Ryan Seacrest Asks, “Is The Pressure of ‘DWTS’ Getting To Dancer Mark Ballas?”
“Day 2 not time to dig. Sabrina Sean Gilles Emmitt are competition. I want to get hero…loosen up a little bit…come out of er shell…she didnthe full show. Have fun…let loose…and have fun.” ~Mark Ballas on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show
Several of the pros have been mentioning how “intense” the All Star season is going to be on Dancing With The Stars. After reading a quick message from Mark on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, you can tell the pressure is on like Ryan mentions at his site. Thanks to Lori for sending this news this morning. With her email she asked, “I do agree, he’s either cracking under the pressure, or just doesn’t care anymore, or just doesn’t want anyone to know how things are going??” Take a listen to Ryan below and let us know what you think.
Say what??!!
LOL Jim. I know…I am not sure what to think? I tend to think Mark was just in a hurry and didn’t have a lot of time to talk or write to Ryan.
…and Mark didn’t make much sense either? lol
I think Mark wanted to be with Shawn at first place, and he supossed (really early) that they were gonna be together. When he realized that this wasn’t gonna be the case, he was dissapointed. Now the only thing that matters for him is to have fun and try to do well, at least to not be eliminated the first week.
Auto correct? LOL.
I think he probably thought he’d be with Sabrina at first.
If you follow Mark’s tweets, you know the boy isn’t the best speller or worker of grammar out there.
But honestly, if WE can all see how disadvantaged Bristol is in this show compared to all the others, don’t you think that he can? And therefore puts the emphasis on fun and it being fun for her? I mean, come on, he’s not going to put his partner down, for heaven’s sake! I don’t think he’s delusional at all if he’s recognising what the rest of us are. Or maybe WE’RE all delusional too!
The thing that worries me about BP is that she’ll stick around for some time. In the last couple days, I’ve looked at her tweets and blog, and she appeals to a certain population who might still vote pretty passionately for polictical/moral majority type reasons. Even if most people don’t care for her she may have some percentage of *voters* (vs general viewership) who want to keep her there. Maybe it’s even 10% of people who are motivated to vote and especially motivated to vote more than just picking up their one phone and dialing a few times. Maybe a few others like Kirstie, maybe Emmit, Apolo, Shawn also have a base of motivated voting supporters, that leaves give or take 50 % of votes split between 8 other people. So it’s easy then to see how she could out last at least 3 others. Then it’s easy to see how, say the first person out fans switch their votes to say Kirstie/Maks, or Drew or whoever so there are still several who come out below her in terms of voting. Maybe it will take quite awhile to get her voting percentage lower than some others. Scary. I know there are many holes in my reasoning and too many things I don’t really understand. Looking *very* forward to Courtney’s power rankings and and Heidi’s number posts as the season goes along. And hoping I’m wrong wrong wrong.
Well, Jess, I hate to say it, but you could be right – mainly because the judges have been idiots about Bristol in the past and I am not confident AT ALL that will change for the All Star season. Which will suck. Either they are getting instructed on how to score OR they are complete morons who don’t understand the math of their scores combined with the audience vote. Appropriate scoring from the judges GREATLY reduces the impact of power voters. But when Bristol is only a point behind, say, Kelly or Melissa?? Trouble.
I’m not sure Bristol is disadvantaged. We’ll have to wait and see how good the crack is at the judges table.
Heidi, I can’t get my foggy allergy head around the numbers that include the judges scores so I’m looking really forward to your analysis. But isn’t it true that the more total overall points the judges award on a night, the less important their scores are, thus with 13 couples, and them always being reluctant to use their full range of scores (anything under say 6)…Just how much better scores do those like Pam, Melissa,, Kelly need to cushion them against a celebrity who might have a more passionate voter base? Anyway, sure hope the judges do their job!
Also, Mark appears from his twitters and interviews to be not very invested in this season. Perhaps he’s consciously trying to lower everyone’s expectations so they surprise people. But I’m hoping that he’s just not willing to do all the work for her this season. I remember him saying once that he had to provide all the motivation for her. So I’m hoping that he just decides to only give it what she’s willing to give.
PH, in regards to the judges I think it is a little of both (instruction and stupidity). I think Bristol will make it closer to the half way point. It pains me to think that based on dance skill alone but it is an election year and the crazy people always come out for this type of thing.
Yes, Jess, but the scores DO count and if they are scored appropriately and not just for ratings, then at least it has the appearance of being fair. It’s really simple math – half audience vote, half judges scores. If the judges do their part, then it’s a fine combination of what they think and the audience “favorite” – but when they have Len giving Bristol and 8 for wearing a monkey suit then turning around and giving a great dancer an 8 for some unknown reason?? Then you KNOW the fix is in. Len has underscored Derek, Maks, Mark and others for too much “messin’ about” -yet Bristol gets an 8 wearing a monkey suit. THAT is the sort of scoring that sends more deserving dancers home early.
Too true PH.
This tweet from Mark looks like something that happpened to me once..trying to tweet, riding in a car, going over bumps. Maybe he was being rushed to airport..hasn’t he been in and out of LA about every other day. He isn’t usually THAT incoherent !!
I really think if the judges don’t play it straight up this season..Bristol will at least make it to the half way point. I would think for a season like this,judges would really TRY to be more careful….but I have no confidence, anymore.
Oh, Mark, really? At least make an effort to get the spaces in the right places. Even though the vast majority of tweeters don’t give a rat’s tushie about spelling and such, you need to be somewhat coherent.
As for Bristol, I truly fear she’ll stick around far beyond her expiration date again. The judges would have to be brutally honest with their paddles in order to avoid that, and we know that’s not gonna happen.
His spelling has always been fine to me on Twitter.
The fact that he didn’t even spell Shawn’s name correctly tells me that this time he was either in a rush, or had someone else do it for him.
I don’t see anything panicky or disappointed about what he’s acting saying, though. He’s just saying that the competition is tough, and one of the things Bristol has to work on is loosening up/PERFORMING. I don’t know, I just don’t see how that’s so under pressure. I guess Ryan was expecting some generic “everything’s awesome!”
I like that he correct assessed some of her weaknesses, because that tells me he’s taking it seriously, and not wanting her to coast and perform like she did last time. The girl does need to show a genuine sense of fun. She would often times seem so blah last time.
I do think that initially he probably was pretty disappointed, but I don’t think he’s come across that way since then. He’s seemed pretty upbeat, imo.
Of course the competition is more intense this time around. Gilles is showing it, imo.
Also, it’s funny how many of the girls have tweeted about their feet hurting. I do forget how hard and taxing it must be to dance in heels. The girls do have it bad, in that regard.
“actully saying”*, I meant.
It’s kind of sad that Bristol can’t naturally correct some of what was wrong last time, though. He’s not even talking about technique, he’s talking about just genuinely losing yourself and having fun. That should be one of the easier parts. I hope that she’s taking this as a serious opportunity to improve, and not just looking at this as a cash grab. She’s the one who has the most room to improve (since no one expects anything), so if I’m Mark, I’m more frustrated by lack of effort than anything else, if that’s the case.
And if she’s gonna stick around anyway, she damn sure should be working toward at least being respectable. If she’s around forever, and is performing exactly like she did last time again, that’s a real disappointment. At least try to earn something toward the spot you’re taking.
Not only did Bristol dance in a monkey suit, but she forgot half of the steps. That’s what really pissed me off about the score. I really hope the judges are fair this season.
The thing that pisses me off with Bristol was that monkey suit dance she forgot half her steps and receives a 24. Both Brooke and Chyna blank out the receive a 21 which in my opinion doesn’t make sense.
They weren’t as invested in either Brooke or Chynna. I also think that Brooke was before the started REALLY storyboarding.
I’m going to admit my bias against Bristol. She is the only competitor that I’m anxious to see go. Everyone else I either really like, or at least I’m neutral toward them.
Having said that, sadly, I think Bristol will be around for at least several weeks. I’ve read fans’ opinions that she will leave in the first week or two, and I wonder if they didn’t learn anything from the other season she was on. This isn’t about whether or not the girl can dance. She’s going to bring in a large number of votes no matter how she performs.
I understand her mother and family aren’t as popular as a couple years ago. I understand that people have had the opportunity to see Bristol’s flaws and are less likely to give her the “oh, isn’t she a sweet girl trying to learn to dance” votes. However, I believe there is still a large (political) contingent who will be supporting her with gusto.
The show is bringing her back during the presidential election season. I’m concerned they will want her to remain on for ratings and/or controversy reasons. I’m concerned the judges’ scores will reflect that. If the judges would get real with her scores, her fans would have a difficult time keeping her on.
I understand this show is often not about who is the best dancer, but rather, who is the most popular. However, it will still be a bummer to me if/when several really strong dancers get booted out while Bristol continues to remain on the show.
I personally will be thrilled if she is bumped by the midpoint of the season. At least that would be a big improvement over her making the finals before.
Yup, Cecelia you hit the nail on the head… It’s election year and in my opinion that is the only reason that Bristol was asked back and I hate the negativity and hatred that goes along with political contestants. It sucks!
Very nicely put Cecilia, and I feel the same way Sandy does about the ugliness that comes out whenever there’s a politico around. It really does suck!
She could care less about Mark having a chance to win this. I remember someone saying that in her book she basically “mocked” the show, spray tans and sequins. Yet, in an early interview she said, “I can’t wait to get back to the spray tans and sequins.” She said it in a silly sounding voice as if poking fun. She also recently said in an interview with Mark that she “can’t wait to pay dress up”. Ugh
I ever hear ” I want to work hard and learn how to dance.” Cash grab is correct!
Cecilia, she’s up against ALL STARS. Actual all stars, not just a random cast. And, as I’ve shown in my Numbers posts, Bristol was mainly kept by the judges. They continually overscored her so those with smaller fanbases got the boot. You can blame voters all you want, but the judges had a HUGE hand in it.
I remember listening to an interview Ryan did with Chelsea Kane where he was basically, well, pretty bitchy about Mark. I don’t know whether it’s the Julianne history or what but it definitely sounded like Ryan had a bit of a problem. Mark is not going to be winning any spelling bees any time soon but what is written is actually decipherable. It’s not like he went off on a Charlie Sheen-esque tangent or anything…
You can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him. Not only does he get Bristol and her bad attitude, but he gets her in the middle of an election… Hopefully she goes out early, Mark can do pro dances & the focus can stay on the people bringing the goods on the dance floor!
Ummm, Bristol got an 18 for the monkey jive. Not a 24.
I feel there’s plenty of blame to go around where Bristol’s concerned — starting with TPTB who brought her on the first time and then did it again. Sure seems to be a political connection there – they must figure they’ll pick up press and/or viewer eyeballs in an election year by having her on.
As for her ridiculously high finish, the largest slice of the blame for that goes to the judges, for sure, but the voters did have some say in it. If the judges do what they’re supposed to do this time around, we might see how much vote-support she really has.
The judges put Bristol in last place on the leader board almost every week she was there. It was not their fault she made it to the Finals.
She never got a 10. She only got 9′s for 3 individual dances, the Paso and Waltz in Week 9 and her Jive at the Finals. Based on where she started and how she performed that Paso and Waltz, the 27 and 26 she got for them were not a problem. The rest of the times she got 6′s, 7′s and 8′s. I would argue she was scored fairly the vast majority of the time. There may have been a couple dances she was over scored by a point or 2 but that’s the case for any contestant in any season.
She benefited greatly from having a weak cast dance wise. Hasselhoff, Bolton, Cho, and the ridiculously pigeon toed Situation were even worse than her. Florence was fun but didn’t have passionate support. The audience was having no part of Audrina and Rick Fox who were started off as solid dancers yet incredibly forgettable and remained solid dancers and incredibly forgettable leading to their eliminations. She and Kurt Warner were basically even the entire time. The only person she robbed was Brandy and that was just as much the fault of Brandy and Maks who were rubbing viewers the wrong way for a couple weeks.
Kyle and Jennifer had no problem getting enough votes to finish ahead of her. It wasn’t some impossible task. Every person she beat that season, it’s easy to see why she did.
@Jeff (Comment #19)
Bristol actually got an 18 for her first jive, so certainly lower than Brooke and Chynna’s 21s for their respective blank-outs.
It was also the lowest score of the night and three points from the next lowest score (21) that evening. So, to me, based on just scoring alone, there wasn’t anything glaringly unfair about it. I realize that percentage-wise, it didn’t create enough of a gap for her to go home that week, but the judges might not necessarily have percentages in mind (or how many points someone needs to stay) when they are giving out scores.
But back to the original topic, I agree with DWTS Fan that Mark’s message was either done in a rush or he had someone else type it, but other than that, I don’t think there’s anything in the message itself that suggests he’s under a lot of pressure for the upcoming season.
Incorrect on many counts, Andrea. Bristol was only in last place 5 out of ten weeks. Four of those weeks she was in last place it was only by one or two points which, if you understand the math, is nothing. Considering that she deserved last place, there’s not much to complain about there. It was absolutely the fault of the judges that she stuck around. It’s not just over scoring Bristol, it’s the underscoring of other couples at the same time. That serves to narrow the margin between the couples to make it insignificant when the voting comes into play. Bristol should never have been in a position to only need a couple thousand votes to stay. A couple dozen power voters can overcome that easily.
As for Brandy, anyone could tell she was leaving early and it had nothing to do with bristol. But Bristol should have been gone weeks before that because she was a crappy dancer with an increasingly crappy tude.
Point is, Cali, that she got an 8 from Len. If Len had scored her the way he normally does for a fucked up dance AND a horrible gimmick she would have had a 15 or less and likely would have gone home. So yes, it was patently unfair. It also makes me wonder if TPTB were in his ear about not losing her in week 5.
And according to wiki there was only 2 points between her and the next person.
Inspired by your number posts which I love, yesterday I did a set, very hypothetical indeed, but I gave BP a score of 9 (3,3,3), and then everyone else a score total of 21 to 27 that ended with her having a score total percentage of 3.1% and others with percentages of 7.24, 7.58, 7.93 8.27, 8.62, or 9.31. (Score totals of 21,22,23,24,25, or 27 and obviously more than one pair getting these scores to total 12 other pairs) Unfortunately, I still am afraid that even with this point spread that I don’t think would ever really happen (them giving her all 3′s and no one else getting lower than 7 and mostly 8′s and some 9′s) there still will be a couple who are vulnerable to her in the vote department.
I’m afraid TPTB might try to hold on to Bristol for as long as possible due to the publicity they think she produces. Not long after the announcements, I saw a story on one of the “entertainment shows”. I don’t remember which one, but the story started with, “we have Olympians and boy banders but the person EVERYONE wants to know about is Bristol Palin”. Then they went on to do a three minute story about her new chin. Personally I have no desire to hear about her but I do think the show believes she, Kirstie and probably Pam are their big names that everyone knows. I‘m afraid we’ll be getting a lot of DWTS stories on the entertainment shows leading with one of these three and they might all stick around a little longer than they should just to create more stories on ET, AH etc. The other night ET’s DWTS story was all about Kirstie and her talking about how she wants to lose weight on the show. I thought we already did that story last time but I suspect that is going to be an ongoing theme as well as Bristol’s new look and Pam’s sex kitten interviews. I suspect we won’t be getting a lot of stories about Shawn, Gilles, Drew or Apolo until near the finals, if any or all of them make it that far.
KarenT, I’m biased on this, but I wouldn’t roll Pamela in with Bristol and Kirstie as someone the “entertainment shows” will pimp. Even if they do, I don’t think it will help keep her on the show longer. In fact it could have the opposite effect. Pamela already brings out the little green monster and/or prude in a lot of the DWTS viewing demographic. They’ve already made up their mind she’s trash and are vehemently against her. The slanted, superficial coverage she’s likely to get on the ET type shows will likely reinforce their negative opinion.
Jess, she got third place, not first…it follows that she’s vulnerable when scored appropriately. Andrea was right about her season being weak…this season is anything but weak. There are lots of better dancers and several larger fanbases…and the Palins are a bit out of fashion.
If she is scored appropriately relative to the other dancers and still stays? Well that’s the way the show works.
Yeah, I don’t think entertainment shows have that much impact. Maria was ignored by all except her own and made it to fourth place…and I don’t think extra comes close to ET or AH.
I don’t think the entertainment shows have a large impact on who people vote for but I’m sure DWTS likes the publicity they receive due to the popularity of some of their stars as entertainment show fodder.
I agree that she’s vulnerable, quite so, if scored appropriately, just not very very early on because of what she stirs up and how diluted the judges scores are with 12 or 13 couples. People don’t have to want to watch her show or even watch her on dwts or even care that much about her mom any more to vote because they feel like they’re voting for some principle. I’m just afraid that a few others will be gone before her. But like you say, if she’s scored appropriately and she lasts, well, that’s how it goes and no need for me to complain or obsess. And I can see that I’m beating a dead horse and just being annoying so I’ll stop
.
Sure, Karen – but I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. I’ll say it again – it hinges on the judging. They will be hard pressed to do Bristol like they did last time. Her competition is huge.
Hope you’re right PH. If the judges do prop her up and undercut others, I’m going to be hard pressed to enjoy this season the way I want to enjoy it. And I’ll get really pissy.
Hmmm….Mark posted a video with him and I think a dwts producer and they are in a car rapping to Eminem. He put #wearebored. He’s in AZ. He previously put up a social cam video of him & Bristol. She looked like she was in it because Mark made her. She played as if she’s shy & coy. First, he’s the one she’s most comfortable with, why on Earth she’s not “feeling comfortable doing a sexy cha cha” is beyond me. (Her interpretation of sexy is probably not ours). Secondly, why do this show if you are in the “I know I won’t do as well as I did las time” mode? I know, $$$.
That’s got to be driving Mark crazy. Third, how can he be bored? Why is she not at least showing him around AZ or having him hang out with people she knows if they supposedly are great friends? I remember he told an interviewer during the winter after season 11 that he actually gave Bristol a lot of hell for not contacting him for a few days because they had been in constant contact either texting, video chatting, etc. and he was mad she didn’t return his messages. Maybe they aren’t as close as they were, or he likes to keep friends more than she does. She is very guarded it seems. I can’t imagine her week #1 cha cha getting higher than 6s. Finally, anyone know if it’s true that she’s only doing 3 hours of practice and not everyday? Apparently, she’s been going moose hunting lol. I’d rather see video package of Mark moose hunting than her lol. I hope the Florence and the Machine song he tweeted the other day isn’t the cha cha song…can’t see her getting into that song, however she can’t really get into a fast one either. If they really don’t care about her staying just give them the jive or the rumba and she should be outta there.
oops…sorry so long…got up in the middle to check dinner.
You won’t be the only one who gets pissy. The cheesecake could reach a whole new level of pissy.
LOL!!!!!!
Yikes! Sour cheescake…not good.
Princess Heidi – responding to your reply #25 – I agree with you that Bristol could not have stayed around if it hadn’t been for the judges’ scoring the first time. For sure, it wasn’t just viewers votes. The judges overscored her too often, underscored others, and left the difference so small that it wasn’t a huge challenge for her voters to overcome. As I had commented, I feel that if the judges were to get real with her scores (meaning accurate and appropriate), then her fans would have a tough time keeping her in it. And I really, really, really hope that will be the case. However, I won’t believe it until I see it. I am concerned they want her to stay around a while, and their scores (may) reflect that. But you make a good point, this is All Stars and not a regular season. That is the reason I’m hoping things might be different and she may be gone by mid-season, hopefully before.
Just hoping that with Bristol’s new look and a few years more maturity she will have more self-confidence, be lighter on her feet, and realize that the image she gives on DWTS really makes a difference in how people will think of her.
Bristol….maturity? I think if she cared about image she’d have behavior better on her reality show…just sayin’.
I think he was i na rush but I really hope that he isn’t cracking under the pressure this season. I know he has an uphill battle for sure being paired with Bristol but I think that its up to her at this point. Last time around, she seemed very into the competition for some dances but definately needs to be 100% into every dance this time around. Either way, I really don’t think she stands much of a chance this time around.