SPOILERS!! DWTS Season 15, The Finale – And the Winner Is??
All in all, I found the results show pretty entertaining. Totally shocked that Melissa pulled the Samba and that the ball was broken open already. Totally. :::smirk::: Okay, not really. That should take care of the white space…oh, except it seemed like Courtney and I could have written most of dance center. Anyway…
The Winner is – Melissa and Tony!!
Second Place: Shawn and Derek!
Third Place: Kelly and Val!
Congratulations to all the couples!! How did we do??
Heidi: I said Melissa would win and that Shawn would be in second place.
Courtney: Also said Melissa would win and that Shawn would be in second place.
Vogue: Said Shawn would pull it out and that Melissa would be in second place.
Heh….anyone note who hoisted Melissa on his shoulders while the C brothers were all over Tony?? Yeah…paging Maks fans. Remember all your complaining?? :-D
Thanks Vogue!
Be nice, children. I will delete you if you act trollish, classless and just plain assholey.
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Can’t even be happy for Tony because this was fixed for him since they won that marathon. Enjoy your pity trophy, Tony.
This was a wasted season. Yes, I’m being a sore loser and I don’t care.
I think this season had the right Top 2. I would have been fine with either Shawn or Melissa won. I’m super happy Tony won his first Mirrorball! Congrats to the two of them. Also, I think it was kind of crappy that Maks and Val rushed to Tony, and not Tony AND Melissa. But whatever.
All I can say: I’m not rabidly angry, but I’m definitely not happy. The disappointing end to a disappointing season.
So Happy that whom I wanted to win won! Congradulations Melissa and Tony! Job well done!!
It was a good finale. The person the show pimped won. So I wasn’t surprised. That’s why I didn’t make any predictions last night. It was typical. Shawn and Derek knew they lost. You can see in their face during the last segment. Overall this season was alright. Nothing impressive.
Wow gotta say season 8 is amazing! First all three finalists come back, then the two ladies take first and second place
congrats to all three finalists of the all stars season! Val did pretty dang good considering he is a newcomer. Derek has reached all the places in the finals – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd! And he has chereographed amazing dances this seasons that will be remembered for years, he really outdid himself this time! And shawn has made huge improvements as a dancer and a performer 
And nice to see tony win after so long 
Melissa’s and his joy was infectious!
Oh and who hoisted Melissa on their shoulders? O.o I didn’t see
Nice for them. Didn’t we all knew it.
I’m not happy of course, but trophy or no trophy Shawn and Derek will always be the best of the best, that will never change .
The C brothers are so classy, and I remember when people criticized Derek and Mark for lifting each other, not even close to what happened today.
HUGE congratulations to Melissa & Tony!! So happy for them
But really, in the end, congratulations to all of the finalists, they were all champions. I’ll never forget Shawn & Derek, they’re my favorite DWTS couple to date. Kelly imporved week after week and she and Val had a great run. Great job to them all! A little bit disappointed, but hey, I think everyone should still leave this season happy! And honestly I’m a little relieved it’s over haha!
The biggest thank you goes to Courtney, Heidi, Vogue, and all of those in charge of PureDWTS. You keep this going through and through and make DWTS even more enjoyable. Thank you for another great season of writing and blogging
Hope everyone has a fantastic DWTS break and I guess I’ll see you all next season! Cheers!
Derek had Melissa on his shoulders immediately. Of course, I think he has a case for her, so there might have been an agenda.
This is the second season in a row that the first person to be eliminated won. To that I say “Tristan use it to your advantage!” I made Julianne into a drinking game, (with water since I’m not 21 yet) every time somebody mentioned her or the camera cut to her I sipped. It was fun and nice to see her yell “Good job Apolo!” Congrats to Melissa and Tony!
Congratulations to Melissa and Tony!!!
loved this show all around! I thought all of the finalists were gracious and greatful.
Trophy couldnt have gone to a more deserving guy, that most definitely makes up for the weight he has been saddled with past seasons. Loved tony and melissa’s reaction, and i actually loved how excited maks & val were for him. Great season all around to Melissa.
all of the finalists should be proud!
I am sorry…I congratulate Melissa (not like I have a choice), but I REALLY, REALLY wanted Shawn and Derek to win. This is Derek’s last season and it would have been amazing to get him his 4th Mirrorball Trophy…
I unfortunately got the feeling that Melissa was gonna win right before they announced it. Had mostly to do with how much people are actually rooting for them because they never won. Even my mom was rooting for them because they never won. A pathetic reason, really.
Overall, it is what it is…but Shawn and Derek should’ve had that. They are the winners.
Whomp Whomp Whomp..Well, I think don’t think Melissa was neccessarily undeserving…But I am definately disappointed…There needs to be a montage of all the times Melissa and Tony said that they didn’t have a trophy..they were the only ones without a trophy..they weren’t going to let the others win just because they had trophies…but apparently that tactic worked for them…Awh well..nice to see Tony happy..I suppose..haha
I was rooting for Derek and Shawn, and I still believe they should have won. But this has been a wonderful season for the both of them, and they both learned so much from each other. I think they can be very proud of what they have achieved and accomplished
Not that I mind Melissa winning. We kind of saw it coming but the way it played out bothers me. She got the samba, a very sloppy one at that, that just happened to be open right after Tom just happened to notice a malfunction that needed fixed.
For some reason I feel very, what is the point of even voting? Ya know? It feels so scripted.
#4 Anna R said: All I can say: I’m not rabidly angry, but I’m definitely not happy. The disappointing end to a disappointing season.
This. So much. Disappointing end to a totally disappointing season.
@princess Heidi: he has a thing for brunettes haha! Great sportsmanship
something that others can learn from him (looking at your Maks!)
Ah, don’t worry about Derek. He got what he wanted – his dances will be the ones talked about for years to come. He may even get some Emmy nominations out of them. He did last time he really broke the rules.
Now, I hope he sticks to his word and leaves the show. He’s beyond it now. No more booking DWTS – gotta have open time to be able to do other things.
Congrats to Melissa and Tony and all the finalists, but I can’t say I am happy about who won. This season than any other season sure felt fix. Enjoy the trophy Tony! Sorry to sound sour, but I think I will always look back on this season’s win as a pity win. Disappointing.
Congrats to Melissa and Tony for winning! I really enjoyed them and i think they did a fabulous job BUT i was hoping Shawn & Derek would take it home.. I think they are all winners
It was a great finale!
Wow. Congratulations to Tony & Melissa! They really had a great season – one where they were root worthy from beginning to end. Tom was right when he said something to the effect of her peaking at the right time for a championship run. Her story and dances came together well. Producer/judging manipulation or not – she is a likeable winner, and I’m happy for her.
Now…as for the rest.
Derek is a class act – and it shows whether he wins or loses. It’s not always easy being classy when you win – and it can be downright difficult when you lose – but he manages to pull it off regardless of where he finishes or how he is scored. He’s grown up on the show – and if this truly is his last season (and it seemed by his comments during their last rehearsal that it is), whomever comes in as a “new” or returning pro will have big shoes to fill.
I could go on about my gripes (Gilles would take a hit, as would some others), but I’m going to take a page out of Derek’s book – and leave it well enough alone. One gripe I will mention is this: I wish I could have seen Apolo and Karina’s freestyle (if it’s true that they wanted to do it and had practiced it)…and the whole picking of the instant dance reeked of producer manipulation. That leaves a slightly less palatable taste in my mouth regarding Melissa’s win. Of course – even with that Shawn scored the only perfect 30 in that round.
Tony is a wonderful guy. I’m very happy to see him win it; it’s been so long and he’s clearly wanted it so badly.
I’m sure he doesn’t have much time left on the show, and I feel he deserved a win, even if it was at the expense of the couple who were consistently better dancers throughout the season. Melissa is a lovely lady and 2nd isn’t too bad for Shawn.
Shawn and Derek should have won. Its too bad that the producers chose the winner and not us fans!! Shawn and Derek’s dances will be remembered more than the winners in this season!
I don’t think it was undeserving either, but…yeah, I’m kind of pissed. If it had been any other season, I would have been over the moon for Melissa and Tony, but it is All Stars, and while I know that doesn’t actually mean anything, I really wanted to see Shawn get her replacement gold medal and Derek leave his final season with another cheesy disco ball.
Although, I kind of saw the Melissa win too, considering she was front and center the entire night.
IF there was any doubt to who was the best dancer, that instant dance showed again show superior Shawn is as dancer, no even a competition there. They got the last dance that they wanted to dance, the one that they were less prepare and still killed like a pro that she is. Melissa got “lucky” with a samba, did the same routine from the day before, and it was not good at all, and again overscored. Kelly did much better in that jive, wasn’t perfect but I was surprise by how weel she did.
So as unhappy as I am, This was a amazing season, I will have all Shawn and Derek dances to watch again and again, the end wasn’t perfect but the journey sure was.
I always like Derek, but this season he became my favorite ever and ever and ever, not only for his amazing work in the dance floor, but also how amazing he was as a person as well.
So happy with the results! The perfect final 2 and I am really pleased for Tony and Melissa!
Also @PH #10 I have totally felt that about Derek regarding Melissa too hahaha
Tell me about it, Zjy – all his previous girlfriends could be from one family.
Melissa is actually a good bit perkier than what he’s gone for in the past. But I think he was crushing on her back in season 8.
Okay when Tom said “now you’ve won too” I thought he said he meant two not too and I almost jumped up and down cheering but then he said Melissa and Tony. I’m really happy for them but I am bitter especially after seeing Derek get emotional and looking back at the season as a whole, Shawnough deserved it more but what’s done is done congrats to the winners.
I do have to add that was the best reaction ever
OMG WOW I wouldve been happy with any of the three women winning but im so freaking happy it was Melissa and Tony tears started falling down.I love the reaction Maks and Val had you wouldve thought they won by the looks on their faces and seeing Tony on Maks shoulders and Mel get Derek and then Vals shoulders I still cant stop smiling.
At first I thought the producers wanted to make this into a “Sabrina redemption season”, after she was eliminated I thought it would be a “Shawn vs Gilles round 2″. Only when it came to the marathon dance did I realise the producers were actually aiming to get Melissa into the finale (and possibly the MBt) especially since she was the only one of the final five who had not won a MBT
Derek lifted Melissa up ZJY. Love good sportsmanship.
Congrats to all three couples! But I am disappointed. I actually thought Shawn & Derek still had a shot after the instant dance and all the really positive judges comments. I thought they could be building for a Shawn & Derek win.
I do really like Melissa and Tony and they had great attitudes all season. Tony also put together his best choreography ever. And I think it is nice he has such support from his friends but I wish the cast didn’t have to be so blatantly split in two factions. That is the nicest way I can say it!
Random comments: Lackluster Dance Center this season–I do believe our ladies here could have written better material for them! I really enjoyed Shawn & Kelly’s instant dances, but not Melissa’s. But the song was killer for Melissa and the fact we just saw a better samba from her yesterday. And Call Me Maybe wasn’t the same without the two original couples! I do think it is lucky that Shawn & Melissa were replaced with pro women because I don’t think other celeb women could have pulled off that dance!
I think for me I will come away from this first All-Star season remembering….the Team Dances, Sabrina left the same week as before, Gilles horrible attitude, Kelly being much better than before and going much farther than expected, Tony winning his first trophy because of the great partnership with Melissa, and Shawn & Derek’s wonderful dances.
If it is for sure his last season, I will really miss seeing what Derek Hough could come up with each week as the next seasons go on. Good luck in whatever you do Derek, and thanks for giving us such great entertainment on this show for so long!
I think Derek is rather obvious, Ayana, if you’ve paid attention to him for a while.
Let’s not get carried away with conspiracy theory. The producers always do a bit of storyboarding but I think the voting had to be extremely close – for as much Shawn and Derek love as there was out there, there was an awful lot of “Tony’s never won before” crap too – not hard to see if you’re paying attention. Shawn could have even had the most votes, but not enough to cover the spread.
It is what it is. Derek will hopefully leave all this behind and go on to better things. So I can stop voting. Cuz it’s all about me.
Well, after all is said and done, here’s how I’d sum up Season 15:
“Meh…”
I’m not happy that Shawn and Derek didn’t win but it ended exactly how I thought it would and I’m sure they knew the cards was stacked against them. This season had nothing to do with being the best dancer or most improved. I still don’t know if it’s Derek or Shawn that Len dislikes but I’m sure it’s one of them. For me Derek and Shawn won because they are the only ones I will remember a week or a month or a year from now. Not one other dance has stayed with me all season. ABC and the judges got exactly what they wanted and it actually could have been worse. I am imagining how I would feel if Kelly and Val had won. Melissa is a nice person and so is Tony but they just weren’t the best dancers. Not in my mind anyway. Derek is off for bigger and better things and I wish him the best of luck and I will follow him always. Also, he and Shawn formed a true friendship and that makes an awesome ending.
Thank you Mods for this great site and for all the hard work you have done. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and Holiday season. I imagine I will be back next season although at this minute I feel like I won’t watch again.
It was just me or anyone else cried with Derek during that rehaersel video, even with Heidi warning on twitter, I did not see that coming at all, I don’t remember ever seen Derek that emotion.
I was doing a couple of things at once tonight and muting my tv in commercials…..did I miss the celebrity shout outs to Melissa and Shawn? They started to play Shawn’s by mistake (from Katherine) right after Kelly’s and shut it off. But I don’t remember seeing them, that kind of sucks. Did they even air them??
Didn’t like that we couldn’t speak to Melissa & Tony or Shawn & Derek after the champions announcement like they usually get to.
But hey, at least there is after show media we can see tomorrow.
Congratulations to Melissa and Tony.Their happiness was catching, it seemed like the whole ballroom was in an uproar. I loved that Maks and Val were so excited for their best friend. All the pros and celebs seemed happy for them. Great finale. Sad that some of the pros may not be back next year, but it is time for some to move on to the next phase of their careers. And a big thanks for all the PDWTS folks for all the hard work in keeping us informed about the latest DWTS news this season.
Yes and once again thank you moderators for all of your awesome coverage. This site is fantastic!!
I think it was a Happy Finale! I am glad all three finalists got a chance to perform (I was bummed when Ricki and Derek were sent away before the InstaDance). And, I think all three finalists were really happy to be there together. EVERYONE was so happy for Tony!! Melissa too, but Tony has been there since SEASON 2 – that is a miracle, especially after having KATE G as a partner – that man EARNED his Mirrorball long ago, OK?
While I was rooting for Kelly and Val for 1st this time, and Shawn and Derek for 2nd (I know, I know), I am actually glad that Melissa and Tony won. It makes it “even” for everyone (except for Derek, of course, hee hee). And for Val being a rookie in this venue (but of course a professional Champ in his own right) has likely learned some lessons of what it will ultimately take to be crowned DWTS Champion for the next time around (I think we will be seeing more of him advancing to replace what we may lose with the Hough).
*Although, let’s be honest here: NO ONE can compare to the STUNNING BRILLIANCE that emanates from Mr. Derek Hough! Love that man!
That said, I am grateful to have seen the best come out of everyone by the time this Season was completed. I am looking forward to the All-Star crew doing the interviews this week! I am sure there is going to be a HUGE PARTY on the plane ride over.
Thanks for the analysis, PDWTS Gang! Sometimes I agreed, sometimes I didn’t, but what I love is that you keep it candid and detailed no matter the perspective. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, and I’ll be tuning in again for Season 16!!
~Jack
Congratulations Melissa and Tony! Tony’s reaction was priceless.
@Heidi – I am not so sure it was as close as some may think. After Melissa and Tony’s instant dance and before Shawn even danced, I thought Brooke said something to Melissa and Tony about going over and standing in front of the MBT and take a picture (or something like that). I Knew Right Then and There that they had won.
Derek and Shawn were phenomenal. Good luck to Derek, time to move onto Bigger and Better Opportunities.
Well said, @Sally #35. “Meh.”
Congrats to Melissa and Tony!
I am pleased with the results. Granted, I would be happier if my favorite would have won or even placed second. I knew her chances of winning were slim, though. At least she made it to the finals. However, I am glad Melissa won. She was my second favorite. In her first season, I was rooting for her.
Thank you to the mods of this site and for all the work you do. I will be back next season.
Yeaaahhh….still don’t buy into the theory of “Tony should win because he had crappy partners” or “Tony should win because he hasn’t before” – He’s had plenty of good partners. This ain’t pee wee baseball where everyone gets a trophy just for playing.
That sentiment is very annoying – and I can’t imagine that Tony and Melissa will enjoy hearing it either. And you know they will.
I will agree with you, Jack, on the stunning brilliance of Derek Hough, though.
Now, for the Emmy…He’s the only one from that show with a shot and it better happen finally.
Congrats to the winners. Okay that’s redundant. Is it just me, or did Melissa get lost in the initial celebration? I know Tony was thrilled, and deservedly so. But really? The camera was trying to focus in on the celeb win, but ALL the action was behind that crowd where Tony and the Brothers C were having their own celebration. I found that very disconcerting. For Tony, this round of DWTS forced HIM to come out of his shell as a choreographer. The challenge will be next season and whether or not he can build on this momentum. Or, will he return to believing this show is about ballroom dancing–because it ain’t! It’s a reality show with dancing as its backdrop.
And Derek, what can I say, proud of you for hoisting Melissa on to your shoulders–injured neck and all! IMO this speaks to your innate ability to try to do the right thing, at the right time. Your parents should be proud. We have nothing if we do not have character.
Goodbye to another Hough. Julianne’s choreo always impressed me, but Derek leaves me ‘gob-smacked.” If I were a dance floor, Derek could dance on me every night!
Laila – I was getting emotional watching Derek’s rehearsal video as well. Didn’t know he had lost his confidence.
So wanted he & Shawn to win but happy for Melissa & Tony.
Derek & Shawn’s dances will always be remembered to me so that’s what counts and he’d better get an Emmy nomination. I really feel this was his best year for choreography.
thanks again mods for this excellent site. I love it.
PH – I hope since he didn’t got his 4 trophy he will at least got a emmy for his body of work this season, he deserves.
Why I decided to watch Derek’s crying again, now I’m crying again.
I highly doubt that Brooke would make that kind of mistake. Not even her. But you believe what will make you happy.
I don’t think there’s any way it wasn’t extremely close. I’m pretty good at reading the tea leaves – my record is pretty good. And most people do recognize who the better dancer was – Shawn. But between the Pity Vote (combined with the whining about Derek winning too often) and the assumptions by many that Shawn had it in the bag, it’s not that hard to predict.
All right – I’m off to bed. Unless Court or Vogue are hanging around, ya’ll will have to wait until the butt crack of dawn for Vogue to approve the posts.
Knowing the outcome before watching the telecast I was really upset. Shawn and Derek are the All Stars. Then I saw Shawn and Derek’s package before their cha cha, and Derek getting emotional. I love that guy. And then I saw Shawn and him jumping up and down and hugging Melissa and Tony right away. They are a classy pair. I’m glad I stayed up knowing my favorites didn’t win because they impressed me even more in loss.
Derek will be missed, but he is so much better than this show. He will be successful in any road he pursues, and Shawn gained a great friend and a new confidence she didn’t know she had.
Another thank you to Heidi, Courtney, Vogue, and everyone else on this sight. All of your hard work, especially in keeping this sight positive, is very much appreciated.
Feeling a mixture of happy and sad.
Sad because I would’ve preferred Shawn and Derek to win. They made the most memorable and exciting routines and she grew so much as a dancer and performer. If it’s Derek’s last season, that’s sad he goes out losing. The show will definitely not be as innovative without him. I wonder if another female will ever win again with his gone.
Although I’m happy Melissa and Tony won in the end. She’s a great dancer and really defied the odds all season and we actually got a new winner out of the All Star season. I hope Tony’s win now gets him better partners in the future.
It’ll be interesting to see how Maks and Val basically say nothing about Shawn and Derek over Twitter.
YES, Princess! This ain’t pee wee baseball where everyone gets a trophy just for playing.
THISSS!!!
Winning should be based on merit, not because “Oh, y’know, we should distribute it all evenly!”
While Melissa did good all season, it really defies reason that she’s the winner, isn’t she? She beat Olympians and an NFL player haha
Well, congratulations Melissa and Tony.
I’m sad Shawn and Derek didn’t wing. But I’ll deal. It’s been a disappointing season anyways.
@epmusic, now that you mention it I dont remember hearing the well wishes for melissa and shawn either, hmmm
You aren’t really expecting Maks and Val to find some class NOW, are you?? Silly people.
At least Tony has it. And Melissa is a sweetheart. Do wish she would hold on to her trophy. Kept waiting for it to fall off her lap on Kimmel.
Okay, now I’m REALLY going to bed.
First, thanks to you ladies and John for providing a site where so much can be learned over the course of a season.
PH, no question that Derek (and Allison) deserve an Emmy for the “Water Dance”, or whatever it’s being called.
As for the results, my wife and I looked at each other just before the final announcement and said, “it’s going to be Melissa and Tony” – and we were ok with it although a little disappointed. At the end of the day the winners had to get a lot more votes than I ever thought they would.
Did the uncorrected Quickstep cost Shawn and Derek the trophy? I’m sure a few people on the production staff know, and the rest of us can only wonder.
Heidi – Agreed that Tony didn’t deserve it for that reason. Absolutely not! But, since it’s over and it’s not gonna change, I guess I am trying to find a way to make mirrors out of the fallen Mirrorball pieces.
As for Emmy Time for Derrek – THAT has been a long time coming – I wanna know what is the hold up?! NO ONE IN THE WORLD has created performances the way he did. Perhaps having one of America’s sports darlings as a partner or 4 SYTYCD partners (instead of just one like the AWESOME performance with Alison last time) may do the trick.
And another thing about Derek – Derek makes people more likeable because of his likable (well, delicious) personality. I was not a fan of Shawn when she was Mark’s partner, but grew to really like her with Derek. He works hard to bring out the best in people in the dancing. Bruno said to BabyDerek during the InstaDance that it was the event that did that during Season 11, but Derek did just what it took to bring the best out of the lovely Jennifer Grey.
Laila– I definitely cried along with Derek..Such a touching moment..though I am a sucker for hot men crying, haha…unless that is their norm.
Shawn and Derek! <3
They didn't win, but I will always remember their great dances! For me, they are the winners
But congrats Melissa and Tony.
Congrats to Melissa & Tony. It didn’t matter to me if either Shawn or her win since my Apolo is out. His face was priceless during announcement.
It was an excellent season for Derek, and everyone really. If he leaves after this, he’s going to be a DWTS legend. I have always thought Derek is too good for the show and right now I believe it even more.
That’s it. I’m done with DWTS; I’m on the West Coast but I’m not watching because of the results. I’m aware I’m a sore loser but Shawn&Derek deserved it. It’s the All-Stars season, the best of the best and that was Shawn. She deserved it; she went out of the box, she entertained, she was consistent, she was amazing! Stil so sad about it…this would have been the perfect ending to their amazing journey.
I know which videos I’ll remember forever though…
laila – I cried along with Derek in that final rehearsal. Such a touching moment. Seeing people crying usually gets me crying. But you don’t see Derek like that. Then, he was talking about how Shawn gave him his confidence back — and that just hit me. I’m choking up just thinking about it.
Derek had a really great season. I’m going to miss him. Too bad he couldn’t take the mirror ball with him. Hopefully, he’ll get an Emmy.
I still can’t believe why Shawn and Derek didn’t win. Their performance outweighed other couples almost whole season as well as finale.
If the show is not rigged, the only reason may be that both Melissa and Tony haven’t won before so they got more sympathy votes and Derek chose rule-breaking quickstep lost the score advantage then affected the audience’s intention.
I can’t be happy because I feel it was fixed. At the beginning of the season I was all for it, but now I feel Shawn/Derek AND VAL/Kelly were cheated. The season was filled with dances I’ll remember, even if they came in second
If you search youtube views of the dances of this season, Shawn and Derek’s obviously overwhelm other couples and it represents who won the popularity as well. So it is not so reasonable why Melissa and Tony could won (In my opinion, I don’t intend to bash M/T’s performance but Shawn and Derek played the different league that they deserve it much more).
I’m really bummed – was so hoping that Shawn and Derek would pull out the win. They had the most exciting dances this season. The judges were constantly praising and overscoring Melissa and I guess everyone got on the “Tony’s never won” bandwagon.
Looking forward to following Derek’s career and wishing him all the best in the future.
Just wanted to say thank you ladies (Heidi, Courtney, Vogue…..and that mystery man Charlie, I mean John:)) for this great season of entertainment and hard work.
I’m happy how it turned out. Melissa and Tony won, Derek and Shawn’n dances will be remembered forever and Kelly didn’t win but she made it to the final which is damn good.
I don’t want to see Derek back next season because he better move on to the unforgettable life and career he is destined to have. Emmy, definitely but that’s just the beginning. No doubt he’ll have an Oscar and Tony one day.
You can delete this if you choose…but I’m gonna say it. Has there ever been a season where it was MORE obvious that this show is manipulated, biased and propagandized to try to convince viewers that they really didn’t see what they saw. Kelly and Melissa’s dancing compared to Shawn, dance content like amateur hour. and she proved it once again with the instantdance. From the first week, Melissa was overscored, wobbley legs, hip stiffness, off-time but raves all around. I agree with a few people who’ve already commented about Shawn+Derek but the real shame is what all this has come to. I CAN’T do it but I feel like I should walk into classes now and tell kids, Hey, don’t kill yourself to be THE BEST because it’s a waste of time with the mentality that has taken over. You can work just hard enough to be mediocre, develop some good hype or someone to pimp you and win that way…so much less sweat, much easier. What a slap in the face to someone like Shawn…or Derek.”Yeah you’re the best but not the winner!!
And please DWTS don’t advertise a show anymore as ALLSTARS, the best of the best, when you have people on who didn’t win the first time and ranged all the way from sorta awful, Pam Anderson, Bristol to somewhat watchable, Kelly, Kirstie. Like someone else said, yes Tony is a nice guy but I can’t even be gracious about this win. What this season was SUPPOSED to represent was in their faces every week in the form of Shawn but of course THAT was not in their plan, I guess? I know in competition I would feel like shit if someone gave me the top prize out of sympathy,+everyone needs a trophy syndrome,or for some other manipulated reason if there was someone more deserving. And I also think the actual number of votes should be revealed and I think there is a reason why they aren’t. Don’t even know how anyone can walk away from this with a straight face. Ridiculous beyond description
I keep re-watching the results. I loved how surprised Melissa/Tony were (and the shock on Apolo’s face haha) plus how supportive everyone was when they went to congratulate them. I LOVED Melissa her first season and tilt wanted her to win, so it’s so gratifying to see her win this time and see Tony get his first trophy.
All in all, I thought the finale was great and flowed well.. Although I think the dancing overall was a little sloppy.
Kinda underwhelmed with the Instant Dance round. I really thought we’d see perfect-score-caliber dances. Loved Kelly’s Jive cuz she totally redeemed herself from her trio Jive. and they covered their slip ups well. Shawn was on point in the end of her Cha Cha but felt it was a little slow in the beginning. And seriously.. “Life is a Highway” for a Samba?!?! It was interesting that two couples got the style they didn’t want and one got a repeat of a style they danced the night before.
I hope we get a chance to share our feelings on the entire season on a different post because I have much to say. But for now CONGRATS TO MELISSA/TONY! Well deserved!! Their journey is very similar to most of the champions in the past. I’m so happy they won!
Mixed emotions tonight for me. I am thrilled for Melissa and Tony. I couldn’t help but smile seeing the joy on Tony’s face when he was lifted. He has waited a long time for this. He probably never thought it would happen. I think when it got down to Melissa up against 4 champions fans rallied to the contestant who never won.
And that was my huge problem with this season to begin with. Part of the beauty of DWTS is seeing NEW contestants every season and how they react to the rigors of dancing. To see the same faces again was nice at first but grew old quick. I just couldn’t get excited about a champion winning again. And so many of them had such legendary runs the first time they really hurt the image I had of them with such underwhelming runs this time (Ie, Joey, Drew, and Helio and even Gilles who was unbearable). Too many gimmicks each week, some worked, but so many just distracted. The judges have become a joke, giving couples the same scores making it impossible to separate.
I just can’t imagine this show without Derek. It felt like an end of an era. I don’t think this show survives losing him.
I am very very happy that Melissa and Tony won. Really truly happy. But Shawn and Derek were absolutely amazing. And Derek’s choreo this season was out of this world. Every single dance – a masterpiece. I sincerely hope that all his talend gets the deserved recognition. He is phenomenal.
Big thanks go to the PURDWTS ladies!!!
Juliane and Derek really made the show for me – almost every dance interesting and and fun to watch. It was hard when Juliane left and now Derek…
I kept saying I would be ok if Melissa and Tony won, but I just bawled my eyes out on behalf of Shawn and Derek. Derek deserved this, and they were the most entertaining couple. If this was Derek’s last season, please God, give him everything he deserves in the future. He is a genius,and he is humble and good.
You know who else has class? Gilles. He didn’t even congratulate Melissa on twitter. Only Tony. What happened to him this season? I really liked …
Anyway congratulations Melissa and Tony! Happy for them. But thinking about Shawn and Derek I am kind of sad. They truly deserved it more. I hope he’ll get an Emmy for one of their dances. That’s even a bigger trophy.
And thank you Mods for these great recaps and comments. This site is at least as entertaining as the show itself.
Well…. I was in the audience tonight. I’m happy for Melissa and Tony because they are both sweet and wonderful people, and I would’ve been happy for them to win any other season. But even most of the people who voted for them would have to admit that Shawn and Derek were better dancers. Melissa/Tony are not the champion of champions, that is Shawn and Derek. The judges gave them the only perfect scores tonight, and you should’ve heard the crowd’s reaction – the other two instant dances got nowhere near the applause of Shawn and Derek’s. It’s pathetic that so many people voted for someone just because they hadn’t won before. This is the voters’ fault though – if it was up to the judges they definitely would have chosen Shawn and Derek in the end.
Sandy – I think what you are referring to is the moment when Brooke was teasing Melissa in the celebriquarium. She actually said something along the lines of “Ya know, next time you’re going to steal something, don’t take the pictures (as they did during their final practice), take the mirror ball trophy.”
As an Apolo fan, I felt manipulated (or storyboarded) many times all season – and can see how the storyboarding this season for Melissa and Tony actually led to their win. Honestly, if you would have told me at the beginning of the season that Melissa would beat Shawn and DEREK in the final, I would not have believed it. I didn’t even believe it prior to the start of the finale. Based on her reaction, I don’t think CarrieAnn was in on the ending. She looked and acted truly shocked by the ending.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Melissa and Tony. But I still think it was better to make a season with only winners, or a season with people who almost won. Now there were a lot of people who only voted for Melissa and Tony because they were the only couple that hadn’t won before. But that was not the intention of this special season in my opinion. So Kelly and Shawn had an disadvantage because they won before. But still, congrats to Melissa and Tony!
Really wanted it for Shawn and Derek. Happy for Melissa, she is a doll!
Leave to the Smuckovsky bros to be classless!
Wish better and bigger things for Derek! Good luck in whatever you do!
Good luck to the darling Shawn, what a sweetheart! Always remember their dances!
@Mikey – Thanks for clearing that up.
My hearing is not the best these days. But I guess she was right they did get to take that MBT home with them.
Brooke is somewhat of a Chatty Kathy this season. I couldn’t believe she was still going on about the Showmance of Kelly and Val.
Derek and Shawn were definitely the better dancers, but we all know the best dancer doesn’t always win. The best singer on American Idol doesn’t always win either. It sucks, but that’s what happens when you leave some power to the public.
You could really see that prevailing sentiment across the internet too, Buttercup. “Tony’s never won before.”
I tend to agree that the Judges would have chosen Shawn and Derek in the end, but I think this is one instance where the judges game playing (again) caught up with them. You can’t be harder on the great couples and have it not have an impact on the audience. So many people just parrot back what they hear on TV and it starts to sway some people. I’m a big follower of politics and you see that at work all the time. One group will repeat stuff they know isn’t true over and over, because they know it will become fact after a while. It works – we’ve seen it at work on this site where people often come in and spout the same crap they’ve heard on the net. There is a sheep-like tendency in a lot of the population, sadly.
You go back over all of Shawn and Derek’s dances and *honestly* compare them to Melissa and Tony and I think you see they continually (well, particularly Len) harder on Derek and Shawn than they were anyone else for better, more exciting dances. Apolo too, for that matter. They’re nice, easier and more complimentary if they don’t expect you to win – and that sinks in after a while too. It’s the reason Bristol stuck around as long as she did, both seasons. I don’t think Derek can ever win this show again, regardless of his partner, because of the stupid attitudes of fans and Len’s being ridiculously hard on him when he has a good partner. You’d hear the same chant next season, “Boo Hoo, Derek wins every season.”
I don’t think the producers want a particular couple to win. I do think the judges play these games that often impact the voting audience in a way they wouldn’t plan. Cuz they’re not very bright either.
Now what? What is next season going to look like? Pretty wild ride this time. If it weren’t for this site, I would not have watched. Period.
People,thought Shawn took it from Gilles in season 8 and now people feel she is robbed. It that Tony and Melissa have not won sentiment that helped them win. I think she was also very fortunate that she did not get the tougher dance assignments during the random dances and she did not dance cha cha or rumba! All star won without dancing two of the usual dances on dwts.
Congrats to them and in the end, it is Shawn and Derek people remember. They both have nothing to prove and yes, I was ready about with his tears talking about Shawn. Reading the ew.com article, he seemed surprised by it too. Every pro is going to try to be the next Derek or influenced by his style.
I also agree the judges comments praising Melissa while not acknowledging how good Shawn has been and has improved and most versatile not said soon enough. Everything last night seemed to be about Melissa and Tony have not won yet. But based on even audience response, seems like people agreed Shawn was better but sentiment won over this time. But really, during all stars?
Dance center was hilarious! Kenny, that montage if Mark being there for his partners and always showcasing them ( which we know he does not) was hilarious.
I think this is my last season for watching DWTS. I didn’t watch the finale last night because I knew I would just be annoyed with the producers’ manipulation and the ultimate result.
And Princess Heidi, I so agree with your post about the judges’ (and the producers’) games impacting the voting audience. Shawn and Apolo performed some of the best routines of all the seasons on the show and were rewarded with mainly criticisms from the judges. Melissa skates by with less than stellar performances and now gets to say that she beat six MBT winners, implying that she is the best dancer of all the seasons.
Haven’t watched the show yet…it’s on the DVR and I will enjoy shortly with my morning coffee and my (almost) 1-year old grandson. He LOVES the music, and I think the dancing too.
Wanted to thank the Ladies here at PureDWTS..I’ve watched the show most seasons, but this is my first following along here. I’ll be back.
Here’s a random thought..with Brooke having to have surgery I wonder if she’ll be able to co-host the next season, I hear it starts in March. I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought Melissa on-board to fill in if Brooke isn’t able.
Congrats to Melissa and Tony!
I didn’t have a strong preference as to who the winner was going to be, either Melissa or Shawn. They were both great and very different with almost opposite strengths and weaknesses. I do think Tony was the reason that brought the edge to their team but I’m okay with that since Derek’s choreo was the reason for some of his team’s wins in the years past.
Playing up the strengths and hiding the weaknesses in creative choreo was a smart and fun approach to the contest but it can’t work every time. Actually, maybe Shawn would have benefited more from Derek not taking advantage of her strengths (athleticism and stamina) at all this season and instead sticking to the very conservative basics of each dance. Maybe that would have lessened the “it’s not gymnastics!” effect that his creative choreo seemed to have on some people. Because I think Shawn CAN in fact dance, just needs to let loose and forget about achieving movement perfection.
But anyway, that’s just aftermath speculation. All of them did great, even Kelly, and the season was more entertaining than I thought it would be. Thanks to the PureDWTS for another season of great coverage. Cheers!
Ahem. You are allowed to be a little bit of a sore loser and be disappointed. That does not mean you’re being classless and assholey as I said in my first comment – but don’t let it go on all day. It’s very natural to be disappointed.
What you don’t get to do, *Theresa* is start acting like a moderator and calling other people out. I’m trying very hard to give everyone their say without being overly quick to delete people – I’ve only had to delete TWO, congrats you were one.
Nah, Sasa, as I said, the people saying the stupid crap about gymnastics would have just found another reason to complain about big, bad Derek. The man hasn’t won since Season 11 and he’s still the boogie man. So threatening – and with good reason. He’s the best on the show, by miles.
And everyone knows it.
But many will go to their graves denying it.
Well I for one am def disappointed but my gut told me all day from all the internet sites that Melissa and Tony were going to win- they had the great story- from Tony being on 14 seasons, to Melissa being the only one to never win, to her kinda riding high the past few weeks with perfect scores, etc….but i just read an article on nbc.com and if this is the sign of a true champion i don’t know what is…and i quote:
“It was almost more of the pro’s win than Melissa’s. When the pair were announced as the newest champs, fellow pros Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy hoisted Tony onto their shoulders as the cameras zoomed in on him pumping his fists in the air, leaving Melissa out of the picture until pro Derek Hough finally got her up and back into the frame”.
I do not need to say more. Derek you won in my eyes..you def don’t need a trophy to say otherwise. You have given more to this show than you will ever know and i wish you nothing but happiness and success in your future endeavors.
I think Shawn deserved to win but I’m not disappointed that Melissa did. Both teams worked hard, had a lot of fun and no drama. Derek is such a class act and will be sorely missed. Can someone please tell me why can’t Val keep his shirt on when he dances? I wish both him and Maks would just leave the show, but we know that isn’t going to happen.
Thank you Courtney, Princess Heidi, Vogue and everyone else that keeps this site going! I enjoy reading it and being a part of it. Can’t wait for March!
sasa, I just can’t agree.
In the list of things I said I remember about this season, the one I will most remember is the body of exciting and excellent dances Shawn & Derek had. Playing it too safe would have been so boring and wouldn’t have gotten them even to second place. I actually think All-Star season would have been terribly dull without them and the way they went about the season.
I have watched every season of this show. The only things I remember from the early seasons are certain standout dances and they are the only things from past seasons that I go back and re-watch occasionally.
Really hope for an Emmy nod and win for Derek. It wasn’t SYTYCD’s strongest season for choreography (I only think Stacy Tookey and Mia Michaels have the best chances from that show this year) so I think he has a real shot this time. It seems to be general opinion that SYTYCD has the kind of choreography that warrants an Emmy win, not DWTS, but I hope that is proved wrong this year. Derek has had a LOT of support from the SYTYCD community and other big names in dance this year, so I hope they continue to support him to an Emmy win!
I’m feeling so many emotions right now that I’m having a hard time putting them together. I’m sad for Derek and Shawn, but, happy for Melissa and Tony like so many of you. I truly feel like they are all winners in some way. I loved the sunshine and strength to never give up in Melissa. I loved how Kelly let go and left her vulnerability on the dancefloor. I loved Derek and Shawn’s full on creativity and technique that I’ll soon never forget. With that said, wow, what a finale. One of the best ever. I loved seeing Pam again and what a fun and sexy dance she did to remember her by (I loved her hair too and her boots!
). Same with Drew and his daughter (sooo darn cute!). I loved seeing Kim and Joey as well (Joey was a hoot!). With a couple of exceptions and all in all, this is ended up truly being a season of champions.
In the end, I thought Derek and Shawn deserved the win, especially after the instant dance. But I’m ok with Melissa too. Too me it wasn’t really an All Stars season anyway. That would have been if they’d had the winners of each season compete against each other. Then, I would call the winner the best of the best.
Thanks again to the Mods here for all you do. You make each season a lot more fun. Happy Holidays to everyone and now we wait for spring and the next season.
Yeah, EP, I agree. Melissa had more lifts over all than Shawn did lifts and tricks, it’s just that Derek put them to much better use. The people looking to make excuses will always say things that, with actual consideration, just aren’t true – such as too much gymnastics, not enough dancing. After working on this blog for a few years, I’ve seen people get these over exaggerations in their heads from reading it over and over on the net – this will be the new one. That Shawn didn’t dance enough. Total bullshit. Derek had the perfect blend of dancing and excitement – I would NOT trade that for a mirrorball trophy. No way. Derek and Shawn will be remembered as one of the best teams in the show’s history. Hell, first thing they said on GMA this morning was that Melissa winning was a big upset. To me, that was VERY telling.
I’m very excited Melissa and Tony won. I do think TPTB wanted them to win, but at the end of the day, the voters decided. TPTB tried to force William Levy on us, but the voters didn’t take the bait and he finished 3rd. Tony is not one of the more popular pros, so I think, in my humble opinion, people are giving him too much credit for the pity win. Melissa was a very good dancer and I think the viewers warmed to her. Was she the best? That’s a matter of opinion. Everyone worked extremely hard this season and should be proud of their dances. Congrates to all three finalist.
Props to all the All-Stars. Very happy to see Tony and Melissa win. CONGRATULATIONS. Shawn is an excellent dancer and it sure doesn’t hurt having Derek as a partner, but so is Melissa and, maybe, like Sabrina, she was lagging a bit in votes. Personally, she may need to mature some.
It is interesting in some of the other reality shows, the fan vote counts all, and, thus, the judges get down and dirty on contestants they think won’t represent the “franchise” well. So, maybe , this hybrid voting system is best.
I am very happy for Melissa and Tony – I liked Melissa’s dancing very much, and her partnership with Tony was just incredible. I will not diminish their win by thinking of the “pity” vote. They worked very hard. As for who is a better dancer – neither of them is a dancer, they are celebrities participating in the reality dancing competition.
I would like Derek to get an Emmy, but the thing is, he will not be competing for it with other DWTS pros, but with very gifted choreographers, and I am not sure he will win, too many great performances to choose from in this category.
One more thing all! Please don’t go away. PureDWTS keeps going all through out the off season. Stay tuned for the awards as you will want to take part in that and “vote”. We still report on all the pros, interviews, and news that comes out not to mention new RUMORS for who’s dancing next season. Then there is the Cheesecake, Who Wore It Better posts, questionnaires, and special commentary and studies by Court, Heidi, Lori, and Marianya. You never know when Charlie aka John is going to make a showing and more as well. We never sleep here at PureDWTS! Thanks endlessly to all of you reading and posting and your part in this site …and for those who have posted such kind things too. xxxx
“I do not need to say more. Derek you won in my eyes..you def don’t need a trophy to say otherwise. You have given more to this show than you will ever know and i wish you nothing but happiness and success in your future endeavors.”
Great comment. The son, brother, nephew, (husband!!!) every family would love to have. Like Derek, Tony seems to have his head screwed on right.
Thanks PureDWTS staff.
PH, does anyone know what Derek will be doing in the near future? I’ve read about a potential remake of Dirty Dancing, and who would be better in the US (heck, the world!) than Derek for that role.
I’m so, so happy for Melissa and Tony. I am proud for all the dancers and pros, I think everyone made this a tremendous season.
If the show is fixed (and I don’t think it is–not at all) I highly doubt this is the first season they’ve done it. So, I don’t think it’s fair to chalk Melissa and Tony’s win up to it being “fixed.”
The general audience, for whatever reason, voted for Melissa. People vote for different reasons. Some voted for non-winners. Some thought it should be only a former winner to win All-Stars, so they voted that way. Some voted for whose personality they liked, some for who they thought was the best dancer, some for their favorite pro, no matter who they were partnered with, and so on and so on. I feel that Melissa and Tony won because they are who the voters chose, and that is the way the show has always been. There have been plenty of winners I didn’t care for, and I thought other couples should have beaten them, but it doesn’t make their wins mean any less because they weren’t my favorites or I disagreed with them winning. And that is something that the mods and some commenters on this blog have taught me in the past couple seasons. This site has truly made my DWTS experience, and taught me a thing or two about the show along the way, and I’m thankful for that. I think the ladies and John do a wonderful job here, and I appreciate all of their hard work to bring us this site to enjoy.
I have heard that this is Derek’s last season, and possibly Cheryl’s, too. If that is true, I wish them nothing but the best and hope that their futures are bright and happy and they achieve everything they set out to. Even though they aren’t my favorite pros, I can recognize what both of them mean to the show (something else this site has taught me) and it won’t quite feel the same without them, but I’m sure it will carry on and I’ll love it still and be excited each week to see who brings their A game. I have to say though, I’m glad Cheryl toned down the sexiness this season, and if it is her last, made my last memories of her on DWTS good ones)
I hope everyone who celebrates the holiday season has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. On to season 16 and new celeb rumors (that makes me excited! There are so many I would love to see on the show!)
What exactly did Maks and Val do wrong? Because they first hoisted on their shoulders Maks’ best friend and the C family’s business partner? Should they have hoisted both Tony and Melissa at the same time? Of course they hoisted Tony up first – he’s their friend, business partner and fellow pro. Tony and Melissa got separated as everyone rushed in to hug and congratulate them. After they put Tony down, Val then went and hoised Melissa on his shoulders. What is the reason for all this vitriole against the C bros? Just because Derek didn’t win, we have to find someone to pick on, and the C bros are an easy target?
We have all watched this show long enough to know that winning is a combination of good dancing and voter popularity. The viewers voted and put Melissa and Tony over Shawn and Derek. Unless we’ve now joined the conspiracy theorists and Hope Solo and are claiming that the show is rigged, then the chips fall where they fall. The ‘best’ team doesn’t always win. And for me, as it happens, I thought Melissa and Tony were the ‘best’ of the 3 teams, based on my own idiocyncratic preferences in ballroom dancing. Someone else thinks the ‘best’ team was Shawn/Derek; someone else thinks it was Kelly/Val. These conspiracy claims make it sound like we thought Derek was a lock to win. If the show was really rigged, then Shawn and Derek would have won, since they seemed to be favored to win. Voters get to vote for a team for whatever reasons they like, whether or not we all agree/disagree with their reasons. What makes some people’s preference for Shawn/Derek sacrosanct, while other people’s preference for Melissa/Tony crappy? It was a hard fought and probably close contest (here’s where I would like to know what the total voting for each couple was). Either Shawn/Derek or Melissa/Tony would have been deserving winners. Can we not just be happy for the winners?
I think Cheryl is just taking a break next season…she isn’t officially done with DWTS…however this is Derek’s last season…he will not be back, his contract is done. He might pop in here or there the way Julianne did (or maybe a little more because he has meant more to the show than she has) but the amazing season everyone saw was Derek laying it all out there because this was it for him. He wanted to make each dance stand out, be remembered, and lay his final imprint on his very successful DWTS run. Now…being i am east coast…i can’t wait to see him on 42nd street…bring on Broadway! Oh, and a release date for Cobu would be nice:)
Lee, I don’t know for sure, but I’m almost certain he had the role in Dirty Dancing when it was put on hold. Just from comments he made, and that Kenny Ortega made. Maybe when it comes back this year he’ll still have the lead. But sometimes those things change after something is held for a year. His movie Cobu is supposed to come out early next year. I’ve heard whispers that indicate he’s been doing a lot of auditioning. Julianne had a joint interview with Josh Duhmael where they spoke briefly about her project with Derek – a scripted drama, of all things. It sounded like they were producing it – which is hugely time consuming work.
But you know with Derek, he could have a TV show appear on TV and we wouldn’t know until it happens. I’ve never seen a more tight lipped, discrete guy. Quite annoying.
I enjoyed the finale show this year. I think Shawn and Derek’s dances were the best all season, even their instant dance was the most amazing of all of them (although Melissa’s music wasn’t that great for a samba). I could see on Tony’s face as they waited to announce the winners that he was expecting them to say Derek and Shawn, so it was fun to see him so happy. He and Melissa did work very hard this season so I was happy for them. I also loved Drew’s dance with his daughter–so cute! I enjoyed Apolo and Karina’s dance. I am still upset he wasn’t in the finale, but oh well. I thought Tom Bergeron had some really funny lines last night and I was laughing a lot. I have a couple questions: Is Derek definitely not coming back? and Do you know what he meant when he said Shawn helped him through with some things and he was crying a little in the rehearsal bit they showed? I will sure miss him and his choreography if he doesn’t come back. Finally, thank you to the ladies of this site who do such an exceptional job all season. It is a lot of work and I do appreciate it. Thank you!
How like you to completely miss the nuances of the situation, Sandra. Why am I not surprised. MY commentary was more directed to Maks fans who did nothing but complain and whine and bitch about Mark and Derek and their celebrating when they won, complaining how it was all about Derek and/or Mark. Now, the C bros to THE EXACT SAME THING only magnified ten fold. And where are Maks’ fans?? Complaining that we remember their behavior, of course. LOL – you don’t think I’m going to ask them what they have to say NOW?? Guess again.
There is nothing wrong with celebrating a win – I do think that it shows the kind of man that Derek is that he was the first one to hug Tony and he didn’t allow Melissa to be left out of the celebrations, but got her up on his shoulders and over by Tony and the gang.
I’m editing the rest of your comment because you go too far in discussing how other people post. Stick to your own opinion.
I just realize why I’m so disappointed with the results. Is not that I’m not happy about Tony and Melissa, but the thing is, for me Shawn is up there with Kristi and Nicole as the three best dancers ever in the show, when someone is that good, especially with a outstanding season like they have they deserved to be rewarded, I know that the best dancer not always win (katherine, Mya..), but Shawn is no ordinary best dancer, and just like Nicole and Kristi won there season, Shawn deserved to win this one (I know she won her season, but it is different).
Congrats to Melissa and Tony! Although they weren’t my choice for champions of the all-stars season, I can certainly be happy for them. Their joy was so infectious last night.
Apolo certainly was shocked by who got the trophy. Bless him; he still believed in the notion that the best dancer would win. Those of us who’ve followed the show for any length of time have long since come to terms with the fallacy of that idea. I’m sure Derek prepared Shawn for how things were likely to play out because she handled it beautifully. In addition to their magnificent dancing, and happy partnership, I’ll always remember Shawn and Derek’s consummate sportsmanship and genuine pleasure in Melissa and Tony’s win.
Yes, I teared up when Derek got emotional in the rehearsal video. That’s not a side of the magnificent Mr. Hough that he lets the general public see. While the Olympians hide behind a blank focused mask, Derek usually hides his emotions behind a clown’s face.
I’ll miss Derek’s brilliant choreography and dancing as well as his goofiness, but like so many others, I hope this really is his final season. Sad to say, DWTS has become something I don’t want someone of Derek’s character and skill to be part of anymore.
Well i will tell you one thing…if Derek and Shawn had won and they got split up by a celebration amongst the cast…Maks NOR Val would hoist shawn on their shoulders…and i will bet my bank account on that. Its really more of a testament to Derek than anything else…all the pettiness throughout the years has never changed him. He is a good person and above all that is most important.
Cidra – I agree, as much as I will miss Derek’s brilliant choreography and dancing, I’m more than happy that he is moving on from the show. Not only because he deserves bigger and better things, but after such a amazing season I don’t think he would get a partner as good as Shawn, this was the perfect way to say good bye, I wouldn’t want to see him restraining his brillance, and I think for him would be a little frustrating too.
Here goes my complaint. I think Shawn & Derek should of won, I am happy for Tony & Melissa she is a good dancer. I think the show needs some kind of different scoring system, it seems its all about popularity and not dancing, as someone mentioned already, it was allstar, Bristol & Pamela shouldn’t of been there. Derek bis a fantastic dancer and will go far in his chosen path, I sure will miss him and his sparkling personality, he will be hard to replace. I know a lot of people want Henry to replace him, I would love to seee Dmitry come back. Thanks for the enjoyment of this site Pur dancing, courtney, heidi, & vogue
It didn’t hurt Melissa that her manager, Deena Katz, is one of the producers of DWTS.
Things that make you go hmmmm.
#74 above. “voter’s fault” I respectfully disagree! The judges could not give S & D the perfect 30 on Monday night because of their decision to break the “dancing rules” one more time. Yes, it makes for great choreo, but they understood the risk. The judges had just lowered Kelly’s score from 10s to 9.5s because of their little mishap. They simply could not overlook Shawn/Derek’s choice. So please, don’t blame the voters! America loves the underdog, we see this all the time in sports and politics. America voted for T & M for the win.
That being said, I 100% agree with S/Ds philosophy and dancing for the fans. DWTS is wearing thin. Example: I can do Cheryl’s Latin dances in my sleep. They remind me of serial romance novels. Change the name, change the costume, the dances are still the same boring Latin she delivers every season. DWTS may not have jumped the shark with their All-Star season, but they are treading into deep water. They need to find a way to re-energize the show. How about if after the 2nd elimination of Season 16 the dance genre is wide-open–a mini free-style if you will, so the pros can show their creativity and the potential their partner might have on the dance floor in other areas. When they get it down to 6 contestants, open the dance floor again in the same manner. Season 16 will not find me glued to the TV. DVR will be my choice. I would love to see DWTS clear the judges table and start with a new slate. I am tired of all three of them. CAI’s “fall” off the chair did me in. She is the biggest contradiction of dance information relevant to the score she gives. Bruno lost his “fun” element around Season 7. Would someone please glue him to his seat? The constant sexual innuendo has worn about as thin as Cheryl’s Latin dances. LEN–poor Len. I like him, really I do. But we just need fresh blood in the middle seat. The only constant is Tom Bergeron. There are evenings when I realize he is on the only one I really care to watch!
IF the producers of DWTS want to do something really innovative—How about a Christmas Special next year, think “Variety Show”. Bring in the current pros and past pros–the Houghs of course–bring in those contestants who have “other” talents…Brandy–Katherine Jenkins–Gavin Degraw–An Olympic segment–Dance Center w/o Jerry Rice (whose bit is making him look really, really stupid these days), the list is endless.
Of course, the only caveat would be Derek as the Choreographer. Who knows Kenny Ortega might do a guest appearance as producer and director.
Until next time….
I agree with everything you said, Cidra. I also think that Derek and Shawn knew how things were going to turn out before Monday night. Derek always seems to figure it out somehow. Remember when he told Maria last year that they were going home.
I will so miss Derek – his brilliance on the dance floor and his graciousness and humility off.
Thanks to PureDWTS and Pure DerekHough for the wonderful commentary you bring to the fans of the show!
Chacha, I agree with much of what you say. And I do agree that it was Derek and Shawn’s choice to break the rules. But they didn’t break the rules in EVERY dance – really only in ONE dance that I recall. Len docked them points for having a freakin’ cow and a tractor AFTER Kelly got out of a wagon and other couples also had frippery. It’s not that they got docked, it’s that they got docked MORE for doing things other couples didn’t get docked for. Kelly had a pretty glaring error in her dance redo and got TWO tens – sorry, but that’s outrageous. All three judges should have docked her just like all three judges docked Shawn and Derek. Same goes for Emmitt the week before – the judges even comment on him messing up then give him a perfect or near perfect score. Derek was extremely creative in all their dances, never made any real glaring mistakes, but Len knocks points off for “frippery” – not breaking the rules, but either having props (like ALL the couples did in a THEME week) or leaving out Len’s favorite move, or not having enough in hold or just being too freakin genius. A lot of things that other couples did, but didn’t get as penalized for, or got penalized to a much lesser extent.
That’s what pisses me off – the inconsistency. Derek knows perfectly well when Len isn’t going to like something but goes with his gut anyway. He said it himself. “I can choreograph a samba Len would love in 20 minutes.” No doubt. But instead, he pushes boundaries and made it exciting. If the judges want to dock him for it (and in many respects PREVENT other pros from branching out out of FEAR), fine – but when he picks on tiny bullshit that everyone does and takes a point and a half off Shawn but only a half point off Kelly for a glaring mistake?? I’m sorry, but that is complete and utter bullshit. And you’re right – DWTS is at risk now more than ever because most people DO see the inconsistencies.
The show may or may not need new judges. But what it really needs is all new pros. ALL NEW. Ones that think more like Derek – willing to push the boundaries, and treat this show like what it REALLY is – a reality TV show. It’s not a ballroom dancing show and it never was. If you have 12 pros that are focused on creating killer dances with killer production?? Screw the judges – they become totally irrelevant because all the pros would be doing the same thing. And it would great to watch.
Another way to go is to make a list of the syllabus steps you must have in every routine – like they do in many sports – OR make a list of all the syllabus steps and say you have to have at least 75% of them in the dance in order to get better than an 8 or a 9. THEN, don’t be an asshole about the other stuff they include, such as props (especially in theme weeks which BEG for props) OR LIFTS. This way, the judges can’t so easily judge on a whim or take pity on someone just cuz they’re doing better. To hold them accountable, you have to LIST the steps and show them in every show. Seems like a pretty simple thing and it can still be dramatic.
@Ron – It does make one go hmmmm. But I don’t think it’s fixed. The scores by the judges can be tweeked somewhat but as far as I know the voting can not. And in no way would a producer have anything to do with the outcome. It is what it is.
Hey, my favorite was voted off before the finals. If someone would have told me that Apolo was not making the finals I never would have believed them. But it happened, the viewers spoke loud and clear.
Derek left his mark on the TV world. You can make an argument that the top ten dances ever on US DWTS were choreographed and performed by Derek. He’s been the reason I’ve watched lately. Julianne also had a magic touch and might sneak into the top ten her dance with Apolo when she wore the tiger outfit and Helio’s banana routine really stand out for me. I wish I had the vocabulary to name his top ten dances. How about the samba (?) he did with Joanna Krupa in the dance off when all the couples danced at once. He made Nicole S look like a pro. The finals waltz with Brooke. The great dances with Jennifer Grey and the chemistry with Maria. It’s the end of an era and I really don’t see DWTS recovering unless some major changes come regarding the voting process and the judging. Derek was so good he made us not care about the voting or the judges.
Truthfully I was happy with the final two couples that I would be happy with whoever won.
Derek will be missed but I hope he takes care of that neck of his before anything else dance wise.
Other thoughts: how cute was Drew and his daughter? Such a great moment. Loved Joey and Kym Back to the Future dance.
Oh man PH, I completely agree with your post 113!
Inconsistency in people in general is a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
I am really worried that we won’t see any really innovative choreography, not just because Derek is probably gone, but because the judges REALLY seemed to discourage it this season. And in All-Star season, that seems extra crazy to me. I do feel like half the current pros just do not have the extra creativity in them and the other half are too nervous to get really daring.
Derek, Julianne and Mark were ‘new’ once and really brought something extra to the show. I actually think Chelsie and Lacey have brought some unique things to the show when they are on. Tristan just needs a different kind of partner, I have no real opinion on his choreography yet. Peta doesn’t measure up to me. If she can’t produce exciting, top quality dances with a guy as talented as Gilles, I doubt her abilities with others. (yes Gilles personality probably did them in, but it wasn’t as if we were saying…..”their dancing was so amazing, but I just didn’t like him”….I also hardly liked any of their dances.)
I will try to have faith that new pros they bring on can bring a new freshness to the show again. It really needs it, esp. if the most creative pro they have is leaving the show.
If they use some of the troupe, I really have faith that Henry and even Sasha could be exciting. But not so much the women…..
I was bummed that Shawn and Derek did not win, but kinda saw it coming. I, like the majority of the fans, know very little about the rules of each dance but we can identify mistakes and when things just don’t look right. I was looking for that WOW factor and Shawn and Derek delivered that every week.
I haven’t watched every season, I watch those with stars on that I want to see. With this being an all-star season, I expected to see more than “cookie cutter” dances. I wanted to see the best of the best and I wanted to be impressed. If that means pushing the limits, then that’s what needs to be done. All of these stars had been through a season, they are not as novice now, let them do more and showcase more.
I understand that fans can and will vote for who they want to win and when this happens the best dancer may not win. That’s unfortunate but part of the game and everyone knows this coming in. I just dislike the shots taken by fans at the stars for using a talent or attribute to their advantage. Shawn was a great gymnast and there was some gymnastics involved, but isn’t dancing a part of gymnastics? Kelly is an actress and whether real or not, she made us believe that there was something going on with her and Val and people bought into it. Melissa is a former cheerleader and a beautiful woman who used her sex appeal and the underdog role. Even those who did not make the finals used other talents along with their dancing to get where they did yet Shawn takes the most heat because supposedly she has an unfair advantage with her skills.
With that said, this show needs a revamping. If you want everyone to play by the rules then the judges score should count for more and they should go strictly by the books. If you want entertainment then give them a style of dance as a theme and let them work with it, and let the scoring stay how it is. Again, I know very little about dancing and get that there are rules/criteria within each dance, but if you stay completely within those rules you are watering down the show and not letting the stars and pros shine. This is the 15th season, how many more ways can someone do a samba, because to me (the untrained eye) both that Melissa did the last two nights looked pretty much the same.
just watched the finale again, the picking of the dances was just wrong in so many levels, after val and Kelly pick their dance they leave the stage with their little mirror ball, you can clearly see Tom putting his arm in the basket, and stayed their for a wild until Melissa comes to pick and surprisely it was already open for her and she gets a samba. That was so subtle, just like the all season.
PH said: That’s what pisses me off – the inconsistency.
Ditto, and that is why it so difficult to remain a fan of this show. If it continues in its current format, and judging model, I’m sort-of-over it.
When you look at past seasons, like 4 or 5, there seemed to be some actual critique and appropriate scoring by the judges. Not anymore!
I actually LOL when I rewatch the Chair Rumba with Apolo and listen to the judges’ comments, OMG! A prop!
I love your syllabus idea.
chachachoochoo, I was baking Christmas cookies and blaring the Christmas music yesterday and thought the same thing. What about an abbreviated version with just a couple of weeks of holiday dances. It’d be fantastic. And let’s skip the MBT and just let them dance. I’d imagine what Derek could come up with but it’d be like a kid hoping for a matchbox car on Christmas day and getting a freakin’ Ferrari.
I watched the two-night finale with my boyfriend, who had never watched DWTS before. He was astounded by the over-scoring of Melissa compared to Shawn, and when he saw Apolo dancing on Tuesday he was like “how did Apolo not win? He’s immensely popular, great-looking, an Olympian, and dances like THAT?!!!” lol. I then showed him a few clips of the previous episodes and he was astounded by the subtle ways in which the judging and perception changes from couple to couple.
Flat-out, Melissa and Tony won because some people thought that a new person should win, but also because the judges made it so easy to believe they were as good or better than Shawn. People are sheep, and they see the enthusiasm that they had for them and bought into it. I like Melissa and Tony and I’m glad for them, but it is obvious the judges diddled with the perceptions of the viewing audience just a little too much and it went out of their control. The look on Carrie-Ann’s face when Melissa won was so shocking, but she and Len especially need to realize how their little games against Shawn and Apolo cost them votes.
I’m not outright complaining, because in the end I don’t think it really matters who wins or not, as all of them won in their own way – I just hate to see hard work that isn’t rewarded – and that’s not to shit on Melissa and Tony, because I believe they worked just as hard as every one else. If they had won simply because America fell in love with them more than Derek and Shawn, fine. But the manipulations are what leave me with a slightly bad taste.
Congratulations to Melissa and Tony. PH #113 That comment said so much of what I have felt this whole season. The things that bothered me the most this season was the inconsistency of the judges and their scoring. Two couples that I personally feel suffered the most from that were of course Shawn and Derek, but Apollo and Karina as well. How many times did I see other couples (one that comes to mind is Emmitt) slip and mess up where Len just said “oh well”. Even with the last performance dances, again mistakes were rewarded with 10′s. I never heard the judges call out either Shawn or Apollo for anything that had to do with dancing. CA made that remark about lack of chemistry between Karina and Apollo and from that point on I would hear people on other sites talk about it. You have already covered so much of what I was thinking so I won’t go on any more except I did see so much overscoring of certain favorites of the judges and underscoring for petty things. They couldn’t criticize their dancing so pick on something totally unrelated to dancing.
For me Shawn/Derek and Apollo/Karina were the best dancers with Melissa coming in third. I like both Melissa and Tony, but agree with others that have said this is an All Star season so why not have had only people that have won before compete against each other. They could have had another season with people who came close, but did not win. That was a mistake that I feel the producers of this show made. As much as I like Melissa/Tony and do feel that Melissa’s dancing was very good and Tony’s choreography was much better than usual I personally do not think they are the best of the best which is what an All Star season means to me. On these other sites I constantly saw people commenting that they were voting for Tony because he had never won before. I can’t tell you how few times I would see Melissa mentioned. It was all about Tony and his never winning. I understand everyone votes for whatever they believe in – whether it be the pro, their favorite celebrity and countless other reasons. My own reason is the dancing and the choreography. The dances I will remember not only from this season, but past seasons as well will always be the dances that Derek, Karina and Julieanne has choreographed. Derek leads that list and for me I am so happy that this season he out did himself with his choreography and that Shawn was there to have it happen for him. I missed Julieanne when she left and I am really going to miss Derek, but am looking forward to whatever he has in store for us in his future endeavors. He has been a class act the entire way.
Thank you to all the ladies, John and everyone connected with this wonderful site. I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season and thank you for letting me express my feelings.
@laila – I don’t think Melissa getting the Samba did her any favors whatsoever. That song was way too slow. There is no way that was a Samba song. But the judges did score her generously thats for sure.
In my opinion, Shawn and Derek hit the jackpot with their song and dance choice, Cha Cha to “Respect”.
Well, if they did fix the “instant dance” for Melissa, they did a pretty crappy job of it. She got the worst song of the three. Also, and I say this as a huge Melissa fan, her dance was the weakest of the three. I thought Shawn’s was the best, Kelly next, and then Melissa. They also didn’t give her the perfect 30 everyone thought that she’d get for it.
But, I digree. She won, the season is over, and on to the next one for me.
I think the issues this season is that we had already seen all the stars complete one ballroom dance `journey`. There were no surprises of people doing better or worse than expected. All the stars had already conquered most of these dances at least once. The producers realized this half way and had to resort to terrible gimmick dances – the ìconic dances, opponent`s choice, fusion etc. With few exceptions, most of the fell flat do to the pros not having experience in either choreographing or performing the style (ie: Karina and hip hop).
I think that the show will rebound in terms of quality next season when we will once again have new stars attempting ballroom for the very first time!
In terms of Melissa receiving the samba for her instant dance, I think that was to her detriment. That song was ridiculously terrible!
I am very happy for Melissa and Tony, and I am very happy that their hard work paid off, and that they’re holding the trophy. I’m happy that Tony has his win finally, because he is SUCH a nice guy, and humble, and has always had a kind word for everyone. I am glad that he chose to “up” his choreography this season, and that he took a risk, and that it paid off. I am happy that Melissa has her win, and that she worked so well with Tony, and people saw what a sweetheart she is.
No, they’re not who I was rooting for, but I am still very happy FOR THEM! that they won, since my favorites didn’t.
However, I’m not happy with the manipulations that went on, that people have seen and commented on, to get Tony and Melissa that win. I don’t want it to take away from them though, because I do feel that they put in a lot of time and effort, and was hoping that they could win on their own merit, and instead, it feels like a slight taint on the All Star Champions, like TPTB didn’t have enough faith that M and T could win on their own………
I do love this season… Most of it. I want to focus on the positive things of the season, not the bad. So no more TPTB talk… From me at least.
I love all of Derek’s choreography. I love the pairing of Apolo and Karina, that each brought out something more than we knew about them from prior seasons. I loved Helio’s charm, and I loved watching Joey dance, and wishing he could have stayed longer. I loved the different dances and themes that they had thrown at them, and I loved watching the dances that successfully met each challenge.
What did you love?
As disappointing as this season turned out to be for me, (Apolo not in the finals? Who cares who won! lol) I am truly indebted to this site for being here, feeding my habit, being level-headed and fair, and truly and well moderated against all manner, size and shape of trolls…
Thank you! You guys rock! Look forward to the off-season material as well!
Melissa got 9.5s on a dance that was no better than 8s – Even Kelly did better than her on the instant dance. That was quite shocking.
Sandy – Melissa and Tony song was not great, but the dance being as bad was their fault, they did the same choreo from the night before they only changed the end, th same routine does not work for two different songs. They got “lucky” but they didn’t know how to use that, I blame tony for the choreo and Melissa for dancing flat and soft as she always does, that was not even 8.5.
Shawn did not hit the jackpot, Derek said during the video that he wanted jive and the one danced that they did not want to dance was cha cha, you could see in their faces when Kelly got the jive that they were not happy, but with Derek great choreo and Shawn great dancing made it work. I could only imagine their jive, Courtney said yesterday that jive was the only dance they had prepared until monday.
This istante dance just proved once again who was the best.
I’m so sorry I forgot to thank Lori and Marianya as well. THANK YOU!!!
I will be waiting to see what new pros come on as well. The only one I can say I would be very excited about is Henry for his dancing and personality. I don’t care for the others though on a pro level. The only female troupe member I remember and had a huge wow factor for me was Dasha Chesnokova who is no longer on. The first time I saw her on, I thought, holy hell, who is that lady. Amazing dancer and presence, I thought. I don’t know what she’s doing or how her english is but it would be nice if they asked her back as a pro.
I’m excited to see Tristan get a new, capable partner to see him really get to shine. He’s so popular as a person already so it’d be nice if he got to stick around longer. I’m sure after Val made it to the finals with Kelly that TPTB will continue to give him better or more physically pliable partners. Quite frankly, as ugly as Val’s attitude got, he did make Kelly, who’s personality I couldn’t stand and who I didn’t feel was very good as a dancer, look pretty good. And that tells me that he has the ability to learn and use it. Unlike Peta. I’m over Peta. Gave her a chance when she was new but after seeing her capabilities or lack there of this season as well as a void of personality, it makes me realize her win with Donald was, well because of Donald. As big of an ass as Gilles was, he could dance which tells me she can’t choreograph or teach very well. And seeing Peta recycle moves from last season, only her second, tells me she has no vision or originality. Maybe it’ll change next season.
All completely my opinion, of course.
My only point was that if Shawn and Derek had gotten that crappy song they may have not done as well in their own scoring, that’s all I meant. So that is what I meant by the Jackpot comment.
Melissa and Tony were definitely overscored for their Instant Samba, but unfortunately we will never know how close the viewer voting was, with or without better scores. Maybe it was supertight, and maybe not.
In my opinion, the BEST dance of the season by any celebrity was Shawn and Derek’s quickstep, so unexpected, surprising, and unique. I thought it was even better than their Freestyle.
I just thought it odd that during the backstage clips that Kelly did not want the Jive for the instant dance and she got it; Derek did not want the cha cha and he got it. I don’t know how the producers managed to do it but after that I knew it was fixed somehow and I knew then that Melissa was going to win. Anyway, congrats to her and Tony.
I am just glad I don’t have to watch Kelly’s and Val’s PDA moments any longer.
How great was Apollo’s and Karina’s solo during the Team dance redo. It was much better than the one they did originally. I thought the substitute dancers in the Call me Maybe group dance did a good job also.
Heidi I agree with you; I don’t care who wins as long as the judge’s are consistent.
I believe the scoring inconsistencies are what will stick with me most. Apolo and Karina got docked when she fell during the hip-hop dance and when he slipped during the Big Top Jazz routine. Helio and Chelsie got bounced from the competition after he tripped on her dress. Yet Kelly and Val got two 10s on a paso they flubbed in the final, despite having already done the routine.
#122 Melanie…I love your fabulous analogy about Derek’s choreography being like “a kid hoping for a matchbox car on Christmas Day and getting a freakin’Ferrari”!Its so true! His choreo blows my mind, not to mention that his dancing/acrobatic ability is also mind-blowing! There is just no one like him!
#67 Mimi…I so agree with your post, and thanks for saying what I was thinking as well.
#113 PH: Yes, yes, yes to the syllabus idea. Brilliant!
I am so bummed out that the best, most talented & phenomenal couple, and my favorite, did not win. Although, I did fall for Melissa’s sweet personality and drive to succeed, so I am happy for her. As for Tony, it feels to me like a pity trophy, because I am completely underwhelmed by his dancing/choreo. But, I felt that when D&S re-performed their quick step that the judges had issues with, that it was all over for them. I would’ve loved to have seen them dance the Mark & Shawn number from when Derek’s neck was hurt. That might’ve given them the “30″ that would’ve pushed them to the win. Of course, that is if I believe that the scoring/judging is not manipulated, which I don’t.
So, c’est la vie. A disappointing conclusion,for me, to the most wonderful D&S performances ever. But a huge shout-out and “virtual MBT” to the wonderful mods on this site: always classy, funny, interesting, knowlegeable and entertaining. Thank you!!
Ashley L – I couldn’t agree with you more about the lack of skills Peta has choreography-wise. Yeah she may be a nice dancer, but that’s it. She did not bring out the best in Gilles at all!
If it wasn’t for Donald, I don’t think she could have won. Even with Donald though, her choreography was lacking, but because of the fact that Donald was so likable, people overlooked that.
I hope she does learn more and improve her skills. Maybe then I will like her a little more. For now, I’m not really too fond of her.
Congrats to Melissa and Tony, but I loved Shawn and Derek! I am actually more happy for Tony than I am for Melissa.
I’ve never posted before, but have been following this blog for the whole season. You rock girls, thanks for your great job!
Having said that, here’s how I feel about this finale, as someone who has only recently moved to the us, didn’t have the first idea of who Melissa Rycroft was, had never seen any other season of Dwts and probably won’t ever again:
- IMHO Shawn was the only legit star in the final. Let’s face it: Melissa is a trained dancer and the longest shot from a star in the whole cast after Bristol Palin. Kelly’s little showmance is apparently the only reason she made it to the finals, though I find it almost impossible to believe that people were actually buying into it. I was also shocked to discover that Kelly is only three years older than me. Honestly I can tell from looking at her that she was once a beauty, but I truly believed she wasn’t a day younger than 40 and more likely 45. I guess eliminating all fats from your diet makes funny things to your face in the long run
- I think at least half of Melissa’s votes were actually votes against Shawn and especially Derek. Throw in another 20% of pity votes for poor Tony and actually the result isn’t as surprising anymore.
- I actually tuned in at the beginning of the season for Shawn, being a bit of a gym fan. I was very pleased that she made the finals and was very impressed with Derek’s coreography…guess he totally deserves his golden boy status. However, I really have to say this: Apolo is the one who was seriously robbed!! Bloody hell, I would never have expected that level from someone who has never had any sort of dance training (save his previous experience on the show). Also, the level of difficulty that Karina was throwing at him was just ridicolous, having him do jetes and other jumps that are not even ballroom. Both in the hip hop routine and in the big jazz mess he looked like he was the pro, which is saying something considering how good a dancer Karina is. Also, in yesterday’s remake of call me maybe I though that Apolo outdanced Louis and Sabrina did the same with Anna and the other girl. Too bad the producers had other plans for this season
All just my opinions of course. And sorry for my subpar english.
I am not sure what the future holds for Derek – Cobu has already been pushed back 1 year with no firm US released date, the Dirty Dancing project (which is uncasted) has also been pushed back at least 1 year and the project he is developing with Julianne must be in the early stages since they do not have a production company incorporated.
However, are we 100% sure he won`t be returning in the spring or fall to DWTS.
If as one poster said, if Deena Katz is Melissa’s agent and she is a key DWTS producer, doesn’t that explain the reason Melissa was being propped up for scores at times and Len was heard cheering for her often and she got the Samba and got to use props without equal repercussion. To me it helps answer the question why would they (producers) care who wins, outside of the normal under dog /Tony hasn’t win hype.
You can’t push back a movie that’s never established a release date – which it hasn’t. As an independent film they are taking their time – I don’t think they have any choice. The director recently said they were working on the theatrical trailer and the movie had a panel at the recent K-Pop convention/concert in LA. It’s also been through several rounds of screenings and had a one-week reshoot this past spring. The director has also said that it will be released in early 2013 – that would be just under 2 years from principle photography and with a 3D movie (or any movie) I don’t think that’s terribly unusual. There was an article not too long ago about Lionsgate having issues due to an acquisition of having too many films and not enough cash flow so everything in their pipeline got backed up – pretty sure Cobu got caught up in that also.
As for Dirty Dancing, it was supposed to film in May or June, judging by what Kenny Ortega said on SYTYCD, so nearly 6 months of it’s 1 year hiatus is are up. If you listen to Kenny Ortega talk about Derek’s acting skills, and listen to Derek talk about a project he had that fell through on the same day that DD was shelved for a year (not a coincidence), AND listen to him talk about being auditioned against several different “Babys” – it’s pretty obvious that he had been selected, just not contracted to do the work.
I was fairly sure that Derek and Julianne had started a production company – I believe I read that somewhere recently. I’m sure there’s a Derek fan out there that remembers, but I don’t right now.
Of course, we’re not 100% sure – but this is Derek, not Maks. Derek doesn’t do idle speculation – he usually says, “If they have a partner for me, I’ll be there.”
#128 Lori – I loved being able to see Apolo dance again, even if he did get seriously hosed by TPTB. (Sorry. Have to have the qualifier)
I loved seeing Shawn explode as a dancer under Derek’s genius guiding hand
I loved hanging with my cyberfriends and watching the show “together”
I loved shirtless Apolo
I loved coming here to catch up on anything I may have missed, and reading what everyone had to say
I watched OTRC, Access Hollywood, and Extra and Derek pretty much said this was his last season…the Access Hollywood interview he actually said the word “yeah, probably”…but followed up with quickly “but technically I am still under contract for now”…meaning when this round of press is over so is his DWTS career.
He said the word “obligated” Joey – which I found…odd. Very specific word choice. Perhaps you’re right and that’s what he meant.
Ok so I’ve spent the day putting my anger down and my ideas together and here’s my piece about the whole thing.
I think that the manipulation going on is absolutely disgusting and will totally backfire on the production and on the show in the future seasons when there won’t be any Derek aka no talent ,no think outside the box wow in your face choreography and all thats left are boring dances and temper tantrums by pros who didn’t get the tens they feel they should have gotten.
When I talk about manipulation I include the fact that the judges overscored and over complimented Melissa’s dancing and Tony’s choreography,while putting Shawn and Derek down, you are right people are sheep they will follow what the judges think if they start putting a couple at the top people will believe they are the best, Apolo is the perfect example of that.
Of course then theres the whole Tony has never won before which gives it a pity victory and pity trophee, the fact that Melissa’s manager works as a producer is a clear conflict of interest, whether Deena helped or didn’t, it is a conflict, the fact that the bowl for the samba was opened leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Derek and Shawn not wanting the chacha getting it, and Kelly not wanting the Jive and getting it while golden girl Melissa gets the samba, her pick dance that she spent the week rehearsing, no manipulation right
I was happy it backfired and Shawn took the only perfect score but of course Melissas was still overscored.
Of course the biggest manipulation came from what we heard Henry said in an interview, if it’s true that Shawn and Derek wanted to do their paso tango fusion that was a perfect score and the producers said no then the fix was in the entire finale week and maybe even before, it’s just not right to force someone to do a dance that broke the rules and then dock them points and call them rule breakers, if they didnt want Shawn and Derek to dance the paso tango I can imagine them not wanting Derek to modify the quickstep.
That would explain the fact that Derek didn’t really seem happy to do the quickstep and the fact that he even accepted to do the quickstep which had the encore when during past finales he said to I believe Jennifer, Nicole and Ricki lets not do that dance we already had the encore people have seen it already.
Derek has always seemed to know where he was going to end up and is known for preparing his partners and foreseeing the results, I can’t imagine him not getting what the production manipulation was going to end up doing, if he did understand like I feel he did then kudos to him for sticking it up to the production by breaking the rules in the quickstep and picking the jive as their Gma and the View dance, that was an amazing touch.
As nice as they are, I can’t help but feel that Melissa and Tony won because of pity votes and I hope that Derek moves on to better things where his talents will be appreciated.
I think Shawn and Derek are the real winners because in a month no one
will remember anyone elses dances, Shawn and Derek dances will stay in viewers minds and thats what I think Derek was shooting for, creating dances that people and even Shawn and Derek will enjoy watching on youtube.
When I think of All Stars, I don’t think of Melissa and Tony who won because it was Tony first win, but to me the real All Star champions are the coule who brought it week after week with amazing routines.
Sorry for the long post, I really needed to vent, now I’m moving on and frankly without Derek, I don’t know if I’ll follow the show.
Anyway thanks to the entire puredwts staff you guys and gals rule and have done an incredible job during this season, of course I’ll stick around and participate , comment during the inter season and maybe durng the next seasons.
Oh and thanks to Heidi who does an incredible job at purederekhough and always brings info that I couldnt get any way else since I’m in France.
Tanks again to everyone for this amazing season.
Henry never came right out and said that Shawn was doing the fusion dance:
Here`s a short transcript
Here is a transcript:
Interviewer: “It [Shawn's AT] was almost a little too pose. I just wanted a little bit more emotion. I don’t disagree with the score of 29, by any means…but I do kind of side with CAI on this.”
Henry: “Well, they’re in the finals. So you’re gonna probably see it. *Laughs* You’re gonna see a lot more chemistry, I’m sure.”
Interviewer: “Do you know? Is that their favorite dance that they picked?”
Henry: *Faux serious face* “That’s all I can say.”
Interviewer: *Gasp* I think we just got an exclusive.
Henry: *Laughs*
Interviewer: “Are we gonna see two Tangos?! Do you know if Melissa and Tony are doing their Tango?”
Henry: “I actually don’t know exactly what they’re doing.”
Interviewer: “I thought we were gonna get two exclusives in a row!”
Henry: *Laughs*
138 Cherry– Thanks for posting that, love hearing from people who have never watched dwts before, since that is not the majority of the people who post here! It is always good to get a different kind of view of the show.
I completely agree about Apolo. He was definitely robbed. I thought they had some really excellent dances and Karina really taught him how to DANCE. He truly moved at times like a trained male dancer and was also wonderfully expressive for a serious athlete. I was so impressed by it, even more than when I loved him in season 4.
My perfect finale would have been Shawn/Apolo and Sabrina or Melissa. But it doesnt matter now!
So first and foremost, congrats to every sinngle contestant in the finale. Secondly, was I the only one that loved the opening group dance with all the pros and contestants? That was my fav dance of the night by far. On the flip side, I really really disliked Pamela’s little dance. She seems like such a nice person and has to be smart in order to have had such a long career but that dance was a bit much.
Congratulations to Melissa & Tony on their win, no matter how it came about. Tony did have his best season ever, his caveman hustle will be one to stick in my mind. So fun!
Derek & Shawn were just so amazing week after week! I still think the finals should’ve been Shawn, Melissa, and APOLLO. Seems like a lot of others think he was judged extremely unfairly too.
This is the only DWTS site I visit so wasn’t sure where all the shomance hate for Kelly & Val came from, just watching the show I thought maybe she did it to get into a character to help her dancing. They definitely showed the chemistry, enough so Karina & Apollo were critisized for lacking it. At the end of the show when the credits were rolling it looked like maybe Max had Tony up and Val had Melissa up. But earlier when the bro’s were going nuts looked like Joey helped Derek put up Melissa.
The main thing that sticks in my mind from this season is the crazy, and unfair to several people, judging. Such a shame it overshadowed some of the absolutely best choreo ever on this show. Wish next time they could add a judge that currently judges real competitions, maybe a different one each week, just to get some realistic scoring. Heck, wish they’d done that for these all-stars!
This site is great! Thank you so much for the variety of articles and the fun & laughs. Will be sure to check back during hiatus to keep up. Have you every done anything on celebrities in the audience who might be into being on the show? I see familiar faces all the time and always wonder if they’re scoping things out, supporting friends, or just pushing their new tv show. Thanks again for another great season here!
well im glad its over it felt like the longest season ever !
i am pleased for Tony and Melissa, if only to see tonys face light up 
i do think shawns freestyle was brilliant and her instant dance was great , i was ok with either shawn or melissa winning 
i do wish we could have seen apolos freestyle though…still only four months or so until 16…..really hope we never have to see the caveman hustle or surfing flemmenco ever again though 
Even if Henry didnt say it Derek is known for not wanting to do a dance in the finale that had the encore so I dont think he would have changed his mind about it.
But its not what bothers me I loved their quickstep I’ve watched it a million times on youtube what bothers me is the judges inconsistencies, you don’t dock Shawn points then point out Kellys mistakes but still give Kelly tens if they were putting everyone on the same line of consistency and accord with criticisms and scores then it would be fair.
What bothers me too is the producers meddling with the show and playing everything up, you can’t deny their influence when they select samba as an instant dance knowing Melissa picked it as her dance and spent the week rehearsing it, they should have taken it out,you can’t deny having your manage working as a show producer is a conflict of interest and possible unfair advantage, you can’t deny the producers obviously influenced forced the couples to each choose the iconic dance as their finale dance, you can’t deny they loved having Derek break the rules or think outside the box because it means big talks and ratings which the shows losing and needs to up the ratings numbers.
I think the influence of the producers is clear here and they are abusing it, by making it clear that there’s the judges points that are influenced by the hype the producers want to put on a couple, then there’s the backstage meddling of the production, then in last position there’s the votes that means little and the majority of the votes are sheep votes who vote for who the producers put the light on by having the couple pointing out that they’re the only non winners like they deserve it because they messed up their freestyle from their original season, the audience interest in the show will go out, especially now that Dereks out, and others are out as well.
The shows going to do its 16th season and I don’t think people will be as entertained by a lambda samba or a waltz like theyve seen hundred of times, especially after a season packed with amazing routines, especially by Derek and Shawn and Apolo.
Ok now for the positive side I loved this season dances my favorites were of course Shawn and Derek, but also Apolo and Sabrina.
Many dances stand out for me, and of course theyre all from Derek except for a fes from apolo and sabrina but for me the biggest surprise was how much I loved some routines that I thought I would dislike, since I’m not a big fan of the dance, like the bhangra or the mambo, or even contemporary, thats genius in its purest form when you find yourself loving and discovering a dance, despite what you thought you like or not before.
Anyway it was a great season packed with amazing dances, not just from the couples but also pro dances like that contemporary piece that should get an emmy, that will stand out and be watched on youtube for a long time so in that side the show succeeded.
nansan, we have done that with the celebs in the audience. Sometimes we pick it up when we go back and watch the show for The Cheesecake Awards – sometimes it’s mentioned, other times we just make a note to keep an eye on that person for future hints.
At the risk of speaking for Courtney…I wouldn’t count on the Cheese before Monday or Tuesday. I’m DWTS spent.
First, I am happy for Melissa and Tony on their Mirrorball trophy, it clearly meant to much to them. Personally though I will admit to being disappointed that Shawn and Derek, the couple who did the most amazing and entertaining performances week after week, did not win.
And while I agree that conspiracy theories are perhaps hard to believe, it does seem convenient from the show’s perspective that next season after Derek is gone, they will be able to woo new celebs to dance with Tony, a Mirrorball winner, rather than Tony, a really great guy and great dancer. As well, if Melissa were ever to take over as a host as someone else suggested, either as a temporary replacement or full time, it would be more impressive to have a Mirrorball winner vice a former finalist. Things that make you go hmmm.
In the end, the main thing that I will remember from this season is my enjoyment of Shawn and Derek’s dances and of course of this site. I am not sure if I will watch DWTSs again next season, I actually didn’t watch the first couple of episodes this season as I was so fed up with past seasons and then I checked this site as I had in the past, and well I was ‘assimilated by the Borg’. Thank you to the mods, you make watching DWTSs so much more enjoyable.
So, I thought I’d be okay if either Melissa or Shawn won…and I’ve discovered that I’m not. Not at all. I’m surprised, because I was rooting for Melissa to make the finals (along with Shawn and Apolo), but apparently I was more invested in a Shawn and Derek win than I was aware of. I think that S&D really deserved that trophy – they were by far the best couple in the finals, and also the best couple of the season, though Apolo and Karina ran a close second. I’m not to the point where I can feel happy for Melissa and Tony yet (but I’ll get there; certainly I’d rather have them win than Kelly). As mentioned by many above, the manipulation by TPTB or the judges or whomever just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If M&T truly won because more people loved them, okay. If the rumors are true that S&D didn’t want to do the quickstep as their repeat but had to, then that’s just wrong. And the pity vote/”must vote for someone who hasn’t won yet” is just ridiculous.
As far as the instant dances go, Shawn blew both Kelly and Melissa out of the water. I don’t think either of them (K or M) deserved the scores they got – I would say that a 9 would have been generous – and I think Kelly did better than Melissa. So I’m not really happy there.
The issue with the quickstep – do I think S&D should have danced a different dance? Yes. Since they had the quickstep, do I think they should have tweaked the choreography to make it fit within the “rules” (since they’re applied at the judges discretion – at least lifts are)? No, because it wasn’t a matter of a few counts or bars, but probably half the dance – at which point, it’s not really the same dance anymore. Plus, it would have been changing who they were as a couple to fit the judges.
I think that’s what bothers me the most about this whole thing; Shawn and Derek were punished for being creative, inventive, original and true to themselves, and for really pushing the envelope to make the entire season what it was. Derek mentioned in an interview (either last week or after Monday night’s show) that he and Shawn set the tone for the season; that because they pushed it, other couples did too. I think that’s a fair assessment. I think Shawn and Derek pushed the entire competition to a whole new level – and for doing that, they were nitpicked within an inch of their lives at times. And it makes me upset.
This is the first time that I’ve not been happy with who won; in all the previous seasons, even though I may have thought that certain couples should have made the finals (but didn’t), I was happy with the winner given the three couples in the finals. But not this time – and I *like* Tony and Melissa! I think I might be happier about it if I knew that the quickstep and the ridiculous scoring of the instant dances was not to blame for Shawn and Derek’s loss.
Sigh…done venting now. I had to wait to post, because I was so disappointed in the outcome. I imagine I’ll get over most of it soon – it’s just a sparkly dance show anyhow. Hope Derek gets an Emmy – he deserves it! And while I think he’s destined for bigger and better things, I’m really going to miss him being on the show, since at this point, other than Karina, Kym, and occasionally Mark, there’s no one who can even come close to him in choreography. And Kym is the only one that I think consistently pulls the best out of her partners like Derek does.
Ok I’m re-watching the show b/c I was quite drunk by the time I actually finished it last night
I just started, and the opening, where they show everyone from their original season with a judges comment… well they are complimenting everyone, things like “I couldn’t tell who was the professional and who was the star”, “the hits just keep on coming”, and “you make everybody believe in magic”. Shawn’s comment? It was “you have to live up to everyone’s expectations” WTF? Carrie Ann was the one who said it, an the intonation she put on it made it sound like she was disappointed in the dance.
Laura _ totally agree, totally WTF moment.
Someone mentioned early, and I have to say, I really enjoyed the opening number, Lacey did a great job with that one.
I saw something on twitter/tumblr(don;t remember) that made me a little bit happy. Even with Shawn’s lost she still the only person to ever gets First and Second (silly but at least is a title for her).
Yeah, Laura…better off watching it drunk. I drove to work this am with top down + 37 degrees. Still didn’t cool me down. If they wanted to award a consolation pize in a regular season where MAYBE you can convincingly lie enuf to get everyone on equal footing. But this season, Shawn started out almost perfect and they didn’t know how to handle it so did there usual OVERKILL indoctrination. I think Shawn+Apolo had so much more buzz going in and seemed to be the favs that thy decided to knock em down until mid-season and hype the heck out of someone who even today on GMA, could not dance a decent salsa after doing it 3 days in a row!!Every time I kinda calm down I hear things like one of DWTS producers is Melissa’s AGENT??! Doesn’t she also already work 4 the network. All the insta dance picking fiasco…show’s really slipping in the credibility dept.
Ok very interesting…just watched afterbuzz…now everyone knows that Suri is a HUGE shawn fan..but she is friends with tony….but she is calling BS and thinks that the producers wanted Melissa to win…she obv is back stage and gets some behind the scenes info….plus she works for Maria- Maria knows the deal how they manipulate and make things look a certain way…and she said they wanted Melissa- when it comes down to it this is reality television and Melissa and Tony were the feel good story. She always wants to tell more and for most of the season she has bit her tongue but not tonight. Although she thought more was going on with Val and Kelly than a showmance…she seemed to have “intel” that things were not peachy at home with kelly and her man…however if anything i am sure the lines were slightly blurred but in the end she will prob stay with her man or even if they break up she won’t get with Val. I think the same thing happened with Maria and Derek…I def think there were times she had mixed emotions- but in the end she wouldn’t leave her bf of 14 years- but thats another time and place:) they are great friends now and that is that…shippers stay calm!!! She also said that some of the dancers (not wanting to throw anyone under the bus) said that they thought Derek took an easy out by recycling some of shawn’s dances instead of creating a new one…where to that point i thought was genius. It was a perfect medley and most of the dancers (i am sure a certain group of pros or troupe) wouldn’t be able to make it flow the way it did. So check out the afterbuzz and see for yourself….they have questioned the judges scoring all season…calling BS week after week….is DWTS more reality tv than we think???? makes you go hmmmmmmm…..
JOYE – I can already imagine witch pros were saying that Derek took an easy out ( louis and Maks are the first names that come to my mind, since they have no class)
Funny that Suri feels this way since Tony is her closest friend on the dwts people. I remember this week that she talked about a discussion that she had with Tony, that tony said that Shawn was just as trained as a dancer as Melissa, and Suri got mad because she knows how gymnastic are not trained in actual dance, especially Shawn that during her carear always got criticized for her lack of dance skills on the floor (ironic, isn’t, she used to only pose on floor).
Kind of a strange question, what are some of your thoughts on this?
Throughout the weeks the mods posted actual vegas and other casino odds on this season. If TPTB have enough control to influence the outcome, what wouldn’t stop someone inside from making a large bet on Melissa when she was 33:1 odds?
I have solved the judging dilemma. I remember good old LEN saying their scoring decisions are instant, and that “yes” when he has looked back at certain dances, he realizes scoring mistakes have been made. So here’s what they need to do.
Each couple needs to be given a red flag with a ball in it. If they don’t like their scores, they can throw the red flag on to the playing field, err, dance floor and challenge the call. They can have 2 challenges during the season, prior to the week before the semi-finals.
While we head off to commercial-break, the dance is reviewed by another set of judges who are never seen, and the dance stands as ‘scored’, or we have a new score.
Hey, maybe they should even try this idea in the NFL!
Tongue-in-cheek snark completed!
I am so proud of Shawn and Derek. Even their most “simple” dance the foxtrot on week 1, other celebrities would have a hard time executing that as nicely as they did.
Just wondering why Derek felt that he “lost” his confidence and Shawn gave it back. He is an amazing dancer, choreographer and person why would someone like that lose confidence?
To #Tony:
“Also, I think it was kind of crappy that Maks and Val rushed to Tony, and not Tony AND Melissa.”
You’re so out of their relations. They are like 3 brothers. And of course Maks and Val were def gone crazy about the Tony’s winning! They all did great! It’s your loss if you don’t get their friendship. Love #DWM!
And I am very happy for Tony and Melissa, she’s just amazing dancer!
Okay, so assholery is contagious. Shawn is just as trained a dancer as Melissa?? Someone’s seen the pity talk and is starting to get defensive.
I find it HIGHLY amusing that some pros who can’t produce an amazing dance if their life depended on it, claim that DEREK of all people took the easy way out. Taking the “easy” way out would have been to re-choreograph their quickstep or choose something bland guaranteed to get a 30 (except HE didn’t have anything “bland”). Taking the easy way would have been to do a simple bollywood and call it a Bhangra. Going the easy way would have been to not be creative and crazy on their Trio dance. The easy way would have been Derek Choreographing “a Samba in 20 minutes that Len would love.”
Envy and Jealousy is VERY ugly. I want Derek to win an Emmy just so he can shove it up Maks/Val/Tony’s ass. Of course, he never would, because he’s got more class in his little finger than they have in their entire bodies.
PH – when I heard that I was like : “how nice of Tony”, Suri was so mad. She is awesome, even being BFF with Tony, she know that things were wrong.
I bet the Louie and maks were the ones that said that, this two could not choreo a freestyle to save their live, the jealousy is beyond. Derek took some dance moves from other dances, but most were original, he matched perfect with everything, and lets not forget that he totally changed the arrangement of the song every five seconds to match the dances and add a bunch of other things in to that song, just like he did in the mambo.
The c family should enjoy there pity trophy, but they sure did not deserve.
Kseniya, I let your post go through, but I’m warning you right now. As soon as you use the words “You’re so out of their relations..” and “It’s your loss…” you are treading on very thin ice – and not just grammatically although that was horrendous too.
Wow, someone finally mentioned Melissa’s dancing ability.
Melissa has had actual dance training (besides the cheerleading).
Shawn has been trained in things that ‘help when learning dancing’ – extensions and pointed toes and some very limited degree of choreography (gymnastics style). There is a difference people!
Thing is, the average viewer knows that Shawn has gymnastics background, which they might think is like dance, where they might not know Melissa was a cheerleader. Or they might know that but NOT know she has studied dance as well.
I don’t care at all that Melissa has dance experience. Many of my favorite dwts celebs have had some. The misinformation of her vs Shawn is what can be annoying!
I so agree with you PH, it frankly made me angry and laugh at the same time when I read that some “pros” said that Derek took the easy way out.
I think Tony is just like the schmuck brothers, I remember when he said during post shows interviews about I think Derek Mark and Shawn trio samba that if they broke the rules it was their own fault and that if they got eliminated it was their fault, as a pro he should have seen what a pro like the ballroom champion who commented that their samba was packed with actual samba step actually saw, if Tony was a real pro and not a jealous a… he should have seen that and kept his classless comments to himself.
Now that Derek’s not gonna be there to raise the bar, we’re gonna laugh when the three schmucks are going to deliver boring old routines and the audience is going to shoot down to nothing.
I think Tony read that people think it is a pity trophee and that he only won this season because he’d never won before, but that excuse is only available once and he already cashed out on it, I wouldn’t expect him to get another one, especially if he goes back to creating boring routines because he won’t have Derek to push him and the others.
I’m seriously worried about the future of the show now that it’s most gifted choreographers gone and all that’s left are the schmuck clan (Louis and the C bros and posse included) who are more talented to put others down with their criticism behind their backs than to create good choreographies.
Frankly without Derek I only see the show lasting for a couple seasons before being cut down to one season a year and then simply cancelled.
I thought for sure that Shawn and Derek would win, but I bet it was really close. Honestly all three dancing duos were excellent dancers and any of them could have won. The finale was fun though and I loved seeing all of the previous contestants again. The whole season was great though just like the previous ones and I watched every show with my DISH coworker and his family. I no longer worry about being embarrassed that DWTS didn’t record for our get togethers though because I have Auto Hop on my DISH Hopper DVR now. It records all of the nightly shows on the four major networks automatically so I don’t have to set any timers for my shows. I have even discovered some new shows that way I wasn’t watching before, such as Revolution.
I don’t think there is much I can say that hasn’t already been said. Yes, I believe Shawn and Derek should have won. Yes, I think the judges giving Melissa and Tony high scores all season to make casual viewers believe they were great and the sympathy story really gave it to them.
I can say this though, I’m probably one of very few people on here where this is my first season watching DWTS. I’ve grew up as a competitive contemporary/jazz/ballet dancer. I’ve always stuck with SYTYCD because it features amazing dancing. I saw DWTS was the all-star season so I decided I would give it a shot on night 1.
I didn’t know too much about the pro’s or how everything really worked when it started. I actually really like Melissa in the beginning because I’m a big Bachelor fan and knew her from there. Throughout the season I ended up becoming a Shawn and Derek fan because of the incredible dances (I think week 4′s mambo really made me change my favorite). I’ve known a little about Derek before because of Allison Holker, but after I realized how great he was, I did my research. He is by far one of the most incredible dancers and choreographers I’ve seen.
Will I watch next season? I really don’t know. I think the level of choreography would need to improve greatly. I appreciate Derek for pushing the boundries and only hope that other pro’s will begin to do the same.
Thanks mods for a great season! No matter the case if I watch the next season, I will definitely keep up with this site. I’ll probably go from here and watch the best dances. I’m so happy that I stumbled up this site because it’s really amazing!
I’ve seen Suri on Afterbuzz and I have to say I never got the impression she was some real insider as opposed to the myriad of news and tv outlet folks that hang out behind the set to get info. The fact that she actually thinks Val and Kelly had something more going on just kind of made me think that she doesn’t know anything, it’s just her overactive imagination. Like Joey said. Tony probably is nice to her like he is to everybody else and she perceives that as friends. Although I don’t doubt he has the opinion that Shawn was just as trained as Melissa but I just took from that that he doesn’t know enough about gymnastics to know that actual dance training isn’t a part of it.
That’s just my take & opinion on what I’ve seen from her. I wish she did have some credibility built up over time where I would want to believe what she says but I always get the feeling her opinions or what she wishes were the case isn’t actually so. Now if George Pennacchio said it…:)
Thanks, Kaitlyn!
Are we allowed to provide tweet links? Anyway,if I’m not, just delete it. Val tweeted this….looks like Derek may be joining the “fam”! Just kidding
… Val seems to be very complimentary of Derek. Maybe some of his fair mindedness will rub off on those terrible Chmerkovskiys. Or, he may join the Russian mob. 
VaL @iamValC
Best in the game discussing choreography and creativity @maksimc and @derekhough over a slice of the best pi http://instagr.am/p/Sm5ymUhTVN/
View photo
7h VaL VaL @iamValC
Like I said – it’s easy to be nice if Derek isn’t coming back.
And it doesn’t really make up for years of nasty cracks. And yes, Derek is much easier than I am.
I love the bros C and Tony (OFF the television screen), but their behavior this season and their “subtle” shots at Derek have REALLY disappointed me – especially since Derek is the reason I started dancing, and I flatter myself to think I think anything like him when it comes to dancing.
I also thought I’d be ok with it if Melissa won…I knew I wouldn’t like the result, so I didn’t watch the entire finale, I just tuned in just in time to see Melissa and Tony’s reaction, and my heart broke. Since I haven’t been able to dance in a year and a half, I was really invested in this season and Shawn/Derek (and also Apolo and Karina), so the wrong person winning hit me pretty hard. I showed clips to a few of my friends (who I forced to vote for S&D ’cause they don’t watch the show), and NONE of them understand how it happened.
Unless it’s because of the “we’ve never won” thing. Which I’m sorry if this comes off wrong…but voting for Tony to win All-Stars because he’d never won is like voting for Barack Obama because he was black. (And I like the dude, and I’m not trying to incite anything here, but I remember the buzz around the 2008 election and we KNOW that a lot of people did exactly that.)
Derek literally got too good for this show. He and Shawn (and Apolo and Karina) have really inspired me, not only as dancers, but as a human being. I hope I turn out as positive, driven, and classy as they are.
And #132 Ashley L, you asked about Dasha Chesnokova? I agree, the troupe just hasn’t been good without her. She joined the show when Val retired, but soon afterwards, she left and found a new dance partner, and now she’s competing as professional (which is what she wanted to do)! At their first competition together as professionals, they made the finals in the world championship, which is AMAZING! First time she competes as a pro, she beats out a ton of couples who have been competing pro for years. Speaks volumes about her quality as a dancer
I am a big fan of Shawn and Derek and was hoping for them to bring home the MBT. Before Tuesday’s show I knew that they would not be holding it up. The show set up their winner (Tony/Melissa). I hope that Derek leaves this show because he deserves better and is way more talented then anyone on the show. I am disenchanted with dwts after watching this season and will not invested my time voting or watching it. As others have stated I love this site and want to thank the people who run it. You all are amazing.
Tony told Wendy Williams that a producer told him that “they won by a landslide of votes”. Geez I contribute their win due to pity and the voting site being down. I’ve said this before but I like them and all but I found their routines to be the least entertaining out of the final 3.
Well I must be in the minority here, but I feel like Shawn and Derek took the easy route when it came to their freestyle. They knew the crowd would love it, and deservedly so, Shawn was spectacular, but in my opinion, freestyles are suppose to be about taking risks, and going out of the box, meaning with comfort zone, dance style, music, and/or something different that hasn’t been done before.. Unexpected.
I wish they had changed up their finale quickstep and maybe took a different approach with their freestyle. But all in all, I think that finale quickstep (which BTW I thought was their best dance of the entire season, definite WOW factor) was the nail in the coffin for these two. Just my opinion…
This is my first time posting here and I just want to say that I really love this website. I appreciate all the hard work that the moderators put into making this website as great as it is. Thank you for everything especially the Cheesecake Awards which never fail to make me laugh.
I’ve watched many seasons of DWTS and I was particularly excited for the All-Stars season because of Shawn Johnson. I’ve been a fan of hers since the Olympics and I was so happy when she won Season 8 of DWTS. When I found out that she would be paired up with Derek this season, I thought it was a match made in heaven.
I was certain that they would win this season because of their amazing routines week after week which set them apart from the rest of the contestants. They rose to every challenge that was thrown at them. Who could have done the Knight Rider Bhangra as great as they did? I wanted Shawn and Apolo to be the final two, but when it didn’t happen that way, I thought I would be ok with Melissa winning. Turns out, I definitely wasn’t. It was obvious that the judges wanted Melissa to win with all the overscoring on her routines. If Melissa and Tony had won because they were the best of the best on this season, then fine. However, all I keep reading on other forums is that they deserved to win because Tony has never won before which to me isn’t a valid reason for someone to win.
Tony has always seemed like a nice guy to me, but today when I saw him on the Wendy Williams show, I was a bit disappointed by him. Wendy said “Tony won over Derek Hough and Shawn Johnson which was the biggest upset of all, is what they’re saying” to which he responded, “Dance wise, I didn’t think it was an upset at all.” I know it’s just his opinion, but what bothers me is that Derek has been so gracious about his loss and for Tony to say that, it’s just so obvious that he knows that people have been saying that he and Melissa won because of the audience’s sympathy. For him to imply that he and Melissa were better than Shawn and Derek, just comes off as petty to me. Tony also went on to say that “From what I understand, voting wise, it was a landslide.” I highly doubt that Melissa and Tony had a bigger fanbase than Shawn and Derek. I think that these votes came more from people who voted against Shawn and Derek simply because they didn’t want to see a former champion and a pro who has already won three times, win again.
Anyways, I highly commend Shawn and Derek for their positive attitudes after landing in second place. I truly hope that Derek goes on to win an Emmy because no doubt about it, he deserves it. DWTS will not be the same without him and although it would be nice to continue having him as a pro, I just can’t imagine him being with another partner after giving us such an amazing season with Shawn.
Your definition of “freestyle” is certainly new and different, Sandy. Shawn and Derek were “out of the box” and taking risks all season long. And they’ve done the “never been done before” all season long. Going the way they did WAS unexpected. Tony didn’t do anything spectacular or out of the box, that’s for sure. Sure is funny though that Melissa fans are criticizing a much better freestyle for being “not risky” all the while turning around and criticizing the same couple for taking too many risks.
And of course you want there to be a “nail in the coffin”. Doesn’t change the pity votes that Tony got. There is no way that Tony and Melissa stack up against Shawn and Derek in terms of excitement factor.
And I certainly don’t buy the landslide theory. I think someone is worried about the credibility of their show – and knows tony won’t be able to help letting that “fact” slide.
I don’t know, I somewhat disagree. I found Tony and Melissa’s routines exciting, and while I liked Shawn and Derek, I was never on the edge of my seat watching them. I also have, for the duration of the season, said that I thought Melissa was a better dancer than Shawn. That’s my preferece of more pretty, feminine dancers to more powerful dancers.
I can buy the landslide theory too, as I can see other people sharing my thoughts. With the instant dances factored in, Melissa and Shawn weren’t that far apart in points, and it was a pretty small spread that Shawn couldn’t cover, right? I can easily see the average, middle america, middle aged woman (DWTS demo, right?) preferring Melissa to Shawn. I don’t see that as far-fetched at all.
Think these comments show a lot of us feel the same. I am not going to lie – I was really gutted with the results on Tuesday – even though I saw it coming. I think TPTB wanted a new winner – originally I suspect it was being story boarded for a Shawn v Gilles rematch, but he was such a douche they had to rethink it. You cannot deny that Melissa and Tony are lovely people and their joy was a delight to watch, but to be they are not ‘all star’ champions. Genuinely I can only recall a few of their dances already and I am not sure how many will last till next season!
Ah well – I shall try to take Derek and Shawn’s sportsmanship to heart and let it go. I have to say that over the last 12 months, Derek has shown real class when he came 3rd, 4th and 2nd – there is a man who really is able to put the whole game into perspective.
This time, Derek got his wish – he created an amazing season of dances and I shall enjoy watching them for many years to come. There is not one dud among them which is pretty impressive! I do not think he could get another partner who could match him so well choreographically and ground him emotionally (drama free rehearsals!) like Shawn – so I hope he leaves it there. To me this result showed that there is enough anti-Derek winning another MBT sentiment out there that there I don’t think he will win another so much as it pains me, I hope he moves on. On the positive side, I’ll gain a lot more hours when I don’t have to vote in the future!
Just a quick question for our brilliant moderators or anyone else: is there another season where the best freestyle has not won the season? To my recollection the surprise results have usually been influenced by freestyle (Season 5 Helio over Mel B or Season 8 Shawn over Gilles). I refuse to believe that the majority of the viewers actually thought that Melissa and Tony’s freestyle was better than Shawn, Derek and the fierce 5?!
@ Stephanie I wonder if the producer who told Tony that was Melissa’s manager? LOL
There’s such a thing as winning with class, and I can say that I’m getting turned off by Tony’s attitude. Shawn and Derek are handling the loss with much more class and humility than Tony and Co (with the exception of Melissa who is very classy).
I enjoyed Tony and Melissa this season but I thought Shawn and Derek were so much better than them. It doesn’t seem like any of the pros (other than Derek, Mark and Mark’s mom) are giving Shawn any credit for her dancing. They either say that she had dance training (which if anyone has seen Shawn’s floor routines can see that the girl couldn’t dance to save her life), or it’s oh she’s a gymnast no big deal. Derek’s choreography was HARD, and Shawn rose to that challenge and nailed it. All anyone has to do is look at her in season 8 and look at her now, and you can’t deny that she is so much better than she was when she won. It’s just frustrating to read Tony and CO dismiss Shawn’s dancing or put down Derek’s choreography.
By no means do I think Tony and Melissa were spectacular or out-of-the-box this season. But I also don’t think they only received Pity Votes. A lot of people thought Melissa was very sweet, and some may have voted just because they liked her, I don’t know.
But I do think that Derek and Shawn not tweeking their quickstep ultimately put them at a point disadvantage that they just couldn’t overcome. Things may have turned out differently. It’s just my opinion.
I would have been happy with Shawn or Melissa winning the MBT as long as it wasn’t Kelly.
I think when you factor in that MOST people assumed Shawn was going to win, you might be right, Violet. But that doesn’t make Melissa the better dancer – it means that when people assume it’s in the bag for someone, they don’t feel the need to vote for her. Add in the pity factor, some who find her more appealing than Shawn and the fact that the judges praised Melissa all season while tearing shawn and Derek down continually? Maybe it was. But it’s still not indicative of over all excitement factor or talent.
The spread was about 10k votes per million, if I recall. If you look on Youtube – which as we’ve said all season is not indicative of votes – the top five most viewed dances are all Shawn and Derek’s. Clearly that doesn’t tie to votes – but it certainly means that people wanted to see their dances more than they wanted to see the others. It also lends credence to the theory that people assumed she was going to win. On both GMA and Wendy, they called it a shocking upset.
You don’t really have to look much farther.
@ Anna R
Thanks for the info on Dasha. Good for her!
They made that choice for reasons which were all theirs, Sandy (assuming they did indeed choose that dance). Maybe it did put them at a disadvantage. But the fact is that Shawn and Derek were run down all season by the judges for dancing that was fantastic. Kelly, Emmitt and others made mistakes and got tens because of it. That sinks in to viewers heads. Then, on the instant dances, they gave Melissa, who was EASILY the worst of the three, the same score as Kelly and only 1.5 points less than Shawn who was so clearly superior it wasn’t even funny. Some day, the judges will realize their games have a cost. I think it clearly cost Apolo, and Shawn as well.
You just can’t put all the blame on one dance when there are so many other factors at play here. Yeah, it might have turned out differently – if the judges didn’t have their heads up their asses. Run Kelly, Shawn’s and Melissa’s freestyles one after the other and tell me the scores should have been so close.
Of course tony is going to say that! i mean he knows they were the underdog…people expected derek and shawn to win…and that they won by a landslide?? come on tony…you wouldn’t of had the reaction you did on national television if you thought that…you were completely and utterly surprised…you thought you were going to lose to them too. Production played a part…high marks week after week, Len speaking like she was an angel descending down on the dance floor…i mean i don’t know about you- but that samba was prob melissa worst dance…she is a beautiful lyrical dancer- when you have to show lines and ballet type moves- yes…i also think it helps that she is MUCH taller than shawn…since she is so short it is hard to make her extensions seem long when in fact they are just as pointed and nice. She hated the cha cha she didn’t have to do that this season, she didn’t do a rhumba..i mean she got out of some dances that could of marked down her scores. (and i think i am right about those dances- i know the rhumba for sure). The insta dance proved who the better dancer was…shawn blew melissa out of the water- music sucking or not. a good dancer who has been dancing samba all week should be able to slow it down and make it look good…
They’ve always dismissed Derek and his partners, Donna – that’s not new. But Derek’s the one that gets Emmy nominations, and media mentions as being the best choreographer….so, there is going to be envy.
Don`t forget that Cheryl also has two emmy nominations and was the youngest nominee! Plus, Tony, Louis, Julianne, Chelsie and Mark!
So I only commented here once before. However, I have followed you guys all this season and most of last season. Going into the finals like a lot of people, I was fine with either Shawn or Melissa winning. But the way that the judges so obviously propped Melissa up during the finals made me a little irritated. When you play all three of their fave dances, none of them deserved a perfect score according to how the judges have judged when they do it properly. Melissa did not do better in her samba at all, Shawn of course broke the rules in her quickstep so they docked for that and Kelly had a big screw up right in front of the judges. And yet two of the three got tens with Melissa getting a perfect score.
Like PH said earlier, the freestyle round, when played back and one right after the other, Shawn and Derek totally blew everyone else out of the water. And the whole thing with the pros saying that Derek took the easy way out is ridiculous. If they wanna put it like that then they have to realize that you are switching between dance styles constantly. As well as keeping it fun and entertaining and different. Melissa’s routine was pretty, but it lacked any sort of Wow factor for me and Kelly’s was just sort of a DD knockoff. But I still liked it more than Melissa’s because I felt something from it.
Then the instant dance comes. Again Shawn blew everyone out of the water and Kelly deserved the second highest score alone. The fact that Melissa struggled so much actually proved something. If she is a great a dancer as the judges said she was, then she should have been able to easily slow down that samba and go right along with the music keeping time. But she did not. While the other two actually did well with that part.
So at the end of the day, Melissa’s win this week was a bit more of an upset for me than I intended. I thought it would be fine but after her performances this week and the way the judges made her out to be a dance goddess that could do no wrong, it actually spoiled it a bit. But still congrats to her and Tony regardless as they did win and congrats to all the finalists. Oh and to the mods, thank you for making this information so easy to access. This site is absolutely wonderful and you all do an amazing job running it!!!!
@Kseniya Excuse me, but I’m very aware of the C brothers and Tony’s relationship. It just seemed to me that they didn’t include Melissa in their over the top celebration. It almost seemed like they forgot about Melissa to me.
But whatever, this post is pointless. Thank you for the back up PH.
How classy of Tony, he should just shut up and take that pity trophy that he did not deserve. Never on Dwts a couple had so much help to win a trophy, Melissa did not deserve any 10 in that finale, all her three dances were overscore, Shawn finishing third in the judges leaderboard was just wrong, even with the rule breaking. If Melissa was scored fairly and the judges were honest about her dances, I’m not saying that she would have lost, but I’m sure it would have make a difference.
Tony actually think Melissa is better than Shawn, what a joke, I don’t think Melissa is better than Apolo or Sabrina. Melissa’s latin dances are jokes and how nice that she didn’t have to dance two of the most danced latin dances ever in the show (rumba and chacha).
Everybody has the right to have your favorites, but the best is not a matter of opinion, it is a fact, just like Katherine was the best last season, Shawn was by far the best this season.
I don’t buy into this “landslide” that Tony is saying. Things I have been reading and my family and friends all wanted Shawn & Derek. S&D’s dances are the most viewed. That has to say something, right? Now I hope Derek really does leave this show. I think this show is starting to show its true colors……not to much reality but mostly show.
I was talking about RECENTLY, Jack…hence the use of the word “recently”. I did also mention Chelsie, Mark and Julianne. Although Chelsie only got one with Derek. Derek and Mark (and Chelsie) are the only ones that have gotten nominations since SYTYCD has been on – also part of the conversation.
Heidi is right about the Emmy, when Cheryl and Louis got nominated it was different time, those dances would not stand a chance of even be considered in this past few years, even Julianne mambo that got her first emmy nomination wouldn’t get her a nomination this days.
It is not a coincidence that Derek’s nomination were from out side the box dances, just like Mark’s. Derek quickstep with Nicole and Mark’s jive with Chelsea were there lowest scores from there season, but the emmy people could care less for rules , they like different things, and apart from Derek and Mark, no current pro is willing to go out side the box with his choreo. Derek is so getting another nomination for his body of work with Shawn, no doubt.
Sorry, Laila, I do think best is a matter of opinion, in things like dance, acting, singing, etc., because people prefer diffent things. Now, in an actual race, like swimming, runnings, of course it’s fact who comes in first. Even gymnastics, the judges mark off where they see fit. It isn’t absolute, it’s subjective.
But we all have to remember the BEST doesn’t always win. It has happened before and will happen again.
I for one am not belittling Tony. Melissa and him worked just as hard as everyone else. But for whatever reasons the viewers may have had, they voted and they picked Melissa and Tony as the champions. Maybe the viewers just liked Tony and Melissa better.
I don’t think Derek would call Tony’s win a Pity trophy, and probably wouldn’t encourage his fans to do that either. I truly think Derek was happy for Tony.
Daaaaze later I still had to come back and comment on a couple of things…first I was cryin, so touched by Derek +so “feeling” such disappointment for he and SJ. No matter how PC they are and they both have so much class(it’s there upbringing)when you compete andKNOW how much better you are than the others(something else those with class don’t go around spouting but they do KNOW when they nail it and dancers STUDY those playback vids), I’m telling you they were extremely disappointed. When you are the best at something and you don’t win because of politics and ass-hat judges you start to question everything. Things like if I have devoted my life to dancing and put my best in front of people, given it MY ALL, and they reject it, as much as I love it, maybe I should make some changes. Then I was cursing, again because you see this let’s give everybody a trophy mentality EVERYWHERE.And now I’m laughing. I have watched SJ +MR dances side by side and it’s not just a shame it’s disgusting how bad MR is…she can’t maintan a chacha run, her hips aren’t moving and when they are direction is out of sync, she can’t “Plant” her feet and KEEP them on the floor or stop wobbling back and forth and so much more.Someone saying she i a good or improved dancer, don’t know what hey are looking at. As someone said the judges caused losses b4 with their stupidity but this season 2 ppl who deserved respect for stellar performances really were robbed. Sure everyone will remember their dances, but being able to claim you are the first allstar winner, the best even for this show presents a much better pic than runner-up.
And I’m with you, when Derek wins his Emmy he can give it to us and I’ll help you “shove it” nooo problem.
@Jack, another thing about the Emmy noms…. Cheryl began on DWTS at 21 or 22 years old, when she got her Emmy nom. Julianne began on DWTS at 18 years old, and got her solo Emmy nom at 19 years old. And her Emmy nom with Derek was at 20 years old.
all i am going to say and then i think i just need to let it go bc the season is over and melissa and tony won…but every single news show/broadcast/interview- talks about how it was a huge upset, how did shawn and derek not win, etc, etc…GMA had Donald Driver on who was like Shawn has more fans than Melissa hands down, then the next day in front of Melissa and Tony then call it the biggest upset, then Tony goes on Wendy Williams and she makes a comment about them being under dogs or whatever which then tony had to justify the “landslide”, i just watched shawn on her interview today on nyc news 4 or whatever it was and the ladies interviewing her were like um, we still don’t get how you didn’t win….i mean whatever it was- a combination of people thinking she was getting the votes, people voting for first time tony, people not wanting to see repeat winners (esp derek getting his 4th), the judges constant praise of melissa, or from what i have been hearing more and more of is whispers of production/producers meddling and being more involved than people think- 2 years from now people are going to remember shawn and derek’s dances- prob almost all of them…maybe they will remember val in his speedo (which isn’t bc of the dance) or melissa having a dance here or there….but shawn and derek will be the stand out couple…and to Derek- that is all he wanted…that is what will make him the champion- mirror ball or not. If anyone is interested Kristyn from afterbuzz is having another DWTS chat bc she got so much feedback….she is really questioning the integrity (and she loved Melissa all season) bc the feedback she has been getting is sooooo pro Shawn and Derek she wants to open another forum. more info visit her twitter-@kristynburtt. Well mods- thank you for another wonderful season…Heidi i will most def catch you on the flipside on purederekhough bc he is really what i care about…and now i am signing off for a few:)
Oh, the old canard about what Derek wouldn’t want his fans to do. I don’t drink koolaide.
You are right that the best doesn’t always win. Thanks for admitting that Shawn was the best.
I think the viewer’s misconception that Shawn has been trained in dance previously while Melissa has not stems from the fact that the show refers to Shawn as “Olympic gymnast” and refers to Melissa as “reality Tv star” and not “former cheerleader”. Somehow people tend to associate gymnastics with dance, so they would assume that Shawn has been trained in dancing before, which is kinda funny because her whole gymnastics career, the biggest complaint people have towards her is “not enough artistry”, “not enough dancing in her floor exercise”
I’m Derek fan , but I have my opinion. IMO it was a pity trophy, I go around in a lot of boards, and watch recaps and read comments on youtube, twitter and tumblr. And what I saw in all this places was “lets give tony his first trophy, because he is a nice guy and had bad partners” “derek won too many time already”, very little about Melissa dancing, and for me that is pity vote. Even the pros on the show (even Derek) during the finale were saying that they were happy for TONY because he had so many bad partners and he is such a nice guy and all that crap (Melissa who?).
Violet – liking someone more than other doesn’t make then the best, it just make then your favorite. Dancing is about technique , precision and a lot of of things, you might enjoy Melissa as dancer more than Shawn, but in the end of the day Shawn is the better dancer, this is a fact.
Just like singing (i’m going to give a bad exemple but whatever), I had fights with friends that say that Miranda Lambert is better than Carrie Underwood, and I always say you have every right to prefer Miranda over Carrie, but Carrie is the best singer, this is a fact.
In a way, Derek, Tom and I can’t remember who else(but pretty much eveyone) HAVE already called it a pity trophy everytime they say “Tony had so many crappy partners, or Tony’s been here for 14 seasons” Sheesh, even Tony said it !! That’s a pity trophy, a participation award. And this season was supposed to be the best of the best. THE BEST of each ssn (supposedly) would be the winner, right and Melissa finihed third. That’s was makes it s much worse…in a normal season whn th judges do their propaganda thing and costs someone a trophy it’s not good. But after promoting and touting this ssn as best of the best, an allstar season, and then go on to have the outcome be the exact opposite ??? I don’t know..schizophenia, stupidity or is it about employees of th network, a producer of DWTS being MR manager. Gee IDK.
Hmm it is funny how people can view things so differently. It’s what makes the world go ’round I guess.
Just my two cents here- If you want a freestyle to be out of the box and out of the celeb’s comfort zone, apply the rule to everyone in the competition, not just the ones that are not your favorites. I can flip that argument around the other way. How was Melissa’s freestyle out of the box and out of the celeb’s comfort zone? It wasn’t. Lyrical/contemporary/theater arts has been done before (Erin & Maks) and plus also has been done in this season 15, even though not in freestyle. And their freestyle was especially in no way out of Melissa’s comfort zone. Elegance and lifts and balletic movement are her bread and butter. If she would have excelled at hip hop, THEN we could say she pushed herself and did something unexpected. The only unique and difficult thing she did were some lifts/tricks. And even though Shawn & Derek might not have left their ‘comfort zone’ (either…), they ALSO had unique and difficult lifts/tricks. I don’t think any of the freestyles were out of the celebs comfort zones, not a requirement anyway, but they all did have some good stunts or lifts. (Kelly’s aerial work would be hers).
Of course I get that there are people who prefer Melissa over Shawn or enjoy her style over Shawn’s style. But to say her dances were more exciting than Shawns’s dances? I honestly find that particular adjective hard to use for Melissa (& Tony’s choreography) over Shawn (& Derek’s choreography).
I can see the dwts demographic going for a Melissa type over Shawn and going for the underdog story. But a landslide? I highly doubt it. Only a handful of people will ever know the voting numbers this season. But for someone to tell Tony that? Completely unprofessional and very rude to the others. If he asked the producers himself? Also, completely unprofessional and very rude to the others. And mentioning it on tv? Again……completely unprofessional and very rude to the others. And I like Tony….disappointing.
With SYTYCD and broadway-style tv dramas in the mix, it seems to be increasingly harder for ballroom to get nominations for Emmys. But I don’t think SYTYCD will be around much longer. It will be interesting to see if that means an increase in nominations for DWTS.
Even as a Shawn & Derek fan I don’t want to call the win a pity win or a producer-manipulated win. I hope it wasn’t either. I just wish S&D’s top quality and how they gave the fans unique dances (which is hard to do with 14 seasons prior to this one) could have been rewarded with the win in an All-Star season. I want to see more of that kind of attitude on dwts in the future and don’t want creativity to be discouraged. And I am worried the show will continually be less about great dancing as it goes on and even more about reality drama crap and/or voting for the pro who never has won. I hope I am wrong.
I made a long comment over 100 comments ago where I listed all the many reasons that this season was totally unfair to begin with. I am still bothered that the best didn’t win which was clearly Shawn and Derek. In my earlier post I mentioned Apollo and Karina. I was still disappointed that they were not going to be in the finals. These were the two couples that I think were robbed this season. The dances that I couldn’t wait to see each week were performed by these two couples. The dances I will remember from this season will be the ones that they performed. I saw over the course of the season the unfair marking by the judges for both of these couples. I also saw the overscoring of other couples even though they had mistakes during their routines and they were dancing mistakes. Now to read some of the other things that have transpired since the finale night, where I was so disappointed that the best dancer did not win, makes me think I will not even bother to watch next season. Especially, with Derek not being there. I was worried when I read other sites where almost every poster said they were voting for Tony and Melissa. Tony because he had never won in 14 seasons and Melissa (if they even bothered to mention her) because she had not won before and was nice. I never saw any comments talking about their dances so I guess that didn’t matter to them. I do believe there were a lot of pity votes. Maybe if it had been any other season than the All Star season I wouldn’t feel so bad, but in this season especially it is suppose to be the best of the best. IMO that does not equate to Tony and Melissa. Nothing against them as people, although now after reading some of the things that are being said by Tony I am disappointed. For me there is not one routine that sticks out for me except for the last dance that Melissa blew even though that was the one she should have known the best. I agree with those that mentioned, if you know how to dance, then you know how to adjust to different speeds of music. I did dance at one time, and although it was not ballroom, I know enough about dancing to say I am surprised that Tony did not work with Melissa on that aspect during their practice session.
I see a lot of the posters feel the same way I do and I wonder what will happen to next season. They were already losing in the ratings department and this might just have back fired for them for many different reasons.
Again, I can’t say how much I am going to miss Derek and whatever he ends up doing, I know he will be amazing at it. This show is going to miss him as well because they are losing the best choreographer ever. I felt bad when JulieAnne left, but I still had Derek. Now I just have Karina and this show hasn’t treated her kindly so I may see who they give her for a partner and then make my decision for sure.
Thanks again to all the wonderful people from this site who provides us with everything possible to make DWTS a better experience. I wish I had found you earlier than I did, but have enjoyed it since the time I did and have learned a lot as well.
Sorry Heidi – It was not my intent to offend anyone, I do apologize.
And here, I remember Courtney saying that she thought Melissa and Tony would be the most calm final result. lol I feel a little bad that she was wrong, because this whole debate is getting nasty.
Are we going to find out what the difference of the scores were. Did the judges votes make the differnce? How much of a difference was there?
@EPmusic, I agree with you that it was disappointing to hear Tony talk about his and Melissa’s win against Shawn and Derek as a landslide on television like that to convince people that it wasn’t an upset like many other shows have said including Good Morning America. Even Wendy Williams was ecstatic talking about Shawn and Derek’s freestyle on her show on Tuesday morning. She was especially impressed by the move that they did where Shawn is on Derek’s shoulders and falls into a somersault. She even said that they should win on that move alone, lol.
I just think that it’s so easy to say that a victory was a landslide especially when we will never know exactly how many votes went to both Shawn and Melissa.
First of all, congrats to Melissa & Tony for winning. I don’t think they necessarily deserved it, but they worked hard, and they deserved to be in the top 2. Second, I’m kind of new here, and I want to thank the ladies for maintaining such a lovely site.
About the final: even if the voting was completely on the up and up, I think that the show was completely manipulated to have M&T win. All season long, it was really obvious that they were being underscored when people like Kirstie were getting higher scores than Shawn. The fact that the judges lowballed S&Ds dances helped them more likely than not.
IMO, once they got to the finals, the picture of them choosing the quickstep and the judges reaming them out for it didn’t really inspire votes, certainly not to the extent of the previous weeks, because the judges made it seem like they were spoiled brats for doing their dance (although Shawn’s explanation to brooke while awaiting scores helped dispel that image a little).
I firmly believe that S&D wanted to do the paso/tango fusion because that makes much more sense to give the audience something we technically haven’t seen before and it provides a strong, well-rounded night to showcase shawn having the contrast of the paso/tango with the freestyle. If they really were told they couldn’t do it, then they did exactly what they should have – dance a spectacular dance in which they had broken a lot of rules and not change the choreography for the finale.
Also, putting the instant dances on tuesday gave a huge advantage to kelly and melissa, because they kind of didn’t really matter at that point. I knew before tuesday that shawn would nail her instant dance and that the other two would make mistakes and I’m sure the producers figured that out too (but then again, maybe they just wanted higher ratings for tuesday or whatever). The package of shawn&derek not wanting to get the cha-cha and then killing it on the dance floor showed off just how epic this pair is and I can’t help thinking that if either the instant dances had been on monday night, or S&D had been allowed to do their paso/tango, they would have won.
But they had iconic dance week every week, so they achieved something more impressive than just a mirrorball.
They should have won on the bhangra alone. I mean can anyone imagine tony creating THAT and then melissa doing the dance same with shawn’s level? Even when you remove all the tricks especially the ending pose, can they tell me they could have done that?
Switch it around i could easily see derek giving us an incredible caveman hustle. No spanking the butt move to make it exciting which is frankly the only thing i remember about that dance
I don’t want my disappointment, a civilized word,to allow me to forget one other thing. Started out pulling for Derek, being his last season, but after SJ’s first dance, I knew unless they had some major mishap or injury they would probably win and really deserve it. SJ’s ability far surpassed anyone else. But I was torn b4 the season started cause I loved Apolo, Helio,Dru, Joey + remembered Giles being very good. Well a couple were just lost in the shuffle and GM..UGH But from the beginning they were running down Apolo+Shawn. I think they must have been getting the most buzz and were the front runners and TPTB just couldn’t have that and it all just descended from there. Shawn+Apolo were the most slighted by this whole thing. Apolo should have been in finals, SJ should have gotten the win.
Laila, I’m really not trying to be disrespectful, but I very much disagree. I think Shawn is an amazing dancer, but I think Melissa is better. You think Shawn is better. Lots of people agree with both of our opinions, but that doesn’t make either one of them the final say, and fact.
I’m a huge Carrie fan. HUGE. I agree with you that she’s better than Miranda, even though I think Miranda is great. But that doesn’t make it FACT. Artistry is way too subjective for it to be fact. Awards that are given out for these things, grammys, emmys, oscars, DWTS trophies, whatever, are decided by PEOPLE not an absolute competition. And I will never agree that some people’s opinions weigh more than other people’s opinions. There is no FACT when it comes to best at stuff like this.
Dancing is a lot about techinique. It’s also a lot about connection to the music, the audience, emotion. So I don’t agree you can say BEST is defined strictly by technique (even though I thought Melissa’s technique was great). To some yes, to some, no. It doesn’t make one group right and one group wrong, that’s the beauty of it.
#218 Violet…so you think Melissa and Tony’s “contemporary” piece showed a ton of connection to music and emotion?? I didn’t see any romantic emotion (which is what that dance needed to portray) at all. It was pretty, lyrical movements. I would of also liked to see her rhumba- see if she would of brought a passion to that piece since CAI called her out most of the season for saying she was still kinda dancing introverted. And did she do a cha cha this season? (i mean it just ended and i am already forgetting her dances)- because if she didn’t i find it odd that she was able to get out of 2 dances that are pretty pivotal to the show.
Heh. One of my friends called Melissa’s freestyle “Ballet move, Pose, repeat.” Which I thought was very appropriate.
Winnie, Tony did a lot better this season than he ever has before – but there’s no question in my mind that he would have never pulled off a Bhangra like that one. Or their freestyle. Or their Mambo. Or their quickstep….
I really like Melissa. Frankly, I usually like Tony too. But the more people here try convince me that Melissa won on merit, the more we talk about it…the more I realize that Shawn and Derek were well and truly HOSED. By the judges and the voters.
All because we’re now in the land of Pee Wee DWTS. I guess next season it will be Maks’ turn for an MBT. At least he’ll have more cred since they won’t have Derek to screw over to get Maks there.
Joey (#204), just listened to the Afterbuzz TV episode you talked about. Thanks for the heads up! Wow! I wonder what else Suri knows, but says she doesn’t want to say. I wonder if it is that one of the producers is Melissa’s agent. She definitely doesn’t believe that M. and T. had a bigger fan base that D and S. I commend her for actually saying that she thinks the “fix was in”, instead of remaining PC and taking the easy way out. I look forward to the next episode today!
I am not sure that “merit” applies to DWTS. It is a reality show – people vote for who they want for a million different reasons, I loved Apolo the most this season – and I do not really know why.
Interestingly enough though, I talked to a lot of people after the finale and all said the same thing – they liked Melissa’s dancing and her freestyle better than Shawn’s, none of them voted, it was just their opinion. Some were former dancers, BTW. They also all agreed that Derek is the best choreographer, but at the end of the day – it is between celebrities, not their pros.
Sure judges and producers did not help, but I think Melissa and Tony were genuinely liked by the general audience – my husband was rooting for Melissa from day one, and kept telling me that Shawn would not win, FROM DAY 1, I thought he was crazy, LOL.
Yes, Joey, I did think Melissa’s freestyle showed connection to the music. But, I did not think it was about romance at all. I thought she was trying to make a point, and maybe I’m being too literal with the lyrics, that she was there too. She knew maybe there were others who were considered the top dogs, but she was there too, and she was working hard and trying to be entertaining and whatnot, too. And I think she and Tony did a beautiful job with that piece.
But that’s just me, and I get that some others feel differently, I do. It’s just upsetting that, so many people (and I’m not referring to anyone in particular, on this site or otherwise) were all about Melissa and Tony, and loved them and they were with Shawn and Apolo as their “dream final three” but the minute they beat Shawn and Derek, they’re like, the worst people in the world. Some people thought Shawn was the best, some thought Melissa was the best. And people who thought Shawn was the best are really upset that she beat Melissa. I understand that, too. But, there have always been fanbases who thought the person they thought was the best should have won. Mario v. Emmitt. Mel v. Helio. Evan v. Nicole,e tc. But I don’t remember so much talk that the person who won CHEATED somehow, or that TPTB cheated for them. I just find it disheartening. I can’t even talk about it anymore, because it makes me so upset. So now, I’m done with even discussing this season, and am really looking forward to season 16.
irina, all my friends said the opposite – so you can see how much what “friends say” matters. And you know what I mean when I say “merit” – merit as opposed to the pity vote.
REALLY violet?? You don’t remember all the talk about Nicole by Maks, Louis and even Mark?? Seems like a pretty similar thing to me.
Like I said – the more we talk about it, the more convinced I am that it was screwed up.
Heidi, I wasn’t referring to the pros at all. I was referring to the fans.
In order to win the trophy you MUST win the viewers vote. It always been this way. Who knows/cares how or why they got the votes. So you can talk shenanigans all you want…Sounds like a lot of sour grapes to me.
The better dancer doesn’t always win, we all know that. If they did then Katherine Jenkins would have won her season. Why get down on Tony for the fact that, for whatever reason, the majority voted for Melissa and him, not the other two couples? I was fine with either Shawn or Melissa winning but suddenly I am very glad this couple won.
but can someone answer me…LOL- did melissa do a rhumba or cha cha? what freaking dances did she do this season and i am being serious…i remember her caveman hustle, her VW, AT, and samba because i feel like she samba’d all season long….what else? how did she not have to do a rhumba or cha cha? or am i wrong?
#222- Suri had made comments all season about things going on…producers meddling. Whether it came down to votes or not who knows- but the judges were def pushing Melissa. I think Derek said it best on The View- its an entertainment reality show…people tend to lose sight of that:)
I didn’t reply to this post until now, because it’s not unusual that the defeated team’s fans think the champions didn’t deserve it, or the show is rigged, but as a Melissa voter, I just wanted to tell you why I voted for her. I’m not going to comment about “Shawn is the best, others will be forgotten” comments, as I said it’s normal for the fans to say such things when their favorites lose.
I voted for Melissa, because she is the best dancer of all stars season, and one of the best dancers in entire DWTS history. It doesn’t hurt that her partner’s choreos are also my favorite choreos of this season. By the way, I’m 25 years old and I don’t have an old soul or something, my family, younger siblings, and friends also think Melissa is the best dancer and they enjoy her choreographies most.
Melissa being the only one without trophy wasn’t a determining factor for my votes. If Gilles and Kelly would be in the finals, I’d vote for Kelly.
You misunderstand the “Tony never won before” comments, you read too much into it. Nobody voted for Melissa just because of this, they voted for her because they thought Melissa’s dances rocked.
This website doesn’t have many Melissa fans but in the other websites, you can see that most of the internet comments are praising Melissa’s dances. I even remember a Shawn fan admitting that her whole family was rooting for Melissa. A lot of people say that Melissa’s freestyle made them tear up, and some of them think Melissa’s freestyle is the best freestyle of DWTS ever.
Also, bravo to Melissa’s pro partner for telling the truth, Melissa is actually the best dancer. He can’t be humble about this, or it would be a lie and it would be unfair to Melissa. I don’t think Shawn or Kelly would feel bad when they hear this, being from sports and TV worlds they know a lot about competitions and they’re mature enough to appreciate the real talent.
Pros…fans….same things happen.
LittleGirl, You don’t actually get to say “no one voted for Melissa just because” of the pity thing – not when so many people SAID that’s why they voted for her. That’s just ridiculous.
As for “truth” – Tony is no different than anyone else. That’s HIS opinion. I doubt very much that it’s Derek, Mark’s, or lots and lots of other peoples. Good for him for saying that about his partner – but that does not make it TRUE or the TRUTH. That’s ludicrous.
And lay off the “my friends told me this” and “their friends said that” – it’s TOTALLY meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I can tell you what my friends said and it wouldn’t match. So, who’s right?? Neither.
In one year, no one will remember Melissa’s freestyle. Even Maks’ freestyle with Erin was more memorable – maybe not for the right reasons, but more memorable. And if you aren’t memorable, you’re far from “the best freestyle ever.” That one doesn’t even compete.
Those “sour grapes” Jennifer are the exact same discussions we’ve been having for YEARS now. Years. This is not a new subject – how often every season do we complain about producer manipulation, crappy or game-playing judging and so on?? We have these discussions EVERY season. It just so happens that THIS season there seemed to be a couple dancers who stood out as likely winners who didn’t win and the majority on this site are disappointed with that. Last season when Donald won? We pretty much knew it was going that way from week 1. JR Martinez?? Very obvious from the moment he was announced. Hines Ward?? Again – very obvious.
This season, on the other hand, doesn’t seem so obvious in terms of dancing OR fanbase – so it’s natural to discuss all the reasons why this season is different. Yeah, it’s All Stars – but it’s still about dancing and fanbase – and I don’t see where Melissa beats Shawn (or even Apolo) in both those areas. So, what is different?? Two former winners up against someone who has not only NOT won, but her pro has been on 14 seasons and never won. Yeah, that’s the story, and that’s the driver…but it’s not quite as compelling as JR’s story, or Shawn’s story, or Donald doing some good dancing along with his strategy and great fanbase, or Hines being…well, Hines. With a great pro partner.
LittleGirl – stick to the topic, which is not me.
This was all-stars. Driver’s or JR’s story wouldn’t have had the same impact this time around. Heck, Shawn’s pity story (this would be her Olympic) didn’t have much impact. Again, who knows how or why a couple get the votes. The point is… you don’t win without them. Hello Sabrina.
You ignored my main point, Jennifer. That is – these discussions are no different than the ones we’ve been having for years.
You don’t win without votes – but you also don’t win if the judges overscore your competition while underscoring you all season. It’s not “about the votes” period. Surely you don’t believe that the judging is just peachy, do you? Remember, I can go back and look at all your comments.
Shawn’s pity party??? LOL! That girl is so reserved and private that I think it took until the final rehearsal (and probably the producer’s influence) to get her to actually say what the season meant to her re: the Olympics! No reason to pity that girl! She’s got the poise, the humility, and the dance moves – no pity needed or asked for on her part!
I didn’t say they were any different than discussions we’ve been having for seasons now … like when Shawn won over Gilles for example.
That’s called “trying to level the playing field”, Meggie.
See what the combo of “Tony’s never won!” and “Shawn’s got this in the bag” does??
I hear you loud and clear, PH! So blatantly obvious this year! I wonder if the producers and judges doing the producers’ bidding have met their match this year with the response from the fans. It’s pretty unusual that Tony feels that he has to defend his win on Wendy Williams with his “landslide” comment. I wonder if the producer who gave him the “landslide” comment is also Melissa’s agent. Conflict of interest, ya think??? I think there is some real backlash this time. People don’t like to be fooled!
Right, Jennifer, and the OVERSCORING of Melissa on her instant dance was just ONE way that they seriously helped her win. Not to mention talking her up all season long. People are SHEEP after all.
But by saying this was “sour grapes” you most certainly did imply that this was somehow different than what has been going on for eons now. In her first season, Shawn was also talked down (and Gilles talked up) the entire time – it’s just that time she managed to eek out a win. This time it went in Melissa’s favor. Going to Meggie’s point – having your manager be a producer on DWTS certainly is helpful as well.
#231 Your comment of: You misunderstand the “Tony never won before” comments, you read too much into it. Nobody voted for Melissa just because of this, they voted for her because they thought Melissa’s dances rocked.
I respectfully disagree with that because I have belonged to many other sites that cover every other reality TV show there is with DWTS being one of them. I would say at least 90% of those fans stated that very thing that they were voting for Tony and Melissa strictly because (especially Tony) had not won in 14 seasons. Week after week as they watched the show they would comment as the dances were being performed. The dances they were talking about and being wowed by were those of Shawn/Derek and Apollo/Karina until he no longer was on. They even made comments about the overscoring of Tony and Melissa and how Shawn/Derek and Apollo/Karina were robbed with their scores. The comments I did see about Melissa were not about her dancing they were comments like she seems like a sweet person. Tony finally got a decent partner. The other 10% who were Max fans were behind him and then when he was eliminated it became about Val. He was hot and a newer pro. Maybe he could win like Peta did.
When the last performance night took place, again all they were talking about was Shawn and Derek’s freestyle and how amazing it was, but since Derek had already won 3 MB trophies they were voting like crazy for Tony.
While you, and other fans who were behind Melissa thought her dances rocked they are obviously your opinion. Everyone has a right to their opinion for whatever reason they decide to vote for whoever, but to say nobody voted for Melissa because of Tony never having won before is again something I completely disagree with. I also have friends that have been watching the show for years like myself and the majority of them voted for Melissa and Tony because poor Tony never won. My picks for this season had been Shawn/Derek, Apollo/Karina and Melissa/Tony. That was who I felt should be the F3. I thought dance wise Melissa should finish in 3rd. That obviously did not happen.
PH – to be honest, if Melissa had the scores that she deserved in the finally (overscore in all three dances), I’m not saying she would have lost, but things would have been differente for sure. The judges points plus there comments (11, what a joke from Len) and they sitting in first place after the first night makes a big difference IMO.
I guess I just don’t get it: before the season even started a lot of people were already arguing that it was only fair that, this time around, a runner up should win as opposed to a previous champion. As it become clear that Melissa was the only one to have a shot, the whole thing just escalated out of proportions for the whole “Tony never won either” argoment. Why are we now supposed to pretend that the whole new champ campaign never happened?
I’m pretty sure that a lot of person voted for Melissa because of her dancing, but let’s be real, those votes alone would have never been enough to give her the victory. And frankly I keep thinking that a huge number of votes went Melissa’s way just because so many people didn’t want Derek to get a fourth Mbt (and I’m saying this as someone who didn’t even root for him…I wanted apolo to win).
Also, it’s not like I’m reading a lot of nasty comments about Melissa and tony (wouldn’t be possible: they’re both adorable), just about the blatant manipulation and the somewhat doubtful star status.
Speaking about manipulations, did anyone else notice at the beginning of the show, when they were doing the rundown of the contestants, that everyone was shown in order or year/final position (I.e. first Joey, then Apolo) except for Melissa, who was showcased as Shawn’s runner up, when really it should have been Gilles? Just so many little bits…
Shawn & Derek brought soo much to the dance floor this season, they made it rock like never before. They were the only couple that made me want to get out of my seat, grab a partner, and go dancing right along with them, every time they performed. Those kids persevered, and came upon obstacles every week. Every time they showed up, they brought excitement & entertainment with them for all to see, because they have the ability to do that. They will go on, hopefully to entertain millions of more people, for they only lost a battle, not the war.
@Joey, you are not wrong. Melissa did not dance a rhumba. She never did a regular cha-cha, but her fusion dance was cha-cha/tango. She also danced Foxtrot, Jive, AT, Tango, Paso (trio dance), Samba, Hustle, Lindy Hop, VW. I don’t know if I’ve left anything out.
I would have loved to see Melissa do a rumba, I bet she would be great.
hmmm…that is interesting…now compared to shawn- foxtrot, jive, QS, mambo, rhumba, cha cha, paso/tango, samba, bhangra, AT, and then free style. How did Melissa get out of doing a specific ballroom dance? Ironically Derek’s best dances are paso/tango and they combined it into one and never did it again any other week where melissa did a tango in her fusion and then did it again another week. Lindy Hop, Jive, and Hustle are all very similar dances no? Seems like the dances favorited Melissa no? No even trying to be argumentative but it caught my attention….anyone else have thoughts?
@irina #248 those gorgeous long limbs of hers would have just looked absolutely stunning in a rumba.
Cherry, you already know what I”m going to say right?? YOU might have been saying that, and your friends might have been saying that – but what makes you so sure that the people complaining now are the same ones who said “a runner up should win” or that “Tony should win”?? There was no “campaign”. For example – I’m quite sure that I never said any such thing. What I DID say (in order to avoid just this situation) was that the contest should be ALL WINNERS or ALL Runners up. In that situation, you avoid the “Shawn and Apolo have won before and poor Melissa hasn’t”. What would you be saying right now if Bristol had pulled out a win for the exact same reasons?? Would it be just fine then, since she hasn’t won before??
As for the rest of your post…not sure what your point is…
@Joey, Melissa also did QS-I forgot that one.
The tango/paso fusion was given to Shawn and Derek by Melissa and Tony…so you have them to thank for even getting to see that dance by Shawn, and regrettably Mark instead of Derek.
The bhangra was given to Shawn and Derek by Cheryl and Emmitt, I think
The Mambo was given to Shawn and Derek by Chelsie and Helio
The Jitterbug (I was orignially remembering it as Lindy, sorry) was given to Melissa and Tony by…I can’t remember. Apolo and Karina?
The Hustle was given to Melissa and Tony by Val and Kelly.
So, Lindy and Hustle were not picked for them by producers.
The fusion Melissa did was not A.Tango, it was Tango, with Cha-Cha, and again, not selected by her or producers, given to her by Kirstie and Maks.
The rhumba Shawn danced was the week she picked her guilty pleasure song, and that was the same week Melissa’s song meant she had the tango. So rhumba was never assigned to Shawn either, it happened to go with the song she selected.
As for why Shawn never did regular tango or paso, I don’t know. I don’t know why Melissa never did cha cha. I guess either of them could have chosen those when they selected their “iconic” dances, but Shawn chose QS and Melissa chose Samba.
So, for the dances they were actually assigned in weeks 1 and 2 by producers, they match…foxtrot and jive. Melissa was assigned VW during Country week and Shawn was assigned it during the patriotic dances. Melissa had QS for her patriotic dance, Shawn had cha-cha during country week.
I don’t think it adds up to anything malicious.
I am not saying malicious…but seems off and caught my attention thats all….and honestly for all we know the producers did tell them what to pick:) we will never know!!!
I am sure the guilty pleasure songs were helped along by producers to correlate with what dances they wanted them to do. How do you think we ended up with an even distribution of dances? Shawn hates showing emotion- do you think she would make her guilty pleasure the rhumba? the one dance she hates to do? The producers most likely gave them the dance and then said find a guilty pleasure song:)
Melissa got really lucky not having to dance a rumba, her rumba in season 8 was underwhelming to say at least, there was no romance between her and Tony at all, during the pre-season interview Melissa said that her least favorite dance and the one that she was less looking for to dance was rumba. Again lucky to not have to dance a cha cha, cha cha footwork is suppost to be sharp and fast (opposite of melissa strengths), during season 8 the judges did not like her cha cha ( she only got three 9/s because it was semi finals), she did a cha cha somo during team cmm, her footwork was really flat even for sneakers.
Cha cha it was lucky for sure, rumba is debatable.
I’m still mad that Shawn never got to do a full paso or tango, paso is probably Derek best dance , and shawn Killed in season 8 and the fusion.
and if you recall during the finals melissa said she hoped they didn’t get the cha cha as her insta dance either…she doesn’t like it. its just a lot of little things that i have noticed and picked up on thats all:)
Joye – watched again, she did say that (and of course Tony remind us for the 100 time that they were the only ones without a trophy too). But she didn’t have to worry much about that, since the samba mirrorball was already open when she went to pick her dance. Such a coincidence, the best part was Tom’s arm’s in that basket for a good time after Kelly picked her dance while Melissa was waiting for her time to go there.
very interesting article from Forbes…check it: http://www.forbes.com/sites/lesleyanncoker/2012/11/30/four-reasons-why-dancing-with-the-stars-is-losing-viewers/
#249 Joey I agree that is very interesting along with all the other things we have learned just makes me go hmmm….
I thought Melissa did belong in the F3 and have said so for awhile, but always put her as third. I think she is a good dancer, but her dances will not be the ones I remember. I always put Shawn first and then Apollo. I only voted for Shawn and Apollo and when sadly Apollo was eliminated my votes only went to Shawn.
My thoughts were if you were going to have an All Star season, then only people who have won before should have been up against each other. Have another season for those that came close, but didn’t win and put those up against each other.
We might have avoided the very thing we are discussing if the producers had done it that way. I can only speak for myself, as I was not part of the thinking that we can’t have a repeat winner win again. Isn’t that what an All Star season means? I know that is what it means to me and where I think the producers went wrong to begin with.
I still don’t get all the bad feelings toward Melissa and Tony. Next to Shawn, Melissa was the next best dancer, in my opinion. It’s not like Melissa and Tony just clunked their way across the dancefloor, they were at the top of their game. I thought Tony had really stepped up his choreography this season, and I think they were stronger and better than the first time, and maybe because of some of these changes the viewers felt that they had grown as a couple.
I am surprised that Melissa won, but it is what it is. And now I am looking forward to the new regular season of DWTS. Bring it on!
Thanks mods for all your hard work.
@Sandy:
It’s nothing against Melissa and Tony, per se, but rather against the (sometimes blatant) manipulation of the outcome by TPTB that led to her winning the trophy. She’s a good dancer, but some of us wonder if she would have made it that far without some (alegedly oriented)propping by the judges and their bashing other good dancers (like Shawn and Apolo). It is an entirely legitimate question. And unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever get a clear answer on that one.
Final remarks for this article for me……
EL- no there will never be a clear answer on that. I do think the various story-boarding and the judges uneven judging gets worse and worse each season though. No matter how much or how little is affects the actual outcome, it still annoys me.
If DWTS is still on the air long enough for them to do another All-Star season, I hope they choose all winners or all non-winners so we can avoid some of these issues. But, it probably wouldn’t still solve anything if there are pros involved who have never won or have won much less than others….. I would not insult Melissa & Tony or their fans by saying it was a win completely based on pity or wanting a non-winner or pro who has never won to win–they did some great stuff and worked hard and are very likeable….but you can’t deny that must have been part of the votes. Especially when so many people did claim to be voting for that reason on social media. I also think some of the votes were for Derek NOT to win a 4th time. If he can’t win with Shawn, it is just my opinion he will never be able to win this show again. As strong as his fans are, I think the more fans you have, the more detractors you also have.
Sandy- your comment about Tony stepping up his choreography, that they were stronger than their previous season. I agree! But I think the same could be said for Derek (first part, even stronger than his usual season) and Shawn (for the second part, she was better at both dancing and emoting this season than her first). So, those who vote for those reasons also had a pick between both couples, heck, and Kelly & Val too. Both comments work for them too.
PH or anyone who follows the after-season stuff more than me:
I don’t usually read a lot of the internet buzz after the season is over except for stuff on this site. Usually, my favorite wins or I am not extremely passionate about the result, so I don’t keep reading to see what others are saying. Is the negative buzz right now more than other seasons? Or is it about the same?
And then my opinion on why people are more upset or crying conspiracy on this season in particular. (And for the record, I don’t like the result, but I really am not crying conspiracy, just saying why I think it is there):
-It’s an All-Star season
-Almost always, whoever has the top scoring and most talked about freestyle of the finale week wins. I saw a several instances of big Melissa & Tony fans actually saying Shawn & Derek should win after Monday and Tuesday’s performances. I really honestly didn’t see ANY of the other way around.
*The kicker to me: So much of the media called the win an upset! Why would generic media call it an upset? And why were Melissa & Tony underdogs anyway? Melissa & Tony had the highest average scores of the season, highest total points of the season and most 30s of the season. How in any way is their win actually an upset? These opinions can only be because Shawn & Derek’s routines were the stuff people were talking about and the stuff of likely winners……especially proven in the finale week.
Mods are free to run their site however they chose.
It’s always interesting how people who seem to hate a site still chose to use their time to read it just to bash it.
There are plenty of awesome things about this site, even if many of the fellow posters don’t share your particular opinion. Obviously, some of the posters who don’t make up the majority feel the same way:)
@EPMusic, I have a thought on the “upset” talk by the media, and this is just my point of view. Obviously some people though Shawn was the better dancer, but I think a major part of why many thought it was an “upset” is because Shawn AND Derek were known to have HUGE fanbases. And Melissa and Tony definitely were not. But I think their fanbase was underestimated all season (including by me) and I think it grew week to week, as people’s favorites got eliminated and Melissa and Tony started climbing in the viewer’s minds because of their good routines, good attitudes, and extremely likable personalities. So I think toward the end, they probably did have a good share of the votes.
I looked back at the numbers post, and one of the scenarios listed was that after the first night, if Shawn got a 30 and Melissa got, I think, a 27, there would only be 1 point difference between the two and it would only take a little under 4K votes per million for Shawn to pull ahead. The way it turned out, Melissa only had a 1.5 lead over Shawn after the instant dances. I’m no numbers person, but I would guess that would lead to not much over 4K per million, because the percentages get smaller as the points get higher, right? So that is really nothing, vote wise, and I would have thought Shawn could have covered that spread very, very easily. But she didn’t. That speaks volumes to me about Melissa and Tony’s actual fanbase.
I don’t think their actual fan base is as big as u make it out to be, violet. 1) people voted for melissa and tony because they didn’t want Derek to win his 4th MBT 2) people voted for Melissa and tony because they wanted tony to win his first MBT after being on the show for 14 seasons and usually getting lousy partners 3) there was something wrong with the voting system. I couldn’t get through my votes (many others said they couldn’t as well), and I think PH mentioned that when her friend called to vote for Shawn and Derek, the message on the other end of the line said “thank you for voting for Melissa and tony”. This looks pretty suspicious to me
Joey, (or mods!) do you have a link to the latest afterbuzz tv episode from yesterday. I can’t find it.
Thanks!
Okay, ZJY, but those are based on what people on social media said, right? It’s been drilled over and over and over that the internet fans are NOT the majority. The majority are the general viewer at home, middle aged, middle America women who don’t get on social media or forums. So I don’t agree that social media is a be all end all indication of millions of votes. Is it the opinion that now, since Tony and Melissa won and Shawn and Derek lost, that the internet faction is the majority?
I’ve also seen on forums a few people say they called for Melissa and Tony and got a “thank you for voting for Shawn and Derek” message. I think the voting was acting up all night, for all the couples.
Besides, if people only voted for Tony because he’s never won…why haven’t they rallied behind Maks like that? He’s been in the final two couples, and he has tons more fans than Tony. So I don’t buy that argument. Sure, some probably did that. But I don’t think enough that it would mean Shawn couldn’t cover that small of a spread when she’s a super popular, gold medal winning gymnast partnered with Derek, by far the most popular pro.
Well, Violet, maybe it’s because Mak’s agent or his partner’s agent has never been a producer on the show. Maks’ story boarding script is to be the “bad boy” on the show, not the pro who’s never won before! Just a thought!
Meggie- go to @KristynBurtt on twitter, you can find a link to it there
Violet- I definitely agree on your reasoning on why it could be considered an upset.
I said what I said above because I think since we don’t know anything about the actual amount of fans or number of votes people have, who has more fans seems a silly assumption to make (and I have made it before!) and really they should only go by the scores and who hasn’t been in a real bottom 2 to say who the favorites are near the end of a season. Both, I am pretty sure, were never in a real bottom 2, but then the ones with the highest overall scores were Melissa & Tony…..making them actually the favorites, if you look at it with these requirements. Interesting!
Meggie, stay tuned! I’ll try and get that interview up today. xxx
Ok, here ya go Megs: http://www.puredwts.com/2012/12/01/finale-review-jordyn-wieber-would-love-to-dance-on-dancing-with-the-stars/#./?&_suid=1354375179717003743068282844958
#62 EPmusic, I was wondering the same thing. I am new to this site but not dwts. Is it normal for so many people to feel the wrong person won?
EP…it seems bigger, but that is totally anecdotal and relatively meaningless. I tend to think that much of it is not so much about the wrong couple winning and more about the culmination of stuff we’ve been complaining about for a while. If you think about it, this is the first time that their story boarding actually resulted in a result they probably didn’t expect – if CAI’s face was anything to go by, and maybe it’s not.
Season 14 – they pimped Katherine and Willy, yet Donald (the one who I called from the beginning) won
Season 13 – JR won, everyone knew going in he was going to win, his only competition was Ricki or Rob and neither was as good a dancer
Season 12 – they pimped the HELL out of Chelsea, even rigged up an extra large bonus to make sure she made the finale, trashed the hell out of Ralph (getting to many votes perhaps, and could potentially knock chelsie out), end result is Hines win and Chelsea comes in 3rd
Season 11 – Two great dancers in Brandy and Jennifer, a great personality in Kyle, and then there was Bristol. It didn’t seem like they had an obvious pimpee this season, other than Bristol, who the wanted to stick around just for buzz. Everyone figured it would come down to brandy and Jennifer and Kyle. Brandy’s elimination was a shock to some (but not us). After that the obvious winner was Jennifer for her great ability and icon status
Season 10 – Another instance where Len consistently underscored the obvious best dancer and only very minor pimpage of Evan and Erin. Doesn’t work – Nicole wins and it seems like a natural choice. Evan made a horrible choice for one of their dances and I can’t even remember their freestyle. Erin was the Kelly Monaco of that season.
I think their manipulation is rather obvious in all of the above seasons and some were worse than others – and usually, the person most expect to win going in actually does win. This season doesn’t make as much sense but you can still see the man behind the curtain. And the man behind the curtain was a lot busier. It’s almost like the Wizard finally won, if you follow me.
I said several hundred posts ago that Derek could never win this show again. That little mantra of “let someone else win” (aka The PEE WEE version of DWTS) is pervasive – even my friends who watch and aren’t following on the net say similar things because they repeat what they hear on TV…like sheep. Derek is arguably the single most popular pro on the show – and IMO clearly the most talented (although I hear that repeated a lot too) – but that only breeds envy and a desire by others to spread the wealth. When you think about him getting a 4th MBT, even MARK fans probably voted against him. Their quest now is to tie with Derek and a fourth trophy puts that out of reach, possibly forever. So I do agree that it’s as much a vote against Derek (not that they dislike him, they just want someone else to win), as it is a vote for Tony and Melissa.
What makes me laugh is the actual belief that this win makes Tony the champion of champions – um, no, only in Pee Wee baseball. To be the champion of champions, it is required that you BE a champion to begin with….hence the “Of Champions” portion of the phrase. What they should have done was done a REAL Champion of Champions season with ALL of the winners. Every single one. THAT person is the champion of champions. This season, you’re the champion of Bristol, Pam Anderson, Kirstie Alley…and the rest. Hardly the best cast they could have come up with. Where was Kristi Y?? Nicole S?? Jennifer G?? JR?? Hell, even Brooke. That said, I did like the cast over all – it’s just not a “champion” or even a real “all star” cast.
Come on Violet – it’s said on all the entertainment shows as well and I’ve had several non-internet people regurgitate that shit back to me.
They didn’t rally behind Maks like that because Maks is an asshole and he’s not been up against Derek in the final 3 since season 10 where Derek only had one MBT. Tony is the “nice guy”. Or he was. If Maks had been in Tony’s place this season, Maks would have won.
Meggie, next season is Maks’ turn to be the “bad boy who’s never won before.”
OR, Maks only has two more seasons – make sure he gets a trophy before he leaves. Cuz this is pee wee DWTS where everyone gets a trophy just for dancing.
@Meggie, I wasn’t meaning the producers didn’t rally behind Maks, I meant the fans who supposedly put Tony and Melissa over the top because they wanted Tony to win because he hasn’t. Deena being Melissa’s manager would have no hold over the fans.
@Heidi, media and people you know do not make the majority viewer, either, in my opinion. As people are sheep, so are the media. Most of the time, they hear one outlet start running with something and the rest follow suit.
I’m not saying it wasn’t an upset, or that people didn’t vote for Tony for that reason, some did I’m sure. People vote for all different reasons. I’m just trying to point out that Melissa and Tony won, they had the majority vote, they beat Shawn because she didn’t cover a pretty small spread, especially for her, so they were the most popular. I don’t think their win should be discounted as just Pee Wee DWTS. Let’s see how next season turns out with pros like Maks, Chelsie and Anna. If one of them wins with a crappy partner (and I’m not saying Melissa was crappy–not at all) THEN I’ll start to buy into that theory. Because right now that’s all it is, a theory, that to me doesn’t hold much water.
I also majorly disagree that Maks and Kirstie would have beat Shawn and Derek if they were in the final two. Kirstie isn’t a quarter of the dancer of either Melissa OR Shawn, and Maks is not nearly as likable as Tony OR Derek. I say S/D would have taken that, hands down.
Agreed Violet. But I am guessing PH meant if Maks was more literally in Tony’s place (with Melissa or a person of her caliber of dancing).
I know I have said we don’t know about fanbases and shouldn’t make assumptions, but for a sec, I will anyway. I believe Maks does have more fans than Tony. So, I think Maks with a Kelly level of ability could have also won if in the final 3, if he was up against 2 previous mirror ball winners like Derek & Kym or Cheryl or Mark.
Violet, I was pointing out that you were off base in your assertion that it was only the internet people who were saying that, and I provided evidence for that. If you don’t like that, it’s really too bad, but that was the point. And you actually prove my point that the average viewer was hearing the same things that were said on the net. The point.
Melissa actually Being ON the show is thanks to Deena, of course. And you think that the judges didn’t keep that in mind when pimping her??
You’re essentially trying to claim that Melissa was most popular simply on the vote – when everyone here has provided NUMEROUS reasons for why her popularity might not be why we got the result we did. You can’t even say that people didn’t pity vote for Tony – you’re simply trying to claim that most just liked Melissa. Don’t buy it. Not when the anecdotal evidence is so to the contrary. Sure, it’s anecdotal – but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I think it’s pretty solid in this case. Melissa is the same person and the same dancer that she was in Season 8 – the difference this time is that Derek has 3 MBTs and Shawn has one – to Melissa and Tony’s NONE.
And please READ my comments. I said if Maks were in TONY’S position – meaning that Maks were dancing with Melissa. :::rolls eyes:::
We are all so convincing with the story boarding manipulation that I’m not sure I even want to watch the show anymore. This season was the last straw!
Well, Meggie, I think it’s so obvious that it’s ridiculous to claim it has no impact. It just gets worse every season, to the point that I may jump on the “we need new judges” bandwaggon. Or they have to solidify the rules like I suggested earlier.
I’m not even sure new judges would do it for me. If they were just going to continue to story board for the producers, what’s the point of the change?? It’s the producers of the show who have to change or at least the current ones have to decide whether they want a real dancing show or a dancing soap opera where they manipulate the story lines, cuz the latter is what they are producing right now.
I did READ your comment. I just didn’t take it so literally. I took it as Maks in the final two couples in general.
Melissa is the same person as in season 8. So is Shawn, and she won by what, one percent of the vote?
The numerous examples are mostly by Derek’s fans that have reason to not like the outcome, and want there to be other reasons. Other boards/blogs I’ve visited aren’t nearly as one sided.
We’ll never agree, so I will agree to disagree.
We visit different blogs then, violet. And the same can be said for you. As a Melissa fan, you don’t want to listen to reasonable explanations.
I have come to the realization that if I view this as just another reality show instead of a show about dance then I can live with the outcome. That and step away for a few days.
If I view it as a show about dance then I will never be able to watch this show again.
They have turned it into an entertainment reality show and it no longer matters who deserves to win, who should win and who the best is. It is ther story behind it all that matters. I’m surprised they haven’t put more BTS footage in the show.
If it hadn’t been Melissa and Tony I truly believe it would have been Kirstie and Maks. It just came down to which couple got voted off first. That and Melissa was pimped more than Kirstie.
What you and I view as reasonable seem to be different things. ::shrugs:: I’ve tried very hard to look at it objectively, out of respect for Shawn and Derek and their fans. I recognize that some of the votes may have been out of pity. I even tried to think about the conspiracy theories, but I just don’t buy them. I do agree that Deena being Melissa’s manager is a conflict of interest–I can totally see why people are up in arms about that. I still don’t think the show actually skewed the actual vote total.
I just don’t think the majority vote was because of pity or spite. I think it was a combination of good dancing and personality that won Melissa and Tony the trophy, fair and square.
I’m glad that Melissa and Tony won. For me they were the best dancers in the finale.
I understand the controversy. But I don’t agree with most of the things that were said for Melissa and Tony.
From what I saw on the message boards, people didn’t voted for Melissa just because “Tony never won before”. I saw a lot of Melissa fans, not Tony fans. Yes, there were also some people saying “vote for them because never won before” but they wouldn’t vote for Tony’s partner if it was Bristol, they voted because they loved Melissa’s dances. Even if they were voting because they’re fans of Tony, I don’t see a problem with that. A lot of people wanted Derek to get his fourth MBT, that’s why they were voting. So, the majority voted because they felt sorry for Tony? No, I don’t think so. The guy finished last on season 14, 9th in season 13, and 10th in season 12. Why people didn’t vote for him that much back then? The “pity votes” cannot outvote a gold medalist and a popular pro. You have to get the general audience’s votes.
I saw a lot of comments that were saying the same thing about voting. “I tried to vote for Melissa but couldn’t get through”.
I think Melissa did get some of “Derek-hater” votes. But can the “hater” votes make Melissa the winner? I don’t think so. I’m sure Derek-haters voted for Kelly, too but she finished 3rd. Besides, there are also “C bros haters” and “Melissa-haters”, and I’m sure they voted for Shawn. At the end, I think the hater votes doesn’t make a difference.
I didn’t see anything wrong with C bros hoisting Tony on their shoulders. It was one of the best moments of this season. I didn’t like Derek hoisting Melissa on his shoulders, he should stay beside his partner, not Tony’s…
By the way, I don’t think Melissa was overscored in the finale or in any week of the season. I know a lot of people thought that they were giving those 10s to Melissa because she’s not getting the votes, they’re trying to save her. I think the opposite. I think she was getting the votes, I think she was getting A LOT of votes actually. At first they thought Shawn and Gilles would be in the finals, this season would be like a second showdown between them. They underscored Melissa in the first weeks. But then I guess they realized that she’s not going anywhere so they decided to score her fairly. And went for “Melissa vs. Shawn” scenario. I don’t think the winner(Melissa) needed to be propped. And lastly, I don’t think Melissa’s manager can change the votes. And if the show is rigged(and I don’t see any reason for that), then I think some of the past seasons might be rigged, too.
Nah, I feel pretty confident that Shawn was in first place in votes until the finale. Too many people don’t vote until the finale and that made the difference. I also think you underestimate pretty severely the reasons people vote for Melissa. I don’t think the show is rigged – I don’t think most are saying that. Rigged implies that the votes weren’t legit. I think most are saying there is a whole lot of manipulation going on and it finally worked. People are sheep.
If that instant dance wasn’t horribly over scored…well, your standards are a lot lower than mine. Same for the freestyle. That was BORING. That girl was NEVER underscored. SHAWN was underscored. As for Derek lifting Melissa – he did it because she was being ignored by her partner and the C bros. Very sweet, eh??
It’s possible for Shawn to get more votes than Melissa and still lose. If you really believe it was a “landslide” and not something they told Tony when he was hearing all the flack…well, I’ve got some swampland in Florida…
Yeah how would you feel if you were Melissa and you are standing down there while ur partner is up there? I think Derek was very nice to have prevented such an awkward situation.
Melissa was not just standing there, she was hugging Shawn, Derek and some other contestants. C bros lifted Tony down just a few seconds later anyway. Derek should hug his partner. Not a big deal though…
Melissa’s freestyle were not boring for me, I think it was the best of the night. And I saw a lot of comments saying “it was one of the best freestyles” and even “the best freestyle ever”. I think Melissa won the freestyle round, it’s usually “the one with the best freestyle wins”, right? And this is exactly what happened-imo.
Shawn’s freestyle was like Melissa’s freestyle in season 8. She nailed everything perfectly, there were cool lifts, tricks and quite some dancing… But at the end, it was disjointed, it didn’t make sense. It was just like the same thing they did all the season, it looked like a slightly different version of mambo, quickstep, samba… Nothing fresh, nothing new, nothing exciting. This is what I think of course. But I saw a lot of people that were turned off by the gymnasts in Shawn’s freestyle. It wasn’t a turn off for me, but sometimes less is more and I think Derek tried to put so much into the freestyle, the choreography looked desperate, the figures were unlinked and the gymnast girls could be used much more efficiently.
I think Melissa and Tony definitely redeemed themselves with the freestyle. It wasn’t only better than their freestyle in season 8, but also one of the few freestyles to remember. And that’s where Shawn and Derek failed. Shawn’s freestyle with Mark is one of the best freestyles in my opinion. And she couldn’t live up to my expectations with her freestyle.
Melissa’s instant dance was not overscored imo. My standards are high actually, that’s why I think that cha cha was pretty elementary. Still, Melissa was a little bit shaky, so I understand that she got 9.5s and Shawn got 10s. Do you think there should be more than half point difference? If so, I don’t agree. Shawn was lucky because she got better music. I opened both of the dances on the same screen, muted them, and watched them at the same time and I have to say that Melissa had the harder choreography and she never stopped for a moment, while Shawn’s cha cha was like step, step, stop.
By the way, Shawn needed only 5.800 votes per million to beat Melissa, if I remember correctly. I don’t think they got almost the same votes, I think Melissa significantly beat Shawn.
She couldn’t stand around hugging them forever, could she? As for the freestyle, matter of opinion, we can agree to disagree. Why do you have to go mute the video and watch it? Musicality is an important part of any dance, and they have to time the moves to the music, so if they can’t even do that well, I don’t care how difficult the movements are if they aren’t executed well to the beat of the music. And the chereography for samba and CHA CHA are different, for a CHA CHA, their chereography was pretty difficult considering the time they had
Best free style has always won but not this year. In no universe was Tony and Melissa’s slow, boring uninventive free style ever the best . It was not up to the passion of Val’s contemporary and not even in the same league as D and the 4 contemporary dancers. Shawn’s freestyle was ingenious, high energy, matched the music perfectly, was exciting, effectively told her story with her team mates, through the various weeks and ending with Teammates. Shawn was front and Center all others in black. Perfect use but not over use if Fab 5. it was executed like a top Vegas show production. With her name in lights , she was the star and executed it perfectly. Derek adjusted the music, worked with the band on those drum fills, the production crew on camera angles to heights the suspense of the stacked move. People in the audience went nuts. Tgey dont have the most watched dances in YouTube fir nothing.that free style was magnificent snd all 3 judges agreed. Derek was just honored by the most esteemed choreographers in Hollywood along with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly’s wives. This was part of the Emmys and they felt he was the mist innovative choreographer out there today, talented, quadruple threat. a more esteemed peer group if experts doesn’t exist. They have seen his DWTS performances and were impressed and awestruck. Now it doesn’t get better than that. People that know brilliance were blown away by the entire season of choreography. Tony’s classless win and poor sportsmanship since winning has left me cold and sad. When he hadn’t won in the past has shown his true ” non nice guy” persona. How many times has he threatened to quit when he gets voted off and comes up with the”my partner and I were one of the only coupled to get along and that’s just not interesting”whine. This season was a travesty. Anyone watching and dissecting these dances could see Mel over scored on any if thr layin dances.Tthe tango, paso dances. Even the Samba was flowing in the wrong places instead if bouncy and sexy. You can recite exactly what is wrong where and when based on the ton of critiques given to the scores of dancers the other seasons, yet they let it all slide. it didnt fit the under dog story to critique too much. I’m glad I will never have the stress of having to vote again. Why Derek continues to associate with the other pros that bad mouth him dumb founds me. With friends like that who needs enemies, Hollywood has been validating his worth and all the extremely jealous pros inc Tony will have a free shot at further running the ratings down when he leaves. I can’t stand the manipulations. If this is the Super Bowl if dance, best team wins. Not the one who hadn’t had a chance to win before. I am the target audience of DWTS and haven’t talked to a woman of my generation that didn’t think the win was undeserved . They totally believe whatever the judges say so that help mold opinions. In season 8 , I was not rooting for Shawn as I was rooting for Derek. Len said every fricking dance what absolutely perfect footwork and technique Shawn had. As a someone rooting for a competitor. I wanted to scream is she really that great? She us 10 times what she was in season 8 now. Yet Len didn’t say Shawn was a great dancer or even comment on her excellent technique even once this season but he obviously never gave her one ounce of constructive feedback on her actual dancing either because there was nothing to criticize except his personal opinion about absence of content or holds or the presence of props that everyone had but only they were called out for having a prop and not the usual complaint that props were used to waste 10-15 second and delay the start of the dance or used to hide bad dancing. Is regular watcher not able to puck this stuff up? Even my husband, a casual watcher could see Shawn’s dancing was miles ahead , her musicality and Derek’s routines were crowd pleasing stand outs . I can’t wait for Derek to leave the show that has abused and so under appreciated him. With choreography from the likes if Tony, they’ll lose what is left of the dwindling audience in short order.
Yes, they have to go with the music. And only for that reason, Shawn’s cha cha was better. I muted because with music it might look like Melissa was not trying and Shawn was superb. I don’t think Melissa was underscored in the instant dance, but I also don’t think she was overscored. Shawn’s cha cha was great but it was too safe. I don’t think she was overscored, though. Just didn’t see anything that amazing about it.
The first tng a dance should do is to go all with the music. Melissa’s samba was way too fast for the music, and she only got a 0.5 deduction for that? -.- that’s like watching someone dance hip hop to “I will always love you”. The chereography and music dont even go tgt
Eagle, you CLEARLY don’t understand the math. Shawn could get more votes than Melissa and still lose – that much is a fact. You have NO idea who was getting what votes and therefore really can’t make any claims about it – but there is NO disputing that Shawn could have gotten more votes and lost.
The only people claiming that was the best freestyle were Melissa fans. That didn’t come close to touching ANYTHING Derek has done…Mark, Maks, Cheryl and Kym have also done FAR better than that freestyle. It is absolutely RIDICULOUS to claim otherwise. And those people still whining or claiming there was a ton of gymnastics in that freestyle need a reality check – same goes for all of Shawn and Derek’s dances. But you keep telling yourself that if it will get you through the night. I suggest leaving the Melissa/Tony thread on the ABC boards – it’s distorting reality.
Now move on, please – I’m getting tired of responding to the same silly comments over and over again and you’ve more than had your say.
I think that last bit goes for everyone. No one is convincing anyone of anything. Move on. I will close the comments on this post if I have to. You’re all getting redundant. You’re making me redundant – and it’s stupid, which pisses me off.
I agree with Heidi on most everything here – I also think Shawn and Derek had the most votes all season, at least until the final (maybe even then). I think the judges wanted Shawn to win in the end, but their constant critiquing of her and Derek, as well as praise for Melissa and Tony, did sway some of the voters. I almost think the judges have to under and over-score certain couples, but only for part of the season (because otherwise the best dancers would clearly run away with it from the beginning and there’d be no drama). However at a certain point, maybe halfway through the season, this should STOP and they should start actually judging them against each other, not just themselves.
Also – Shawn and Derek had by far the hardest task going into the instant dance. Both of the other couples could just re-use their choreography from the dances they did during the season. That’s what Melissa and Tony did – came in to run through their previous choreography for an hour, and left. Shawn and Derek had to start from SCRATCH on both the cha-cha and samba since their previous dances were so specific to the song and theme. They could not just re-use cowboy cha-cha or tribal samba choreo, so Derek had to come up with new routines and Shawn had to LEARN new routines on Monday night – they rehearsed by far the longest that night. They were praying they’d get the jive, but of course they didn’t and Shawn nailed it anyway.
Buttercup, I disagree that the judges wanted Shawn and Derek to win at the end. The end was the instant dances and Melissa and Tony pretty much sucked at that dance and they still got 9.5s. In fact M&T and K&V both got high enough scores without giving them 10s so that even with Shawn and Derek getting straight 10s it still kept them at the bottom of the leader board. They did that on purpose and for that reason. They had Melissa as the winner just about all season and absolutely nothing was going to give Shawn and Derek the win.
I think the judges wanted Shawn to win (Len himself said he wants Shawn to win) but the producers wanted Melissa to win. And the blatant over scoring of Melissa was too reate an impression of a close race. I mean, it wouldn’t be much fun if they gave melissa straight 7s, would it?
I think its quite awesome that after their tribal samba was hated on by Len, Derek said in an interview ‘I could choreograph a samba/routine the judges would love in 20mins’ – and thats exactly what he managed to do in the instant cha cha.
Er…Buttercup is in a MUCH better position to actually KNOW. Just sayin’.
Yeah, I gotta say that knowing Buttercup “knows” stuff, and knowing that’s how my gut tells me I should feel about the show, I’m inclined to trust her info and my own instincts that the judges wanted Shawn and Derek to win, they just didn’t pull back enough fast enough and the storyboarding (which I also understand to a degree) and it came back and bit them.
”
I said several hundred posts ago that Derek could never win this show again. That little mantra of “let someone else win” (aka The PEE WEE version of DWTS) is pervasive – even my friends who watch and aren’t following on the net say similar things because they repeat what they hear on TV…like sheep. Derek is arguably the single most popular pro on the show – and IMO clearly the most talented (although I hear that repeated a lot too) – but that only breeds envy and a desire by others to spread the wealth. When you think about him getting a 4th MBT, even MARK fans probably voted against him. Their quest now is to tie with Derek and a fourth trophy puts that out of reach, possibly forever. So I do agree that it’s as much a vote against Derek (not that they dislike him, they just want someone else to win), as it is a vote for Tony and Melissa.”
Late to the party. You may be right that some Mark & Cheryl fans refused to vote for Derek because they didn’t want him to get a 4th trophy, but that’s really petty, and I don’t think & would hope that most of their fans don’t feel that way.
I like Mark, but I voted for Derek & Shawn, because they were by far the most deserving, imo. I think it’s a shame when people root against someone, just because they’re good.
And it’s stupid anyway, because would Derek be any less remembered, or any less important to the show just because he won 3 mirror balls and not 4?
Lastly, it’s unfair to the celeb to root against them because of the pro, because they have nothing to do with it.
I will say that I think it goes both ways, though. I don’t for one minute believe that most of the people who love Derek & his type of partners, suddenly were huge lovers of Donald. I do think that some of Derek fans were voting to try to stop Mark & Cheryl that year. I just can’t imagine that someone who would like Maria, Nicole, Jennifer, etc. would suddenly prefer a Donald type over Katherine.
It’s a shame that anyone gets caught up in trying to stop or stick it to the pros, and it’s really a shame that the show essentially encouraged it this year, with their “poor, old, Tony” storyline.
I think that people should vote for the finalist who performed the best out of that season, out of that group of finalists. For me that was Shawn & Derek this season, and Katherine & Mark last season.
I hope that pettiness isn’t carried over into next season, and I hope I never have to hear again about how so and so hasn’t won a trophy yet. Maybe they haven’t yet because it wasn’t deserved?
I don’t feel that it was really deserved this season, but oh well, what can you do.
And I agree that the Deena connection stinks. And people would be pitching a fit if it was Derek’s partner who had that connection.
Why would someone who thinks Derek is the best and most talented dancer/choreographer on the show not like Donald? I agree with the above statement about Derek but I don’t root for him ignoring who he’s paired with – my faves are different every season and it all comes down to the celebrity as well as the partnership. I loved Mel and Maks, I loved Derek and Maria, I loved Hines and Kym, I loved Donald (no real opinion about Peta), I preferred Evan over Nicole (probably just personality). And it may not be a popular opinion, but I loved Donny too. I love people with good attitudes who try hard, dance well and have a fun partnership. I can’t be the only viewer who doesn’t always vote for or against a certain pro.
Buttercup, I vote the same way you do. The first few weeks, I vote on my favorite dance, then by the middle I’m usually locked in on what couple I like best.
Karina is my favorite pro, but I don’t always vote for her. I vote on the couple as a whole, based on dancing, partnership, etc. Admittedly this season I was a big Melissa fan, but even in the first few weeks I was feeling everyone out and voted for Kelly/Val and Apolo/Karina. I think I even voted for one more couple before I started voting hardcore for M/T, can’t remember.
Season 10 I voted for Evan & Anna
Season 11 I voted for Kyle & Lacey
Season 12 I voted for Karina and Ralph
Season 13 I voted for Karina and JR
Season 14 I actually voted for Sherri/Val the first few weeks, voted for Katherine/Mark some, and I think voted for Maria/Derek one week, too, and then I became a Donald/Peta voter gradually.
So, I definitely take the celeb into account when I vote. There aren’t any pros I absolutely can’t stand, so that doesn’t effect my voting. The one I probably like the least I guess might be Maks, but I would even vote for him if I really liked his partner and their dances.
@Buttercup and Violet – Count me in too! I am also one of those viewers that doesn’t particularly have one set favorite pro on the show. Usually by the first performance night I will start to get a grasp on who’s in and who’s out, meaning who I like and who I don’t. And sometimes when I least expect it, a hidden gem of a partnership enters my DWTS world. For example, I couldn’t believe that Kelly Osbourne was cast on the show, (And I even made the remark “Gross” when the cast was announced, but Bingo, the first night she stole my heart and I never looked back the rest of the season.
I find that the pro and the celeb both play a big role in who I root (and vote) for. Part of that is that it is a partnership, and how they interact together. Do I enjoy watching the couple dance and do I enjoy them in their packages? Do they make me smile or feel something? The pros are a big part of that, as well as the celebs. There a couple of pros I would have a very hard time voting for (Maks in particular), but I remember I through a few votes his way early in the season when he was first partnered with Kirstie, because I thought they should stick around for awhile. By mid-season, I wasn’t voting for them at all. I think I’ve enjoyed all of Derek’s partnerships (some more than others), but I was also a big fan of Donald last season, because he was having so much fun and his dancing wasn’t bad either. I could connect with him more than I could with Katherine. I liked her as well, but I couldn’t get behind her as much. Mark is another pro who grates on me a little, and so I have a hard time rooting for his celebs, even though I have (Kristi and Shawn in particular). So it’s not cut and dried for me. I rooted for Marissa J. W. on her season, so it’s not about someone being a dancer “type” for me. I also ended up loving Kelly O.
Anon #305 You talked about Kelly O. Now that is one I would love to see brought back. For me she was the biggest surprise of all of them. I am not a fan of Ozzy’s or of Sharon’s and I pretty much considered Kelly a useless burnout but WOW did I get a surprise. I voted for her and Louis all season. It was the season (and only season) I really liked Louis. I think her season on DWTS has done more for her than probably most anyone. It was the foundation that she took off and grew from. I thought her and Louis was such a good match.
DWTS Fan, you are clearly (judging by the responses before me) WAY off base with your comment about people who like Derek not voting for Donald. *I* voted for Donald once Derek was off the show. I think also threw a few votes Katherine’s way. Not exactly sure what you’re implying with that sort of comment, but it doesn’t sound good.
Wow, yeah I gotta say that I liked Donald, Maria, AND Katherine, and Derek is one of my favorite pros. There’s always two or three COUPLES that I’m rooting for each season, independent of the pros that I typically root for – I HATED HATED HATED Hope and Maks together, but I love him with Kirstie. Donald was probably my favorite last year but Peta and Gilles might be the worst pair to date, given their potential and where they went. I certainly think it’s ENTIRELY possible for a “Derek fan” to start rooting for as they put it “the Donald type”. PH said it best – not sure what you are implying, but you might want to tread carefully with that.
Also I’m just glad to hear that I was not the only person on this site that actually liked Donny. It’s a pretty lonely club around these parts lol
Donny drove me bat shit crazy when he was on the show, but he started to grow on me after a bit. Since he’s been on the show, however, he’s acted like an arrogant ass about DWTS when he’s interviewed. It was like he resented the fact that people won AFTER he was on that people might think others were better dancers. Total weirdness.
What I didn’t like about that season was with Donny’s massive fanbase everyone knew right from the start that he would win. Thank goodness Kelly O. was on that season.
@Heidi – *Bat Shit Crazy*… LOL