PureDWTS Season 18 Food For Thought & POLL: Is Danica This Season’s “Secret Ringer”?
Let me lead off with this: I don’t mind ringers. Actually, I appreciate 2-3 in each season, for the simple reason that it ensures that we get to see some good dancing and that the bar is set high for the competition. The show needs ringers just like it needs really bad dancers, and every skill level in between – it’s part of what makes DWTS work. The ringers please those who just love great dancing, and the inexperienced dancers ensure we get to see some good growth arcs.
Now what I DO mind is when someone who has enough experience to be considered a ringer tries to insist that they aren’t – in our experience here at Pure, this certainly does not negate the fact that they do have a bit of an edge, and it also tends to rub some viewers the wrong way. The viewers are not stupid – they know when their intelligence is being insulted by the machinations of the powers that be or a celeb that tries to downplay his/her experience level. And they especially don’t like feeling like they’re being lied to.
So 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 thing – lots of giggling, clueless looks, and “Huh? What?” It’s what you’d normally expect during the first rehearsal with a celeb who’s never danced before – but considering that Danica has had some fairly extensive ballroom training, it kind of bugs. We know for a fact that she’s taken lessons before – check out this clip of her on 20/20 back in 2008:
While working on Inspector Mom (the TV movie mentioned in the clip), she met Gocha Chertkoev, a Latin dance champion who was playing the role of a dance instructor. Presumably, she started taking lessons with him, as that’s who we see her dancing with in the clip. Some have argued that she “only took lessons for that movie”, and it was a “one-time thing” – but if that’s the case, then why is her picture plastered all over the newsletter from Gocha’s dance studio as recently as a year ago? And why is he plugging her book while she takes a cha-cha class?
Possibly worth noting: Gocha is also one of the judges on the Georgian version of DWTS, Tsekvaven Varskvlavebi. Regardless, I get the feeling Danica’s lessons with Gocha weren’t just a one-time thing – they’ve more likely been ongoing. She’s also had some dance training for another film, 21 and a Wake-Up, courtesy of Jamie Bayard (Lacey Schwimmer’s former swing partner, and of SYTYCD fame). She talks about in more detail here, on this now-defunct post at her website. Yes, I’m aware it’s in code – that’s the only way to access it now that it’s been conveniently removed from her website (thank goodness for caching!). You’ll see why in the excerpt below – pertinent parts in bold:
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!”
Sorry, but I’m having a harder and harder time buying the whole “I’m new at this!!!” act of their rehearsal video, and this interview that she herself posted presents some pretty damning evidence that she is, in fact, a ringer. The rehearsal video itself is a bit shady, too – my boyfriend (who has been teaching ballroom for 12 years) even remarked that “It’s almost like she’s trying too hard to act confused for the first half – she clearly has danced salsa before, she’s following him pretty easily.” As for the second half of the video? “She’s already doing rumba walks with great hip action and transfer of weight, and she’s spotting turns like she’s been taught before. No way Val could have taught her that in one short rehearsal.”
So what’s my beef? The fact that Danica has had some pretty extensive ballroom training is being conveniently swept under the rug, while Meryl & Charlie get raked across the coals for being “practically professional ballroom dancers already!” If you’re going to cry that “DWTS is for celebs with no dance experience!” (not true, but whatever floats your boat) and that it’s “unfair” that Meryl & Charlie get to be on the show this season – then it’s only fair that you call Danica out, too. But for whatever reason, the two Olympians are the ones fielding most of the cries of foul from viewers, while Danica flies under the radar, with incriminating blog posts being quietly removed from her site and mentions of her previous dance experience being conveniently omitted from interviews. And to what end? I like to think that Danica herself is too smart and too confident to let a few cries of “Ringer!! RINGER!!!” deter her from being open and honest about her dancing. I’m leaning more towards someone from further up the chain at DWTS “gently encouraging” her to downplay her dance experience – it’s happened before. Sabrina mentioned in an interview once that she was told by producers to “dumb down” her dancing during the first few weeks of her original season, in order to give the impression of a much more level playing field. Sabrina (honest as a girl scout) didn’t comply, but it does set a precedent for what might be going on now with Danica – or it may even be someone from her own camp, such as a publicist, trying to paint a better picture of her client with regards to the show.
I guess overall, I’m just left feeling a bit…deceived by the whole thing. I do not like having my intelligence insulted, and trying to pass Danica off as a beginner to me is insulting. I’m left with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, as I did back in season 14 when Sherri Shepherd tried to downplay the fact that she took lessons at Maks & Val’s studio immediately prior to being cast on DWTS. In both Danica AND Sherri’s cases, I think the whole situation would be a lot better-received by fans had they just been honest about it from the get-go, instead of lying by omission, dodging questions, and dancing around the truth before finally coming clean. Hiding things implies some sort of guilt on the part of the hider. 🙂 I actually really like her as a person, and I’m hoping that Danica, in the interest of full disclosure, is able to be open about her previous experience – I really don’t think being labeled a “ringer” is going to hurt her OR help her. Ringers don’t always win, and they don’t always lose. Unless, of course, they’re paired with Derek – in which case they ALWAYS win…cause “Ugh, Derek always gets all the good partners!!!”, y’all. 😉
So all of that being said…what do YOU guys think of Danica and her previous experience? Is she a ringer, or not a ringer? Vote in our poll and weigh in down in the comments!
I know Meryl mentioned Nicole among others as examples of celebs with other dance experience. True but no one had ballroom experience like Danica before. Nicole, Mya and been Amber who people called a ringer had to learn ballroom. Unless Danica has to do hip hop, she will not be challenged dance wise. Now Val will downplay it. Always does. It is unfortunate
Kristin on afterbuzz will not discuss it. It is a good topic. No celeb had ballroom experience like which is different from zendaya.
Well C brothers, you got the ringers. Let’s see you guys bring it with the amazing performances. Sure it is just so easy, right! Because that is what they kept saying about Derek.
I voted for “I don’t care if she’s a ringer”, but, let’s be honest about it. The fact that she isn’t being honest is going to work against her.
Interesting read. In all honesty, like you said, I don’t care about someone having dance lessons prior to DWTS because it’s not like the first time that has happened but them lying about her being a ringer is really deceiving.
On opening night, I bet their plan was to downgrade her dance experience and then have her “shock” us with how good she actually is.
I hope Val never complains about Derek having a ringer because the only “bad” season he had was his first and lets be honest, most pros don’t get ringers their first season. Other than that, he’s been pretty fortunate with the partners he’s had.
When all’s said & done, I like Danica and she seems like someone I’d get along well with. I just don’t think it’s going to be particularly fair when, in week 1, the judges are gushing over “what a natural!” she is, when we know that she’s had some training in the past. Kinda sets the bar artificially high for someone like Candace, who is about the same age – they’re already going to draw comparisons, so it’s almost like “Danica is a beginner too and she went out there and killed it. Why didn’t you kill it, Candace?”
I don’t mind ringers either, but don’t like being manipulated. True ringers don’t always win, but according to Tony if u have a partner with dance experience u are guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals. lol
I think the plan is for Maks to win Bringing ‘ringers’ in is to make the show interesting to help ratings.
I too don’t care if she’s a ringer but like I said in my earlier post I want all ringers to be honest. There should be no “secret ringers” on the show with secret agendas. I don’t want to see Charlie/Meryl vs. everyone else. I don’t want to see Charlie/Meryl getting all the fan flack for having dance experience while others on the show are allowed to fly under the radar. That to me is more unfair then being an honest ringer.
I am also a fan of Danica. Great role models for girls and that child actors can turn out so well. But I am most bothered by the deception. Kinda how Carrie Ann gushed over katherjne’s foxtrot when she already knew how to dance foxtrot.
I would rather not have someone dishonest than not have a ringer. Just be honest! I respect Sabrina for that.
I voted Idc! The whole ringer talk is annoying. If they have experience they have experience..oh well reality tv.
I don’t care if she learned ballet from Mikhail Baryshnikov in mother Russia.
Just tell us. Be open about it. Be proud.
All hiding it does is make people think them dishonest and not only make Danica look bad but Val. Because Someone is TELLING him to go along with it. Have I always agreed with Val or about Val? No. But he’s a darn good dancer and choreographer and TPTB should have more faith in him than they apparently are showing. Something like this isn’t even about Danica. It’s about the higher ups trying to treat their audience like they don’t have the cells in their brains to put the puzzle pieces together.
I also have to make this comment. If this had been Derek’s partner, would everyone not know by now? Just sayin’.
Oh and Billy Dee took tap when he was a kid but HE brought it up at Wizard World. If it had been Emma’s partner they tried this with I’d be just as peeved and you all should know how I and the Rioters feel about Emma.
I’m going to go click my glittery red slippers together and keep repeating “Just a glittery dance show. Just a glittery dance show.”
Excellent post and pulled together quickly and well. Hopefully this will spread further than this site and she will at least come clean on her experience which is extensive. Imo the most damning thing are her own comments on her ballroom talent.
Has she actually been asked about her experience?. I know they were interviewed after the reveal but all the interviewers seemed to assume she was like Candace in her dance experience. George from OTRC didn’t ask her about her experience at all. She really is flying under the radar.
I voted “Yes. She’s been taking ballroom lessons for a long time, so she does have an edge.” I don’t mind that she’s a ringer though because I like having ringers as I want to see good dancing. As everyone mentioned, I just want her to come clean about the experience that she’s had. I don’t think it’s fair that Meryl and Charlie are taking all the ringer heat and Danica is going to be this star who learns so fast when she herself has said she thinks she has too much experience for the show. She seems fun and like a partner who could actually be a good match for Val (aka I maybe won’t hate him this season) so I hope she does come clean.
@Nan- I don’t think media outlet is going to flat out ask somebody that isn’t known for dancing about their experience, whereas Meryl and Charlie are always going to get that question. They do however get the questions like “are you nervous?” to which she could say something simple like, I’ve done a little bit of ballroom dancing but I’m still nervous about the extent of it. Just to briefly touch on it at some point would make me personally happy. But yes, I agree that she is flying under the radar.
I’m with others on this thread – I don’t necessarily mind ringers, but I don’t like being manipulated.
This is turning out to be a real WTF? season for me. On one hand, we have 2 Ice *DANCERS* (and they did a really nice “Quickstep” in their short program) and Danica; on the other we have a double amputee… Pfffffffft.
Maybe DWTS is quickly running out of stars to cast so now they have to include people with previous extended dance experience, including ballroom? Who knows, maybe they will get a Paula Abdul type next season.
– – I don’t have problems with ringers with some history of dance but Danika’s IMBD profile starts with a sentence ending, “she began acting at a young age IN HER MOTHERS DANCE STUDIO”. This first rehearsal vid is ridiculous, it all just makes me gag. Then there’s the other evidence, the spotting, the chaines, the rumba walk…..she’s had YEARS of training. And the people she’s trained with, highly regarded.
I think the plan is to let Meryl and Charlie take the heat and backlash, even tho as I said in an earlier post, I don’t think they are half the ringers Danika is. Their “training” in Ballroom is very different than actual concentrated ballroom training and dancing. And if the regular audience is unaware of Danika’s years of ballroom trng, M&C will be the ones taking the big hit as ringers and I think it might really work against them to a larger degree than we might think. That really bugs me because I want Charlie to at least make it to finals.
It’s the deception, the double standard, the hypocrisy the subterfuge and manipulation….ACKKKK
Fantastic blog post, Court! This story needed to be told and I hope it gains traction. I voted “Yes…she does have an advantage”, but it’s only an advantage as long as the show keeps knowledge of her extensive ballroom background away from the majority of the DWTS audience. As soon as viewers know about her previous dance experience, the playing field levels because *all* the celebs bring their own advantages to the ballroom whether it be experience, personality, compelling backstory, or a large devoted fanbase.
I want to see good dancing every season. So I’m in the camp that says to DWTS: “bring on the ringers” – and to that I add, “pair them with your best pro choreographers (Val, Karina, Derek). Just be *honest* with the audience. Let the viewers decide for themselves how much a celeb’s previous experience matters to them. You might be pleasantly surprised that we’re not as “stupid” as you think we are.
As I said in another comment, Danica strikes me as an intelligent, pleasant woman whom I’d be pleased to support; but only if she’s not playing me for a fool.
What about the judging though. The judges get the fans voting in certain ways too. If they are unaware of her experience, how can they fairly judge a routine. With Danica flying under the radar and this not being admitted to, the judges will just assume she has as much experience as someone who “likes to dance” and they will pimp the scores and the celeb as having an amazing routine and lines etc that are somehow appearing out of a couple of weeks practicing. I think the judges can help sway votes. IMO a ringer is an unacknowledged experienced dancer. A ringer is be definition deceiving people. Meryl and Charlie, as well as Amy are athletes with natural advantages but what they have is common knowledge so imo they are not ringers, just very accomplished in their fields. Their advantage comes from being good at their profession and that isn’t hidden ballroom experience.
Tony should tell that to Elizabeth and Christina…and Sabrina. To name only three. Of course, Tony doesn’t actually count any of Maks, Val’s or his own when counting up people with dance experience.
Don’t forget about the call out of Jennifer Grey about her ‘previous’ dance experience/ringer status for her training 20 years prior for Dirty Dancing.
Honestly, prior dance experience helps, but not as much as personality/stage presence, good choreography, a partner who designs dances to spotlight the skill or hide the weaknesses of the star and a PTB and/or judges (I never know if they are directed or it is all them) that either support and promote how ‘successful’ they are or at least doesn’t ‘Macchio’ them off the show.
Let her on, but I agree, but truthful on it. Admit the training – but spin it that it is different, it’s live, it’s a new routine every week – there’s a lot in play on why the training would only be a part of their success…
Great post. I voted yes. The thing that bothers me is the lying. I hate to tell the producers this, but the typical demographic (not necessarily the one they are trying to get) have been around the block a few times, have watched this show for multiple seasons and is not stupid. Heck every time Derek has won the excuse was “oh he had a ringer.” Well I think Mel B would have qualified and Zendaya surely did, but I digress. Just be honest. Now this has put a bad taste in my mouth about Danika, not because she has dance experience but because she is trying to hide it. Here is a little warning Val…your choreography better be out of this world, because with a ringer we the viewers will judge you more harshly. Now Meryl and Charlie are a little different to me. I remember in some interview Derek did with them prior to the Olympics, he said Ice dancers move differently than ballroom dancers. In fact, he said Ice dancers can do some lifts and things that ballroom dancers can’t and the foot work is different. In my mind that makes Danika the biggest winner of all.
Hats off for following the cold trail of Danica’s dance experience. I’m in the group who does not like being lied to on any level. This would include “just a glittery dance show”. Frankly, I find her remark about DWTS flippant at best, and arrogant at its worst. Just a random question for the mods, that you may choose not to interest. How many hits does your site receive during the upstart of each season? While this board is pro Derek Hough 🙂 and DWTS in general, I think your info is on point and thought provoking, and well, fair and balanced. I’m just wondering how much influence your detective work has on some of the die-hard DWTS fan-base. I have no intentions of voting for Danica, good dancer or not. She has that Marie Osmond “edge” for me. Fingernails on the blackboard. Okay for all you “kids”, a blackboard is the antique version of the white boards now used in your virtual classrooms! HA HA
I think they really want Val to win this season. Her mother owns a ballroom dance studio n she’s been taking ballroom lessons since 2008.
Not too sure about Meryl n Charlie if they even make the semis being that people that like them have to split their votes altho Meryl is more popular. Right now according to twitter followers, Derek folks run fifth. But u never know because Snooki had over 6M followers (the most for that season) n look where she/they landed up.
Meant to say…”Danica’s” mother owns a ballroom dance studio n she’s been taking ballroom lessons since 2008.
It’s disingenuous at best and rather morally challenged at worst to let Meryl and Charlie take all the ringer heat while a genuine ringer is allowed to fly under the radar.
Come clean. Show up to dance. Let the chips fall where they may. People might not like to hear it at first but for the most part we respect honesty.
On a ridiculous note, Danica probably has more ballroom experience than last seasons pro, Tyne!
Nice try, Shelly – but if you want your comment to actually see the light of day, I recommend NOT attacking both the author and the other posters here. And your reading comprehension skills could really use some work – I mentioned SEVERAL times that I don’t think it’s been Danica’s choice to keep mum on the details here. How ’bout YOU “be honest” – and admit that you probably didn’t read very thoroughly and went straight to berating those here? 😉
I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and wait until the first episode or an interview before I assume the worst. I will admit the first rehearsal video was not what I was expecting. I didn’t expect her to be so wide-eyed about the whole thing. I’m a Val fan and I think Danica seems like a smart, genuine person, so I wish them the best but I will be put off if they/she doesn’t come forward with more details about her background.
Wonder if the story gains any traction now that it’s “out there”…
If the comment trash bin is any indicator, feathers have certainly been ruffled by this little ditty 😛
I feel like I’m repeating this a lot, but I actually really like Danica – and I’m hoping that the glaring omissions of her dance experience were just a fluke and that we’re going to get full disclosure come Monday night. She seems like she’s got a good head on her shoulders, which is why I’m more inclined to think she might have been encouraged by TPTB to downplay her experience in order to fit their storyboard for this season. Seems like she’s already being set up to be the dark horse to Meryl & Charlie’s golden girl & boy. But is she really a “dark horse” if she’s had just as much (if not more) ballroom experience than Meryl & Charlie? I just don’t want to be played like a fool (and I don’t want our readers to, either) by the machinations of the man behind the curtain.
@Susan2, agreed re Tyne and Danica. You are definitely right! Tyne looked like Crash Course ballroom, and Danica has been taking lessons. So yeah.
@dancewithyou – Let’s just put it this way: I’m fulling expecting the pro-Maks & Val camp to descend upon Pure by the end of the day today to berate us for our “character assassination” of Danica 😛 If this story gains the same traction that the Sherri Shepherd one did two years ago, then I would expect some bigger news outlets to suddenly start talking about how Danica “might have more experience than you think”. It’s funny how our detractors claim that they “don’t go to PureDWTS, it’s just garbage!” but they’re the first to retweet a link to a post they disagree with and encourage their followers to “teach those b*tches at Pure a lesson!”. Hehe…thanks for the hits, dummies 😉 I rather love being the Chick-Fil-A of DWTS websites – you may disagree with what we say and hate us with a passion, but the goods are just too delicious to stay away…
@Susan2 – hahaha, I kind of love your comment about Danica and Tyne. Never thought about it that way!
I agree with everyone else. Just. Be. Honest. You will get more support that way than trying to play the viewers as people that don’t have a clue as to what’s going on. I don’t have a problem with Danica, but she won’t be getting my support because of her partner. I’m sorry, but the man just makes me cringe and I either change the channel or walk out of the room when he’s on. I’m hoping she won’t look like a deer caught in the headlights like Elizabeth always did. TPTB must really want him to win this year. I’m wondering, though, if he can’t manage to win this year after 3 ringers in a row, will that be the end of the line for him?
Do you think it might be harder to get traction on this story than Sherri’s since Sherri had a higher profile at the time (as one of The View’s hosts) than Danica currently does?
I’ve got my fingers crossed that the bigger news outlets have their “web sniffers” working *and* that no A-lister does anything stupid which would automatically attract all eyeballs.
I am torn here. In one sense, I am not surprised she has past experience. It explains how she looks so good and has a lot of confidence. Saying that, we have had ringers on the show before. I remember when you guys posted the video of Katherine and thinking “Well, we have one of out finalists”. Sherri was another one that got a little bit of help before her season and it definitely showed in her confidence (she was so much fun to watch…how she got voted out that season that early still shocks me). I just wish she would be honest and own up to past experience. But then again she has Val so it’s probably going to be Kelly Monaco 2.0 in terms of him overdoing it sometimes so they may get voted out early in the game (Loved Kelly on the all-star season but Val really over-did it sometimes)
Thing is she has a brain and can say no. According to her comment about being asked to do the show, she knows she has lots of experience. So why lie about it? Perhaps she figures she is levelling the playing field etc. But imo, she is not as innocent on this and has entered into a bit of a cover up on her skill level. Sure, she seems nice and all but it takes two to make it seem as if she is a novice dancer and she is one of the two.
I really don’t see the dishonesty. She asked Val to “make her awesome.” She has not been taken dance lesson as training or to become a professional dancer like some of the athletic skaters, gymnasts and Nicole, Sabrina, or Corbin. She is asking one of the greatest ballroom dancers in the world to make her better. That does not seem dishonest at all. If she was asked about her dance experience and lied, that would be dishonest.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the show goes, Marla, in regards to her dishonesty or lack thereof. But if you’re trying to tell the people who post here that Danica is NOT a bigger ringer (by far) than Nicole, Sabrina or Corbin you’re going to find yourself on the wrong end of a lot of arguments. There is not a thinking, rational person out there who would try to make that argument, once they learn about her ballroom training – something NO ONE other than her, Donny Osmond and Sherri Shepherd had before the show started – and it sounds like she’s way farther along than Donny or Sherri. The facts are against you.
This site is fairly new to me. I discovered it after Season 16 and so happy I did. When I heard Zendaya had been dancing practically all her life but was treated like a non-experienced dancer, I was furious, because it was not talked about much. She had the advantage over other celebrities because they kept it quiet. This bothers me with Danica. If she has experience, I hope someone will make it known to viewers. It is being dishonest to ignore the facts. Thanks for making this known to us. I don’t have time to search for this info.
You’ve totally missed the point of this post, Marla. And you’re refusing to believe FACTS that we’ve presented here. FACT: she has had some dance training. You can’t really argue that. And once again, I have to urge someone to read more carefully: this goes beyond the rehearsal video. This extends to the fact that NOBODY is talking about her dance experience. Funny how some fans hone in on one item that supports their claims, while disregarding everything else presented. And Val, “one of the greatest ballroom dancers in the world”? Hehe…that was my laugh for the day. Most current European amateurs could dance circles around Val. Michael Malitowski would eat him for lunch, and Riccardo Cocchi would SCHOOL him.
The dishonesty is in hiding the fact that she’s been taking ballroom classes for a while. There’s nothing wrong with her asking Val to “make her awesome” — all the celebs want their pro to make them good. It’s acting like this is all new to her when, in fact, she’s had plenty of ballroom dance lessons that bothers me.
She has had enough ballroom for even her to think she was too experienced to be on the show! To me that is quite telling. She calls herself out as being a ringer, if she did the show, whenever that quote was taken that was in this post. So it isn’t just us stating what we think is fact, she is saying in her opinion, that it is so. Case closed imo. Tptb are setting Val up to win for whatever reason. Perhaps Maks’ return was only if both of them had the potential to win. Maks got Meryl and Val got the secret ringer.
I disagree with your assertion that European ametures could dance circles around val. It really isn’t all that funny.
Has anyone come out and talked about their dance experience? Do the stars typically talk about their dance experience before the season begins? Just curious.
And because Danica and Candace have the same demographic for their fans, they will be lumped together by the judges. Only one will have an incredible, surprising (!) debut on Monday and one will be a legitimate new ballroom dancer.
I love ringers, Zendaya, Nicole, Melissa, Sabrina etc. etc. have had some of the best routines of all time and I love seeing such high caliber of dancing but I do hate that Danica’s playing the beginner card. I wonder if she’s worried that everyone will have such high expectations if she announces that she’s had some ballroom training in the past? It’s probably not as much training as Meryl has had but maybe she’s worried that everyone will compare her to Meryl since they both have an advantage? I’m anxious to see how she does next week. Good job on the post guys! So well put together and I love that there’s so many facts that support your thinking.
You’re right, Marla – it’s not funny, because Val’s technique has deteriorated while he’s been on DWTS. Thank goodness he retired, because I doubt he could hack it as a pro competitor anymore. And the European amateurs are indeed better than a lot of American pros – even dancing as an amateur in Italy, Riccardo was better than Louis Van Amstel dancing as a pro in America. It’s the work ethic – they drill technique, technique, technique, while the Americans focus more on showmanship.
And yes, it does usually come out BEFORE the show starts which celebs have had some experience – news outlets do dig that stuff up. Elizabeth Berkeley was grilled on her dance experience before last season. Charlie & Meryl are getting grilled about theirs now. So why does Danica get a free pass?
Oooh I love Riccardo but I digress…..and how would the viewers know to ask her or even entertain the idea if it’s all played off and ignored. There is also something called “lying by omission” and meanwhile the screams and outrage goes on and on about how Meryl and Charlies shouldn’t even be on the show.
I certainly hope the judges are clued in as well, because they raved about Sherri’s performances and went along with the program, subtly guiding the at-home audience to think she wasn’t making mistakes, doing alot of standing and shimmying, UNTIL that word got out. All of a sudden, she wasn’t that great after all and there were things she needed to work harder on. There fine with all the stories and plans as long as they feel MOST of the audience is clueless. The judges will be judging Meryl+Charlie to a much higher standard and Danika needs more scrutiny than they do because ballroom on ice is not like ballroom on wood !
Marla, I wouldn’t disagree too strongly with C about her assertion them dancing around Val, because she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to dance. And, what she doesn’t know, she’s got a boyfriend who is in that world. She’s never lied on this site, and what she says can be backed up by fact, when needed. That’s not saying that Val isn’t a great dancer… He is!
Do people talk about their dance experience before? Some may, others may not. Most don’t go deleting proof of prior dance experience off their website and other things to hide it.
I just want honesty. And for all of the celebrities to be treated the same, but I know that is never going to happen, so I will settle for any prior experience to NOT be hidden.
Riccardo Cocchi, Sergey Surkov and Michael Malitowski are the Maybachs and Bentleys of International Latin world.
Val, in his competition days was more of a BMW. As Courtney said, his technique has slipped since he joined the show. It happens to all the pros. Even my beloved Karina. The top dogs in Ballroom take classes and practice every day or their technique will slip as well.
European amateurs eat, breathe, drink, sleep and obsess Ballroom 24/7. They have to because it’s such a competitive field over there.
I like Danica too. Hell I even like Val sometimes. I don’t however like intentional lying and manipulation.
I also voted yes and for the same reasons as many of the others. Last season both Amber and Corbin were hammered as being ringers even though they had little, if any, ballroom training. This season it’s Meryl and Charlie. Derek is right, ice dancing and ballroom dancing is not the same. While their ice dancing experience may give them a bit of an edge, they are not ringers.
The only true ringer this season is Danica. She’s had plenty of training in professional ballroom dancing with top notch instructors. Now, I don’t care if the failure to disclose this info was suggested by TPTB, no one forced Danica to engage in this deceptive charade. And Val, oh pleaseeeeeee, he’s fully aware of Danica’s prior training, yet in that insulting rehearsal clip, they portrayed her as some giggle novice new to ballroom dancing. I will never vote for Danica or Val. If she had been partnered with Derek, exposure of the Ringer Queen training would have been blasted all over the internet by the Derek haters.
I like your analogy, Susan2 – personally, I like to think of Riccardo as the Bugatti of the ballroom world: fantastic dancer, and an all-around classy, awesome human being. One of the few elite pros I know that can talk the talk as well as walk the walk – I find that a lot of the high-level European dancers tend to come across as a bit…cold. Great dancers, but maybe not the most approachable people. I guess it’s that whole “eat, sleep, live, and breathe dance” mentality.
And yes, pretty much ALL of the pros tend to slip in their technique a bit when doing DWTS – they’re not competing as pros anymore, and they’re often having to “dumb down” both their choreography and their own dancing in order to match the skill level of their partner. The most notable example I can think of is Julianne – she left after season 8, and when she came back in season 13 (I think) to dance on a results show with Derek, her Latin technique had noticeably slipped. It’s very much one of those “use it or lose it” skills.
I am also in the camp of not seeing the dishonesty or hiding, at least not yet, if its say week 3 and she still has not mentioned her dance experience, then I will definitely think she has given herself an unfair advantage by not disclosing, but as of right now, the show hasnt even started yet.
I also see Danica struggling to make it out of the middle of the pack this season, so I don’t think TPTB gave Val Danica because they secretly want him to win this season. If they wanted them to win, they wouldnt have:
1) brought Danica in the same season as someone who would obviously, and potentially detrimentally split her fan vote in Candace. Who is arguably more popular, and definitely more recently popular.
2) put her on the same season with two gold medal “American Sweetheart” Olympians with extensive Dance training, and on top of that, give one of them to his vastly more popular brother.
She has been begging to be on this show, so why now? I think they threw her in because her dance experience wouldnt be that big of an advantage this season, because there are much bigger gets, especially if you throw in the fanbases of Cody/James, and the amazingly inspirational story of Amy Purdy.
@chelle – According to her blog post, she hasn’t been begging to do the show – they’ve been asking her, and she had turned them down multiple times. That’s a direct quote from the blog that was posted on her site.
And by the same logic you applied to the vote splitting between Candace & Danica – James & Cody and Meryl & Charlie will also be splitting votes, with Amy possibly thrown in as a 3rd vote-splitting Olympian. So they’re kind of all in the same boat, with regards to vote-splitting. It’s not any more advantageous to James/Cody or Meryl/Charlie.
I am very disappointed in Kristyn Burtt. Her latest article on her blog is dismissive at best. Not impressed that she thinks just because ringers don’t always win, that she gets a free pass.
Also to add strictly to play devil’s advocate, who knows how extensive her training is?
She trained with this Gocha guy for a movie in 2007 and with that sytycd guy for another movie, but after that how much? Has she trained everyday? once a month? a couple of classes a year? I think that is the only way to determine If she is the biggest ringer ever, or even the biggest ringer this season.
But like most have said, her being a ringer is not the problem, its her disclosing that, so as long as she does that, im cool
I see that she has dance experience, but I don’t see the part about her being dishonest about it. I have not seen where she was asked about it and she refused, or lied about it. The video where she met Val for the first time, I think she was kind of nervous. You don’t meet someone for the first time and say “Oh I know all this stuff”, which she might or might not. Taking ballroom classes does not make you a professional, and she does not dance for a living. I will wait and see going forward if she does not mention it , then I can say she is not honest.
Oh, I read the blog post differently. As, in people have asked her about doing the show, not that DWTS had asked her, and I dont see where she said she had turned them down. I think in one of her interviews this season, she said she has been wanting to do this show for a while, correct me if im wrong.
Yeah, they will all vote split, but i see a difference in vote splitting of the large olympian fan base, 6 million 13 yr old girls, and whatever is left of a 90s nostalgic tv fanbase.
Trying to hide her ballroom dance experience would make viewers feel manipulated if they found out.
But I think if they were upfront about it, the majority of viewers would not support her.
So how would she get the votes to win otherwise?
She said she probsbly had too much professional experience at this point to be on the show.
I think many of you are misinterpreting outright dishonesty and what I like to refer to as “lying by omission”. She’s not saying “I don’t have any previous experience!”; it’s just something that conveniently isn’t coming up in any interviews. And it’s not necessarily her – like I’ve said at least 10 times now, SOMEBODY UPSTAIRS MAY BE PULLING SOME STRINGS. Whereas Charlie & Meryl get asked in almost every interview “So how is your dance experience going to help you in the competition?” nobody is asking Danica the same questions…nor is she volunteering the information. I realize that it’s super easy (and super fun, for some of you) to point the finger and go “You’re a big meanie for calling Danica a liar!” But if you read a bit more carefully, you’ll see that my point is more “So…why is nobody bringing this up?”, not “Liar liar, pants on fire!”
@chelle – If you READ THE INTERVIEW IN THIS POST, it seems to indicate that she “dances whenever she can!” and she herself even admits that she “might have too much experience for DWTS”. These words are straight from her mouth. I don’t know about you, but IMO, if she’s saying those things, the dance lessons certainly aren’t just a “one-time thing”.
@Quest – Nobody is saying that Danica is a “pro” (although her own assertion that she “might have too much experience for DWTS” is rather telling) or that she’s doing it for a living – but taking ballroom classes beforehand will certainly give you an edge in a BALLROOM DANCING COMPETITION. All any of us really want is an acknowledgement that yes, she has a bit of an edge that some of the other contestants don’t.
re #55, I think Kristyn has a different role to play in the coverage of dwts. She works for afterbuzz and therefore tries to keep things positive and tries to stay fairly neutral about the pros etc. If she was completely dismissive she wouldn’t have referred to Courtney’s report at all, or certainly wouldn’t have talked about it be well researched…I think it’s her way of pointing people to information so they can make their own decisions.
@ nana
Yeah, but what does that really mean and when did she say it?
Was it before the Nicoles, myas, evans? She could have thought that ANY ballroom or dance experience excluded you from being on the show. So, I don’t necessarily think it speaks to the magnitude of her training.
I did read the post, and i agree, i dont think her dancing is a ‘one-time thing’, as i never said so.
I agree that there are different types of dishonesty, I just don’t think she has been either at this point. She has had all of two interviews, so I’m still in the wait and see boat.
I also don’t think you are being a ‘meanie’, I think great research went into this, and I am glad it was brought up.
I have nothing but love & respect for Kristyn & the Afterbuzz crew, and I appreciate her plugging my write-up. Their capacity in covering DWTS is just different than ours – they have to tread a bit more carefully with regards to reporting on more speculative or controversial topics, as they have to consider how some of their guests from the show itself might react. I think Kristyn does the best she can to keep a positive, neutral tone to the show – but inevitably, she does get asked some of the more pointed questions by fans since she’s “in the know” and has to handle them as carefully as she can. I know the ringer discussion is tiresome to some – in the end, I don’t really care if someone is a ringer or not. What I care more about is being honest and not trying to deceive the fans – we get deceived enough by the machinations of TPTB, so if there’s anything I can do to make sure the fans are getting the straight dope, I’m gonna do it. And thankfully, we at Pure really don’t have anyone involved with the show that we have to appease with our writing, so we can get away with some of the more controversial, inflammatory reporting. It’s just different.
Thanks for posting all of this information. I loved her as Winnie. I admire her book smarts. Has always seemed like a great kid/girl/woman. That being said, is she being dishonest now? There seems to be some different thoughts on this. Have we seen her directly asked about past dancing experiences and she lied? No. BUT the clip of their rehearsal video was clearly a lie. It very much was made to look like she is a newbie to all of this. She is not. Heck, even if her only “ringer” status was because she grew up with a mother who owned a dance studio. She danced at that dance studio. She is used to long hours of rehearsal and it would be like riding a bike, the steps and movement would come right back. But then you couple it with the fact that she has trained ballroom, even if it was only for some movies, it still does not make her a newbie at this. Some of the things you posted, they show her at the studio after a class she took, she was pictured at their studio with her son. ?????….That was not done when she was making that movie, her son wasn’t born yet. That is much more recent. Val isn’t my favorite but I usually vote for the celebrity or that particular dance. So I have voted for Val and his partner before. Frankly, looking over this season’s celebrities, I assumed I would throw some votes to Danica and Val just because of the good feelings I have about her. Winnie Cooper!!!! Smart, math girl. Empowering young girls to learn math, etc. but if they keep playing this like she’s never danced before. I won’t be sending any votes their way. I don’t have a problem with ringers. I’ve voted for them before. It takes all skill levels to make a season of this show work. But DO NOT OUTRIGHT LIE TO ME!!! Thanks for all your hard work ladies!!!
@cheryl
I think that is all in how you interpret the video. You and others got her pretending to be a newbie out of it, I didnt.
I so a super-hyper overly excited woman ready to practice. She wasnt stumbling over her feet or pretending like she didnt know how to spin. The only time she looked lost was when Val was trying to freestyle, which is understandable for someone trained or not.
There is more than talk, Marla, there is VIDEO shown on DWTS of other people who had dance experience, regardless of how much or how little. Oddly, it wasn’t done for Zendaya. And now it appears they’re trying to cover up Danica’s. And both were partnered with Val. Interesting. 😀 Actually, there was no video of Donny, but I think he straight up said it on ET or some such. Sherri tried hard to hide it and failed. But most other people with some degree of dance experience were well known in advance and it wasn’t hidden. And you can bet your ASS you would be singing a much different tune if Derek were dancing with her.
Pehaps you’ll change your tune real quick if Derek gets her in the switch. 😀
@Chelle, in response to your devils advocate post, #56…..
Jennifer Grey had some dance training for Dirty Dancing, and that was IT! 25 years later, she was on DWTS. In between those times, she didn’t dance. She had been in an accident not too long after, and had lived with a lot of pain for probably over 20 years, and just before she came on, she had surgery to place pins in her neck. She was dragged over the coals with a lot of people complaining that she CAN’T be on the show, she’s a ringer, she’s got prior experience, she was trained for the movie, etc and so on…. It didn’t matter that it had been 25 years, or that every move on the floor had to be dr approved to make sure she wasn’t going to be paralyzed….. She danced 25 years ago for Dirty Dancing, so she must be a ringer.
Now, we have Danica, who also got dance training for a movie, and not that long ago. Since then, she has gone back for more classes… We don’t know how much, but enough that at more than one point, she said no to being on the show, because SHE said she had too much experience.
So why wasn’t it okay for one woman to come on the show 25 years after being trained for a movie, when she hadn’t danced at all since then, while it’s okay for another woman to come on the show a few years after being trained for a movie, when she’s continued training?
Jara, Meryl and Charlie are ringers by the standards we typically use for DWTS, although perhaps not by the true definition of the word. That said, the same people who are fine with Meryl dancing now, were whining and complaining about her when they thought she would dance with Derek. 😀
Er, you’re throwing out some red herrings now, chelle. So, because you don’t think she’ll get the votes it’s okay to hide her dance experience? You forget that scores count too. And what difference does it make if they asked her or she wanted to do the show, when SHE SAID that she had too much dance experience to do it?
Well, Afterbuzz don’t *have to* tread more carefully, they just choose to so they don’t lose any sources. And since they’re doing entertainment reporting, not working for the New York Times, that’s understandable. But it’s a fine line. 🙂 At some point you risk credibility. Which might be why they stay away from some of the controversial topics. Better safe than sorry.
@PH – Donny was always very open about having taken ballroom classes before DWTS – I think he even went so far as to say he took them IN PREPARATION FOR DWTS. And he still managed to win – so I’m not really understanding the argument calypso is trying to make is that she would turn off too many viewers with her previous experience, hence her need to lie about it.
Good point, Court. But the people on the other side of this argument are throwing out as many excuses as they can hoping something sticks. 🙂
I agree that she should not be on the show and she is a cheater, so why is she?? I thought that first rehearsal was a bit suspicious too. Wonder if anyone has asked her about that on twitter… I feel for Val, because I think he’s a great teacher and he’s one of my favorites on the show, but if the viewers find out about her previous ballroom experience and turn on her, he will suffer the consequences too for being her patner.
Sherri Shepherd received a lot of criticism for allegedly taking ballroom classes before and people said she was cheating, but what about Danica?! She truly is cheating, why isn’t anyone interrogating her about her previous dance experience? I don’t think she should be on the show, and I feel for Val…
I hope she at least mentioned her experience at that first meeting, or the lie (or omission if you will) will blow up in both their faces…
Btw, I hope Val gets either Meryl (I hope it’s her, bc he’s never danced with someone so good and around the same age as him) or Diana in the switch, bc i wanna see him with an athlete! 🙂
For me this is a great day for Courtney’s post to go big. I’m stuck at home because of the bloody, freaking snow!
In the video of first rehearsal, at least to me it looked like Danica had that overly silly “Oh I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m afraid of looking silly” vibe going.
Also, every time Val changed up the connections she knew exactly which hand to give him back. That’s a hard thing to learn right there.
Wow! Interesting read and comments. I’m okay with the celebs having some dance experience but actual ballroom experience I have to raise an eyebrow. Lets face it most entertainers and even non entertainers have had some dance lesson at some time in their life but from the information above seems like Danica has had expert training. Is it unfair to those that didn’t? Hmmm, but as we can all see from past winners it’s not really who dances the best. Personality, interaction with fans on social media and the biggest part choreo all play vital roles. I remember the show was about selecting celebs that did not having ballroom experience, if they are moving away from that then so be it but I think DWTS need to state what the criteria is for a celeb to participate. Then it will stop this whole bantering and war of complaints. Hate to see a celeb not get the votes based on “oh well she has experience” if their dance/choreo was really good. It’s an entertaining show after all. DWTS just need to explain the rules clearly.
@Maina – I don’t really know that anyone is labeling her a “cheater” or saying that she shouldn’t be on the show – I think most of us are just more concerned that it appears as though her dance background is being hidden or downplayed. I’m fine with her being on the show – I just think it’s fair to let viewers know, “Hey, I’ve had some practice prior to doing the show.” Just to prevent unfair comparisons with other, less experienced cast members.
@Susan2 – Lol…I wouldn’t say it’s gone big – yet – but it does seem to be gaining momentum. I actually already checked Danica’s @replies – so far, nobody has confronted her about it…or tweeted her the link in order to “tattle” on me. That actually surprises me – fans of “The Family” seem to enjoy running to Val & Maks to “tell on me”. That might work, if I actually cared what they thought – but I don’t, so it just makes me laugh. 🙂 Tattle away, children.
I think you may have misconstrued some of the things I said.
I never said it was okay for Danica to hide her dance experience, I said quite the opposite on several posts.
I gave my opinion on her low chance of winning solely in response to people who said Val was given Danica because they are desperate for him to win.
I think there is a difference between turing down the show, and not being asked, But the degree of her ringerdom wasnt my main point.
@Lori
I don’t understand what you are trying to say, because I never said it was not ok for jennifer grey to be on the show, others might have but not me.
And believe it, Val knows, about it. She can’t have taken years of ballroom, do chaines and be able to spot after one practice(or many practices, actually), and pros can tell just by some of your foot placement and how you move.
Court, maybe The Fam Fanatics have finally grown brains instead of thinking/reacting with their lady-parts and they’ve figured out that if they start tweeting about it, they’re helping to spread the information.
I think perhaps the point is being missed by some.
It isn’t about Ringers. It isn’t about who is one, who isn’t one. Who did what to who for how much or for how long. It really even isn’t about Danica OR Val. They just happen to be in the unlucky position that someone else has put them in.
It is about TPTB of DWTS (if they are the ones behind it) or whoever is behind it respecting the VIEWER enough to be honest with us. It is about TPTB respecting Danica AND Val enough to let them show their TRUE talent. Respecting the OTHER contestants enough to let them know what they are up against. Its about RESPECT and HONESTY.
Tell me, isn’t it easier to forgive someone the truth than to be dishonest and make a person feel a fool, which in the end makes them feel bitter towards you?
I just rewatched the 20/20 video. Seriously, she is doing the exact same thing with the pro in the video she is doing with Val. The girl knows what she is doing. I don’t believe for a minute that she isn’t in on this dumbing down of her experience. I think she is lying by omission and should be called out on it.
Bravo, Cher! Eloquent as always.
Even as a big fan of Derek’s, I think they undersold Jennifer Grey’s experience as well – sure she trained for a movie, but she is also JOEL GREY’S daughter. So if you are going to point to Danica’s mom, Jennifer’s dad also qualifies. Jennifer was also a dance and theater major in school – hardly only a bit of a training for a role. She moved from day one as if she had been dancing for years (which she had).
BUT all that being said, I don’t mind any of it or Danica’s prior experience, or anyone at all, but like most I would just appreciate transparency. Embrace it. Don’t downplay it. Acknowledge it and move on. People will appreciate you if you are a ringer if you still have the personality and performance aspect. I understand the “growth” arc is an easy one to grasp onto and not wanting to lose out on that appeal, but if it’s not genuine, I think a lot of people will be turned off – especially if it comes out later rather than sooner.
So if it’s not addressed, can I still root for Danica? If she’s entertaining and I like her, then sure, but you can bet I’m hoping she’s honest about it, despite any outside pressure from her partner or the producers that she may be getting.
PH … By DWTS standards, I know you’re right but personally I don’t see it that way. I don’t view Meryl and Charlie as ringers and unlike Danica, they have been very up front about their experience so they’ll get some of my votes. I’m really happy about the switch and if it turns out the way I want, I hope the switch is permanent. Val is in on this dishonest charade and I hope he ended up getting the partner I think he truly deserves.
Should be interesting to see if anyone tweets either Danica or Val about it, as of now it doesn’t seem to have reached them. Danica doesn’t have too many followers or mentions that she wouldn’t see it. Wonder if it would cause a panic if TPTB realize word is spreading.
Figmentation, I think in Danica’s case it’s not a matter of “underselling” but rather pretending “there’s nothing to sell” (move along people, nothing to see here).
Well, sure there’s a difference in those approaches, but they weren’t exactly alike: Jennifer Grey had lots of experience, but it was already known by the entire free world that she at least had some, so they could not help but acknowledge that – I just felt that a lot of her fans, and even Derek himself said it in at least once interview, that it was “just one role many years ago”, as he tried to contain some of the backlash against her – but in doing so, he was being disingenuous (which I feel is a very rare thing for Derek). But I think he did it because fans and media can be harsh and he was just trying to protect his partner, as well as assure people that she wasn’t waltzing (hah) into the competition with ballroom titles under her belt. So I suppose in trying to ground viewers in their expectations/assumptions, they undersold her experience. That being said, I thought she danced marvelously and although I didn’t care for her as much as some of the other contestants that season (I was a big fan of Kyle), I do appreciate all the considerations that Derek had to take when choreographing her routines to her strengths and injuries, and they deserved their trophy. Just for me personally, it was my least favorite season of Derek’s. It’s still way above most of the other pros, though 🙂
I will wait to pass judgement on Danica until I see her say she has no experience. They have advanced warning in the form of these posts, twitter, and other media that will start to catch on. Let’s hope they can take the high road, acknowledge it to at least a little degree (so there’s no assumption on behalf of the general audience) and move on. However, I do have a bad feeling that they won’t acknowledge it and we’ll have to hear from Val how far she’s come for a non-dancer : /
Regardless, I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone does!
@ figamentation … If directly asked, I doubt she would deny having any ballroom training. Especially since there’s indisputable factual proof. If confronted, she may try to soft pedal it and IMO) that much too little, much too late. Given her fake rehearsal performance and failure to come forth on her OWN volition before it was exposed on this site, there’s no way I would vote for her and Val.
Perhaps it was Tom Bergeron who she was talking about in her “disappeared” comments cuz he said he has been trying to get her on the show. In which case, I assume she told Tom she probably had too much experience. Now with Meryl and Charlie on the show she could have been convinced no one would notice how good she is. All speculation but the pieces do fit together.
I would wait till the first show Erin could easily ask her about it, On the first show the last two seasons both Corbin and Zendaya were asked about there previous dance experience from Brooke. Zendayas dance background was never hidden when she straight up said she was a hip hop dancer in her package and then brooke questioned her about it, I dont know what else you wanted from her.
If Danika goes out there and nails it, people are going to question why shes so good and will look into it there selfs or when she starts to do more interviews they’ll ask about her background, she knows info about her ballroom dancing is out there, shes not dumb enough to deny it. Or maybe she’ll say it herself in her package.
Omg, check out val’s twitter before he thinks better and removes the tweets. I think he is mad!
I guess my questions are: Would this same theory and all the points and pics be posted if Danica was Derek’s partner?
Has anyone asked either her or Val about her dancing ability and has either one lied about it?
Truth be told, I was all set to like her UNTIL I saw the preview vid.
@Jen6200 – To answer your questions…
1.) We wouldn’t have to, because at least 5 other sites would have jumped all over that sh*t 30 seconds after the cast announcement. The guy gets scrutinized every season – some tried to claim that Joanna was a ringer because she took ballet when she was 8. There are even people now trying to claim that Amy – A DOUBLE AMPUTEE – is a ringer.
2.) Cher tweeted Val the link – apparently he got rather defensive. I don’t know, because I blocked him back in season 15 when I got tired of everyone retweeting his snarky tweets about other couples.
@Courtney
Your site, I respect that. You all like Derek and don’t like Val. I can respect that too.
I just don’t understand – you all don’t like when people jump on Derek’s sh*t, but then you turn around and do the same to Val (and his partner/s).
IMO – Amy IS a ringer. Not in terms of dancing, but, in terms of votes, absolutely. :):)
Until either Val or Danica is asked specifically about her dancing background and it is denied, I don’t think anyone is hiding anything. On purpose or other wise. But that’s just my view of the world.
I’m too nauseated by EA being the cohost that I haven’t gotten too far into the new “celebs”. 🙂
Because Val and his fans have a tendency to be a bit hypocritical, Jen6200 – every single partner Derek has is “ugh…another ringer!”, but none of them seem to want to acknowledge that most of Val’s partners are equally as ringer-y. Both Zendaya and Liz had extensive dance training previous to the show – and yet everyone wanted to harp on the fact that Kellie was a cheerleader in high school and that Amber was on Glee. So I guess my question to you is this: why should Val get a free pass? It ain’t about revenge – it’s about pointing out hypocrisy. And in this case, it doesn’t even involve Derek – his partner isn’t bearing the brunt of the outrage from the ringer accusations. Meryl & Charlie are.
And please feel free to explain how a Paralympic athlete that no one had heard of prior to the cast announcement is suddenly a ringer.
@Jen6200
I like Val, I also like Derek. I adore Emma. I genuinely like people until they give me a reason not to. The thing for me is that it isn’t a ringer/non-ringer issue nor a hate/love Val issue. Its about TPTB respecting the viewer, Val/Danica and the rest of the cast. Truth be told if this were Emma’s partner, I’d be upset about it too. Danica is a talented woman. She deserves to show her true talent. We’ll see Monday if they address her former training or not. If not, they are doing a disservice to her and Val. Shame on TPTB for that. That’s my view on the matter.
I think Jen6200 is suggesting that she’s a Paralympian, with an amazing story, great & inspirational life that will definitely garner a lot of votes. Not saying Amy is gonna go to the finals, but I believe her condition is going to make people vote for her. With Derek as the choreographer, plus as an athlete I’m betting she’ll work very hard, their dances would probably be pretty emotional. Doesn’t really matter that she’s unknown prior to this. I think when viewers’ hearts are tugged they will be more likely to vote.
Premiere is less than a week away, I can’t wait to see if Danica’s experience will be addressed by Monday or during the show.
@Courtney
Initially the non-Derek fans were overjoyed that Derek got Amber. 🙂 EXCEPT that she had the Glee votes. I think most were surprised she could move so well (stereotypical, yes, but, it was there none the less).
Zendaya was a dead ringer, but I don’t think the show was trying to say otherwise? Liz, dancing yes. Ringer, IMO, not to the level of a Corbin or Nicole. But def had skills.
That’s it exactly! lol BECAUSE she’s a Paralympic athlete. IMO she’ll get votes for being “disabled” or “handicapped” and being on the show. (and again, stereotypical, but, I think it will happen).
@wiwin – Valerie Harper also had an inspirational story (and was arguably far more well-known than Amy) and only lasted till week 3. Still the same sympathy ringer that you think Amy’s going to be?
You know, if Amy comes across as a sour puss or grumpy or just plain annoying people won’t vote for her, whether she has no legs, two legs or four legs.
People vote for who they like, relate to and just enjoy dancing. From what I’ve seen of her in videos she sounds delightful.
Amy is much younger than Valerie. She probably can improve from week to week, not get lower scores each passing week like Valerie did. Also likely will not forget choreography. I remember feeling bad watching Valerie being pretty stressed/clueless on a live show. If other viewers feel sorta pitiful for her that might have cut down the votes that could have gone to her. If she had danced better, she might have gone to midpoint or beyond. I still think Amy’s disability makes her a vote ringer. It’s a reality TV competition. Not the greatest ringer of all but still somewhat of a ringer. Finals is far-fetched but going beyond week 3 or 4 is likely in my opinion.
Who everybody needs to be looking out for isn’t Danica, but Amy I seen her on the Amazing Race, and she scaled a mountain like it was nothing, and her boyfriend who was a personal trainer and not handicap couldn’t even get up the mountain and quit the show! She was disqualified because he quit. You will lose sight of the fact that she’s handicap 5 min after you see her dance. She’s a force to be reckon with a dark horse for sure!!!! Watch that lady.
Oh how the subject of Danica ballroom training, faking experience in a video gets flipped to Amy.
Facts are facts, Danica has ballroom training. She tried to hide it in a rehearsal video.
If she’s as smart as she appears, she will address it on Monday.
I have followed Danica on twitter for a while. I think she recently appeared in an “Avril Lavigne” video.
Great job Courtney, PH, Vogue & Lori.
@Jen6200 Not hating on Val one bit. Infact I like Val, Mark, Cheryl all the dancers. I even vote for the couples based on their dances that week because I want to see them the next week. I’ll admit I do prefer Derek not only for his talent but he is always so positive even when haters attack him. When it comes down to the last couple weeks I then vote for who I actually want to win usually based on their freestyle. They’ve been times when I don’t even vote at all. As mentioned earlier the show was all about the celebs not having any ballroom experience well that seems to have changed. So tired of reading the show’s message boards of people complaining about ringers. Guess DWTS don’t feel the need to respond but then that’s not fair to the celebs because this can cause them votes even though they have worked just as hard as the “non ringers”. But then again maybe it’s all on purpose to get us talking, creating more hype, right. Believe me, they are reading these boards.
Corby’s dance experience wasn’t addressed until the very end, and it might have cost him some votes. I doubt Danica’s experience will be addressed until they think it’s necessary.
Very small point, but this dishonesty stuff bugs me, so here goes: Danica made a movie 2 years ago called Love At The Christmas Table. In the middle of it they stuck in a dance scene that had nothing to do with the movie because Danica apparently wanted to show off her dance experience. Here’s the clip. It’s not anything special, but it does show that this dance thing with her is ongoing:
The C brothers both have ringers – again – and anyone who says otherwise is not being honest.
And Val’s cocky response on twitter doesn’t help, ” Watch N Weep” I mean, really ?????
She didn’t seem to have any trouble “spinning” in the movie clip! I mean it wasn’t like a pro routine but the level of confidenxe makes the dwts video such a joke.
#109: Re:spinning – exactly what I was going to say; she had no problem doing *plenty* of spins there…
Oh lordy, Sherry2, Val’s running true to form.
Dare I hope that he means there will be full disclosure of her previous ballroom dance lessons in their rehearsal package, and we’ll all be left with egg on our faces because we accused them of trying to hide it? As long as the general viewership of the show gets the information that Danica’s no newbie, I don’t care. Somehow, though, I don’t think that’s what he means with “watch n weep”. *sigh*
Val’s response is classy. Is he say weep because the show finally got him someone to win possibly with less obvious ringer status? It is amusing how same Val fans who claim Derek is the fave and gets handed wins ignore Val’s partners. Looks like they are the pressed fans.
No Val, no crying because I expect Danica to be good. I would be weeping if you did not have Danica deliver amazing routines. I like Danica and wish both her and Meryl got better than the C bros.
Lol she must be really proud of her turning/spotting ability, she was doing that for so much of the video! Haha.
Yeah I think it’s hard to not accept the fact that Danica has a good bit of dance experience. Seems like a sweet person, like people have been saying. I just wonder if she’s gonna talk about it come Monday…
Also I tried to see what Val tweeted Cher back but couldn’t. Was it the one where he said something like “there will always be people looking at the world in one POV”? Oh Val. *smh*
For me to “weep”, I first have to give a rat’s ass about Val – which I don’t 🙂 My life goes on just the same whether he dazzles with Danica or falls flat on his face. He flatters himself. My only goal in writing this was to draw attention to the fact that Danica has some dance experience – possibly more than the two ringer targets, Meryl & Charlie. And I dare say I’ve succeeded. 🙂
Fig, I don’t think it was undersold AT ALL. If anything, they over played it, considering that she was 50 years old at the time with major neck issues. She had *surgery* after the season was over! The two things rather cancelled each other out. Actually, from everything I’ve read, she hadn’t been dancing in years because of her neck issues. Far from it. Kind of like calling Florence Henderson a ringer because she was all over Broadway in her younger years. Ridiculous.
Thing is, WE called Jennifer a ringer, to a degree. Be it fanbase or dance talent, she was a ringer. Most people just happen to recognize that at 50 years old, in her condition, it was rather ridiculous to claim she had some huge advantage. Her main advantage was having Derek. Brandy was as big a ringer (performing arts school, dancing for a movie) and was much younger – she just didn’t connect with the audience and didn’t have the same fanbase that Jennifer did.
But AGAIN, we get off the damn point and I wonder why people keep confusing the issue. We have said hundreds of times that we LIKE ringers on the show, most of the time. What we don’t like is the blatant hypocrisy, the pretending it’s not true and so on. At this point, I’m almost over being annoyed by it and finding it highly amusing that Val is whining about “haters” when his own brother and Tony would be the biggest bitches on the planet if Derek was the one dancing with either Meryl or Danica.
And let’s not forget Charlie here – I still think he’s got a better shot than Meryl. I saw someone on twitter claim that only the female ringers get criticized – listen up, dumb ass. The people bitching about Derek’s partners skew the conversation that way.
And here we are again – it’s all about Derek, his partner is the one with all the advantages, blah blah blah. Calling it what it is: STOOPID.
Annnd Heidi’s eyes roll right out of her fucking head. Are you seriously, Wiwin, trying to claim that Amy is a ringer?? With a straight face?? Give me a goddamn break. So because people might like her, and throw her a vote because she has no feet, she’s a ringer?? I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
Well, I guess anything to try to excuse Derek’s talent, teaching ability, and Amy’s willingness to work hard. And excuse Val, Maks and Sharna from having massive ringers.
I just wonder, and not just around this issue, how stupid are people that call other people “haters” just because they state a fact that might be inconvenient or a problem for others to hear. SOO ignorant and made even worse by others who jump on it without checking things out first. There is way too much of it around and if I didn’t already have a f-t job, I might start a crusade. Val has tweeted this stupid “haters gonna hate BLAH BLAH “comment and now a female pro I kinda like is RT-ing it. This is just the type of thing that made me change my mind about other “pros” and NEVER vote for or support them again. PISSED trying to calm down.
@Cidra – “As long as the general viewership of the show gets the information that Danica’s no newbie,”
I’m willing to wait until then to form my own opinion. She’s still a ringer, but will she come clean.
I can’t stand the C-Brothers, so I am in no way sticking up for them or rooting for either of them. (sorry Meryl)
Oh Emma. Retweeting the likes of Val is a sure way to get me to never vote for you ever again. Calling people “haters” because they are keeping it real just like the C bros claim to do? Childish and simple.
It’s hilarious that Val is tweeting about people only listening to the POV that is convenient for them. Ummm…dude…look in the mirror.
So Emma has decided to side with Val? Does she even know what she’s tweeting about? I’m really disappointed. I hope Cher can straighten her out.
As for the Familia, I think they rejected reality a long time ago and replaced it with their own carefully constructed fantasy world.
I hope to god that she saw it out of context and just nonchalantly retweeted it. Cause if not – she’s is not nearly as smart as I thought she was.
In all seriousness – anyone who calls someone a hater just because that person pointed out something that is TRUE (and inconvenient like Raine said) or because a person expressed their opinion on something that was said or done, without name calling or other indications of ACTUAL hate, is far worse than a hater. They are immature and unintelligent and, in Val’s case, hypocritical. Val cannot sit back and say that he’s never expressed an opinion that was negative towards someone else. He can’t. There is plenty on video. So, BY HIS OWN DEFINITION, Val is a hater. But when Val and his brother do it, they say they’re keeping it real. Apparently, they’re the only ones allowed to “keep it real” – everyone else is a “hypocrite”. Which also makes Val a hypocrite, if you’re following me. 😀
Anyway, the use of the word “hater” toward people having a discussion about ringers, and dishonesty and so on, dilutes the meaning of the word while giving yourself more stature and importance. You wanna see hate? Read some of Derek’s @replies when he dates women with psycho fans. I’ve seen actual death threats. On a larger, more important scale, watch “12 Years a Slave”. Read about Matthew Sheppard. Until you’re in that place, STFU about haters.
I R E A L L Y want someone to explain FULLY to Val the definition of hypocrite !!! I don’t think he knows what it means ! I mean I was gonna like Val when he came to the show because I’d seen him in competitions and thought he was “ok”…problem was then he started opening his whiney, excuse-making, Eastern European macho-hulk mouth and started acting like a douchey escort, joining the thug-dom and making things even more toxic at DWTS. Him calling others haters and hypocrites makes him look like more of a moron.
Oooppps, PH, guess we hate a twin venting session. I coulda just fumed. I really….for me like you said so well, it becomes about so much more than the effing original topic—I just can’t with people sometimes, that are so unreasonable and just willing to stoop to any means when they can’t accomplish something. And these attacks on Amy, through and with Derek are just..beyond
Because it’s late and I’m feeling cheeky… http://m.memegenerator.net/instance/47146815
Hi. 🙂 I had to have a small vent session with my Courtney before I posted.
First, let me address Emma. Emma is the type of person that will retweet something without reading the replies so she has NO idea what it is about. She is still the same Emma that retweets fans that ask for support to other couples. Like a few days ago she retweeted support for Derek & Amy. Now if she had left a reply saying something like “I totally have your back against those hatin biotches.” Then yeah. I would be disappointed and hurt.
Emma likes it when everyone gets along. She spends time with Val but in case you haven’t noticed she spends a majority of her time with Derek. I would also like to point out she tweets things like “If you want to help yourself, help someone else. Friendliness is contagious :D” That was from Feb 24th. She’s a smart cookie but as I told Court, she can be a total blonde sometimes.
So I can forgive her an unknown reason why he tweeted it, retweet. Is Emma perfect? No, she’s human. Court and Emma are my two favorite peeps.
So yes, I am feeling a bit defensive of them both at the moment.
Now onto the word “Hater.” Last season I saw the ugly side of running a fan page. I saw how someone that knew nothing about me or who I am judge me and freely tell me their opinion. I was called a c*nt, Bill Engvall’s whore, a slut, told to drop dead and/or off the face of the Earth so many times I lost count. A Ratchet. The topper was when I got the tweet about it being Karma that I got sick, needed surgery and had to stay in the hospital. A majority of those comments like that were from Val fans. One or two were from “Derek” fans. Well, they called themselves Derek and Val fans.
My point is saying calling people out as haters for telling the truth is a bit talking out of your backside. Plus, Courtney knows-especially since she witnessed a majority of the B.S. last season- how disappointed I would be in her if she ever acted the hater role. No one has the right to EVER make another human being feel small and anyone who would purposefully do that to another person
Val saying that does.
And Emma would NEVER agree with that. My hope was that people knew her better than that.
The ONLY reason I sent Val that Tweet was because Courtney deserves to be heard and not only does she work her ass off for this site she does it for nothing but joy and pleasure. That and I truly wanted to know what Val would say. Which I got. He made a choice in the way he replied. Just like everyone on here makes a choice in the way they reply to another poster.
Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. You just have to realize when stating said opinion it shows your character or lack thereof.
One of the reasons I love Pure is because you guys call it how it is. In your post, you did not say that no one should vote for Val and Danika because she had dance experience or put them down in anyway. You were simply showing how she actually does have dance experience.
As for Val, he’s always had that “ego” about him and making it seem everyone is hating on him when you’re simply putting out the truth. It’s not like it’s a lie that your spreading. He’s always been this way, nobody should be surprised.
Ok, time for my two cents.
First of all, Court, best meme I’ve seen in a very long time. Secondly, I want to address the “Amy is a ringer” thing. IMO, she is a ringer FOR THE SYMPATHY VOTE ONLY. Amy is practically guaranteed the sympathy vote because of her prosthetics. I DO NOT consider her a ringer for dance ability nor anything else of the sort.
I feel kind of bad lumping Sharna in with the family. I’ve seen her in interviews being annoyed with the boys. (See Afterbuzz season 16 finale) And same with Emma. Really, I’d like to think that there is less/different drama on the girls side than on the guys side.
I agree with you all on the word “haters”. It was too strong of a word to use. It’s too bad some have to make more of it as if this is a huge hate post when it’s not. We’re just saying Danica (ringer or not. It doesn’t matter) should be honest and not play dumb to having experience which, in turn, could turn off voters …which you would think is something they wouldn’t want? Oh well, maybe not.
@Cher, 81, couldn’t agree with you more!
When they do the switch, I would love to see Val and Maks get someone that really doesn’t have any dance experience. The looks on their faces would be priceless and I can imagine the tantrums backstage now.
I remember seeing those people tweeting you, Cher. I didn’t see all of it because I don’t have your replies on my tweetdeck. And I remember thinking that the self proclaimed Derek fans were no such thing. The first thing you should do when someone sends you a nasty tweet is look at their profile. If they only have two followers and less than ten tweets, you’re talking to a cowardly troll. Derek has one that has hundreds of twitter accounts, many of which have gotten shut down by twitter for her nasty spamming. She’s so psycho that she hate tweets people who are nasty to him, then turns around and tweets him shit herself. A real psycho. And the thing is, she tweets him so much that most Derek fans can recognize her “voice” and know who she is. She has had as many as three different twitter accounts in ONE day – all tweeting the same thing with the same tone. It’s quite sick.
Using the word “haters” is also a very effective tool for getting lots and lots of love from your followers. What do some fans do when their idol complains about people hating on him?? Send him sycophantic tweets telling him how awesome and amazing and gorgeous he is and how anyone who hates on him is just a bitch. It’s a great way to get your oh so fragile ego stroked. Just ask Mark. 😀
As far as the whole “sympathy vote” goes – I wouldn’t even really call those who illicit the sympathy vote “ringers”, because I don’t think you get the consistent votes/scores that other ringers get that contribute to their longevity. The “sympathy vote” seems limited – you might get it for a few weeks before viewers start looking for improvement in your dancing or a really awesome personality to get behind. I use Valerie as an example – a lot of people assumed she’d go far because she was this “cancer-stricken legend”. But she was out in week 3 – the sympathy vote only carried her so far. At some point you have to start getting better scores or gaining more voters (who aren’t just voting for sympathy purposes) in order to carry you through. JR is a good example of someone who maybe started out as just a “sympathy vote” but actually ended up being a pretty good dancer with a great personality – he didn’t win “because of the sympathy vote”; he won because he was the whole package. I don’t think the fact that Amy is an amputee is going to carry her all the way to the finals – she’s going to have to prove she’s got skills and is a likeable gal. The “sympathy ringer” doesn’t carry the same weight as a skill ringer (like Nicole) or a fanbase ringer (like Donny).
I think hanging any kind of ringer label on Amy, including a sympathy one, is stupid in the extreme and dilutes the actual meaning of the word.
It also doesn’t help that she would not get that label if dancing with anyone other than Derek.
We’d all be better off if someone pulled the plug on Twitter. What little value it might have added is completely washed away by the negative impact it’s had on what little civility remains in our society.
If one can argue Amy is a ringer then one must call Billy Dee Williams and to an extent Bill Engvall ringers.
They might be older and have age on them but Billy Dee has the Star Wars, Nerdgasm, GeekSquad pulling for him. Many of which have never watch DWTS a day in their life. And Bill Engvall, it was the fan vote that got him to fourth place because the judges did their darnest to get him out of there.
Did you know in Australia the term “Ringer” means a highly skilled sheep shearer?
So unless Amy is highly skilled at getting sympathy votes….Don’t go there.
Having a disability makes you WORK HARDER, keeps you MORE MOTIVATED, and MAKES YOU even MORE DETERMINED to show you don’t need sympathy. So if you are going to sit there and type she is getting an abundance of votes have it be out of respect for her having the guts to get on national television and trying something new, different and she could easily fail at.
Quit frankly if I were Amy and told you are just getting sympathy votes, I’d tell you in a heartbeat where you can shove them. I may not be rioting for Amy, I may not even be voting for her any this season but dammit I respect her.
Words hurt. Remember that.
I voted “I don’t care.”
What I DO find annoying as hell are the people who cry “ringer!” unless it’s their favorite pro who has them. If Nicole S. was a ringer, then so was Mel B. My own definition of ringer is “anyone who learns and performs choreography on a stage.” So any boy band, girl band, singers who dance in their concerts or broadway musical performers, are ringers, IMO. Skaters are a gray area for me. Yes, they learn choreography. But ice and a ballroom floor I’d say are pretty different to learn and perform on. When you start worrying about what dance lessons someone had as a kid or if they learned a dance sequence for a movie 20 years ago, I think that’s pushing it.
I don’t mind having ringers on – I don’t want to watch 12 people who can’t move to a beat all season. Yes, I enjoy watching people who can’t dance learn to dance and have fun. I vote for my favorite celebrity who seems to improve and seem to be having fun. Sometimes that person may be one considered a “Ringer” and others a novice.
I think far too many people (both viewers and people like Val) take winning a cheap glass ball far too seriously. You’re getting paid to be on a show dancing for 3 months; stop acting like you’re being thrown into an underground jail cell and forced to eat bread and water for years.
And agree with PH about the use of the word hater. If you are over 25 and the word “hater” has a significant place in your vocabulary, you need to re-evaulate what you are doing with your life.
Becoming an adult means having a confidence and resources to better your life and those around you. If you are constantly worried about what people have to say about your choices, then you clearly aren’t confident with what you’ve chosen to do and people you surround yourself with. So either change your circumstances or get a thicker skin, so you aren’t focused so much on what strangers have to say about you.
Cidra I like your idea of getting rid of twitter. For some less highly evolved people it’s instant gratification for your dark side. Those people give all the well-behaved, intelligent people on twitter a bad name.
Perhaps we should ban the word haters as well. It’s become the go-to word for people too lazy to actually formulate an intelligent response to criticism or a knee-jerk reaction to not wanting to hear the truth.
Cher, I like what you’re saying in your post. I can’t believe I’ve actually read the term “sympathy ringer”. It’s ludicrous. I feel like I’m in crazy town.
What do you think of Danica being called out as a favourite of the host? Tom has lots of fans too and he singled her out in his latest interview as someone he has wanted to be on the show. The implication being she would be good on it I guess. So not only is she way more experienced than her DWTS video would lead us to believe, she is already a favorite with Tom. Not sure that is fair imo.
Is anyone else bothered that Val has a third consecutive partner with dance experience?
@Mishl – It’s irksome, but what bothers me more is that he really doesn’t acknowledge it. He acts as if he has to bust his ass and teach these gals dance from square one – he should really go have a talk with Emma & Sharna about their experiences teaching complete novices.
Judy, I don’t think Tom influences the audience vote in any significant way. He’s delightful to all the celebs and enthusiastic about all of them.
@ Cindy … Me too. I already know exactly who I’m going to match with the C brothers :o)
I was hoping to see Courtney’s meme, but apparently, the link doesn’t work – at least for me. Anyone else having problems? Or is there another link?
It might not work anymore. Let me see if I can post it some other way…
I posted it on Twitter: https://twitter.com/putUincespence/status/444149275438882816/photo/1
Thanks, Court! Awesome meme!
@Judy … I love Tom but I think calling Danica out as his favorite is inappropriate. I don’t recall him ever doing this with any other celeb. Of course, he’s entitled to his opinion (as we all are) but as the show’s host, he should remain publically neutral.
@Jara… The one’s they like seem to go home sooner because Len was crazy about Elizabeth, and she didn’t even make it to the finals. Sometimes they butter you up because they know you’re not going to be there long imo.
I think so too@jara. Particularly as it is a well read magazine. If nothing else, it gives people a heads up to watch for her Monday. I think it just gives her a bit more profile to those who might not have an idea who they might like to vote for and from the host of the show too.
And Cher just summed it up very nicely in a way I can’t because I’m sick to death of people finding a way to label every single partner Derek has ever had as having some sort of advantage. It is BEYOND ridiculous at this point and well into insulting.
Does it really matter, people will vote for the person they want to vote for, ringer, perceived ringer, non ringer, serious who really cares, like my vote is going to make a big difference. We can’t have blinders on, we all know that this is contest, you don’t have to vote for Danica or you can vote for her, the choice is up to each individual person. Saying she is a ringer does not make it so, but each season people think there is a ringer and constantly complain about it. Again, you don’t have to vote for that person. That is the beauty of it.
And yet another person misses the point of this post. Oh well…too tired to keep repeating the same thing over and over…
Court, I also have no respect for those who try and change names so they can be hateful and disrespectful. SAD!!
is there a possibility that they will address this issue in her package on Monday and they are trying to keep this a secret, or am i crazy?
Court, you’re right. Folks who persist in coming here pointing out things like it doesn’t matter if she’s a ringer, if you don’t want to vote for her, don’t; you can vote for whomever you want either:
(a) missed the point because they don’t want to see it,
(b) missed the point because they were too lazy to read your whole post, or
(c) missed the point because they’re just plain stupid.
So it’s definitely *not* worth your time and energy anymore.
Aviva,
It’s possible they’ll touch on Danica taking some ballroom classes in her intro/rehearsal package. If they do, I’ll always wonder if Court’s post forced their hand. Also, I doubt it will be the full disclosure the audience and other celebs (Meryl/Charlie) deserve. More than likely it’ll be just enough so that if viewers catch any chatter about it online, they’ll say “oh yeah, I know about that, Danica took a couple lessons for a movie she was doing back in 2007” — and since she’s not Derek’s partner, that will all be perfectly reasonable and A-OK. 🙄
Buddytv has some rehearsal photos of her and Val. She looks pretty professional imo. I doubt they will address it on the show. I really hope some of the other non dancers are good. Love Diana’s attitude and I hope she turns out to be a good dancer.
Sorry you ladies are getting a bit of bother on twitter. I guess some Val fans are pretty upset. That is not cool at all.
I voted that Yes, I think she’s a ringer because she admitted that she’s been keeping up with ballroom dancing and that she thinks she’s too experienced to be on DWTS. And I’m EVEN MORE IRKED that she was paired with Val! WHY does he get an experienced dancer for the 4th season IN A ROW???
I’m also tired of the C brother fans especially the ValDaya fans saying Val is ‘owed’ this because of the snafu with the ABC site the night of the finals. Gee..maybe it was because of the teenyboppers and their eleventyBILLION email addresses they made to try to get Zendaya the win that crashed the ABC server that night? Because that’s the only reason Kellie and Derek won you know…not because of that AMAZING freestyle Derek choreographed & Kellie performed like we’d never seen her perform before. That’s what won over the average phone voter demo.. that and the Hip-hop freestyle Val choreoed which stunk. Val only has VAL to blame for his loss in S16 😉 And so do the Zendaya fans. But they’re more than willing to keep bringing it up.
If Danica doesn’t divulge her dance background, then it’s pretty shady. If she does, then I’m fine with her being on the show…but I’d rather see her with ANY OTHER MALE PRO BUT VAL or Maks..I’d even prefer she be with Tony.
The lack of reading comprehension skills is giving me a sad, Courtney.
🙂
Most likely ONE Val fan with a penchant for creating new accounts and too cowardly to go it “alone”.
WOW!!! So many serious people here, this is just a show folks, why get so bothered about the fact that someone may or may not be a “ringer”. And for the record, I did read the entire blog post, so I:
a. did not miss the point
b. I am not lazy, I read the blog post
c. I am certainly not stupid
But you know what, who really cares, again don’t vote for Danica, there the problem is solved. Vote to your heart’s content for the couple you want to win.
But this makes me wonder, never mind!!!
Well Nancy, you need to take into account that everybody enjoys the show differently – while you may turn your nose up at us for “getting so bothered”, it doesn’t mean you’re right and we’re wrong. And it’s not even about whether she’s a ringer or not – it’s the fact that other people are getting called out for their “previous experience” when Danica has just as much. So yeah, you did kind of miss the point again, but whatever – nobody is forcing you to stay here. And if you’re going to continue to get all haughty, you may as well leave – because you’re kind of the odd man out here. The rest of us were doing just fine before you rode in on your white horse to “save the day”.
Meryl and Charlie are my favorites but I’m kind of worried for them right now. The show hasn’t even started yet they’re already getting ALL the ringer backlash (plus they’re still relatively new-ish to mainstream audiences and I have no idea how big their fanbase really is). Even the media is pointing out how they’re “ice dancers” and shouldn’t be on the show. Meanwhile other ringers like Danica are still under the radar. I just really hope the show addresses Danica’s experience in the first episode so Meryl and/or Charlie don’t wind up as early eliminations given the fact that people have already labeled them the biggest ringers on the show.
I will say when all this came up I wandered around the internet and saw where Danica was quite open about her having taken ballroom. I just think no one has asked her about it in the last month since she was announced for the show. Also she seems to have quite a bit of other activities (math, acting, etc). I doubt she is as good as the pros.
Problem solved? Looks to me like you’re the one with the problem, Nancy. I mean, you’re commenting here, right?? Sounds to me like you need to go somewhere else to play.
Oh forgot to say I don’t care if she’s a “ringer”. Favorites for me right now are Meryl and Drew.
So this is what she says about her dancing background in her new blog:
“I love dance, I love challenges, and I love sparkly outfits… And I guess I have the dancing gene: My mom was a professional dancer and had me & my sister taking ballet as little girls, but I never really pursued it. My sister did – she was quite the ballerina for awhile! Then back in 2006 I did a movie in Dallas where I had to do a Tango scene. I rehearsed for about a month – it was tough but I totally got the dancing bug, and I always wished I could spend more time getting better at it. After I came back to LA, I remained friends with my teachers back in Dallas, and I kept dancing as an on-again, off-again hobby – but between my two careers and being a mom, there just wasn’t ever the time to really focus on dance – until now!”
If you want to read the whole thing go to her twitter page and she has a link.
Someone just posted a message in the DWTS forum about Pure’s post. They said people were also talking about it on tumblr. Wonder how long it will take Val or his fans to have the DWTS message deleted.
Lea, I believe you and many others are missing the key point of Court’s blog. I don’t care if she’s a ringer either. Nor do I think Danica is “as good as the pros”. What troubles me (and others) is that her previous ballroom experience is unknown to the vast majority of the viewing audience (many of whom *do* have a problem with “ringers” and don’t want to vote for them.)
You’re probably right that no one *has* asked her about her previous dance experience recently, but the “don’t ask, don’t tell” defense doesn’t hold water with me. While I wouldn’t expect her to issue a formal press release outlining in vivid detail her previous ballroom experience the minute she was announced as a member of the cast, I have a problem with what appears to be her “dumbing down” her experience in the first rehearsal video released by ABC and find it suspicious that someone removed the link from her website to an article where she made comments regarding her ballroom dance experience being too extensive for her to appear on DWTS.
All Danica has to do is talk openly on Monday night’s show about the extent of her previous ballroom lessons, and show me she’s not trying to hide it.
So this is how she is addressing it. Interesting how she is downplaying her experience.
@ Judy … Oh Pleaseee, this part really makes me pissed.
“BTW, I feel so lucky to have Val as my partner. He can be tough on me sometimes, but I feel myself getting better an I’m really grateful to him. So thank you in advance for your support from this very happy actress/author who is finally getting an opportunity to train as a dancer.”
Finally getting an opportunity to train as a dancer!!! Who does she think she’s fooling.
The blog is definitely a reply to the ringer talk. All the justification for her dance experience is like Elizabeth Berkley last season saying she took ballet as a kid when asked about her previous dance experience. Only in her case it was true. In Danica’s case it really isn’t. I guess she forgot her saying she probably had too much professional experience to be on the show!
Downplaying? She’s negating it completely.
Well, Liz had a hell of a lot more experience than “ballet as a kid” – there is a video that came out after the show started of her tapping. And she wasn’t exactly a novice. And it was RECENT. So…does Val have a history with these types or what?
Giving Danica the benefit of the doubt, perhaps her “Maybe I’m too experienced for DWTS” reply isn’t an admission of copious training, but perhaps one of a couple things:
– she didn’t realize at the time of that statement that contestants often came in with some form of dance knowledge, to various degrees, and her own background is similar to that of maybe Elizabeth Berkley and within the perfectly acceptable realm of celeb contestants
– she didn’t really want to do the show, so dismissed it in a more PC way than “no thanks”
That being said, her apparent downplaying of her abilities in that initial video DOES NOT support these theories. But it is maybe in line with her blog post, and again maybe this is more the producers bug in her ear to dumb it down than her or Val trying to make her appear incompetent at first.
Regardless, I hope for her sake that she does well and is likable on the show, as we still have to see what we get come Monday.
It won’t be addressed on the show now. They can hardly say she has any more experience than what she has confessed to so recently. Her package will be about how excited she it to reconnect with her passion, or something like that, and that’s it imo.
If there is a humorous side to this…and I think there is. Val acting the way he has makes Maks look like he has some common sense. In the footage of he and Meryl, he asked her to try a turn into his hand (or something like that…lol) and she did not one but several in a row. She looked at him and said…”like that” and he said something like yeah that will do and was laughing. This is the first time in a long time I had some serious respect for Maks because he didn’t try to minimize it, he wasn’t acting like a spoiled boy. I guess Val has taken that position over for him…..lol.
There is a “diary” that Denica wrote recently and she is not hiding that she has an expirience in it (… And I guess I have the dancing gene: My mom was a professional dancer and had me & my sister taking ballet as little girls, but I never really pursued it. My sister did – she was quite the ballerina for awhile! Then back in 2006 I did a movie in Dallas where I had to do a Tango scene. I rehearsed for about a month – it was tough but I totally got the dancing bug, and I always wished I could spend more time getting better at it. After I came back to LA, I remained friends with my teachers back in Dallas, and I kept dancing as an on-again, off-again hobby – but between my two careers and being a mom, there just wasn’t ever the time to really focus on dance – until now! And Val is seriously kicking my butt – I’m losing weight AND eating like I did when I was pregnant!…) you can find it here: http://www.danicamckellar.com/blog/Danicas-Diary/Dancing+with+the+Stars
Oh.. sorry, I didn’t check the comments before I post mine, so just ignore it… 🙂
It appears at this point TPTB, Val, and Danica might be pulling off their deception. She is a clever one. Her blog throws out just enough red herrings about her mom, sister, early childhood ballet classes and tango lessons for one scene in a movie. Case closed. Most people won’t feel the need to look further. I guess the best I can hope for now is that Val won’t make snide comments about ringers since Maks has one of the “obvious ringers” 🙄 in Meryl. Also, fingers crossed that Candace has some moves and trumps Danica in the “sentimental kid star” fan vote.
Someone kind of called her out about her blog on twitter. They questioned her about “having” to dance in the movie when in a TV Guide article she had said she asked them to put it in the movie, they even linked the interview. She said she was misquoted slightly. Not sure if it’s an indication more people will start calling her out or not but there it is.
Well, I’m disappointed in how Danica is (or isn’t) addressing her experience. What she’s saying in her blog isn’t consistent with the evidence, and what she’s said in the past, nor is it consistent with how she acted in her first rehearsal. Oh well. Given she’s with Val, I wouldn’t have been voting for her anyway, but right now she’s making me feel it would be totally fine if she were an early exit (after NeNe).
No, Val is going to make a snide comment about not needing the “pity vote” – yes, I do think he is that much of an asshole. 🙂
Interesting, DLT. I’m sure the Val-fans will rush to circle the wagons but these stings are bound to be making Val cranky. I think he spends more time and energy on Twitter than is good for him. Hopefully, Maks won’t get all “big bro” and waste his time/energy trying to defend little bro. He needs to focus on his partnership with Meryl. If he starts acting like an a$$ and turning people off, I’ll be ticked.
🙄 As usual, you’re absolutely right, PH. As long as Derek is on the show, he’s La Familia’s main target. My guess is Tony will get in a ton of target practice on Derek. He knows he doesn’t stand a chance with NeNe so he might as well get in as many hits as he can for the good of the Fam before he gets eliminated. Another reason to hope NeNe goes in the first elimination.
But Tony can’t talk about how much dance experience celebs have because his business partners Val and Maks have partners with some experience. I wish they could all just have fun with their partners and be up front with the good and bad that comes with each partner.
After reading Danica’s latest remarks regarding her previous dance background, it’s going to very hard for me to even watch her on Monday night. It’s a shame.
As someone who was kind of meh on Candace since the cast reveal, I’m actually going to throw support to her. She seems down to earth and kind. I’m also hoping she inspires good Mark to show up this season. Good Mark is sweet and quite charming.
Susan2, I was also pretty meh on Candace and had a positive reaction to Danica. While I still don’t have any interest in Candace, at least she’s honest and I can applaud that. I’d much rather see her move forward on the show. Not sure I can spare votes for her, but I’d consider it under the right circumstances.
nl, Tony won’t be talking about how much dance experience celebs have; he’ll be talking about the “pity vote” and why it’s unfair to the rest of the cast for viewers to vote that way. Of course I can’t imagine how he’ll pull that off without sounding like the jerk he is.
Surprise, Suprise, the C Bros fans are planning to switch Danica to Maks and Meryl to Val. That way both of them still get ringers. And they want Derek to end up with NeNe. Not if I can help it guys.
I’m be power voting to switch Meryl to Derek, Diane to Val and Maks, well the best partner for Maks is his Mama (she seems to be the only woman that can make him happy). Since Mama not a choice, I’ll give NeNe to Maks. If the switch turns out like this and it’s permanent, I can hear the screams of the C fam’s minions and I’m sure they’ll quickly complain about Danica’s extensive ballroom training.
I have nothing against ringers, but you don’t necessarily have to be a ringer to bring some great dancing. Look at Kellie, or even Brooke.
Wetpaint is outing her experience of ballroom too. Linked the 20/20 interview in their little piece they did. It is subtle but the info is out there if people care to connect the dots.
@Jara – Do the C Bros fans seriously think that they have the clout to get the job done? If so, then this group must be larger than I imagined.
This thinking and dissecting this switcheroo challenge is wearing me out even before the season has started.
Wetpaint gets all their ideas from this site and the comments on this site. They have for years now.
I think Derek again showed his integrity, common sense, and just plain coolness in his blog. He talked about all of these issues and his take on them was just plain great. He did it in such a nice way. He always does but his blog made me wonder if DWTS or ABC has bigger plans in store for him. It will be very interesting. Way to go Derek as usual.
PH, it’s far easier and cheaper to steal someone else’s work than take the time to come up with stuff on your own. Sucks for you and the other hardworking Pure Mods. However, in this case, the more outlets that pick up the information, the better, right?
I hope so. Danica is adorable, smart, etc., etc. And Maks needs to get at least one MBT. I hope Bille Dee can last 2-3 shows. Great cast this season.
Bruce, Danica is Val’s partner. So I don’t see how her being a ringer is going to get Maks the MBT. As close as the C-bros are, I don’t think Maks would consider it his MBT if Val won it.
In light of what you revealed, will be interesting how judges respond to her. Front-running can backfire. Until I saw Candace Cameron Bure was also a contestant, I though Danica would be like a Ralph Macchio “story.” Re-introducing and re-discovering a childhood favorite. As long as we don’t have any David Hasselhoff or Michael Bolton repeat.
True, Cidra. I just didn’t want anyone to think that Wet Paint had figured this out all on their own. 🙂
Good point, PH.
Agreed on the WetPaint point! I may be wrong here, and correct me if I am, PH, but I think that WetPaint has more of a following than this site. I personally found WetPaint before Pure. If I am correct, and WetPaint does have a bigger following, then more and more people will pick up this story, right?
No clue, Aviva.
Ugh, enough about Wetpaint…don’t want to hear them mentioned again here.
Excerpt from an article that’s posted today on the Fox News website… she’s still downplaying her dance experience…
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/03/17/danica-mckeller-dancing-with-the-stars-winnie-cooper/?intcmp=features
FOX411: What made you decide to do “DWTS?”
Danica McKellar: I love dancing I love challenges and I love all the sparkly glamorous outfits!
FOX411: Are you a trained dancer?
McKellar: Hardly! Back in 2006 I did a movie that had a tango scene in it, and for that month I did take intensive lessons for that project. I loved the experience and had kept dancing as an on-again off-again hobby. I have always wished I could really take the time to focus on dancing and now this is really exciting for me to finally have that opportunity!
That’s her story and she’s stickin’ to it. It really grates on my last nerve.