Private Members Area – DWTS Season 19 Plugged and Unplugged Discussion
Tonight was week 10 of Dancing with the Stars Season 19. If you’re not a Pure DWTS Insider yet, you can do so here. If you are, then I look forward to the discussion in the comments.
What did you think of tonight’s show? Did you like the plugged and unplugged idea? Were you happy about who was sent home? How’s this season rank against other seasons? This week’s off topic subject comes from the polar vortex that’s hit the country. Do you like it cold or do you like it hot?
I thought the show and everyone really stepped it up last night compared to last week. The costumes were off the hook too. Same with the dances including Tommy. He went out with a bang. The best way to go. Great night. I can’t wait for the finals.
I don’t really feel one way or another about tonights show. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. I really enjoyed Bethany and Alfonsos contemporary pieces, but other than that nothing really stood out.
I think this is the first time in a while where I have NO idea who it’s going to shake out. In the past few seasons I think most of us could have pegged the final 2 (Shawn and Melissa, Kellie and Zendaya, Amber and Corbin, Amy and Meryl), but I honestly have no clue who will go home after Monday night and who will be in the final 2. Heidi mentioned it on another post, but as long as it’s not Janel, I don’t care who of the other 3 takes it.
Oh and for the off topic question- Polar Vortex hasn’t really hit us in Boston. It was supposed to last week, but it’s only gotten down to 30 which is very surprising. I like the cold better than hot, but I also really really hate snow. Something about shoveling after every blizzard that I don’t enjoy.
My blood has thinned and I’ve fallen in love with heat. Although, I’m stuck in NYC in the freezing cold right now.
Kaitlyn,
I’ve always said that I love to play in the snow. I don’t like to live in the snow.
Oh, I forgot to answer the Polar Vortex question: it’s hit us hard. I love the snow (winter is my favorite season…especially for fashion reasons 😀 ), but, the winds and below zero temps can be frigid.
John, stay warm in NYC! Kaitlyn, you stay warm too!
It’s 11 degrees here in Chicago. I don’t think I can handle another winter like last year’s. This is why I’m moving to California – but have to endure another winter as I wait. Guess I’ll have to take a few vacations to get us through it.
So looks like Alfonso has the Jive for the judges’ pick (per CAI’s blog). I think that’s good and bad. Good in the sense that I think it’s probably his best style and I still LOVE his first week Jive but bad in the sense that I worry about his injury. Also, I always assumed he and Witney would tap in their freestyle and it would almost be Jive-esque so I worry the two dances will be too similar. I’m getting ahead of myself though! Wish we knew the other judges’ picks.
I’m kind of disappointed in the judges giving him that one as well. I still think that it’s one of my favorite dances of the season and had he done that later in the season it probably would have been all 10’s. If the whole point of the judges pick is for them to do a dance again that they felt could be improved, I have no idea why they chose this for them. Damn judges (producers)…
Hope this is okay to talk about here…
Ahhh Courtney’s tweet has me so curious about the freestyles now! The only thing I feel safe in assuming is that the lovey-dovey contemporary is Janel, which is going to make me barf no doubt and which the judges and audience will eat up. I’m only hoping it won’t be AS impactful since they just did a contemporary. The video game thing has me nervous though…
@Courtney – Any Deep Throat spoilers going into the finale?
@Sandy – The only one I had was that Janel didn’t even start rehearsing until yesterday, and TMZ broke that one 🙁 I’ll see if I can get any more Intel before Monday…
Did any of you guys see the rumors floating around about Bethany and Derek hooking up and speculating on whether or not he’s back with Nina. It seemed fairly ridiculous to me because the article insinuates that these Bethany/Derek rumors have been subject to “speculation for months”. Say what?
http://www.enstarz.com/articles/51457/20141120/bethany-mota-dating-is-dwts-contestant-dating-derek-hough-or-is-he-with-nina-dobrev-video.htm
enstarz is one of those sites that gets all their “stories” from fans on twitter, I think. There are a ton of Bethany/Derek shippers so that’s probably where they’re getting that idea. Pretty much the same with the Nina one. There is a Nina hater/Derek fan on twitter who is absolutely obsessed with her hatred of Nina and keeps pestering Derek telling him he could do so much better. She doesn’t realize that her idiocy is probably where most of the rumors come from. She asked me what I thought about it and I told her to quit being a damn troll. She didn’t get it.
I will add, though, that Bethany is exactly Derek’s type but I have to think she would be way too young for him, as he’s started talking about wanting to start a family.
Yeah I think physically she is – but he also tends to like his ladies slightly older than himself, I think. Not that he needs that, but Bethany is so damn young. I highly, highly doubt there is any validity to this.
OK I’m going to stick my toe in here. All opinions …
I think Derek went for older women when he was younger. During the Ryan Seacrest interview Ryan was kidding Derek about being a big kid, when was he going to grow up, etc. Derek replied something about he needs the child to create. I think in many ways he has met his match in Bethany. She is quite mature emotionally and psychologically, but very childlike energetically. Her experiences with being bullied informed her, rather than destroyed her. Derek — same. In some article Derek mentioned how Bethany created her own brand, etc. I remember after the announcement of the stars the two of them were walking outside and Bethany pointed out her billboard in Times Square. The girl is accomplished, in more ways than one. I doubt there’s been any hook-ups, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Derek was a bit “taken” with her. He’s been extremely, extremely affectionate with her. In the end, regardless of the nature of their relationship, the quality of it is superb.
I have to say, Suzy, that I just put together a clip of all the random Derek and Bethany moments and I was a bit shocked at Derek’s behavior towards Bethany – VERY affectionate, always kissing her. I was surprised because it didn’t stand out to me when watching the show in it’s entirety. Wow. He might have a bit of a crush. I expect it will go away when they aren’t together every day.
Appreciate the back-up, PH. 🙂
I was just very surprised, Suzy. He even used the voice previously reserved for Joanna Krupa – another crush he had while dancing. 🙂
The only instance of a different voice that I noticed was at the very beginning of the season at one of their first rehearsals, when he said, “And that face — I love that face!” Was that it? Don’t remember the Joanna Krupa voice moment.
Hmm I doubt that they’ve hooked up, and I don’t even get the sense that Derek necessarily has a crush on her – but he has said that he loves her because of her attitude, how even if she gets frustrated it’s only for a second and she laughs it off, she’s very laid back and takes everything in stride. I don’t get the feeling he means romantic love, but he REALLY loves working with her and loves her as a person and thinks she’s super cool.
The amount of shipping of Bethany and Derek on Instagram and Tumblr is unreal. I feel like Derek gets this every season but it seems amped up this season. A lot of it probably stems from the fact that Beth’s fans are the perfect demo to be susceptible to it but they do seem REALLY, REALLY affectionate sometimes. It’s particularly noticeable watching the backstage access of the Red Room – I feel like I’ve seem so many gif sets of kisses between them and affectionate embraces from that backstage footage. It’s so different from the packages that are shown of them in how close they seem to be.
No, in this past week when she’s reassuring him. He’s sitting down, looking up and to the side at her. I was like, “hold the phone, Derek”. 🙂
And I have to add, that I hate shipping with a passion. So I am not prone to this sort of thing. But I am something of an expert on the many tones of Derek Hough. 😉
After almost 20 seasons of this show, I have learned to never look at pro/celeb affection as anything but friendly, intimate interaction between two adults that spend a lot of time together. Maybe this is an unusual behavior for Derek in some ways, but maybe he senses this is how she gets the most reassured and comfortable and this is how “they” communicate.
I realize that there are indeed hook-ups and even a few relationships that come out of these partnerships, but I need a lot more than physical interaction and bad tabloid reporting to believe it is anything but mutual affection and appreciation.
(I realize PH that you aren’t arguing that there’s something there and you are just noting the out-of-character interactions that piqued your interest).
Not to change subjects…ok…actually I am find changing subjects since it’s an open chat…
But I wanted to take a second to say how amazing Peta was this season. I think that having a pretty terrible dancer did really amazing things for her. It basically pushed her to be more creative than she’s ever been before and it provided some amazing results. Reminds me of the tech startup world (yes, I’m a nerd that way) where they talk about having too much money can be an issue, because when you have too much money you aren’t as creative in how you try to solve problems. So much money becomes a liability for the company. Many times when you’re constrained by something, it brings out your most creative side (by necessity). I think that’s what happened with Peta this season and I loved it!
John, I agree! I loved Peta this season. It was so cool seeing her smile and laugh more…and she has such a cute laugh anyway. She proved too that she can take anyone and make them a dancer. Huge kudos to her.
Add me!! I think preseason most of us had counted this pair out week 1 or 2.
I loved seeing Peta smile, laugh, and cry. Seeing this emotional side of Peta was so rewarding. And at the end of their journey I have one question:
Who was the teacher/mentor/coach of this pairing? It started out as Peta, but I think by the end of the season it was actually Tommy that had taught Peta some very valuable lessons in life. Kudos to them both.
I agree as well. I think most of us said she would be gone in the first couple weeks. I actually remember the spoiler post for each of the pairs this season. Tommy/Peta was the first revealed and almost all of us were overjoyed that Peta finally got somebody that was older and would be out earlier. Look how that turned out…
I think I’ve liked Peta a lot this season because we really saw a differnt side of her. In the past we’ve always seen this woman who didn’t have many emotions, yet let her partners walk all over her. This season we saw her being vulnerable and it was amazing. I’ve also always thought she got lucky in getting Donald and winning and now I see her differently. Thank you to Tommy Chong for helping change my mind of her. I definitely have more faith in her as a teacher and human being.
I also grew to love Peta this season – I think she did amazing things with Tommy and it was nice to see her with a partner that so clearly had an amazing impact on her.
Len was right about Tommy. No 76 year old will ever make it that far on DWTS again. I’m 35 and I’m feeling the aches and pains. I can’t imagine how Tommy did what he did.
He was like Al Pacino in “Scent Of A Woman” for me all season. Loved him!
I’ve been saying the same thing about Peta. She really only bothered me in two of her seasons – Gilles and Sean – and I warmed up to her and Brant, and I actually liked a lot of what she and James did once they shed the romance aspect of their partnerships. I also thought his freestyle was super cool and innovative, and although I was rooting for Charlie and Amy all last season, she was certainly deserving to be in the finale. But she has been a revelation with Tommy, and I’m so glad we got to witness how happy he made her.