Dancing With The Stars Val Chmerkovskiy And Danica McKellar First Rehearsal Footage
She looks like she’s going to be good. Let us know what you think!
She looks like she’s going to be good. Let us know what you think!
"Dance is the hidden language of the soul" ~ Martha Graham. That's what DWTS makes me think of every Monday night. To read more about me and my other interests, see Lisa Kay Photography. You can also follow me at Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud.
They look goood!!!
For someone who has taken ballroom lessons for many years, she’s acting a little too fake for me. Like all of this is brand new.
#2 – I agree. She seems to be acting like she’s never done *anything* like this before – but it’s clear from how she’s moving that she has some experience. She also seems rather hyper.
It will be interesting to see if/when her dance experience comes up. In the KTLA interview with James and Peta, they asked him about *his* dance experience, so someone should get around to Danica at some point.
All I have to say is I better not hear anyone complaining that someone besides
oops..All I have to to say is I better not hear anyone complaining that someone besides the Cherm brothers have ringer….lol
I thought their first dance is foxtrot. To me it looks like they’re practicing cah cha.
Ok, I got the skinny on Danica’s experience, thanks to the bf knowing just about everyone in the ballroom community 🙂
She’s been training with Gocha Chertkoev since at least 2007, when she met him on the set of Inspector Mom where he was the choreographer. And contrary to what others might be trying to say – her training has apparently been ongoing, and not just a “one-time thing” for that movie. Just plug “gocha danica” into Google and her name pops up on all sorts of stuff for his studio in the past 7 years – here’s his studio newsletter from late February last year – note that he’s dropping her name all over it, including plugging her book. I doubt he’d do that for someone that was a one-time student 6 years prior. Also worth noting: Gocha (and his wife, Shorena) have both been judges on the Georgian version of DWTS, Tsekvaven Varskvlavebi. The bf’s take on this rehearsal clip: “The way she’s moving her hips on those rumba walks, I can tell she’s had some training. It seemed like she was trying too hard to look confused in the first half of the clip.” His other peanut gallery comment? “Dude, Gocha is batsh*t crazy. If she’s been working with him for the past 7 years, working with Val will be a walk in the park.” 😛
As I’ve said in the past – I have no problem with ringers; I just hope she (and Val) own up to the fact that she’s had more ballroom training than the average bear, in the interest of full disclosure. It’s not like Meryl & Charlie can really hide their ringerness…I like Danica, but I think I’ll respect her more if she just admits that she’s had some training come premiere night. The way Sherri denied, denied, denied having training (until someone finally called her out on it) just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Fascinating Court. And I agree….ringers don’t bother me either (as I want to see good dancing on this show) but, don’t play dumb or confused, they should just be honest about it if they’ve had experience.
The fact that Danica has training doesn’t really bother me; it’s the fact she’s acting dumb about it. It really looks like she’s trying to play a newbie in that clip – and I don’t appreciate that.
Thanks for the 411 Court. It’s pretty damning if you ask me.
I was prepared to like Danica and put up with Val; don’t know if that’s going to be possible now. Her training makes Donny Osmond’s ballroom lessons look like nothing. If she would just ‘fess up, then I can deal: DWTS asked her, she said yes, let the chips fall where they may, plenty of previous ringers have not won. However, it looks like Danica and Val (and TPTB) are planning to engage in an elaborate charade to pass her off to the unsuspecting public as a non-dancer — that’s sleazy.
@ButterflyWhirl – See, that’s my thing too: I have no problem with ringers, just like I have no problem with bad dancers. The show needs both (and every skill level in between) in order to be successful, and having some ringers on-hand ensures we get to see some good dancing each season. And a ringer does not an MBT guarantee! But at least be honest about it. One of my pet peeves is people insulting my intelligence – and I feel like trying to play it off like she’s this total newb is an insult to my intelligence, and most of the readers here. We know what a real newb looks like, and we know what an experienced dancer trying to look like a newb looks like. Just be honest about it, and stop trying to look like you have no idea what you’re doing. It’s gonna be much better-received if you’re just open about it from the get-go…I feel like Sherri’s denial (and eventual admittance about taking lessons at DWM) probably contributed to some degree to her elimination. I ain’t got time for no stinking liars 😛
Hear Hear!!! Totally agree with everyone here. Just fess up already – not like it’s not confirmable, for heavens sake. And I agree with Courtney, Sherri’s elimination was in part due to her dishonesty. You play us for dumb, we retaliate by withholding our votes. Yea, that’s how dumb we are!
So I guess that’s going to be their schtick – she’ll pretend to be a newbie, he’ll pretend to be teaching her from scratch, they’ll both pretend to be hot into each other. And we’ll pretend to vote for them.
Off topic a bit here – I wonder if the backlash of Sherri practicing with her eventual Pro on the show is what led to Meryl not being partnered with Derek?
@Linde – I still think Meryl getting paired with Maks was more of a bargaining tool to get Maks back, and maybe to some degree was caused by Meryl’s need to train while traveling (and Derek having too many projects tying him to LA). I seriously doubt any backlash from Sherri would have any effect on the decision making of TPTB – half the time, I think they give the middle finger to the fans, so I doubt they’d suddenly start catering to us now. 😛
She is a very beautiful & intelligent woman but she is acting like she is clueless. I don’t like the way she behaved in this clip. I hope she gets more really as the show goes on.
Well, Court, if she doesn’t admit it, we’ll just have to hammer it home. And spread the word on twitter. 🙂 Really, I like ringers on the show, particularly when they get a choreographer who doesn’t suck. I like to see good dancing. What I don’t like is the blatant hypocrisy surrounding who gets them. From fans and pros alike.
I dunno, Linde, Derek, Meryl and Charlie were very public about his involvement with their short program. Sherri was trying to hide and lie about it – until Vogue totally busted her with a photo. 🙂
I actually think that Meryl was partnered with Maks because Derek did not intend to come back. But they lured him with Amy. 🙂
LOL Heidi!! I’ll never forget that day!
Yay! PH, you just made me very happy by suggesting a twitter campaign to get out the word on Danica’s extensive training if/when it becomes obvious that she’s going to lie about it.
I find it HILARIOUS that, after Vogue caught that pic of Sherri at DWM, everyone just wanted to call us “haters” and accuse us of trying to start a smear campaign against Sherri. Then suddenly, other, bigger outlets were reporting the same thing – to the point where Sherri felt obligated to comment and confirm what we had been saying. And then the backlash started. Yep, we’re such big meanies here at Pure…big, lying meanies. 😉
Yes, I hope the word gets out about Danika. I consider her one of the biggest ringers ever on the show considering all the training, the childhood etc. and it being specifically BALLROOM. I think she is a bigger ringer than Charlie and Meryl because when it’s said they have ballroom instruction, I don’t think they actually go to individual dance classes one on one with an instructor. do they? and actually dance the dances? Don’t they just have a ballroom specialist at the rink who advises on converting some of the steps and flavor of the dances to ice?
But I think like with Elizabeth Berkley, it might only go so far, like 6th week or so but the likability of one of the others even if they don’t dance as well might knock them out no matter how good she is.
I wonder if Val and Danica have been asked to play the role of newbies who challenge the ice dancing ringers for a story arc this the season. It will be interesting to see if the show mentions her background or not. If the show doesn’t, then I’m wondering if that is why Danica is acting the way she is. The show sure reminded us every week about Corbin’s experience but that was his public career. In this case I’m betting all Val/Danica and the show will acknowledge is her training a long time ago for a movie.
I’ve always remembered Sabrina on GMA, right after she was eliminated from her first season, saying the show had asked her to dumb down her dancing the first couple of weeks so that she could show an improvement arc. She said she felt that would be dishonest and didn’t go along with it but left the impression she wondered if she would have lasted longer if she had gone along. It wouldn’t surprise me if the show tells every couple what story they have planned for them and that guides a lot of how they act.
If Danica doesn’t mention her experience and the show leaves it out, 99% of the viewers won’t have a clue.
Oh, and just of possible interest or not, my mom told me she read an article about Danika after Wonder Years (a while ago) that was about her graduating summa cum laude and her huge interest and participation in ballroom dancing. (I am trying to get her to remember what magazine it was in, so far no luck) And also I did not even know who NeNe was but my mom said she used to be an exotic dancer, stripper? You guys probs already knew that?
@RaineMayer – Yeah, NeNe’s been pretty open about her past as a stripper. The way the story goes, she was a garden-variety, broke stripper trying to make ends meet down in ATL, and Gregg (her current husband) was one of her wealthy patrons and “saved” her from the stripper life. NeNe seems to like to leave the part about hubby out – it only came out during their divorce proceedings in 2010, when Gregg claimed that he spent $300,000 trying to help NeNe “jump off” in the Atlanta social scene. Just kind of makes me laugh to think of that, when she acts like she’s always been this pillar of Atlanta high society.
Like KarenT said, unless it get’s mentioned on the show I think a vast majority of the audience won’t know about it. You could tell in her clip she was playing “dumb” about everything. At this point someone in the media would need to get wind of it to make it more well known. Unless a bigger source runs with it she won’t feel the need to address it.
I guess it’s possible they could get a lot of fans asking them about it on twitter if it spreads enough online which, in turn, could make them nervous.
Getting your Rumba walk down correctly is so hard. It looks deceptively easy, but it’s quite difficult. Thanks Courtney and BF for pointing out that Danica’s walk looks like she’s been trained to do it for a while.
The best thing for her and Val to do is to give an interview BEFORE the show starts in order to deal with it. Then fans can watch her first performance and judge her to a higher standard than a dance newbie.
As others have said, I don’t mind a ringer either, but I at least want to know that I’m looking at ringer, ya know what I mean?
@DLT – People said the same thing about the Sherri thing – that we were “just one stupid fan site making stuff up”. Then other, bigger outlets caught on. THEN it became a big deal. If I were Danica & Val, I’d address this while we’re still in the “those b*tches at Pure are just being haters again!” phase…because it gets much uglier once the other outlets catch on. And as I told another blogger the other day – we do get watched. Not only by other outlets, but by the show itself.
I think she will be similar to Elizabeth Berkley, she will be a good dancer but will struggle with the votes. Both of them were on popular tv shows way back in the day that ended in 1993. Since then have pretty much disappeared from the limelight other then doing lifetime movies and guest starring on tv shows. But Elizabeths over intenstity may have turned some people off and so far she dosen’t seem that way but still. She seems like a nice person but I agree I hope she dosen’t play dumb or hide her dance background.
Since some people say Erin asks the hard hitting questions you could always tweet her about her ballroom background, Im sure she would have no problem bringing it up.
Getting the word out will definitely be the tricky part. However, as Vogue, PH, and Court reminded us above, Vogue outed Sherri with that picture of her at DWM studios and it got picked up by bigger news outlets. So if Pure lights the fire here and on Twitter, it might turn into an inferno.
If fans start pestering Danica and Val about it on Twitter, he and The Fam are going to come unglued. 😈
Kelly, Erin is part of the DWTS machine and in her first season on the show. I seriously doubt she’ll be willing to ask Danica this hard-hitting question. It goes against the storyboards the show is drawing up for this season.
Lol Courtney. Yeah I can’t repeat, on here, the words my mom used to describe NeNe (and her husband). And I don’t mean “pillars”–HA
Shall I use my expose powers for good, or for evil? 😈
I could toss a lit grenade into the Chmerkovskiy fandom by posting a “Is Danica this season’s secret ringer?” poll. Let them retweet the hell out of it, tell everyone to spam it with “NO!!!” and call me a C U next Tuesday 😛 Kinda how the whole Sherri thing went down, anyway…https://www.puredwts.com/2012/03/02/dwts-season-14-poll-does-sherri-have-an-unfair-advantage/
LOL, I believe in the power of this site! Remember last season when Courtney mentioned an Emma and Bill Riot and the next thing we knew it was all over twitter (with the help of Cher who started an account) and the media.
And Court, go for it. lol
Sorry would have responded sooner but been posting pictures of Danica & son at GS ballroom on Twitter. 😉
That’s my girl, Cher 😉
I love this site and the power it has because it only brings out the truth and uncovers all the bull…. that the puppet masters throw at us. I say Courtney throw the grenade 🙂
lollll Cher!!
Oh please, do it, Court!!!!!!! Light the torch.
Cher — you go girl! Knowledge is Power — Power to the People.
Truth in “dance Journalism” I say. And I loooove when the C-bros and Derek bashers start losing their sh—-I mean , minds. Go Courtney !
Toss a lit grenade, fire the Millennium Falcon’s Laser Canons and topple them like the Death Star. Po-ta-to, Po-tah-to.
This is in no way about trying to make Val or Danica look bad. I just don’t like it when TPTB of DWTS treat us like we have no ability to think.
Hey DWTS Producers! My IQ number is bigger than my TIT size and I got some pretty big Tits! ;P
This show is always throwing shade at unwitting viewers, “subtle “judges comments scripted to influence votes. Edited backstage happenings to make people believe things that aren’t really happening. Stupid last-minute changes to give advantage to contestants, or not. Yes, some doses of truth are always a great idea, if only to make people pay a little more attention.
You go girl! Seriously stupid deception on Danica’s part.
Just a point of clarity, though: we don’t know whether Danica has been instructed by TPTB to “downplay” her dance experience, much the same way Sabrina was encouraged to during her original season. We don’t know if it’s Danica (and/or Val) being deliberately deceptive – it may go higher up the chain than that. Just want to get that out there, because I have a feeling that the “You’re just hating on Danica!” folks are going to descend if it appears as though I’m accusing her of lying. Then again, some of the idiots that would probably accuse me of that don’t really have good reading comprehension skills to begin with, so…oh well. I put it out there 🙂 Look for that post sometime later today.
This is coming from a Val fan. I don’t like the clueless act from Danica either. She comes off as the flighty intellectual and a complete turn off. I don’t mind a dance background at all, but Ballroom training is completely unfair to me.
I did not know that about Sabrina. Tptb manipulate the contestants to that degree? Why didn’t Elizabeth win last year then, the judges loved her and she was pimped endlessly? What happened to get her kicked off so early because I don’t get the impression that was in the producers scenario. Perhaps this is the producers way of giving Danica a story arc but how can they be so stupid not to realise it would all come out. They certainly set the story in motion with that video tho.
See that is my issue the hiding and deception and if val goes along with it then
Courtney did they really call you the C word after the Sherri Shepherd debacle? I can not stand that word!
Light this cannon!
Lol…yeah, I’ve been called just about every name in the book, Susan2. It’s ok though – that particular offender has now had his/her Twitter account suspended. PERMANENTLY. 🙂
I’m all for ringers if it means we can get nice rumba walks 😀
Seems that most pros try to hide stuff with fast steps (looking at you Derek ;-)). Some ladies tend to have bent knees too. If we can have real slow, sexy rumba from a contestant, I’d love to see that.
However like most folks here, that dumb act just grates me. Just own up to it. You can’t hide years and years of training, Ma’am.
This is such a great post. I know that there have been plenty of ringers on this show, and we all know they all haven’t won. But, Danica is a super ringer. Has there ever been any contestant that had a few years worth of ballroom training??? I wonder how voters will react now that this additional information is out. As it’s been pointed out, honesty from the contestant (Danica) would be nice. I guess the “zwaggers” will “go hard” no matter what…LOL
Danica got tons of ballroom training. There’s a write-up, on one of her websites, where she outright says she was trained by Jamie Bayard (SYTYCD). She also mentions her training with Gocha Chertkoev.
Direct URL link to the write-up was removed, but it still can be accessed through a back door.
Jara-I was going to say you should tweet it before it’s removed, but guess it’s already too late—BL A H
I think I know what you’re talking about http://www.mathdoesntsuck.com/data/dm/dance.xml
Some quotes
Says Danica, “I love to dance! I got hooked after learning to Tango for the TV Movie Inspector Mom: Kidnapped in 10 Easy Steps”
“Gocha Chertkoev and Shorena Gachechiladze are worldwide ballroom dance champions, and I was so lucky to be trained by them for the movie. I was a fan of Gocha’s from his TLC series, Ballroom Bootcamp. He was a real find – a great actor and dancer! Since then, I dance whenever I can — I love it! I’ve even trained with Jamie Bayard from So You Think You Can Dance”
“Perhaps I’ll end up dancing on stage or in front of the cameras again soon. I’ve been asked more than a few times about Dancing with the Stars, but I think I actually have a little too much professional training this stage. And that’s fine by me – I’m not sure I’d like the judges’ on-stage criticism very much!”
lol at that last quote. I have no idea what year this page is from.
Jara – is this the write up you were talking about:
http://www.mathdoesntsuck.com/data/dm/dance.xml
The actual link isn’t a full formed website, just the code really, but you can still read her quotes.
@ RaineMayer … It’s still there. The clean version is removed but the copy with the HTML codes is still there. Wish I could post the URL link here so everyone could read it themselves.
Ooh wee, winwin – that last sentence is particularly damning! I will certainly add it to my write-up. Thanks DLT, Jara, & winwin! I’m actually starting to feel a tad sorry for Danica – a sh*tstorm might erupt once I pull the pin on this grenade. Honesty & full disclosure really is the best policy…
DLT … yes, that’s it.
All you have to do is highlight & copy the web address from the web address bar when on the site of the write-up. (Then paste it)
And it begins. Bye now, Dogberry…or mistermister, or tweetiepie, or emmy…whatever it is today.
Interesting, Jara — Looks like someone (TPTB?) has instructed Danica (and/or her people) to start covering up. We better start screen capping, downloading, etc. before the evidence goes *poof*
And it’s the disappearing act that makes everything look that much more suspicious.
The sooner the pin is pulled the better,do these people ever wonder why their favorites never win, such classy comments… they should just DM each other like crazy on twitter or something ???? And THAT QUOTE from Danica…. it’s going to haunt her.
I CRINGED reading that quote, Sherry2.
I can here the judges gushing over her (Danica). “It’s only week 1 and u look amazing.” She will tear up(with fake tears) as if she can’t believe she did so well.
I am excited to see Danica and all the others dance. I hope that if she understands that many contestants over the years have had some amazing strengths and she (or Val) should just own up and embrace it. As I heard Meryl say in some interview where she was asked about coming on the show with some dance training to help her skating routines, she said something like “I figured that if (she named some dancing/singers, I think) can do the show it’s ok for me”. And we all know that if they all own up to their strengths (gymnastic, athletic, dance, etc.), then it calms down. Their personalities and their enjoying the show and doing their best is what wins votes. And the audience likes to feel like they can connect and that requires some owning up to whatever you are good at (or not good at…like Andy Dick and Bill E.).
I actually think Danica is just really excited to do the show and any tears we see from her may be real – I got the same vibe from Elizabeth last season. I just don’t know that downplaying her previous dance experience is going to work out the way she (or TPTB) might think it will.
That info you guys found from her website really shows her to be a complete ringer. The connection she makes directly back to DWTS and her own admission that she has too much ballroom to be on the show is either bravado or truth. Guess we will find out shortly but the whole “he had me do so much spinning” with her giddy laughing video looks a tad set up now.
Maybe she had just ballroom training and not latin – I know some people that are good at latin but kind of “suck” at ballroom and people that are good at ballroom but “suck” at latin (mostly guys, but some girls too).
I honestly do not take this video that seriously – like she is trying to act – because to me she just seems really excited to do it… I think they didn´t have an “official interwiev – in some show, if you know, what I mean- yet, where they would have asked her -” so I am waiting for that… if the interviewer will be good I am sure he will ask her… I really hope she will make an honest statement about it but right now I feel more like we are all guessing…
P.S. Just curious, what was with Sherri? I didn´t watch the show back then so I am kind of lost…
I think Danica is a bigger ringer than Meryl & Charlie. This is really interesting. Why did she act like the young school girl that never danced before in that clip. Sorry Danica your acting skills were really bad. We all could tell you were faking it.
Oh WEEE All I can say is they better up-front all of her training and make that differential clear to viewers like they did with Corbin and even making statements about Amber because she was “used to performing in front of audiences and had done some choreo in Glee” All of that is WAAAAY different than having regular ballroon training. And as someone said earlier, looks like Danika has had more of THAT than anyone else on this show.
Is Tango latin? Because there easa video of her doing the tango with her pro partner on her website which is no longer there.
Well RaineMayer, it also does not look good when Danica herself said she thinks she has too much training for DWTS (if you read the webpage).
Yes I love that statement and I hope it goes viral…..
I should clarify, don’t want to sound just mean, but I can’t stand the hypocrisy. Yes some former stars have had some training, but not EXTENSIVE ballroom training and this show is supposed to be about learning to dance, the “journey”, learning to partner dance etc. Having trained as she has with Gocha and Shorena (champions), Danika only has to learn specific choreography each week. She doesn’t even need Val !! and she has a whole week to concentrate on perfecting choreography while the rest struggle to learn the steps, moves and getting used to their partner and so on.
Honestly, the whole video was a turn off. Can’t stand women, who proclaim how smart and strong they are, and then act completely helpless and naive around men. “You’re amazing! Are you going to make me amazing?” Not feeling it at all! What is with these middle aged women who act like 12 year old girls with crushes on the popular boy.
Gocha not only taught her to dance but played a part in her movie, Inspector Mom Kidnapped in ten Easy Steps. He’s listed as part of the cast.
I hope someone grabs the 20/20 interview on YT because that could go “buh-bye” when Court drops the bomb. I’ll download it myself when I get home, but I’m at the office now and our system is locked down so I can’t get it for another hour or so. It’s not quite as damning as those words from the horse’s mouth, but you do get to see her dancing and she’s spinning without getting dizzy and giggly and knows exactly where to place her free arm.
@Cidra – Thankfully, someone sent me a link to the video on YouTube. But it couldn’t hurt to download it as well 😉
I don’t think you sound mean RaineMayer, not at all.
Look, I don’t wish ill will on anyone, but in this day and age of having every statement a celeb makes on the web still be accessible years later, it’s the height of not only hypocrisy but also idiocy to not expect that to come out. I hope that Danica and the producers will do the right thing and fully disclose her background ASAP. However it seems were seeing signs that instead of meeting the truth head on they’re throwing up smoke and mirrors. Not cool.
I agree with a lot of you. I don’t mind having ringers if they are HONEST. By now, M and C have established their previous experience, and we all understand it. but if D hasn’t, that’s a problem for me. And all this ballroom training does make me feel like she is more of a ringer, PH.
Now, a question. Like inka said, what happened wih Sherri? I didn’t watch that season, so…
@Aviva & Inka – Scroll up and find my first comment on this thread. There’s a link to the Sherri post. Long story short: she had been taking lessons at Maks & Val’s studio before her season was even announced, and we called her out on it after she tried to play it off like it never happened.
Yep, Court, better to go into CYA mode when engaging in incendiary activity.
By the way, is it a normal early test of a new student to see if they are able to spin or is it a C-bros thing? In one of Meryl/Maks’s interviews, Maks said he felt like an idiot after he said something like “I guess you can spin” to Meryl when he first met her.
@Cidra – I’m gonna pull the pin and RUN 🙂 Hehe. As for the spinning thing – Val always seems to get good spinners, but it’s usually because they’ve have some dance training whereby they would be taught how to properly spot their turns (so they don’t get dizzy). He may have had to drill it a bit more with Kelly & Zendaya, but I think Liz and now Danica are both pre-taught. No way in HELL would Danica be able to learn how to spot her turns during that short rehearsal with Val – it’s a skill that really takes months to learn, and years to perfect.
Good luck, Court, we’ll be prayin’ for ya! 😛
Has anyone from this site tweeted Kristyn Burtt about this story? She covers a lot of DWTS stories and with her Afterbuzz show. I have seen her post on this site so maybe she will see it anyway.
lol Court. Be sure you sticky it too.
She’ll see it, Nan. Whether she chooses to comment on it is up to her.
Ok, just catching up on this post (a lot can happen in a day! haha). I’m going to just say ditto to everyone else. I’m all for ringers. If we didn’t have a few each season I would probably get a bit bored. However, I’d rather Danica just come out and say that she’s taken dance lessons because it comes off as being sketchy otherwise.
And to go off of what everybody else said about her technique, not only were her rumba walks pretty great, but those Shenae Turns that she was doing were very good. She knew how to move her feet the right amount, open and close her arms properly, and the SPOTTING. Let me just tell you…as a dancer myself spotting is not easy to learn. Keeping your head/eyes focused on the same spot so you don’t get dizzy while doing many turns can’t be learned in a day.
Can’t wait for the grenade 😉
And just saw Court’s post about the spotting and Shenae turns after I wrote mine. Glad you agree! haha 🙂
If I remember correctly was it not KB that said people would realize the extent of Danica’s training or skill week one? Or something to that point.
I’m actually working on updating my “You think you’re a ringer” post – trying to get it out this weekend. 🙂
But yeah, Court. Dig deep. 😀
lol Heidi! I can’t wait!
Ask Nixon. It’s always the cover up that gets you. 🙂
Hell, they showed all kinds of video of Nicole dancing on DWTS when she was on. There was no hiding it. But then, We’re talking a whole different level of ringer at this point.
Kristyn already told someone on twitter she wasn’t going to get into it. I personally think it’s newsworthy, but…
I personally do not mind ringers. Most of the stars who have done well on this show have had past dance experience. There is simply no way you can learn how to master ballroom dancing within a few months of basic training. It takes years of training to get it right. What I don’t appreciate though is when reality TV tries to dumb down my intelligence. Like when DWTS takes a celebrity with an obvious dance background and tries too hard to pass them as someone who’s never really danced before. Like what they are doing with Danica in this video. I don’t know who’s idea it was to make her seem so inexperienced but I don’t like it. If you’re going to have ringers they should all be upfront about their experience. Sounds like TPTB are going to try to make the show go something like this: obvious ringers (Charlie/Meryl) vs. everyone else. That’ll be the main plotline that will run all season long, mark my words.
What bugs me about it, is that the videos and blogs about her dancing are “disappearing” left and right. Nicole didn’t do that.
Thanks for the link, Court!
A few other little things.
1. As a dancer, I can now see what you are saying about spotting. I’ve been dancing since I was 4. I’m 15 and still can’t spot very well. So I don’t understand how a newb could do that so well!
2. Chaînés tournes. I would have messed it up too, but it was bothering me. Sorry :).
Well, for what it’s worth, I have a copy of the 2008 20/20 interview. So if it disappears from the web, it can reappear. It really is sad that the evidence-hiding has begun.
It’s truly amazing how people on certain commentating sites have no problem ragging day in and out about Derek, his ringers, his goldenboy-ness and any other negative thing they can drag up and who also don’t SAY A WORD to defend him when others do it or never call them on some of the NOT truthful things that they blow out of proportion about him to the detriment of whoever his partner is. It’s almost like they have such a “thing” against him having the most MB’s they don’t give a second thought to his partners and the fact no matter how many he has, it is that partners only chance.
Some negativity is already spreading about him and this season. Pathetic, right? but you won’t hear any of these people speak up about that. In fact I’ll bet when somebody goes on their so-called “show” and starts in about Derek going after a “sympathy” vote, not one will say a word.
OK, I just have to ask which videos of Nicole were popping up? I think Bruno put it best when he described Nicole’s background as ‘bump and grind’. I know PCD performed on DWTS and I KNOW their music videos 😉 . So we all knew Nicole could dance *as a pop singer*. Did I miss something?
As for Danica, I’m going to be upfront. I really like her. I hope it’s not HER that is trying to down play the ringer status. And if it’s TPTB, really? What are you trying to gain from this? I just want the world to love Danica the way I do! 🙂
[…] an interesting discussion came about when Vogue posted this video of Danica & Val’s first rehearsal yesterday. In it, Danica seems to give the impression that she’s new to this whole dancing […]
Fire in the hole! *pulls pin & runs* https://www.puredwts.com/2014/03/11/puredwts-season-18-food-for-thought-poll-is-danica-this-seasons-secret-ringer/
Court, I trust you’ll be wearing a flak jacket for the next couple days, right?
Nathan, I’m too old for The Wonder Years but I want to like Danica too, but I can’t if she’s willing to go along with the script TPTB appear to be setting up for her and Val. It’s dishonest. She doesn’t need that kind of dubious “help”. So she needs to step up and own up to taking ballroom classes.
@Cidra – So far, there’s only been one troll – and she was already on comment moderation 😛 But the post has only been up for a few hours…guess we’ll see what happens. Putting on my Kevlar as we speak!
Nicole wasn’t this big a ringer, Cher. 🙂
Not sure what you’re asking, Nathan. Nicole’s videos were all out there for everyone to see, they weren’t popping up. And yes, she was not technically a bigger ringer than Mel B or Sabrina. And she’s not close to Elizabeth, Mya or Danica.
A man named John Kubicek did predictions for S18 DWTS at buddy tv.com. He takes great exception to Meryl and Charlie being on the show, yet picks Danica to win. Clearly he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
Question about the switch up — will the pros who have been voted out by the time that happens be available for switching, or is it limited to those who are still in the competition?
Maybe someone could mention that in the comments of the BuddyTV article. I am not on facebook and don’t want to register a new account.
What is the name of the song that Val and Danika danced to? And who sings it? I can not think of it?