DWTS Season 18 – The Finale, with Team Loca, Davis and White, and MORE!
Including last season’s winner, Amber Riley!! Meryl and Charlie will dance together – as I predicted a while ago. May as well suck in as many viewers as possible. From Broadway World – click the link to read the whole thing:
On MONDAY, MAY 19 (8:00-9:30 p.m., ET), the four remaining couples will compete in two rounds of dance. In the first round, each couple will take on the “Judges Pick” and repeat the same dance style they did the week of the “Switch-Up.” In the second round, one of the biggest competitive dances of the season, the couples take on a supersized Freestyle featuring special effects, additional dancers and unexpected surprises. At the end of night, one couple will be eliminated based on the previous weeks’ viewer votes, combined with the judges’ scores from the previous Monday night.
In the two-hour Season Finale on TUESDAY, MAY 20 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) the show will begin with a high-energy performance featuring a reunion of all 12 of this season’s couples as well as the judges. Then, as decided on by a Twitter vote, one of the three remaining couples will perform their Freestyle dance as an encore. The finale will also feature a performance to “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” by Team Loca, giving viewers at home a chance to watch the routine live with Amy Purdy, as she was unable to dance during the original Team Night due to an injury. Additionally, viewers will be treated to encore performances by Drew Carey and Cheryl Burke to “You Can’t Sit Down,” Nene Leakes to “Grown Woman” featuring six Pro Dancers, Danica McKellar and Val Chmerkovskiy to “Be Our Guest,” and Charlie White and Sharna Burgess to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Additionally, Olympic Gold Medalist partners Charlie and Meryl will dance together for the first time. In the last element of competition, the couples will perform a new routine as part of a “24 Hour Fusion Challenge.” The remaining couples will Fuse two contrasting dance styles that they’ve performed this season and they’ll have less than 24 hours to prepare that dance for judges’ points.
“all 12 couples will return” ..I’m curious to see if Sean comes back for the Finale considering how mad he was at Conrad/producers with the video/elimination.
I can’t wait for Charlie and Meryl to dance together. I think that will be great to see (although I figured they would)
I think this sounds like a decent finale
Finally! Sounds fun, but for the twitter vote thing.
Awesome about Team Loca being able to dance again!
I’m confused with the ‘all the judges’. Does that include the guest judges or just the regular ones?
We’ve got a fusion challenge!!! I LOVE Derek’s fusion dances. I wonder if Maks has ever done a fusion. Another final opportunity to see more snippets of Derek’s brilliance. So happy!!!!!
@Jessica that is the same thing that went through my mind after I read that. Even right after he left I said to myself “this guy’s never coming back.. not even for the finale” .
Maybe he was convinced somehow or he just decided to let that little incident slide.
@Susan Maks did a Quickstep/Samba Fusion with Kirstey Alley during season 15. It was pretty bad (think it was the lowest score of the night.. yikes)
Great – twitter voting. Biggest spammers win. :::rolls eyes:::
I am looking forward to Charlie and Meryl dancing together, even though it will make their fans worse than ever.
I really hope Amber performs her song ‘Colorblind’. It’s absolutely beautiful and I’ve been waiting all season to find out if she would be coming back! Her and Nicole Scherzinger are my fave winners of all time.
Also, it seems Ariana Grande, Cody Simpson and Iggy Azalea are all performing according to a BroadwayWorld article. Sorry if this has already been mentioned but I haven’t seen it!
Ditto, Princess Heidi. It will be a lovely treat to see Meryl and Charlie dancing together. And then the shippers will ruin the moment by running around shouting Meryl+Maks 4EVAH. They’ve already invaded Davis and White’s own skating videos and websites to post all sorts of drivel about how Meryl never looks at Charlie the way she looks at Maks.
Oops, sorry – I just realised this was a snippet of the Broadway World article, and now I feel like an idiot. Sorry!
Derek will KILL the fusion dance. Hey there’s no relay, so there doesn’t have to be a difference in judge’s points. I hope the judge’s give everyone 10s (though I doubt James’ Tango and Candance’s Quickstep skills). It should otherwise just be left to the voters.
Part of me can’t help but hope for Amy’s victory, though I know I may be setting myself up for a disappointment.
Twitter voting. What a novel idea! 😛
Maybe Sean was contractually obligated to come back. However, I think he’d return for the finale regardless because I don’t think he’d leave Karina hanging out to dry like that. He might have no respect for TPTB, but I think he liked and respected Karina.
Charlie and Meryl dancing together will not affect voting will it? I assume the results will be known to tptb at that point. Otherwise putting those two together creates a very unfair advantage if it would affect fans voting in any way. Sure for fun it would be great but otherwise I think it is inappropriate.
Charlie and Meryl dancing together! Can’t wait. I wish they dance Hip-Hop that’s not going happen. Probably going dance Contemporary or Waltz.
Sorry to say that seeing the picture of Cody with Witney makes me realize how much I haven’t missed him.
@Suzy I’m with ya there. Haha
@Cidra I think you’re right. During the time he was on he really showed that he had a very soft spot for Karina and that he valued her a lot so I don’t think he’ll leave her hanging.
@Judy It won’t affect the voting because they are dancing on the Night 2. By then the public votes have been counted and all that there is left to do is add the scores from the Fusion Dances.
I’m looking forward to seeing Charlie and Meryl dance together, because that means more Charlie! Yeah!
I’m not really jazzed about all the singing guest stars.
I like Fusion Dances so I’m happy about that, however if we hear Sir Duke again for a Quickstep/Samba I’ll scream.
Judy, they will dance together on Tuesday night I’m sure…but the pimping of it will begin on Monday during the show most likely and yes, I think it could impact the voting to some degree. Anytime you give a lot more coverage to one contestant over another, it’s an advantage. Of course…it might also serve to remind the audience very strongly just how big a ringer Meryl is, that she can dance with her partner that she’s been with for 17 years.
I wonder what kind of Fusion they would give Amy & Derek. None of the dances she has done have been fused together on the show before. I can see them maybe giving her like a Quickstep/Jive fusion (that would be amazing). Also wondering if they’ll have the couples pick for each other… me wonders!
oh hell. Charlie and that damn cane again. For someone who played hockey for YEARS, he’s a bit of a butterfingers when it comes to props, no? Took the hankie out of his pocket so hard during the FT it went flying. (Loved Sharna’s smirk and shrug about it). HOWEVER, I hope he nails the HELL out of the thing and reminds the stupid public just how f*cking amazing he really is. (morons)
Hmmmm…announcing that Meryl & Charlie are gonna dance together this far in advance is certainly priming the pump a bit. It would have been a bit more fair to announce it at the end of Monday night OR as a surprise at the top of the show on Tuesday, imo. However, as a devoted D/W fan I totally stoked to see what they put together. Does this mean Maks and Sharna choreographed it? THAT would be a really interesting question to have some inside scoop on (for me anyway).
So, 4 of the celebs get an “encore” dance, Cody gets to “sing” and the other 3 celebs get to “dance” in the opening group number? Not too subtle way of saying “you guys kinda sucked, so we don’t want to waste time with individual performances.”
It’s Amber and Christina Perri performing, yes? I love Christina Perri but preferred her previous album over this new one. Amber will probably blow the doors off the place. It will also be great to see our Pros getting to dance to those (I’m assuming?)
24 hour fusion dance? I love those things but think it may be especially challenging for Amy and Derek just because of the technical aspects of which feet and figuring out the balance issues. But, it may also freak Candace out COMPLETELY if she’s one of the remaining 3. I think having to put together a dance that fast, learn the choreography and feel confident performing it is going to play HELL with her nerves. If Maks can slap something semi-decent together, then Meryl will perform the hell out of it (I just hope we don’t have to see much of their rehearsal process. I’m SO done with the M&M show). James? I just don’t know. I’ve felt he was flat-footed and stompy in a number of his performances, so we’ll have to see what Peta puts together for him if he’s on of the 3.
And the twitter thing COULD be a cluster, BUT, iirc, Kellie and Derek were the encore last season, right? So the twitterati got it right at that time.
I’m actually kinda looking forward to Tuesday night (altho having to sit through a Nene performance will feel like an eternity. Hmmmm…maybe a bathroom break and a rummage for food break during that?)
From the teaser videos, I’m looking forward to Amy and Derek the most. They look so good. I hope they kill it in everything!!! 😀
I can fully see TPTB somehow steering the sheeple towards Meryl and Maks votes by some gross manipulation of adding Poor Charlie in the mix. I’m looking forward to Charlie’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with Sharna more than the Meryl Charlie dance. This will be a nice segue into the next ABC reality series- Shipper Wars!
How are they going to have time for all of this in 2 hours with the added drama of the coronation???
It seems like already they steering it for Meryl and Maks. They don’t event more help but with them only getting attention even on twitter from the dwts account to Instagram. It is like a two coronation for them. I already assume they will win the twitter vote too. Or james fans maybe give them a run for their money.
Is this Dancing With The Stars or Survivor? Maybe they should also have the Finalists wash and wax Conrad’s car! All the muppets who decide these things should be made to go through it as well! They wouldn’t get past Monday. Hurry Rob Wade! You have a major rehabilitation job ahead of you to get this show back to its’ glory days. Hopefully, you will not turn a deaf ear to the loyal core fans who made this show a hit.
I am so excited for every single finale dance! They all have the potential to be amazing. I am especially excited for Meryl and Charlie to dance together – I called that week 1.
Someone asked Candace it that was Dave Scott in the Instagram picture she posted. I looked up Dave Scott and is that a hint they are going hip hop for the freestyle?
I’m still trying to get to see Amy’s vine. Is that the same as posted by Glamour?
Dave Scott is a hip hop choreographer. I can’t see Candace pulling off his choreo. Sounds like maybe some pros are using outside help. Unless ?Dave was there for ?James.
Woah, this finale is crazy action packed. How are they going to fit it all into 2 hours? I’m glad they’ve gotten rid of the relay dance, unnessary pressure that doesn’t really do anything in terms of points. But so looking forward to a redo of Team Loco, excited to see Amy perform it live.
On another note, I HATE the twitter picked encore dances of freestyles, not just because of the fact the spamming and teenage metldowns over their favourite stars, but also because it always ruins who’s going to win – kelly got the encore s16 (won, amber got the encore s17 (won. I liked it better when the judges chose the encore freestyle but hey you can’t always get what you want when TPTB are involved.
So excited for Meryl and Charlie! But I too am curious why they announced it already–unless the surprise is that he will be part of Meryl’s freestyle too. Now THAT would be awesome!
I was kind of hoping Charlie would perform his own freestyle on Tuesday but I’m excited to see the Mary Poppins number again.
Really surprised that Idina Menzel has not performed this season. It would be cool if Ricky Martin came back and sang live for Team Loca. Sounds like Meryl has a busy Tuesday ahead of her.
Maybe people will be so busy twitter voting for Meryl to get the encore, they won’t have time to vote for her…one can always hope…
Candace posted a picture of Mark with I think 4 other guys and a lady asked if one of them was Dave Scott. I don’t know if Candace responded.
There are two pictures that indicate hip hop to me.
Saw the pic and does seem like hip hop. Dave Scott is a very well known established choreographer. I don’t think he would just dance in the number, if he is there. I would guess ?Mark is getting help. In the choreography world, Dave is far higher up than Mark. I just don’t see it fitting Candace, I would hate to see Mark just do a number he would want to do and not consider Candace.
Ananya#11, I’m still predicting Amy will win. 🙂 Meryl and Charlie dancing together, hmmmm? Angie#20. I agree with you. Not sure their dancing is appropriate (for obvious reasons) and they probably should have left it as a surprise. They should be skating. I’m sure TPTB can get an ice rink in the ballroom, can’t they. Now that would be amazing but simply dancing on the wooden floor..meh!
The Finale sounds exciting. So glad Amber is coming back. I actually sent DWTS a tweet asking them to have her back to perform her new song earlier up in the season as I’m sure many of her fans did. Looking forward to Christina Perri too.
I’m sincerely hoping that Meryl and Charlie will do something like their indian folk dance on ice. THAT would be truly incredible.
Angie (#20), It’s scary, but now you’re reading my mind! When I saw Charlie and Sharna were doing the “Supercali…” number again that’s the *first* thing that came to my mind too. 😛
The whole hanky thing in the Foxtrot was a SMH moment too. In their rehearsal vid, I saw the cane and thought “why are we going here again?” Then when Charlie handed it to her right at the start of the routine and she tossed it away, I heaved a huge sigh of relief — and then what does he do but pull out that dang hanky! I love Sharna to bits, but I feel like sending her a tweet when we get ready for next season reminding her of “Lessons Learned from Season 18: #1 No more handheld props.” LOL
Butterfly (#29) — Amen! That’s the only good thing that Twitter vote might do for us!
Hmmm, is Ariana Grande is performing then the show may be of more than passing interest to me. 🙂
Ooooh, twitter voting. maybe the M&M fans will spend all monday night tweeting to get the encore and forget to vote. #OneCanOnlyHope
#20 and #34
LOL @ butterfingers Charlie. I have one theory. Sleep deprivation reduces your hand eye co-ordination by quite a bit. I would be willing to give Charlie a second chance, if he got his “Olympic athlete regimen” amount of sleep before anointing him Butterfingers. If he was getting to rehearsals a few hours after landing after flying all the way across the country, then doing this even later in the day, I’m actually quite impressed. 😀 I lost count of how many times he said he was tired.
Since his schedule hasn’t changed much, I say they do away with the props. I can bet some money, he would drop it again. 😛
WhySoAngry/CASSIE, if you don’t like it, you know where the door is!!!!
Comment #12 Agreed, Cidra!
Glad that Charlie’s doing his Jazz dance. I love that number from him. Super excited to see Team Loca’s dance again, this time live. I look forward to Amber’s return to the dance floor. I’d love to see her dance one more time with Derek, but he cannot probably squeeze in the time to rehearse with her. The fusion dances sound interesting, curious as to what dances will be used. Oh well, here’s to the finale!
Cidra (#34) … Well, you know what they say about “great minds.” lol
Altho, I can definitely see how Charlie’s competitive nature would make him itch for a second chance at that number. He and Sharna have said all season it was their favorite and, knowing Charlie, I’d bet he’d LOVE to pull it off completely clean. After all, the kid is used to having an entire season to perfect 2 routines until they can skate them as perfectly as they are capable of and after coming off a season where he and M actually DID get a completely perfect score on their FD at US Nationals (never been done before), getting just one shot at each performance must have been jarring. Like I said, I hope he nails the HELL out of the thing.
Kate1 (#37), I’ll be happy to grant him some slack and the sleep deprivation they’ve been working under. I can’t imagine doing what they’ve been physically doing on 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night. Especially when they’ve been diligent about getting at least 8 a night for the past 5+ years. HUGE shock to the system.
Tom and Erin are gonna seem like a combination of traffic cops and ringmasters trying to keep all these moving parts MOVING. The schedule is going to be super duper TIGHT (unless they pre-tape some of the musical performances, which could happen depending on the staging setups required). I REALLY hope it all comes off without a hitch, but, it is live television and this show doesn’t always have a great track record of getting everything in it should *coughCharlieJourneyVidcough*
Ooops…meant to add a *scratching my head* at Candace and HipHop? Sounds a bit oxymoronish to me, but, I’m not a dancer/choreographer and Mark’s been working with her for 2 months, so he SHOULD know what she’s capable of pulling off.
Angie, I would bet that a large percentage, if not ALL of the musical numbers will be pre-taped. Just watch all the pros and troup twitter accounts and you can tell. Last season’s finale had a pretty big flub as I recall that kinda made obvious it was pretaped. Can’t remember what it was now, it had something to do with Amber…
Mark’s been doing pretty right by Candace this season, so I’ll not criticize what they’re doing before I see it. 🙂 However this comes out, those two should be pretty proud.
PH, yeah, the more I thought about it, the more it seems those “musical guests” would almost HAVE to be pre-taped. WAAAAAY too much setup/switch out (I’m assuming the guests will have their own musicians, unless they “fake it” and lipsync, which I TRULY despise) having to happen in between to be able to maintain the strict pace of a 2 hour live show.
And, I tend to agree about Mark and Candace. After a few bumps the first week or so over what she would or wouldn’t wear, Mark has been able to find a way to present her in a very flattering light in her dances & costumes. I actually think she’s been one of the best “dressed” celebs this season. (Don’t get me started on the atrociousness that have been Meryl’s costume choices. WTH is it with the Ukranian men and terrible costuming? Altho, I guess it’s MOSTLY just Maks. The guy can’t dress a female to save his life this year.)
Wow! I just found this article over on the list on the right. LOL, that’s me (a dollar short and a day later) 🙂
Thank you, PHeidi for posting this article about the Finale schedule.
It looks like it’s going to be “action packed.” So glad to be seeing Team Loca performing this time with Amy. I simply loved that dance!!
Not surprised that Meryl & Charlie are doing a dance together, I had always figured on that one. It will be nice to see Charlie dancing some more.
Drew & Cheryl’s dance to “You Can’t Sit Down” will be very entertaining. I remember Drew’s exit night after an interview, he commented “Amy is going to win.”
I was wondering what dances the 4 remaining couples might be doing, but this article explains everything in good detail.
@Cidra #12 I wouldn’t doubt that the producers have it in the celebrates & even the pro’ contracts that they have to appear again on the show in the finale to get paid either in full or the balance remaining due to them.
The Finale: since the end is nigh, I take this moment to come out of the shadows (lurking I believe is the term) to thank you all for your commentary & insight. It was definitely an asset in getting a grasp of what dwts is about – I enjoyed the dancing very much – and disregarded the rest. Will watch the finale but I already have a view that the true winners have clinched & it has nothing to do with a trophy…..Amy a very personal win (no matter what happens next) and Charlie (who probably has a stack of IOU’s that reaches the sky- adorable boy but I saw that smile drop & those penetrating eyes – what we call “pilots eyes” who could jolly well push the button & launch that missile with pinpoint accuracy if desired ). I will look most forward to the dancing & if there be any truth in the telling, the Charlie/Meryl dance should make the word “ringer” seem oh so inadequate. So the commercial telling us to watch next weeks show to see “the best of the best” compete……I now take in stride knowing tv reality language has nothing to do with literal definition…. and a mea culpa for myself & other PIA skate intruders but at least for me you put me in the right frame of mind to what I should expect & thereby allowed me to enjoy it for what it is rather then frustrated & disillusioned when it didn’t turn out to what I thought it might be. For my 2cents I think I would go with a “dark horse” – James