Dancing with the Stars Season 17, Week 8 – Dancing by the Numbers
Examples of why immunity may not be a good thing:
- Will average fans GET that Amber still needs votes?
- After having a solid 3 point lead in the cumulative score, Amber is now tied with Corbin IF they include the dance offs (and marathons) in the cumulative total. They shouldn’t, but…
I think the coming week could be a dangerous one for Amber, but I guess we’ll have to hope that fans are smarter than some on the net clearly believe they are. No names. 🙂
I’ve seen quite a few comments about Leah getting propped by the judges – dudes, they fired a shot across her bow the other night by giving her two 8s. That ain’t propped. I think (hope) it was a sign of things to come. I’ve also seen speculation that her scores are meant to justify her place in the finale based on votes. This is a theory that I often toy with and have seen in action. If they were going to do that, though, I don’t think she would have gotten 8s last Monday night at all. This coming week will be an indication if they’re going to start playing that game. If Bill’s scores suddenly improve? There you go. He may be finale bound. However, another theory I toy with every season is their lulling the audience into a position where an elimination becomes “shocking” – their treatment of Bill Monday night may just qualify for that, as could Amber winning immunity. I guess we have to wait and see, but you heard it here first. 🙂 It worked on me, after all. I had been calling Brant a possible early exit early in the season, but they lulled me out of it.
Anyway, what exactly happened last Monday night? Well, Liz proved that someone is, indeed, voting for her. She was 3 points lower than Brant and covered the spread. They didn’t even put her in danger – that was Jack’s honor. Of course, with the way everything went down with Bill being immediately safe (so immediate that it was on the teleprompter, which means they knew before he danced, I think), I have to believe that no one was voting for Brant. You could argue that such a massive number of people were voting for Bill they just knew – but Liz covering the spread is an interesting little factoid to throw in there to make you wonder. If only one person is beating the spread it’s one thing, but for two of them to do it? Brant wasn’t getting votes, IMO. Liz is someone that I think is in dangerous territory and she better not be only 1 point away from Bill again next week. Could be trouble. The tables below show where everyone ended up:
As you can see, Bill needed 5.2k votes per million votes cast to beat Liz (and we don’t know if he did or not) and he needed less than 16k votes per million votes cast to beat Brant – and he obviously did.
But more interesting to me is that Liz needed nearly 11k more votes per million votes cast than Brant in order for him to go home…and she got them. If it had been only Bill, we would be rather clueless as to whether Bill was killing it in votes or Brant just wasn’t getting any. We still don’t know for sure, but it is rather telling that Liz was one of the two that beat the spread, IMO.
Jack was the one up there next to Bill, what if he was really in jeopardy? Let’s see: Christina was in jeopardy in week 3 and sent home in week 5. Brant was in jeopardy in week 4 and sent home in week 8, BUT there was also no elimination in week 6 and he was in second place last week (week 7). Nicole protected him last week with a lower score and few votes. Bill and Leah have both been in jeopardy before, that was Jack’s first time – not coincidentally, those are the three who I think might have the most trouble next week (with Amber as an outside chance). With two dances, they have the ability to make the margins really wide by scoring Bill as they normally do and giving everyone else *realistic* scores. I think we saw a sign of that last night, with everyone from Liz to Corbin to Leah getting scores they actually deserved instead of a smorgasbord of ridiculous (not counting the dance offs, obviously). I personally think that Brant and Amber were both a touch overscored: a point on Amber and one or two points on Brant…probably two. Corbin should have been a point lower as well, maybe…but everyone else was pretty good. It would have made no difference – Amber still would have been immune with a 27.
For Jack to REALLY be in jeopardy, the following things would have happened:
– Bill got more than 31k votes per million votes cast than him, and;
– Liz got more than 26k votes per million votes cast than him, and;
– Corbin got ONE more vote per million votes cast than him.
Those are pretty good numbers and I have a hard time believing Liz is doing it, but she certainly could be. Bill could be as well. I wager that Corbin does get at least 1 more vote per million votes cast than Jack does. This jeopardy could be a harbinger of things to come. Honestly, this season is really hard to tell.
So, what will happen next week? It’s anybody’s guess. Frankly, I’m starting to actually believe that no one is really safe. I’m most interested in finding out. Here’s who’s dancing what so far (per DWTSGossip and various media sources):
Amber –Quickstep and Salsa Trio with Mark
Corbin – Waltz and Jazz with Whitney
Liz – V. Waltz and Salsa Trio with Gleb
Jack – Waltz and Samba Trio with Sharna
Bill – Charleston and Salsa Trio with Peta
Leah – Argentine Tango and Jive Trio with Henry
Once again I think that Liz and Corbin have the edge in terms of dances – but that’s what I thought last week with Liz getting Jazz. I have to say, it seriously sucks that BOTH Corbin and Liz – the two big ringers – get to do both Jazz and Contemporary. I mean really. Are you kidding me?? Amber, Bill and Jack have yet to do EITHER of those two styles. I’m going to revise my ringer series to bring it up to date, but I have to tell you, I am SICK of people claiming Derek has all the advantages when this shit goes on. Yes, Derek has had a couple ringers – but other pros have also had plenty of ringers and have gotten additional advantages on top of it, like getting dances in their styles (Zendaya and Hip hop, Liz with Jazz and Contemporary, Corbin with Jazz and contemporary…the list goes one). Derek NEVER had those additional advantages. Anyway, I’ll save this rant for a free moment. Need to work up a good head of steam. 🙂
Anyway, Corbin and Liz should be just fine and dandy, scoring near or at the top of the leader board. If Liz DOESN’T again this week, then I think she may have peaked. She’s not got the injuries that Amber is dealing with and she’s a ringer – she just might not be able to handle the pressure. She seems like a nice woman, I think she might be trying a bit too hard. Val seems to acknowledge this and is working on it, so that’s a good sign.
Amber? Honestly, I don’t know if they can make it to the end if they survive the elimination. Between his back and her knee, they are the walking wounded and CAI also fired a (stupid, senseless) shot across her bow to step it up. What really pisses me off here, is the implication (two times now) that Amber just isn’t working as hard as the others. This is absolute bullshit and is usually reserved for the Kate Gosselin’s of the world. Now, I don’t think anything is said “off hand” on that panel, so I wonder what they are trying to REALLY say. Are they trying to give her somewhere to go? Or are they harbingers of doom? Or is Carrie Ann on more crack than usual?? In any case, that’s twice now that they’ve implied that everyone else is just working harder than Amber is, and that is insulting as hell, all things considered. And I have to wonder why. Anyway, Amber has a tough road this week…but not as tough as Leah.
Leah has Jive and Argentine Tango?? This is not good. And this is also going to be the most interesting couple of the night in terms of scoring. I have a hard time believing that Leah will be able to pull off a credible version of either dance, but that doesn’t mean she will get low scores. I think I might have to institute a drinking game – take a shot every time a judge raves about Leah’s ability to be in the character of the dance. :::rolls eyes::: Code for “you danced like shit but you faked it great.” Anyway, everything pretty much hinges on where they go with Leah’s scores. Are they going to continue giving Bill scores he deserves while inflating hers? Because clearly that hasn’t worked. Bill is still there. Or is week 9 the week they finally get real? I honestly have a very hard time making a call here because, even though they gave her 8s last week, we still have people like AfterBuzz raving over her. I don’t get it AT ALL, but I don’t think Afterbuzz is under the DWTS umbrella. I don’t think there’s an agenda there. So, what are people seeing that I’m not seeing?? I guess I will bank on them getting real because it’s week 9. And Leah has Jive – there ain’t no way in hell she does better than a 24 on that. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 🙂 She might be able to fake her way through an AT with her “face” thing that she does.
Jack. I think Jack is right behind Corbin and Liz in the “got good dances” category. I think he will do well with both these dances. I have to give props to Cheryl – she is the Cheryl of old this season. Great hair, great style (except week 1) and she seems to have really clicked with Jack. She is teaching the man to dance and he’s dancing very well. He was right up there with Amber and Corbin for the best dances of last week. He has this fading into the wood work problem which might be an issue, but I think he’ll handle the dances just fine. Better than fine.
Bill? Well, Bill is not the youngest person in the cast and two challenging dances? I dunno. I think his Charleston will be charming and he’ll be scored about right…although compared to others it will likely be underscored. Salsa?? Thought he had Paso, for some reason, which could have been trouble. Salsa – I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. And I’m not actually sure that the quality of his dance will be reflected in his scores even if the dances are great, so we’ll see. If he scores higher than normal, you need to consider the possibility that he’s getting a ton of votes and the judges are justifying his place in the semi-finals, as discussed above. They like to be RIGHT, after all. So, if they start proclaiming Bill is a great dancer?? Look out.
Anyway, taking all that into consideration, below are my predictions of how it will go Monday night.
As you can see, I think they will rank (far right column) similar to how they have the past couple weeks. I think what is more likely to change are the scores – I’m finding it much harder to predict what they’re going to do at this point. They have two competing agendas – ratings versus dance ability. While I think they like Bill, and recognize that people are watching for him, if he goes this week they only have one week of the show without him. They might think they can afford to do what they have to to keep the better dancers around. And like Leah or not, she does bring her celebrity friends to the audience. Which is better? Bill fans or Leah’s celeb friend’s fans? I think likely option number two. And really, we love Bill, but is that a universal feeling? I go back to AfterBuzz again – they love Bill….but they REALLY seem to love Leah. Still don’t get it.
Of course, for all we know, the writing is on the wall and no matter how they score people someone is destined to go home already – I think Christina, Brant and Nicole all fell into this category and it had little to do with Bill, and everything to do with the fact that they weren’t getting the votes. That’s the problem with working with last week’s votes – the producers, and possibly the judges, already know who got what. You don’t have the luxury of doing a killer dance which gets great scores and, subsequently, a ton of votes – the votes have already been cast and half of the equation is already set. You, the voter, can’t work to “save” anyone. Just imagine if last season had been this way and they didn’t have a two night finale, but relied on votes from the previous week. Do you still think that Kellie would have won?? I don’t. She was down by a point from Zendaya and I think that Freestyle with Derek pushed her over the margin. I don’t know if she could have done that if she had been relying on the votes on her Flamenco and AT and the scores from the freestyle.
Anyway, if the scores are similar to above, the following are the votes that the various couples would have to get to be safe:
Here’s the thing about the margins: when you have several people who aren’t getting votes at all (Brant, Christina, Nicole) in addition to everyone else on the cast it’s a pretty easy thing to beat a decent margin. However, once all those people are gone, it becomes a bit trickier. The question is: is there anyone left who isn’t putting in a good number of votes? Jack is the question in my mind. And Amber due to her immunity last week, in addition to Carrie Ann’s comments. We have no way of knowing. The problem when you get to this point in the competition is that the remaining people should all have their fans and if they’re all getting a bunch of votes, the spread is that much harder to cover. This is often the week where people go “What?? He beat a spread of 45k just last week.” And I respond, he must have beaten the spread last week because so and so wasn’t getting any votes relative to everyone else. This was Kurt Warner when Audrina had a 10 point lead on him and she went home. He went home 2 weeks later after beating a 45k spread. Look at it like this:
Bill gets 10,000 votes
Amber gets 10,000 votes
Corbin gets 10,000 votes
Liz gets 10,000 votes
Leah gets 10,000 votes
Jack gets 10,000 votes
All six are very popular and getting roughly the same number of votes. So, who goes home? The person with the low score, of course. And this could be what is happening either this coming week or the following week. Everyone loves Bill, but everyone also loves the rest of them and they all have their fans. Or how about this:
Bill gets 10,000 votes
Amber gets 10,000 votes
Corbin gets 10,000 votes
Liz gets 10,000 votes
Leah gets 5,000 votes
Jack gets 10,000 votes
Now who goes home? It depends on the score. If there is a point difference between Bill and Leah that leads to a spread of more than 5k votes, Bill could go home instead of her. Same for all of them. Kinda scary, ain’t it? 🙂
All of the above was to make people understand that what appear to be the same sorts of spreads that Bill and others have beaten before, can actually be much harder to do at this point in the season. Of course, there are still 6 people (insane) so who knows? Anyway, if they do their usual song and dance on Monday, Bill would need ONE of the following things to happen in order to be safe:
– Bill would need 6.2k more votes per million votes cast than Leah, OR;
– Bill would need 18.4k more votes per million votes cast than Jack, OR;
– Bill would need 21.5k more votes per million votes cast than either Liz or Amber, OR;
– Bill would need 31k more votes per million votes cast than Corbin.
Is he doing it? I think he could get past Leah, but I have no way of knowing for sure. If Bill covers the spread with Leah, she needs some serious votes to get past anyone else – I have a hard time believing that she’s beating anyone other than possibly Jack. So, let’s say she beats Jack. What does all does Jack need to be safe? ONE of the following:
– Jack needs Bill to NOT get the 18.4k more votes per million votes cast, OR;
– Jack needs to get 3,100 more votes per million votes cast than either Amber or Liz, OR;
– Jack needs to get 12,300 more votes per million votes cast then Corbin.
I’m just not sure that Bill’s power is that much greater than Jack’s – 18k is a decent number this late in the season. I do think that Bill can beat Leah (6,100 votes). Even if Jack beats that low spread to over take Amber and Liz, I think Amber beats Liz and Bill won’t get the nearly 22k votes to knock her out of the competition. So, I tend to think that Amber and Corbin are still safe this week, provided that the spreads are similar to what I’ve guessed, above.
After all that, I think it’s between Bill, Jack and Leah and I think it might be Leah’s time to go – if they go back to propping Leah up, all bets are off. I think that one of the two low scorers will be the one going home, due to the fact that we’re going into week 9 of an 11 week season.
What do you think?
She seems very friendly and is very funny. I wouldn’t mine having her since she has a great attitude and does like to dance.
Do you think Zendaya is helping Liz in terms of votes? She is certainly doing her best to support them and encourages her fans to vote for them. I am not sure if any other pro has this type of continued active support.
Maybe, Judy. But I dunno – when i was that age, I don’t think I’d be voting for someone just because someone I liked told me to. Hard to say. Her fans are nuts, after all.
I think Bill has the Salsa for his trio and not paso? Or at least thats what Peta tweeted at some point. And Bill already did the paso during hollywood week.
I just don’t see where Liz’s votes can be coming from. She has lots of celebrity friends but do they vote? It is a mystery. I think Val at least expected to go home last week. Funny but my whole feeling for the show changed this year with Bill and Emma. I like the non dancer stories this year much better than the contestants with dance experience. Also, not a fan of the contestants desperate to win at all costs rather than keeping the fun element.
Hmmm…I’ll check, Kaitlyn.
why do you all keep saying amber ,liz and corbin has dance experience in ballroom dance when they do not .just because they have rhythm do not mean ballroom dancing will come easy to them it is very hard to change from your style of dancing to another one and it take real strong focus to change it. they are on the same playing field as the other
I think Amber will do just fine in judges’ scores. I too wonder if the average viewer voted for her, or simply assumed she was save. That’s tricky. Can average viewer’s (lack of) votes make a difference?
I think at this point they all have a pretty much even fanbase. Judges’ scores will have more say on Monday.
Wow. That was a incredibly detailed and well thought out Dancing by the Numbers post.
Is it wrong of me to be happy that Leah has two dances this week with a fairly high degree of difficulty? I see lots of static posing in the AT and lots of hot guy misdirection in the Jive (not that I think Tony is hot, but you know that HE does).
Bill and Emma did the Paso to the Lone Ranger Theme song in week 3 😉
Thank you for the number crunching Heidi.
That was my fear too about Amber & Derek getting Immunity. Tom did say at least 2 times though about them needing votes.
Great analysis. I think Amber may still be up by 2 points I have to double check..
ITA that the winner of Immunity should have received an additional 3 points as well,
Please point to the place where anyone said that Amber, Liz and Corbin have *ballroom* dance experience, pauline.
Its weird I changed this season too, Im all about the underdog. Last season Zendaya and Val were my favorites this season I would love to see JAck or Bill take home the trophy. There not the best dancers but as we all know this isnt a real dance comp.
I think Jake and the ladies at afterbuzz are right Leah falls into the main watching demo. of dwts so I wouldnt be supriesed if she squeezes into the final much like Kirstie Alley her first season. Elizabeth hasnt been around forever but im sure many people who watch this show still love her from sbtb much like melissa gilbert came in fourth or fifth in her season even though she hasnt been around forever but people still knew her from little house and elizabeth is a better dancer so I guess I can see how shes getting the votes.
Im really scared for Jack this week but he had a great week last week and he wasnt in the real bottom, not sure who was maybe that person will go this week so hopefully he will be okay and hes starting to grow on people as a non dancer making big strides.
Like mentioned its so hard to tell know who will go home even Corbin the best dancer could be in danger.
I’m not as sure as you are, PH, that Amber will get as high a score for her trio dance as you are predicting. If I am remembering all of Derek’s trio dances, Len’s hated every single one and given them no higher than a 7. And, Len has not been easy on Amber all season, and the other stooges seem to be following Len’s example. At the most, I don’t see her scoring higher than a 27 on the trio.
I really hope I am wrong, but I really am not expecting very much for Amber’s scores. She doesn’t look like the type of dancer that Len prefers, and even with her giving her all, it doesn’t seem to be good enough for Len. I go back and forth, hoping Amber and Derek get eliminated so both can heal, because that is more important than staying to the end, and hoping that they can manage to keep plugging along enough to make the finals just to spite Len….
In my opinion,I don’t think that Amber is connecting enough with the audience. I don’t think this is one of Derek’s better partners in terms of chemistry compared to Maria, Shawn, Kellie etc. Just my opinion.Also I bet Len will give them a 7 or 8 like he does with all of Derek’s trios he’s done, in the past few seasons.
IMO, Amber is connecting quite well with both the audience and viewers.. They stand up before she even dances, each week.. I’d say that’s connecting w/the audience. IMO, Len seems to be the only one not connecting w/Amber but that may have changed as if last week. He got blasted on Twitter for his treatment of her & Derek, now he appears to be loving her!! Only time will tell.
@Dee – I believe the audience is encouraged to Stand Up, Clap, whatever the TPTB want them to do. I think some nights they are standing up for just about every single dance.
I think Jack is forgettable. Sure he is improving and doing great, but at the end of the night it’s Jack Who? I think he could possibly be in trouble this week.
I hope Bill is safe again this week, for me he is the glue that is holding this show together this season. Hopefully Leah or Lizzy Borden will finally leave my television screen once and for all.
Great post Heidi! You are so detailed its mind-boggling how you do it. 🙂
If anyone in danger of ‘surprise’ elimination, I think it’s more Corbin than Amber. They were the only two who haven’t been in jeopardy right? I always ‘assume’ (I know, I know) Amber has set group of fans from Glee, a current show. Unlike Corbin with HSM.
Great numbers post, PH. I have my fingers and toes crossed that you’re spot on and we’ll *finally* get rid of Leah the Whiner.
I am worried about Amber not getting enough vote support last week and Len pouring ice-water all over their Trio dance and low-balling their score. As others have said, he’s hated every trio dance Derek’s done. I also have to wonder how much their injuries are going to limit what they can do. It almost feels selfish and sadistic to hope they continue because it must be so painful for them to rehearse and perform.
I’m not sure what the whole thing at AfterBuzz is – last week, they seemed kind of over Leah; this week, they’re loving her again (though I think a little less enthusiastically than before).
Looking at the numbers, all I can say is that I hope Amber’s fans voted for her, and that she gets decent scores; that Bill will get decent scores (and that his fans voted for him); and that the judges *finally* get real with Leah (which, as PH said, there are hopeful signs in that direction). It’s going to be very interesting to see how both the voting and the scores shake out on Monday.
i’m sure that amber is connecting with the regular audience the only issue this week is the fact that they got the immunity which made people think that they were safe
as a gleek i can say that the fanbase did vote but will it be enough
if they were voted off at least they will be able to rest and i don’t have to watch this show anymore lol
I do like Leah, I think she has improved quite a bit. I’m saddened that brant left, he was a great dancer. This season is just more proof that the judges vote are meaningless. I wish all of you would flood the abc Facebook or boards and ask them to return the results show. Are we ever getting a double elimination since they didn’t vote someone out that week or were they planning to declare one week safe at some point.
I don’t get why you all are putting so much emphasis on the in jeopardy couple– they are clearly said that they are not necessarily the bottom 2– if they were, they would say that.
Thank you PH for your best attempt at trying to bring some logic to this season. Everything just feels so off to me this season.
I think a major problem for me is the feeling we can only vote in reaction to something that is already irrelevant (judges’ scores from that week, which have already been used for an elimination). It makes the entire season feel out of rhythm and unpredictable.
I think Amber might be fine. She seems SO popular based on applause in the audience, even when it’s not her best week. I know that’s not a scientific standard, but in the past it’s seemed accurate, lol. Her problem seems to be her injuries but everyone else seems to have what might be even more significant issues. I think Liz and Corbin still seem too aloof and unfortunately Bill is the weakest dancer. At some point voters seem to drift away from the weakest dancer, no matter how much they love them, so I’m betting Bill might only make the semis like Ty.
Jack feels like the dark horse to me. His dancing might not be the most exciting but I get the feeling people might keep him around. The main thing that worries me is the show putting him in the “not necessarily the bottom two” last week.
I have such a hard time figuring out where Leah stands because I dislike her so much. A friend told me she loves her because she is so sassy, so I guess one person’s bitch-faced, complainer can be another person’s sassy. I still think her dancing is weaker than Jack and she seems so much less likable that she should go before him. Sad if the show keeps her around because JLo et al show up. Would viewers really tune in because of that or does the show really get free PR from famous audience members? That just seems so strange to me but I suppose I can see the show thinking that.
Sandy, maybe so but Amber lights that stage up and she’s not forgettable and IMO and from I hear and read, definitely connects w/the audience and fans. That was the point I was trying to make.
LOL Heidi! I loved this: “I think I might have to institute a drinking game – take a shot every time a judge raves about Leah’s ability to be in the character of the dance. :::rolls eyes::: Code for “you danced like shit but you faked it great.” loll isn’t that the truth!
Seriously, such a great and fascinating read and numbers post again. I plan to vote harder than ever for Amber and Derek being they could be in more danger. And please I hope and pray it’s Leah to go this week. I can not take it anymore for how she and her negative and arrogant attitude is coddled.
I love that Leah has the jive. There is no way Leah is going to be able to pull off a decent one. I don’t see her having the energy or the crispness the dance needs. Like PH said, anything over a 24, although I’m thinking more 21, would be blatant over scoring. And to agree with PH again, who is voting for this woman and what do they see that I don’t? I see a person who hasn’t really improved since the start, who has a crap attitude, doesn’t want to be there, and thinks she’s entitled more than others. Please take your celebrity fans and Tony and just leave.
Gee, Sam, maybe because we’ve watched the show for many years and know that, often, jeopardy is a harbinger of things to come.
I feel compelled to remind those people worried about Len lowballing Derek’s trio dance because he’s done it in the past that Derek has done very high concept, very DIFFERENT choreography on all of his trio dances. That is the sort of thing that Len doesn’t like and doesn’t get.
Season 16 – Trio with Tristan which was part II of an earlier dance – very high concept
Season 15 – The tribal samba – great dance, had samba elements, but guaranteed to be above Len’s head
Season 14 – Bollywood samba – this one, as much as I loved it, really skirted the edge of samba
Those are the only 3 trio dances that have been done and Derek has gone high concept every time. Now, Derek really (despite what Len says) hasn’t stepped out of the Len box that much this season at all, and I don’t think he’s going to start now. He’s pretty darn canny about when he should and shouldn’t do that.
My point is, Len doesn’t just randomly hate Derek’s trios. Derek played a part in this and knew that Len was likely to hate at least two of the three before they were even danced. Probably all three.
Karen, if you are a JLo stan, you are going to be watching to see if she’s on. Having blogged about Derek for a few years now I can say that with some confidence. He’s dated people (Cheryl Cole, Nina Dobrev) who have the very worst, nasty, ugly stans in the world and let me tell you, if Derek was still dating Nina and there was a rumor she was going to be in the audience, every single one of them would be watching no matter how much they hate Derek (long, freakish story).
That’s why they’re stans. 🙂
The nice thing about the trio for Amber and Derek is that it’s salsa – which isn’t a standard “10” dance (so it isn’t competed in International Ballroom, which is Len’s specialty), doesn’t have a set of steps that “should” be in there (or if there are, Len probably isn’t aware of them), and (as we’ve seen with previous salsas, trios and non) the judges pretty much let the couples get away with just about anything, as long as there are *some* recognizable salsa steps and a whole lot of shimmying. Think about Leah’s salsa (which got raves), or the salsa trios from the last couple of seasons, or some of the other salsas done on the show – not necessarily lots of content, but hey, the judges *loved* them. I think Derek will be able to put together a salsa routine that will pass muster. 🙂
In my opinion three Salsa trios in one night is a bit much.
I agree, Sandy.
It is a lot. Amber pretty much had to have salsa (or jazz, I guess), since she’s already done all the Latin dances – cha cha, jive, samba, rumba and paso. Elizabeth has already done cha cha, jive, jazz…has she done rumba, paso or samba (not that they would do a rumba trio)? I can’t remember – most of her dances aren’t that memorable. But I don’t think they needed to give her salsa. Bill has danced jive, paso, and samba – so he could have done a different trio as well.
It certainly would make the night more interesting if we didn’t have three salsa trios.
LOL #KarenT “I guess one person’s bitch-faced, complainer can be another person’s sassy.” That is a lesson not only for DWTS, but for life in general….
Thanks as always PH for a great post, trying to bring logic to the situation where the judges often defy logic….
Well, they could have given Amber Jazz – that would have taken us down to two Salsa trios and two Jazz trios. Three salsas and a samba trio is more than a bit much.
I love Amber, jack and Corbin (in that order)…I was thinking, are TPTB subtly supporting Amber because she will bring in the all-elusive younger demographic (because of her Glee audience)? Remember the backlash when Shawn and Derek got lowballed during the trio dance? Granted, they didn’t win, and I haven’t gone back and looked at the awesomely catalogue of Dancing By the Numbers analyses, but it seems they may have gotten a boost from that. CAI’s comments on Amber not working as hard as the others coupled with Len’s dislike of Derek’s choreography could be nudging the public to vote harder for Derek and Amber. Just my own, humble little theory. I do think sometimes that people think it’s unfair Derek is still a pro dancer on the show, mainly because he has an Emmy now and so many twitter followers…you could argue he is the star rather than the pro. So, it makes sense to me that the judges come down harder on Derek and his partner to counteract the feeling of favoritism that comes when looking at D’s history with the show.
Oh, and AWESOME write-up. I do have to throw in my standard “hope Leah goes home this week, can’t stand the attitude. I did feel a smile come to my face when I saw she was doing the jive. No amount of mugging at the camera is going to save her there! Then again, I get worried because her ultra-slow quickstep got 9’s. Sigh, you just never know.
And to clarify above statement about Derek…I don’t necessarily agree that Derek should be graded harder…only that doing so maybe helps with the fan vote.
I look forward to this post every week. Thanks for putting it together!
#13 & #18 I wouldn’t be surprised to see Corbin put in jeopardy—-they showed an “unflattering” package before his dance last Monday night. Meanwhile, Karina had 2 events to attend as well as other celebs/pros, but I guess because his phone would ring a lot, that’s a “big deal” ::roll eyes::
I didn’t honestly notice if they were wearing the same clothes each time they showed him going to the phone — it could’ve just been the phone ringing every now & then for an hour of one day and TPTB “tweaked” footage?
@sheery, DWTS did a lousy job of showing what was really happening last week with Corbin. His package comes off as unflattering if people are not aware of what he was doing or they feel a popularity/dance show is more important than an anti-bullying project. In my opinion, an important issue like that should take priority over this show. The Day I Died is a worthy cause and as a fan I’m proud of Corbin for working on it.
Of course working to stop bullying is far more important, but still, because of the package, even people who would freely acknowledge the relative importance, may feel put off by what looks like disregard for his partner and the production team who’ve committed their time to him right then. The package made it seem as if he either wasn’t at practice or when he was he was continually, constantly, always all through every rehearsal, walking away from Karina as she was trying to teach him something to answer his phone. The package did not do him any favors. Sad because it was a missed opportunity for dwts the support the important message.