Derek Hough And Val Chmerkovskiy Blog About Dancing With The Stars Season 16 Finale

Pro dancers Derek Hough and Val Chmerkovskiy have both written new blogs before finale time on Dancing With The Stars. First up, Val writes of how different this finale is from last season. Last season it was bitter then sweet, but, this season is a “good time to win”. More below in detail including his thoughts (adding: or hints?) for why he should win since he’s never won a mirror ball before (this excuse for someone to win always annoys me. How would he have felt in his competition days if he was told he shouldn’t win since he won before? That’s not the way it should work. It should be about the best dancing, not who hasn’t won a mirror ball before or a win won’t mean the same in my opinion).

It’s finale time but this finale is different — completely different. Last season it was bitter, but then it became quickly sweet. I hate losing, but losing to someone like Tony (Dovolani) and Melissa (Rycroft) was a great feeling for me. That’s my brother pretty much, and I’m super happy for him to win because it was long overdue! I had no right — even just out of respect for Tony, to feel even one inch of, “Oh, it’s not fair!” I have the utmost love and appreciation for that champion.

But this season, I feel like it’s a good time. I don’t feel like it’s too early, I don’t feel like it’s too late. It’s a good time. I feel like if the stars can’t align this time, I’m not sure when they’ll align again. I know I said that last season with Kelly (Monaco) because she was incredible and we had an amazing season, but I never thought I’d be able to follow it up. Zendaya, complete polar opposite of what Kelly and I were, was able to follow up and follow it up in a very unique way.

There has never been a couple like us. This final between my three competitors – between them, they have about 30 seasons and six trophies. But when you look at Zendaya and I, you have never seen a champion like that.

If we win, the generosity and gratefulness that will be pouring out of my body at that moment will be overwhelming for everybody in the room. I will drown people in my appreciation!

More at Today.com.

As for Derek, he talks of the slow process this past week. He’s had some issues with his neck, but, he’s battling through. The freestyle is about “less is more” as he hinted to us in the On The Red Carpet interview,. Below he talks of the story about it and their other dances….

The story in our freestyle is we see Kellie as who she is. We often see the bright, fun, light and sweet Kellie — and she’s all those things. What you see is what you get with her. But there is a side to her that is very vulnerable and very fragile. The song is called “Beneath Your Beautiful” and it’s about showing it all. To show it all, you can’t hide behind anything. That’s why I against having a big production. I just wanted to try to make it about her ability and her dancing, and try to wow the audience with what she’s doing and not what’s around her. The production we have is fun though.

We have two other dances Monday and then the Instant Dance on Tuesday. The quickstep is extremely exhausting! It’s more difficult than our first one. The music is a lot more vigorous, so it’s faster all around. We got a 29 last time, but that quickstep was actually one of my least favorite dances, just because I felt like it was just a dance. The choreography was difficult, but it was more of a demonstration, like, “This is a quickstep.” This one, we want to put on more of a show and make it more of a finale quickstep. We just have to be really careful. There’s a fine line between doing too much and making it too busy.

The cha-cha relay is only 40 seconds each couple, but with everything this week, it’s kind of outrageous that we have it in the first place! I was like, “Awesome! Four couples in the final. That probably means less work for us.” Then it’s, “Nope! Just kidding! More work! Four couples and four dances each!” But we feel good about our pieces. Now we just have to execute.

I can’t wait. More at TV Guide.com. Also, don’t miss visiting Pure Derek Hough as soon as you can. Heidi has an article up about Derek wanting to expand his career beyond Dancing With The Stars. She has some birthday coverage and more too.

ETA: Also, be sure to check out On The Red Carpet. There is more coverage with these two couples with George Pennacchio.