too, I think. Their too-long stays on the show had nothing to do with dancing. But we don’t have that this season. And everyone dances so well (for the most part), why do they feel the need to do this now?
Oh well, if it keeps Katherine on the show a little longer, I won’t mind. I must really like her – to want Mark to stay. Ha!
William appears to be the only one doing Jive. For now.
I don’t understand the outrage. People are always complaining how the show manipulates results via judges scores and running orders (and other stuff too) but now all of a sudden everyone is all: “they’re taking it out of our hands”. In whose hands was it then?
I’m not a fan of this decision but I’m not against it either. Double-edged sword. They are risking outraging the viewers but want to have better dancers safe. It’s probably a decision that was cooking for a while now (Chelsea K.) and it’s a calculated risk. I don’t think it will pay off but not because it’s necessarily a bad decision but because I feel like the show unfortunately is on a decline one way or the other. I think the concept is somewhat spent and needs a bigger overhaul. They are trying to change it up but not too much. Maybe they need to be braver (or don’t touch it all and just watch it gradually die). Just my opinion.
My point w/ Gladys was referring to the leaderboard and not votes. For the last two weeks she has been towards the bottom compared to Katherine and others.
Len giving her a 5 was to instigate fans to vote like crazy to keep her around – thus in essence protecting her.
How many years have we watched the show is irrelevant. We are watching this season and so our comments are staying on topic, just as the title of this thread states.
That is a valid point re: the re-dance. So does this mean it will be like the instant dances or the Pros will be given a dance to choreo and if the duel happens that is what they perform?
I think it’s so rude when newbies come in and say people are “hating” on someone. No one here hates anyone. Don’t forget, everyone has their favorite dancers and who they think dances well and who does not. I like William a lot, but, as said in another post, Cheryl and TPTB are shoving the sex object stuff down our throats now as if thats all he is about as a person. Even William himself seems uncomfortable with it. Cheryl reallys needs to just concentrate on teaching him to dance well and be classy while doing it like she did with Rob K (remember how annoyed we all were with him in the beginning with his references to women, etc) and she totally turned him around and helped him to grow up. She really needs to start stepping up to the plate now and show William as a person and not as a sex object. The sexiness will come out on it’s own (ie: Derek, Maks, etc). Concentrate on who he is as a person…that is sexy too.
It’s interesting that they are doing it so early in the competition.
@Vogue:
Great point Hun! IMO that is one of the main responsibilities of the Pro to showcase their partner in the best way possible.
@Sheery:
I think that is throwing most people for a loop Hun. This was something that should have been announced right at the beginning, but then again maybe knowing how people would feel about it that is why they announced it like they did.
I got the same vibe from Tom too! LOL, you could tell he wanted to do and say anything other than what he did.
I didn’t watch the results show and didn’t hear Tom’s announcement about the new elimination method, so please forgive my ignorance when I ask: So the bottom 2 couples, after the judges’ scores and viewer votes are combined, will participate in a ‘dance-off’ with a new routine?? And then the judges get to decide who stays?? So even if one of those couples is ahead in votes and would’ve been saved, they could go home based on the judges’ final decision? This is just so wrong!!
@BallroomBlogger & @sasa – The “judges save” could be a good thing if we could actually trust them to pick the right person to go home – and I don’t think we can. They’ve already shown they can’t be trusted to score properly, and they tend to play favorites – why would we assume that they’d suddenly be making the right decisions in the dance duels? If it comes down to a legitimately good dancer (i.e. Maria) and a judges’ favorite (i.e. Sherri) in the dance duel, would you trust them to save Maria and send Sherri packing? I wouldn’t. Seems like a lot of the support/apathy about the dance duels stems from people operating under the assumption that the judges are trying to protect good dancers and keep bad ones from sticking around on votes alone…I don’t think we can safely assume that’s the case. If they’ve played favorites with less skilled dancers up until this point, I doubt they’re going to stop anytime soon.
@Adriana:
Yes Hun, that is correct. The other part you may not know is that they are only doing it for 4 weeks then we are assuming that they will go back to the regular format. That is unless they decide to throw something else out there.
What made it even stranger was that the announcement was made later in the show and it was very quick.
just to say – that made me really miss Jonathan. I felt like that was a bit of a Jonathan tease. He is handsome and classy and never had a partner that had ringer anywhere in their vocabulary.
bring him back and give him someone good!
@Courtney:
Based on what you know Hun, what do you think the Pros reactions are going to be over this?
I know that many of them respect Len’s opinion (as frustrated as they get w/him at times), but CA and Bruno are a mixed bag.
#107 – That’s my problem with the “judges’ save” scenario. If I felt the judges could be unbiased and “save” the better dancer, I’d have no problem with it because it gets on my nerves when the fanbase ringers stay on long past their expiration date. Unfortunately, we’re trading one set of “favorites” for another. So we haven’t gained anything.
We have a week before they implement this BS so maybe if the outcry is loud enough they will back down. How about blitzing ABC’s website with protests. Let’s crash it so they know how seriously opposed to this we are.
When Tom said Jack and Anna I think I was shocked. Watched his dance back again and I guess he it wasn’t such a great dance but damn I really hoped he would last longer.
As for the judges save, my prediction is Gavin will be one of the two up for elimination. The other spot I’m going to say Melissa and Maks or Gladys
This is the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Clearly somebody is not getting the votes (and my money is on William), so therefore they feel the need to stack the deck. But why?! Didn’t they do this before a while back with doing a dance off between the bottom 2 contestants and the judges chose who stayed? Yeah, and we know how THAT worked out.
Why bother voting?
That makes no sense, Taz. Why would len underscore her to instigate a vote when all he had to do was give her a six or seven instead, which accounts for thousands of votes?? Underscoring is not protecting – even crazy ass judges know that much at this point. OVERscoring is protecting people often at the expense of others. Take that 5 way tie for last place. Gavin only needed ONE vote to stay over Jack.
Where you’re at on the leaderboard often makes NO difference whatsoever, since that is only half of what goes into deciding your fate.
@Ms Taz – I think the pros who’ve got one of the “judges pets” this season (Mark, Cheryl, & Val) will probably think this is just fine ‘n’ dandy – the judges have been pretty good to them so far, so I doubt any of them are in any sort of genuine fear of getting sent home, even if they drop into the bottom 2 (unless, of course, it’s with another judges’ pet…and that’s where things will get interesting
). I think the pros with a more spotty track record with the judges (namely Maks & Karina, and to a lesser degree maybe Chelsie) are probably going to worry about it most. I think Maks in particular will probably be pretty salty about it – he’s not exactly been bff with Carrie Ann over the years, and I can’t really blame him. But I don’t know if he’ll necessarily be vocal about it – he seems to be kinda quiet this season. Those who tend to go either way with the judges (Derek, Kym, Tristan, & Peta) will probably worry about whether they’ll catch the judges in a good mood or not – so far, all 4 of them have gotten a good mix of positive & negative feedback from the judges. Could be a crap shoot if they drop into the bottom 2. I’m actually curious to see if ANY of the pros actually say anything about it – at this point it seems like many of them refuse to speak out against the show in any way, for fear of retribution. Just ask Maks – he’s been awfully tacit this season.
Yes, Adriana, you’ve pretty much summed it up. The dance off almost has to be a “judges save” dance – a whole new dance – because they supposedly do it at the same time. When you have five different dances in a week, it would be impossible to simply re-do the dance you did on monday.
Fantastic point, Courtney. And Maria versus Sherri is the perfect example. Are they going to send home the woman who works for ABC?? It’s already very apparent that Sherri is all exuberance and little ability, at least to me. The judges have even pointed out her mistakes and then given her inflated scores just because she’s “so happy”. Puh-lease.
My feeling is this – it is what it is! But, I, too can change my game midstream – it’s not MY show anymore (love you, Maks – I so totally understand now why he felt so moved to speak up for HIS show – I, too, had taken a little ownership with my voting rights!), it’s TPTB’s show and rightfully so. But I have choices – I will definitely continue to follow PDWTS, and I can watch my favs dance on YouTube and follow them in a number of forums, but I no longer feel the need to devote 3-4 hours per week watching live DWTS – bye, bye ABC!
I always hated the idea of re-doing the same dance/song that got you into the bottom two in the first place as a sort of “dance/sing for your life” attempt. I say dance/song because the best example I can think of was season 8 of American Idol, when one of the better contestants fell into the bottom as a result of a horrible song choice that week (“Jolene” by Dolly Parton). They made her sing the same damn song as her “sing for her life” attempt – and of course she got sent home. I noticed that, the folllowing season, they let the contestants pick their swan song, and the result was some much stronger “sing for your life” attempts. I guess my point is that if a particular song/dance routine didn’t get you the votes the first time around, it probably won’t help you much the second time around. You’re better off with an entirely new dance, which I guess is why I’m kinda glad that the dance duel is not gonna be a repeat of a potentially weak dance…but what I am worried about is what dance they’re going to pick for the duel. I’m thinking it’s going to have to be a Latin dance, if both couples are going to be on the floor at the same time – not enough room for a ballroom dance. So right there, that likely already favors celebs that are stronger in the Latin. Then there’s the matter of what Latin dance they pick – it might change from week to week, it might not. If it stays the same, my money’s on the cha-cha. If it changes…it should be interesting to see what dance they pick.
@Heidi:
Yes, you and I and most here would know that. I was speaking of the newbies or how general viewers would look at the situation. The instance this morning re: You Tube is the perfect example.
Most wouldn’t invest the time to do the math and numbers. In fact, I think this is the only DWTS site that does.
@Courtney:
There In lies the issue…..do they speak up and risk retaliation or keep quiet and bear it? I agree though if two judges pets went to the chopping block. That xould start to get real ugly!
I wonder how it’s going to go down with the judging–judging just on the dance duel, or on the whole body of work? To take the example that’s been made of Maria/Sherri–there’s been three weeks so far. Two of those weeks I liked Sherri better. This week I liked Maria better. Those two would be a toss up for me, it would be hard to choose.
Like I said before, I’m very interested to see how this all plays out. But if I had to guess right now, based on how I’ve been thinking viewers have been voting (this is just my opinion) and actual dance scores so far, I’d say in the next three weeks during the dance duel, we’ll be saying good-bye to: Gavin, Melissa and as much as I hate to say it, Gladys. But of course, that’s just my prediction and I’m probably way off base.
This doesn’t send me into a tailspin because, frankly, I think the show keeps around whoever generates buzz & ratings regardless of judges scores and viewer votes.
I doubt William or Katherine are having trouble with votes from the general audience. I see this as much more likely to preserve Sherri or Melissa, potentially Maria, possibly Roshon…or leave an out for Jaleel depending on how things go with him.
Perhaps a fairer seeming way may be to neutralize some of the extreme powervoting which I think is partially responsible for the judges sometimes scoring skrewballiness.
In order to give the bottom two a reasonable opportunity to succeed in the “dance off”, TPTB need to tell the pros what the “dance off” style is going to be at the same time they give them their dance style for the upcoming week. That way each team can prepare a mini-routine in that style in case they end up in the dance-off. A true “insta-dance” format can’t work for a celeb “dance-off” because there’s no time between announcing the bottom two and the end of the show to let the celeb rehearse for even 5 minutes before having to perform in the dance-off.
You illustrate the problem, Violet. You “liked” Sherri better – but was she actually the better dancer any of those weeks? I would say no. So, do you go on actual dance ability, or on how much you “like” them. That’s the problem with William. Did William actually dance only one point lower than Katherine? Not hardly. But what if they “Like” William better?
@Courtney (#121) – yep, I’m kinda betting on the cha-cha as the go-to choice for the dance-off style. So we could be very cha-cha weary by season’s end
I wonder if Len, as Head Judge, will be given a piece next Tuesday to tell us what they’ll be taking into consideration while watching the bottom two “dance off” or if they’re just going to let the “judging” (cough, cough) speak for itself?
I would say Sherri was the better dancer in week one, yes. Maria was very stiff that week. Week two, probably a draw. They each missed a step. Sherri might not have had as much jive content in her routine, but that’s not her fault–it’s Val’s. Week three, I would definitely say Maria was the better dancer. This is all my opinion of course, but the point is I would have a hard time choosing between the two of them as dancers.
There are so many different variables. I don’t like the idea of the Dancing Duel either, but I don’t find it as much of a problem as a lot of other people, because I don’t really think William or Katherine (the ones mostly in question) will fall into the bottom two anytime soon. Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I’m not, because I would hate to see William stay at anybody else’s expense. It’s the others I think will be tricky if they’re in it. Roshon or Jaleel? Maria or Sherri? That’s why I think there are three sort of “bottom dwellers” if you will, left, who are in the most danger. Gavin and Melissa for sure. Maybe Gladys. I think everyone else is better than her OTHER than Gavin or Melissa, which is why I put her third. Only time will tell.
I may not always agree with the judges and yes the certainly overscore. But I’m hoping the format of having them both dance at the same time will take care of some of that, since their won’t be scoring. Also without all the fluff it will be great to see people just dance (although I’m still expecting a lot of posing). Plus its not as though I actually trust the audience to pick the best dancers anyhow so why not try something different?
In my opinion, Maria is not the best example to use because so far (like most of them) she hasn’t proved to be a good dancer. She isn’t the worst for sure but I’d hardly call her a good dancer (although I do prefer her ballroom). If it comes down to two of the dancers in the “middle” it will be a tough decision for the judges to make for sure but if its between someone in the middle and someone in the bottom the judges might just allow me to see more of the progression I tune in for.
I feel like the judges save works on Idol but dwts doesn’t need it.
This is just one opinion, but I don’t think it’s a “judges save” as much as I think it’s a “TPTB save”. It’s not about dancing, it’s about viewership, and the make-up of the viewership. Again, JMO – I think William is drawing viewers, but not necessarily voters. Same for Roshon. And, I would think, both of them skew the viewing audience to the younger demographic, hence, better advertising revenue. Like Court said, if I thought the judges would actually save “the better dancer” (understanding that’s a real subjective thing), then I’d feel better about it. However, I think it’s a blatant attempt at manipulating the viewing audience, and I don’t like to be manipulated.
@BallroomBlogger – From a “real world” ballroom standpoint, Maria may not be your idea of a “good” dancer – but within the context of this show (which is hardly a real ballroom show), I would say she is one of the better dancers. Definitely a better technician than Sherri – and that was kind of my point in comparing the two. Maria’s the better dancer, Sherri’s the judges’ favorite and maybe the better entertainer – can we trust the judges to choose substance over style, should it come down to these two in the dance duel? I’m skeptical.
@Courtney – I’ll just agree to disagree. No one is thinking this is real world ballroom, far from it
But in the context of this show I wouldn’t be confident yet to say Maria is the better technician. Derek is very good at crafting routines to grab the audience sure, but so far Maria hasn’t actually danced much. I’m skeptical of how the judges will handle the duel as well but I’d actually love to see the dancers side by side to see what they can really do. All that said, I don’t really have favorites among the stars or the pros (at least on the show), I just like to see them all progress and witness what the pros can really do in terms of helping their partner grow. Maybe this duel will cultivate more of that, maybe it won’t but I don’t see the reason to get so worked up before it even happens. At the very least there will be more dancing in the hour long results show!
Well, you live and die by your pro. You can’t just way “well there wasn’t enough content” and score her BETTER because of it. They are a team – the choreo definitely plays a part in the score you get. If they dance comparably (which I don’t agree with) but Maria has a much harder routine, then is it really a draw?? I sure don’t think so. Make it about Melissa and Sherri. Melissa appears to be struggling…but Maks is giving her dances with a great deal more content than what Val is giving to Sherri. I think that should be taken into account, particularly since I don’t actually believe that Sherri is dancing better than Melissa. They’ve certainly taken into account for others before – Len has told Derek on more than one occasion that he marked him down for not enough content…so why not Sherri?
The thing is, the judges are too sporadic on their own rules all the time, so why would anyone trust them to make the final call now?
Maria hasn’t danced much?? Credibility = shot. It’s all relative…I think Maria is in the top five, relative to the other people on that show.
The judges have been so capacious with their judging as pointed out by others. I disagree Maria has not done much. Many know Derek is good at what he does but his partners do dance. I remember people saying Derek covered up Ricki’s poor footwork but even Maks and Louis said she had excellent footwork. If we are getting technical, Katherine’s waltz lacked heel leads not a waltz. It was emotional and she is just pretty. But it was kinda lyrical, little hold and no heel leads yet she got tens.
As for Maria, look at how she has improved. Compare improved hip action from week 1 to the rumba.
Lol, auto correct! Meant capricious.lol.
I have seen the judges use their saves on sytycd to save some who actually did not dance better when they danced for their lives. In the end, the judges will use whatever reason the want to save their faves. I worry whoever has to compete against Will or Katherine, if they get in the bottom.
Enjoying everyone else’s conspiracy theories and wanted to throw my own out there…
TPTB seem to have a hard on for trying to push some Chmerkovskiy competition. IMO it would be their wet dream to have a dance off between M/M and V/S. The big finish to that dream would be sending Maks packing. If it happens I hope they will at least consider Maks’ “punishment” for last year’s comments complete.
I love that the Chmerkovskiy brothers willhave no part of it and consistently say they will be happy for and supportive of each other no matter what.
Could TPTB possibly be doing the dance-off because ratings for the results show are not as good as they want them to be. I must admit that I only watch the last five minutes of the results show after NCIS – Los Angeles ends to see who gets voted off. However, the dance off might actually get me to watch the entire results show. TPTB can string out the dance off throughout the entire program. I would imagine that the dance-off would be just like the insta-dance where the two couples are given time to listen to the selected music and practice their steps (during which time they will be interrupted by Brooke to answer stupid questions). The couples will then have to dance and the judges will have to comment about their dances and possibly their performances throughout the season. Afterwards the judges will have to confer while Tom and Brooke make small talk or some artist performs, and then there will be a long drawn out moment when either Tom announces the verdict or Len goes through the pros and cons of each dancer and makes the announcement himself.
@Samantha:
You may be right, but imo having them dance back to back is the only real competition so far. TPTB when asked have already said they aren’t angry w/Maks. I think w/his attitide change this season, whatever warnings/talks took place last season everyone is viewing it as it is resolved. That leaves the viewers left to decide if he is forgiven or not.
Can someone please tell me the point in the dance-offs? I mean isn’t it the public who decides who stays and who goes? Then wouldn’t be a waste of time at actually VOTE for someone and the judges will pick their favorite! I mean right now and I would stop watching the show if it’s against like Maria and William well we will all know who the judges will save lol the so called “Latin Hotty” who didn’t deserve high scores in the first place. And I will be super surprised if it’s against Katherine and William mainly because Carrie Ann and Bruno will be drooling over William and you know that he’s going to strip for Bruno for the safe and I can see Cheryl making him not wear a shirt! But i’m so ready for William to go!!!!!!!!!!! But I really don’t see the point in Dance-Offs it’s a stupid thing to do! But I have to admit these next three weeks I believe that its going to be Gavin, Gladys, and Melissa going in my opinion. But I hope it’s not Katherine, Maria, Jaleel, Roshon, and Donald. I really care less if William goes because I really hope he does. And he BEST go somewhere in the beginning of the show then toward the end like for the passed three weeks.
@Miss Pompon
Hi 5 _o/
hehe
Well, my top five is this since week 2, but the position is changing constantly… ahahahah
The only thing doesn’t change is Katherine in 1st =]
Unless both couples dance the same choreography how can the judges compare without being swayed by a pros choreo they prefer? Will they being saying “well, not enough cha cha in that dance so”.
I know I commented already, but I just wanted to add how weird it is that they randomly threw the dance-off thing out there in week three and claimed it was because too many good dancers went home early. If that was the case, then why not do it starting with the first elimination of the season? And I was just thinking, when they did this in Season 9, I remember they announced it before the season even began…which is what makes it sound even more suspicious that they throw it out there in week three. Isn’t that what they did with the winner take all cha cha last year? Brooke just mentioned it in passing during the results show the week before they did it? Sigh, if it aint broke, don’t fix it!
I think it’s opening a whole other can of worms when you start judging the celebrity dancers on content. I agree, they are a team. But content, to me, should not be reflective of their scores. Len called Mark out for not enough content in their waltz Monday night, yet they still scored a 29. If a pro on this show decides to give his celeb harder content than he or she can handle, then IMO, that is their stupidity. Give them something they can dance to. I would choose Sherri or Maria to stay over Melissa any day of the week. If her dancing is not up to par because Maks is making her routines too hard, then he has nobody to blame but himself.
To me, it’s sort of the same thing as clever costuming on the pro’s part, If they give a celeb lots of fringe or big poofy skirts or long dresses to hide faulty footwork, that’s considered smart, right? Why would it not be smart to give them a little less content so that the routine is better?
@Rebecca:
Excellent point Hun! Are you thinking along the lines of “required elements”?
What exactly will the judges be looking for? Content, technical difficulty, popularity, most improved? Combination of all of the above?
I’m betting Len will be the most critical on technique.
Here is the biggie: will they actually tell the viewers what they are looking for?
I think this is a great site with some great articles but I don’t see why anyone’s credibility should be attacked for their opinion. Especially when so much of judging dance is subjective.
To be clear, I’m not saying Maria hasn’t improved (I quite liked her second week btw). I just don’t think she is at the point where I’d confidently call her a good dancer. Yes, she is at the mercy of her pro like some of the others and in this respect I think both Val and Derek have been trying hard to emphasize the good and hide the bad in their partners dancing. As well they should. With Maria I do think Derek could push her more to do real dancing and she would still look good, but for now I don’t know because I don’t feel that’s really happened yet (again I felt the work in week 2).
In contrast, Maks doesn’t really seem to be tailoring his routines to Melissa’s strengths at all (if she has them). This seems to me in contrast to some of his previous years and from what I know of his coaching in the real world so I find it interesting. Yes, I give her credit for doing hard routines but there is only so much credit that can be given if the dancing is not good.
I just don’t really see why its such a bad thing that dancers landing in the bottom with Katherine or William should be worried. They are at the very least in the top half of the stars and would likely win in a dance-off even without the judges conspiring.
I get people are sad they don’t have the choice anymore, but for me its possible at least (as long as the judges don’t really screw up) it will make it a more interesting show.
@Ms.Taz- Yes all those things you mentioned. And will CAI be judging with a certain part of her body? I doubt they will tell us what they are looking for as I don’t feel they always know except for Len most times.
#137 Melissa- Crapacious, oh I mean capacious judging is what I fear. Seriously they were so moved with emotion this week most couples got 24′s?
@ Violet – I agree. I do think it works both ways, with routines that are too hard and too easy. Especially in the early weeks the pros with partners that can handle it really should push their stars a little more so that they are capable of keeping up later on.
@Miss Heidi # 85
I do think. Well, I really can’t see a B2 with Katherine. Not because of her scores but because her good dance and performance.
I’m not defending the dance-off all the seasons, but on this one, it looks pretty reasonable. And I’m not a big fan of tue “big pushes” like that ridiculous WTIA chacha.
Have to say, as a fan of DwtS what I’m looking for – specially this season beause the high level of the stars – is good dance and charisma.
Btw, let’s just remember what audience did when they have all the power:
- Season 5 – Sabrina
- Season 11 – Audrina and Bristol
- Season 13 – Kristin and Chynna and Chaz. Carson (loved him) would not be eliminated until the dance off, so…
Sorry, but I don’t wanna see all this again. That’s my opinion…
———————-
I’m not a seer, but I think it’s kinda impossible we see Katherine or Donald on a B2.
Maria and William? Hardly.
Roshon? Probably.
B2 being Maria and Roshon? Maria and William? Roshon and William? Not impossible, but very very improbable.
We know that Gavin’s votes are weak. So, he’s probably one that is going to hit the B2 next weeks and probably will leave. (I love Karina, she’s one of my fav pros, but…)
I’m not very sure about the size of Melissa’s wick, but I don’t think it’s that huge. So, B2.
Jaleel can beat the B2. He’s probably safe if he is with Gladys, Gavin or Melissa. (Not very sure about Sherri.)
Sherri is on B2 as probable as Gladys.
I think except for Roshon, other two members of my top 5 (Katherine, Maria, William, Donand and Roshon) hardly will reach the B2 together.
However, let’s see how this Dance off (or whatever) is going to be…
@BallroomBlogger:
IMO everyone’s pov or opinion is welcome with the understanding that our knowledge of what is being discussed may be new to some or not as in-depth as someone else.
This is a great platform to EDUCATE others. As annoying or frustrating as it is when the same topics are re-hashed, if it helps someone and we respectfully inform them I have no problem with it.
I think you nailed it by stating “the judges not screwing up” the majority don’t trust them and that is the root of the issue. If there wasn’t such a discrepancy in scores, I don’t think people would mind as much.
Are you a moderator or an Admin here? Please let us tell our commentors what goes here and what doesn’t, ok? Thanks.
@Vogue:
I’m not telling any of you what to do! Everyone here contributes to the discussion. If you see anything wrong, then please by all means address it, however, not everyone has the same opinion as the Admin and Moderators and to imply otherwise or make people “fall in line” is wrong.
btw, It’s so interesting how this point (judges vs. audience and everything in between – pros, couples, scoring, dancing choose) is so passionate, uh?
Did anyone watch “The View” today (Wednesday)? Sherri said TWICE that she was in the bottom 3, then talked about how awful that was. My recollection of Tuesday night was that she was saved in a very peculiar way, before the others in her group even went to the dance floor to stand under the red lights. I wondered at the time why they did that, perhaps to avoid another embarassing emotional display when she is “saved”. But still, there was no indication she was in the bottom three. Or did I miss something? I’m on the west coast, so perhaps our version was altered?
@ballroomblogger, let us remember Maria is still nursing a rib injuries and two fractured feet. I am more impressed with her improvement given those injuries.
I think in the end, it maybe a way to make results show matter but sytycd results show were really low because it was predictable judges would just pick their favorites. While it adds suspense, I think part of the fun is seeing who America picks.
@Deidre:
No Hun, you didn’t miss anything. I don’t understand why Sherri would say that though. The bottom 5 were tied, each having a score of 24. So why she thought she was 3rd I don’t know.
Actually, taz, vogue articulated the problem quite well. It’s not your place to go on about “everyone’s POV and opinion”. It’s pretty simple.
As for educating others…dont think that’s really the point either, particularly not when you regularly get facts wrong. The occasional “I think” would go a long way.
I deleted it for you Deirdre, thanks!
Ms. Taz, just let us address our commentors when it comes to modding and addressing what’s allowed here and what’s not. It’s not your place.
Carlos, as I was telling evaine on twitter, I object on principle. The show is supposed to give viewers and judges equal say…this way it won’t. Was I happy when Jennie went home over Marie? Lil Kim over Ty?? Not hardly, but it was easy to accept because that is how the show is advertised. Part popularity and part dancing. Now they are saying…by all means vote a lot, we love the hits to the website (aka money), but we’re not REALLY going to give you your equal share. Sorry.
Its actually self defeating in any case…if people are spending time voting for a Sherri over a Katherine, it’s for a reason. That’s who they like. So, by sending Sherri packing (as much as I don’t like her) they are alienating all those who voted for her…assuming, in this scenario, that she had the votes to overcome a big deficit. The potential then is…lower ratings and fewer votes the next week, all of which equates to money.
People keep talking about good dancers versus bad dancers…I wager most people would not give a rats ass about our definition of a good dancer…they like who they like and it’s best not to fuck with that. But TPTB are starting to listen to the squeaky wheels and actually believe that the Internet chatter reflects the average viewer, when in my experience it rarely does.
Forgive me if I missed this, but does this dance duel mean that all couples are going to have to rehearse another dance during the week in the event that they’re in the bottom? Seems like it will put extra pressure on some of celebs. I guess they could do a dance that they’ve already done, but if TPTB are trying to make them do the same dance then it may be that one celeb hasn’t done that particular dance yet. I don’t know, I guess there will be a lot of unanswered questions until they actually begin or exlplain the process. Then on the other hand TPTB may be making up the process as we type.
i wish the producers would leave it as it is. are they doing this because ratings are down?
Samantha – I might agree that they love to see that, but the judges aren’t cooperating. Yes, they are overscoring Sherri, but I think they’re being too hard on Melissa. I think Melissa is actually a better dancer, but she suffers in the flash of personality that is Sherri. I think most people find it hard to get past the personality and see the lack of content in her dances.
As for the rivalry thing – they tried it with Julianne and Derek too and it didn’t work then either. Makes me think the producers don’t have healthy sibling relationships.
Irisandlilies – that’s actually a pretty good theory about the ratings. You might be on to something there. I don’t think it will work, but I guess we’ll see.
I wouldn’t read too much into what Sherri said on the View today. She/they are renowned for erroneously presenting “facts”.
Sherri has a problem with memory…she was never even saved for last, let alone bottom three. WTF??
SO sad to see Jack go; I really enjoyed his enthusiasm and showmanship. I thought for sure Gavin was going to get the boot. But no, boo hoo.
Absolutely loved Anna and Jonathan’s dance: what a beautiful dance team. I miss him on the show. My thoughts on the Dance Duel? WTF! Why are TPTB messing with us? Its so annoying.
I thought someone might have mentioned this earlier, but I can’t find the comment anywhere. Anywho, I think it’s semi-interesting to note that Fox actually cancelled the SYTYCD results show for the coming season – Nigel actually announced it on Twitter, and I remember thinking to myself “Well that oughta make things interesting…wonder how the elims are gonna work?” So what’s that got to do with the price of tea in DWTSland? It seems like this “dance duel” format is kinda similar to what SYTYCD was doing…and obviously it didn’t work well for them in the long run. So if DWTS is looking to boost the ratings of their results show using a similar format – I’m a little worried for them. I’m still trying to figure out what their ultimate goal is in implementing this whole “dance duel” system. Are they trying to avoid a lot of filler? Trying to fill time so they don’t have to book more than one musical guest? Or is this indeed some sort of ploy to keep certain dancers in the competition? I’m just…puzzled by the whole thing. But I know it’s not a good thing.
Seriously, how many times do I have to tell people that if the entire content of your post is about Me or Vogue or Courtney, it won’t be posted? How many times? We’ve told what we thought about what you said, Taz, and that should be the end of it.
Okay, one more question. When Brooke presented the envelope from the Producers that saved Sherri. Did she indicate that it was a “Producers Save”? I didn’t hear it that way at the time, but folks I know think it was a save by TPTB, and that she really was supposed to be in the bottom three. I realize it does not make any difference, but I’m curious if anyone else thought this was what happened. It seems I’m picking on Sherri, and I’m sorry…it is not intended. Still, I see the bias pretty clearly. Thoughts, anyone?
I don’t think so Deidre, but I could be wrong. I thought she said the producers handed her that envelope to read right then, I don’t think they were arbitrarily saving her. I think it was a gimmick to get a reaction.
Courtney, I am glad you posted your thoughts abut the ultimate goal – I am still not convinced that it is just to keep celebrities they like – they can do it anyway, just remember Bristol Palin. Also, they will pick between the bottom two – not all the contestants, I was wondering if it is also to keep the fittest, not just the best – the second part of the show becomes quite intense.
BTW, in case I did not mention this before, this site is great!!!
@Deirdre Brooke said the producers gave her the envelope to announce the next safe couple, I don’t think it means the producers saved her or that she was in the bottom 3.
Btw I don’t get why Sherri would lie on the View and say she was in the bottom 3 ?? Is she trying to get the View audience to vote more?? Or did the producers told her backstage that she was in the bottom 3 ? I just don’t get it.
This whole dance duel thingy smells fishy to me, it basically looks like some sort of WTA-insert dance- for the B2 every week for 3 weeks ?! I’m so confused about it all, the only thing I know is I don’t think I will like it.
Woop sorry Heidi, was writing at the same time I guess !
“I think it was a gimmick to get a reaction.”
Agree. She went completely bananas when she found out she was safe last week. They may have wanted to see that again with the focus and camera fully on her or they may have wanted to let he getit over with without distracting from their red light drama or other couples up there.
or, it could have had nothing to do with Sherri. Maybe they were just trying to give Brooke a chance she can do more than ask “how do you feel about that?”. Bless her heart.
gah, typo.
A chance to prove she can do more than…
Samantha, I agree – I think it was an atempt to engage Brooke more, Sherri just hapenned to be the perfect choice for this!!!
i have a positive memory of the dance off…Louie Vito who was stiff and distracted, was elminated via a dance off, so I’m fine with it. I’m willing to give TPTB the benefit of the doubt. They could be just tinkering with the show to keep the audience from switching channels once their favorite has been declared safe. They want better ratings and the revenue high ratings bring.
@Samantha I also think it was to get a crazy reaction from her :p and lol for your comment about Brooke ! Though I do find her better at her job this season, she manages to ask some interesting questions for once ! And I never thought I would ever say that about Brooke !
“People keep talking about good dancers versus bad dancers…I wager most people would not give a rats ass about our definition of a good dancer…they like who they like and it’s best not to fuck with that.”
Well Heidi, I think this “good dancer” definition is personal. Some preffer tecnique, some preffer entertainment. I guess I’m 75% tecnique 25% entertainment… but that’s me. You probably have a different percentual as all other fans/viewrs…
You mentioned Jenny G. and Lil’Kim, curiously, I was rooting for them – (didn’t like Marie despite I loved Ty. That guy has an incredible personality!!! but I could let him leave) but I thought Jennie and Lil’ Kim sometimes lacked the personality Marie and Ty had a lot. (We could discuss about this all day long… hehehe)
dance duel adds more pressure to the celebrities IMO. this is the 1st season where all the contestants are decent dancers. it’s a new twist to the results show. for 3 weeks though? not sure if i’ll like it but i’ll wait and see.
@Irisandlilies
Look, if the dance duel is not this way, it should be… ahahahah =]
Thank you, everyone. I’m glad it was not as sinister as all that. Whew!
I agree that Brooke is doing lots better this season. I’m glad because she is really very pretty, and I look forward each week to see what she will be wearing. (Sounds shallow, I know). Now I won’t cringe when she starts talking to the couples.
Still love the show, but along with most of you, I’m hoping the changes don’t ruin it. Sure glad for this website/blog. I know I’ll get a straight answer. Thanks
I think what ticks me off the most about this is they have rendered us voters useless. If, for instance, a better technical dancer is eliminated before someone who just happens to be more popular, well, that means the people have spoken. If a “great” dancer doesn’t make it to the finals that means the majority of voters don’t want him/her there. That’s was the way the DWTS cookie crumbles. You can be the best dancer ever but if viewers don’t want you to advance then you don’t. Thanks to this junk, that no longer applies. Wasn’t it last season that we were all fuming about the ineptness and craziness of the judging? Now, the maniacs have even more power. The producers just don’t get it.
Er, no Taz. YOU were acting like a mod. Vogue called you on it – THAT should have been the end, but you wouldn’t let it go. A couple people read your comment the same way as she did and mentioned it to me, so it wasn’t just her.
I love the “bless her heart” you tacked on at the end, Samantha…very southern.
Most fun was watching those in the background watch Sherri. Hilarious.
That’s exactly what I was saying, Carlos -it’s personal to the viewers and they won’t agree that Katherine or William or Maria or whoever is best, they just might like Sherri. Well, if you start making them believe that their votes don’t matter, then you’re harming the show more than anything.
I thought Lil’ Kim was a revelation. So totally different than what people expected. Jennie I did’t really care for…but I hate Marie Osmond with a passion, so I was for Jennie all the way.
I thought Brooke was gonna tackle Maria in the skybox when Maria was going after Derek on the floor but Brooke wanted to talk about Wrestlemania – “LEAVE DEREK THERE” LOL – woman has so few lines, best not get in her way when it’s time for them.
When I saw The View I thought it was a possibility the producers told her after she was in the bottom three. They only said the last two couples are actually in the bottom two right? The rest they said in a random order? It seemed like a strange thing for her to make a mistake on since it was just yesterday but maybe she’s just sleep deprived and it was a mix up?
While part of me is interested to see how the dance-off of the bottom 2 couples will go, especially with its potential to save the “better” couple, the other part of me is somewhat apprehensive because of the capriciousness and favoritism that the judges have shown (particularly in the last few seasons that I’ve been watching). They’ll nitpick one couple and ignore the same foibles in another couple, or consistently ignore another couples’ errors and overscore them. And I too agree that a celeb dancing a tougher routine should get a higher score than one who danced an easier routine (like factoring in a higher ‘degree of difficulty’ component in determining the score). I also liked in season 10 or 11 when the judges gave both a technical score and a performance score – that would be one way of rewarding couples for executing tougher choreography while also giving credit for performance value. But the di appears to be cast now, so we’ll have to wait and see how the dance-off goes. Whatever happens, people will still be upset when their favorite gets sent down.
I highly doubt they would tell Sherri, of all people, that she was in the bottom 3. They would lose their “suspense” especially knowing she can’t keep her mouth shut. I think she was going for sympathy. Or she’s paranoid.
I wonder if she meant the last of the three groups to be told whether they were safe or in jeopardy.
If they had announced this before the series began I would agree that it is likely an attempt to get more ratings for the results show. In the UK Strictly tried it for that reason for either one or two series up till the semi finals when the public voted. The series I remember it protected a good dancer (bottom two 4 times I think) who promptly went home as soon as the public vote counted. The UK obviously decided it didn’t work – they’ve really cut down our results show now – just 30 minutes long and pretty much a pro dance, announce bottom two, a guest artist and then the result. Although shown the next day, it’s recorded late on the same night – you can only vote for about an hour or so after the show.
The bit that bothers me is this sudden introduction. Curious how it is going to work – is there set choreography they all have to learn? Or a set piece of music they can devise a routine to in advance. Hope it’s not an instant dance kind of thing – think many of the dancers need a bit more practice before we can go there.
As to ‘shock eliminations’ I think that they at least represent how people stand. Even if Chyna had been kept around for a couple more weeks she would not have won. The elims benefit tptb as they also generate news coverage and maybe encourage people to vote more. All this ‘dance duel’ can do is achieve the same end results but alienate a lot of the core audience who feel their input has been taken away. So I am left with the feeling that there has to be another reason why they would interfere…
Wonder if it will be similar to Season 9. If memory serves, all the couples prepared a “knockout” dance in a style of their choosing to be used for 1 future dance-off if they landed in the bottom 2. However, if a couple “used it up” in a dance-off and ended up in the bottom 2 again later, they were automatically out. But those were double-elimination weeks I think, so they kind of had a “bottom 3″ – one automatic elimination and 1 dance-off. *sigh* Seems very complicated no matter what.
I bring this up because I wonder what will happen if the same couple ends up in the bottom 2 more than once. If the dance-off was in place at the beginning of the season, this could have happened to Gavin if he was “saved” last week.
And Sherri’s memory was a little fuzzy on the whole meeting Val for lessons too!! A little memory block issue I would say..
Yeah, mmc, you have to wonder. If Gavin is in the bottom two again next week and has to dance…what happens if he dances better than Melissa or Gladys, neither of whom have ever been in the bottom two?? Is it a start fresh thing, or are they going to at least consider the audience. If they save him, what if he’s in the bottom AGAIN the following week?? First time someone’s been in a real bottom two four weeks in a row?? Crazy.
Such a heated discussion going on. Well, in an attempt to redirect the discussion to the whole “Well is it 3 weeks or 4 weeks” I heard it as “After Week 4, there will be 3 weeks of ‘Dance Duels’.” But then again, the word subsequent everyone is throwing around is beginning to confuse me.
I apologize if this subject has been settled and I’m being not smart. If someone wants to correct me, by all means, go ahead.
I think we’ll have to wait and see how the “Dance Off” goes next week to get an indication of the reasons behind the change in format. Say if the bottom two is Gladys and Maria, and the judges picked Gladys to stay, then I would call shenanigans.
I would also think she is the only one who could possibly have the clout to have a guaranteed number of weeks or something like that – William and Katharine were pretty much unknown in this country before the competition started.
And poor Gavin! I don’t think he’s that bad of a dancer and hope he outlasts Gladys and Melissa, at least.
I hope Gavin outlasts Sherry too.
I know “dial idol” is taboo lol…..but, a co-worker had told me Tuesday morning that the “bottom three” on Dial idol were Melissa, Sherri, and Gladys. Do you think Sherri knows about dial idol (or a fan or a person in her circle) and that’s what she means? It’s the only thing to back up her “bottom 3″ statement. Only other thing may be that she was referring to a tie on the leader board and she thought 3 people instead of 5 were tied at the bottom.
Maybe someone has been in the bottom two for 3-4 weeks in a row, but they never announced it;they just did the “imaginary” bottom two all the time….
Sherry – You raise a good point.. Maybe they were the bottom 2 of the 3 standing there. That may be true, but may be they are not the actual bottom 2 of the competition. I know its far fetched but…. Ratings, Ratings, Ratings..
Oh my, I am going way out there…
Time for me to head back to Bedrock.. Yabba Dabba Doo!!!
The truth is, my life is frantic and frustrating. Full of both the wonderful and the mundane. I look forward to watching Dancing with the Stars with the same zeal that I look forward to the Cheesecake awards – because they are wonderful and harmless addictions to be passionate about. Why not enjoy them to the fullest. It enriches my life in the simplest form because it makes me happy. I guess my point here is, that whatever they bring, whatever they change, it’s still our DWTS – and the more TPTB are sniffing the bad glue, the more fodder they create for the Cheese awards, right?
True, beka…I sense caustic cheesecake in my future.
In fact, why am I watching AI instead of working on the cheese?
i don’t think William was overscored in his salsa. The whole choreography and performance itself was at the top Monday night. In my honest thinking, it was the best dance of the night! The little slip up wasn’t too detrimental to the whole performance. That happens a lot before when judges do overlook some little mishap in an amazing routine and performance.
Everybody were overscored in week 3. All the rumbas were very lackluster and technically deficient, including Maria and Donald. Maria hardly moved, and was very rigid. Sherri did better job than her. Donald was running around and was all over the place.And Katherine routine should been deducted for not doing it properly.
I have a strong feel that it is KATHERINE they are protecting and MARIA too. I don’t get the feeling of people getting excited for the two ladies (except on this board), and judges are obvious of the way they push them to the top.
ROSHON the disney kid and his demo is out of the show’s market.
I will bet that William and Donald, are the high votes getter. William’s latino voters are wild and dedicated, and women are crazy for him. Donald has the nfl backings.
@Beka
Loved your post and totally agree:)
@Harriet – <3
@Princess Heidi – seriously, woman! We need our Cheese!
HATE the dance-off. I think it is Katherine. Why wouldn’t she be on the british version of DWTS? I think they would know she has dance experience. I don’t hate Katherine she obviously is multitalented and beautiful, but I don’t think she belongs on the show.
wonderful post, Beka #204 I’m not quite there yet after last night, but that’s where I want to be
@Tina
Maybe, Katherine wasn’t on the British version because she wants to expand her audience to the US. She is successful in Britain. Doing well on the US version could bring her success here as well.
This is a bit off topic, but not too far off. I was watching the performances from Monday on Youtube, and this recap of DWTS(last Monday) comes up in my suggestions. The guy picked out the worst 3 of the night in his opinion.
3.) Jack Wagner(this made me go ?????)
2.) Melissa Gilbert
1.) Gavin Degraw
I agreed with his top 3 except for one person
3.) Maria Menounos
2.) Katherine Jenkins
1.) Ok, do I really have to tell you, Im sure you can guess, it’s no other than William Levy. This is the one I disagreed with.
He also told everyone to tell him who there favorites are, and out of about 10 comments, all but 2 said Wlliam Levy because if his looks. The other two picked Roshon.
This is why I love this site, you actually know about the dances and can actually tell who’s a good dancer and not just good looking.
I have a strong feeling that next week during rock week the leader board will be shook up!
I really have a strong feeling the Maria and Derek will be on top of the leader board next week with their Tango. Mainly because if she can keep her posture like it was in the quickstep, keep her connection and chemistry with Derek, and bring out the mean and rocker look. Then she will head all the way to the top!
Katherine and Mark – I have a little feeling that she will drop this week. Because she is doing the Paso Doble to a rock song. Not really a good cobination with Katherine. I don’t think she can be a “Mean” character like the Paso ask for.
William and Cheryl – Don’t think we’ll see a 10 or 9s for these two next week. The Jive? I can see it being all messed up and everything! and how can a jive be danced to rock music?!?1 But anyways I hope these two go home early than expected! They get on my last nerve! There is no latin flair in the jive and not in rock music! Soorrryyy WILLIAM HAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAEHAHAHAH Say bye bye to the overscoring!
Can anyone answer this? On DAD, voting closed on the song which is Beyonce. I thought the song was combined with the dance. So why wasn’t the dance mentioned as well?
Wait. I thought of something as I was drifting off into sleep…
What happens when a couple messes up during this dance duel? I mean, judge’s pet or not…I think it should be grounds for elimination. And before ANYONE says “Well what if your favorite messes up Tony? How do you feel about it then?” I’ll tell you: If one of my favorites messes up, then yeah, I’ll still think they should be the one to go because of that mistake. It’s my understanding that the “dance duel” is kind of an all or nothing dance.
But I know Heidi or Courtney will strike me down. And that’s okay, because I know this is flawed. It needs to be refined. I don’t want to cause more heated discussion. It’s more of a “What if” type of thing. So…thoughts?
Yeah, most celebs go on the show to up their profile, and I do agree that’s probably why Katherine is on. I don’t actually see a problem with that.
Or they could add a subtitle to the name of the show: “Dancing with the Stars – Against all odds.” It seems as if that is what the celeb/pro couple who would have won if the system had been allowed to work as it was conceived will have to do – reach the top against all odds.
@Heidi – Now that its week 3, I know we have touched on this previously but…. Does your crystal ball see either Katherine or William possibly winning?
Sorry, Meant to say *week 4*…
I have to say the comment ‘how can a jive be danced to rock music’ made me LOL! The jive is a rock dance!!! That said, I totally agree, the jive can/should be William’s downfall.
And Tony brings up a good point – what if a couple that is usually technically sound messes up their dance-off, while a lesser couple nails it? I almost hope that happens, to force the judges to show their hand…
This dance-off really generated a buzz among us, the fans.
Geez, Sandy…in any other season I would say that Donald is going to win. I think he’s got the whole package – personality, likability, he’s a decent dancer, big American fanbase, cute kids…but this season has a lot of talent and personality.
But the judges don’t consider him a pet (yet), which makes his actually winning much more difficult. This season you either have to be teacher’s pet or be such a good dancer they can’t help but reward you. William or Katherine?? I would normally call Katherine an Audrina type…but the judges love her and she’s much more personable than Audrina was, IMO. And she has Mark, who is arguably more talented and more popular than Tony is. So I think she has a decent shot. I would certainly prefer her over William, since she’s actually a very good dancer. William has two judges on his side, but…he has to dance ballroom and his cha cha cha had little to no cha cha in it and his quickstep was butt-filled, if you know what I mean.
Cheryl perhaps should focus on his posture as opposed to getting him naked. Len already marked him down once, and CAI criticized him last week too, so he’s got to shape up because they’re signalling a willingness to be hard on him. Thank God.
In any case, my crystal ball is very murky this season. Derek has indicated that’s he’s going all out, taking risks and Maria is improving every week. Jaleel hasn’t completely crashed and burned (yet). Sherri is a teachers pet and if she finds her stride and doesn’t become annoying, she could be an issue. Roshon is clearly a good dancer in some cases, if Chelsie whips him into shape he could be a contender, although I don’t think he has Kyle’s infectious personality. This is a season with a lot of potential, still, even though some weaknesses have been revealed. I think this is going to be a week by week thing. Have a bad week and you could be in trouble, if the judges find their balls and actually start putting in a legitimate spread.
Strike you down, Tony? I suddenly feel very powerful.
If my favorite messes up during a dance duel, then yes, I would expect her to be the one to go. And the thing is, I think she would expect to be the one to go, which is why I like her so much. Her partner helps too.
That said…Sherri missed an entire run in her one dance and still got high marks from the judges based on her personality. She had very little jive in her jive and was still overscored. So…what are the odds that a mess up in the dance duel will cost you your place in the competition?? I mean, if they don’t even score properly during the regular dances, why would they start during the dance duel??
@Twickenham – Unless, of course, Cheryl finds a way to make the jive sexy or get William to doff his clothing – and I think it’s possible, considering that the only 2 “rock” jive songs I can think of are “The House is a Rockin’” by Stevie Ray Vaughn & “Talk Dirty to Me” by Poison. I can practically hear Carrie Ann’s panties flying off of her already…
Twickenham…I hope so too. I’ve got ten bucks that says they fall back on the “body of work” argument. Even if they said it was about dancing the week before.
Thanks Heidi. I do see the favoritism, but I do think the judges like Donald, including Len, which is a huge asset. But are they making him work more for his scores, Yup, but that could be a good thing, slowly improving to the top, but in the overall picture if the judges could pick their top 5. I would say that Donald is in that pick. We shall see…
As far as William jiving to a Rock song. Sooner or later its got to be more than just ripping your shirt open, taking it off or whatever, and shaking your booty. Yawn!! I am hoping the viewers will grow tired of him as most of us are already. Quite frankly, this William crap is ruining the show for me…
Katherine has said she wants to jump start her career here in the states. Mark has taken her target shooting (skeet)…thanks a lot Bristol LMAO! Guess that’s supposed to get Kath mean & moody for the paso. He can just have Shirley come in ( not that That hasn’t happen numerous times).
This is for the Gavin fans:
http://www.billboard.com/column/reality-check/gavin-degraw-talks-balancing-new-album-dancing-1006671352.story#/news/gavin-degraw-dwts-partner-is-kicking-my-1006505152.story
and
http://www.billboard.com/column/reality-check/gavin-degraw-talks-balancing-new-album-dancing-1006671352.story#/column/reality-check/gavin-degraw-talks-balancing-new-album-dancing-1006671352.story
@sheery Thanks!
http://tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/dancing-with-the-stars-jack-wagner-anna-eliminated/
According to that link from EW all the couples will have to prepare a new dance Monday night for Tuesday night in case they happen to find themselves in the dance duel. So sounds like it’s a new routine in the same style across the board, which is good I guess but I wonder how well they’ll be performed.
Hi, all! I am an avid Pure Dancing with the Stars reader and truly enjoy all the information your sight provides-thanks! I discovered your site during Season 13 and check it daily ever since…just don’t post much yet! Now, I don’t know how I ever watched the show before I came here! Anyway, did anyone notice that Karina & Maks were standing next to each other and words were exchanged at the end of the week 3 results show on Tuesday? I wonder if they’ve made up. I am a big fan of Karina’s, and I love to watch the clips of their dances together but definitely find Maks to be quite arrogant! It would be nice to see them getting along finally though!
I think I’ve read all the comments but apologies if this was mentioned and i missed it. Had a Pollyanna-ish thought. One good thing about the dance off…at least we’ll know who the real bottom two are. Trading one manipulation tactic for another but it’s something.
@Debby yes! I noticed Maks and Karina too! Im also a big fan of Karina’s, it would be nice to see them be friends again
cant wait to see her pro dance on tuesday, im curious about it tho, who is she dancing with…Ive seen Chelsie tweets about a pro dance rehearsal but I don’t know that thats related…hm
Manny, I was wondering, too, who she’s dancing with! Wouldn’t it be a shock if she danced with Maks out of the blue?! (although, I highly doubt it!)
Debby, haha that thought crossed my mind too :p (a girl can dream!)
Thank you Ballroom blogger for your comments, I agree with everything you have said. Don´t think the dance-off only is a bad thing, it´s a tv-show and they want high ratings.
Some thoughts: Why all this anti-William? IMO he is a decent dancer and he danced with his shirt open!!!! Not shirtless!! Derek (with Joanna) Mark (with Bristol) and Maks (with Kirstie) have danced shirtless, what´s the big deal?
About Maria: I think she improves and can be really good but if she has this rib injury and problems with her feet WHY wrestling the night before the show, I don´t get it?
Manny, I agree! They make such a great looking and dancing couple!
Saying that the reason some don’t like William is because he wears his shirt open missed the entire point. Totally and completely. But if you want to believe that, go for it. It’s an over simplification in the extreme.
As for Maria wrestling before the show, simple. CONTRACT. If you try to get out of a contract because you’re injured, then you can hardly continue on DWTS. It’s all or nothing. Or get sued for Breach.
Debby, yes, they had great chemistry! always loved their pro dances
@Susanne William is a decent dancer but not as good as his scores really. Imo its not really and “anti-william” thing, its more like being annoyed by the producers and especially Cheryl’s behavior that is really over the top, anyway thats how I see it. And dancing with his shirt open is no big deal like you said, but it’s everything around it that’s annoying to me. Especially his fans who can’t seem to accept that some people don’t find him that attractive. I’m a straight girl and find Derek and Tristan much more sexy but thats just me…
@Samantha – Good point!
At least we’ll get a real bottom two for the next month… That being said, just to make the Three Stooges’ heads spin, I’d LOVE to see a bottom 2 consisting of their pets… I can just see Bruno and CAI in a limp-wristed slap-fight… 
Susanne,
Maybe because William is just a piece of meat that some women go crazy about. And we’ve never ever seen this on DwtS – everybody votes just because any reason but the beauty of one star/pro… (lol I’m just kidding… =p)
As for me, William is not my fav star (this season is so good that sometimes I don’t even remember him by myself), and I think he was overscored on his quickstep ( 1) and salsa ( 1) – btw, I think ALL couples were overscored even one time this season.
The fact is that william is dancing well and cheryl is excited about having him as partner… and CAI, well, she is always nuts about anyone who wears pants and pee stand (even Rob!), so…
Let some women go crazy about a man, and scream and shout! (In some cultures around the world women would never act like this without be sentenced to die stoning or be considered pervert to all society…) Thanks God in USA you have the freedom to express yourself! Let the man be a piece of meat! (As some men act to women)
Now that I talked about it – and I know a lot of people here are going to hate me about what I’m going to say but, I can’t understand all women that still go crazy about Maksim’s or “his hotness” despite how rude he was to his past partners. He just gave – on one of the most watched TV shows of the biggest country in the world – a good example of what a gentleman shouldn’t do to a woman… (yell, push, etc) I know he’s not a monster, and I still respect him as a professional, but can’t understand how he still have all these passionate fans…
(that’s my opinion, I’m not judging anyone here…)
What I personally look for more then anything else in a winner is a) dancing improvement and b) ability to remain level headed, kind and true to yourself (funny if possible) amid the chaos.
Katherine and William dance very nice but they have both been blessed with some natural abilities which are nice to look at but IMO shouldn’t count for as much as they do (like Nicole, Jennifer and many others). Effort and improvement is what I like to see. What’s the point of having different people if they have zero chance of winning?
It’s become so typecast (older “legend” with no chance of winning, popular sportsman with drive and a big fan base, middle aged somewhat awkward male, young pretty thing who’s dancing everyone critical of because it doesn’t have much genuine feeling to it…) that it is IMO becoming boring and predictable.
I’m interested to see the dance-offs but I would like more refreshing change, just something new to add to the show.
“I would normally call Katherine an Audrina type…but the judges love her and she’s much more personable than Audrina was, IMO. And she has Mark, who is arguably more talented and more popular than Tony is.”
Mark already had an Audrina type, Kristin Cavallari. And Tony and Audrina did better.
This Duel makes no sense to me because they all are good dancers. there is no reason to protect good dancers because there are no bad dancers to protect them from. There are no Bristol, no Kirstie, no Carson, Chaz, Nancy.
Jennifer, you can’t really just say “Tony and Audrina did better” like they went up against each other – they didn’t. It would take a bit more of an in depth look of each season and how they were scored. As for which pro is better – well, I don’t really care, but I think numerically Mark scores a good bit higher. We’d have to ask Marianya since she has that spreadsheet.
@sasa
It’s become so typecast (older “legend” with no chance of winning, popular sportsman with drive and a big fan base, middle aged somewhat awkward male, young pretty thing who’s dancing everyone critical of because it doesn’t have much genuine feeling to it…) that it is IMO becoming boring and predictable.
I’m interested to see the dance-offs but I would like more refreshing change, just something new to add to the show.
Absolutely. Carson is the perfect example!
And these theme weeks! Rock again!!! =/ On season 11 Rock week was horrible as the “Let’s recycle it all” week. argh! the one I liked was classic week… =/
We have different stars very season the show goes on.
You could replace all the judges and the show would go on.
You can not replace fans.
Just read this on another site and think it pretty much hits the nail on the head.
“So far I’ve read they’re doing the dance off because the ‘chosen ones’ aren’t getting votes, namely Katherine, William, Jaleel, Roshon, Maria or Sherri. So who’s getting all the votes? Melissa and Gladys? LOL”
Honestly at this point I don’t think any of us really know whoy the judges are tyring to protect or why- I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens Tuesday! Personally for me, I hope its some combination of Sherri, Melissa, William, and Jaleel in the bottom two that way either of them could go home and I would be happy!
“Personally for me, I hope its some combination of Sherri, Melissa, William, and Jaleel in the bottom two that way either of them could go home and I would be happy!”
I’m with you on that, Ayana!
After what I’ve read on the web, I hope it’s some combination of Jaleel, Jaleel, Jaleel, and Jaleel in the bottom two… then any of them could go home, and I’d be happy…
Kind of off-topic but can have another poll for the Design a Dance to see who everyone is voting for? They were a good indication of the results the last two seasons!
AT round the 1:00 minute mark, Tony questions Mark and then a beautiful moment at around 3:00 when Maria gets emotional about Gavin’s dance and her own:
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2012/04/jaleel_white_on_dwts_stress_it_was_a_tough_personal_week_for_me.php?adid=trendingstories
Sorry if this was posted already.