Flashback Friday: Dancing with the Stars Season 3
And I’m back finally, with another Flashback Friday! I hadn’t meant to take as long a break as I did, but my dad died unexpectedly 10 days before Christmas (and just 2 months after we lost my mom!) so my final preparations for Christmas needed to wait. I had to stop and think where we left off! Here’s season 1 and season 2.
So here we go, on to season 3, the first one I watched. Not many changes this season, same 3 judges, same 2 hosts. They did expand the season to 10 weeks, however.
Another change is to the scoring system that they used, I am quoting from wiki here, and will ask Miss Heidi if this is how it’s done now?
For this season, the scoring system was changed. Fan vote only counted for 25% of the total score and scoring was now translated directly from percentages rather than into ordinals. The judges scores were added up, and each performer was given points based on the percentage of the total points distributed among all performers. (For example, a team received a score of 25. A total of 207 points were awarded to all nine performers. The team received 12.08% of that total, so that team earned 12.08 points. The couple happens to be Sara & Tony.) The fan vote was handled the same way, with the points based on how much of the total fan vote the star received. (So, in the same example, if the team earned 15% of the total fan vote, their grand total is 27.08 points.)[
Andrea Hale, Jonathan Roberts and Anna Trebunskaya did not compete as pros during this season. Elena Grinenko, Kym Johnson, Karina Smirnoff and Jesse DeSoto joined as new pros. Returning pros included Ashly DelGrosso, Nick Kosovich, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, Louis Van Amstel, Edyta Sliwinska and Cheryl Burke.
TUCKER CARLSON AND ELENA GRINENKO came in 11th place, being eliminated on week 1 on September 13, 2006. They performed a cha cha cha, otherwise known as the Curse of the Chair dance, and received a score of 12.
SHANNA MOAKLER AND JESSE DE SOTO came in 10th place, being eliminated on week 2 on September 20, 2006. They peformed a foxtrot and a mambo. Honestly, I didn’t remember them at all, so I guess it’s not surprising that they went home early. To my very untrained eyes, I think their mambo was good, and seemed to have some good choreography, but it just isn’t memorable. Here’s their mambo, they received a score of 22.
HARRY HAMLIN AND ASHLY DEL GROSSO came in 9th place, eliminated in week 3 on September 27, 2006. Harry is the first DWTS family member to compete, his wife, Lisa Rinna, competed in season 2 with Louis VanAmstel. They performed a cha cha, quickstep and tango. Here’s their tango, they received a score of 22.
VIVICA FOX AND NICK KOSOVICH came in 8th place, eliminated in week 4 on October 4, 2006. They danced foxtrot, mambo, tango and paso doble. Here’s their paso, since I know there are people here on the site that miss seeing as many pasos as they used to do on the show. Watching this one, I thought that he choreographed in a lot of fillers. Funny that I thought it was a strong paso, and it probably was way back near the beginning of the show! They received a score of 24 for it.
WILLA FORD AND MAKSIM CHMERKOVSKIY came in 7th place, eliminated in week 5 on October 11, 2006. They danced foxtrot, mambo, jive, waltz and rumba. Here’s their jive, you may start to see the beginnings of several patterns that Maks has on the show, more specifically, I do remember the “are they or aren’t they?” surrounding Maks and Willa. They received a 22 for this dance.
SARA EVANS AND TONY DOVOLANI came in 6th place, after withdrawing from the competition due to her ongoing (at the time) family issues on October 13, 2006. They danced foxtrot, mambo, jive, paso doble and samba. I don’t think she would have lasted that much longer, had she not withdrawn. And she probably outlasted some better dancers. This jive was my favorite one she did, and they received a score of 25.
JERRY SPRINGER AND KYM JOHNSON came in 5th place, eliminated in week 7 on October 25, 2006. They danced cha cha, quickstep, tango, waltz, samba, paso doble, disco, foxtrot and mambo. He definitely wasn’t the best dancer, but his heart surprised everyone. His purpose for joining the show, was to learn to dance enough to not embarrass his daughter at her wedding. I will always remember this waltz, and Kym’s tears. They received a score of 22.
MONIQUE COLEMAN AND LOUIS VAN AMSTEL came in 4th place, eliminated in week 8 on November 1, 2006. She was the last woman standing, and I do think she should have gone further in the competition. Louis constantly challenged her, and gave her very difficult choreography, she worked VERY hard, and was really nitpicked more than the 3 remaining men, and in my opinion, danced better than both Joey and Emmitt. They danced foxtrot, mambo, jive, waltz, rumba, samba, disco, quickstep, paso doble, tango and cha cha. We’re watching her mambo from week 2, which has a future contestant in her cheering squad. They received a 26 for this dance.
JOEY LAWRENCE AND EDYTA SLIWINSKA came in 3rd place, eliminated in week 9 on November 8, 2006. They danced cha cha, quickstep, jive, waltz, samba, rumba, disco, foxtrot, mambo, tango, paso doble, quickstep and rumba. Here’s their Halloween-themed tango, which was quite cute, but compared to the choreography that Louis had been giving Monique, I thought it was a little weaker. They received a score of 28.
MARIO LOPEZ AND KARINA SMIRNOFF came in 2nd place in the Finals on November 15, 2006. He definitely was the best dancer in the competition this season, and coming in as runner up probably upset quite a few people, but the pattern for future seasons start to emerge. I’ll let you debate it in the comments. They danced cha cha, quickstep, tango, paso doble, rumba, mambo, disco, foxtrot jive waltz, samba, tango, cha cha, samba, paso doble, freestyle. Here’s their quickstep, which scored a 21. Probably should have gotten higher, if they knew what they were and were not allowed to do.
EMMITT SMITH AND CHERYL BURKE were named WINNERS on November 15, 2006, making Cheryl the first professional on the show to win back-to-back seasons. They danced cha cha, quickstep, tango, paso doble, samba, jive, disco, waltz, mambo, foxtrot, rumba, waltz, cha cha, samba, mambo and freestyle. Here’s their first waltz, they scored a 28.
Here’s an extra, the Season 3 GROUP DISCO! I hope they bring this back for Season 20, I always enjoyed watching the group dance, seeing the couples get together and just have unscored FUN!
And lastly, one pro dance from Week 1.
I’m so sorry to hear of your losses Lori, and so close together.
This is my first season of watching and I remember taping it and going back to watch my favorites, Mario, Joey and Monique, and then not watching the rest of them. I really wanted Mario to win but I guess I knew all along it was going to be Emmitt. They used to interview the audience after Monday’s show asking them what they thought of the show and I’ll always remember one lady saying that when Emmitt smiles, her panties fall off! I couldn’t believe she said that!
So sorry to hear about your family, Lori – a friend of mine is also going through the lose of both her parents very close together, and my heart aches for both of you.
Thanks for keeping up with this series – I like the recaps, and even more I like any editorial that you and everyone else gives on them. It makes it seem like I’m re-living DWTS all over again!
This was a great season – Very competitive group of contestants
I remember how fantastic Monique Coleman was and how she really caught it from the judges-IMO Louis did a great job with her/she was fearless. Got to see her and Joey on tour as well.
Look at young Corbin in the audience 🙂
Thanks for the flashback – pretty awesome
Sorry about your loss Lori! Thanks for providing us DWTS fans a chance to look back at previous seasons.
Such a great Flashback, Lori. Thanks so much…especially in light of your recent losses. hugsss.
As for this season…Jerry Springer, Joey Lawrence, and Willa Ford were my favorites from this season.
And I loved the “group” dances too. I wish they’d bring those back.
First season where I found a celeb I didn’t like (Harry) but the rest were fun to watch, especially jerry.
So sorry to hear about your loss, Lori. And thank you for this flashback. Loved your description for each video.
I read your site all the time, and look forward to new posts. I don’t usually comment, but I want to offer my sincere condolences on the loss of your parents. I went through it a few years ago, although I didn’t lose both in such quick succession. Whatever the circumstances, it’s never easy, and, again, I’m sorry for your loss.
Sorry to hear you had so much `loss. My condolences to you and your family.
Lori, I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your parents, may the new year bring you healing. Thanks for making the time to continue with this series.
Lori, I’m very sorry to hear about your parents. That has got to be very difficult I hope the new year brings you strength and healing.
As for the question you asked. That sounds like how they do the scoring now, except that it’s 50-50, viewer vote and judges scores.
Lori, so sorry for your loss ~ Take care..
I’m so sorry to hear of your loss, Lori. Great job with the retrospective!
Things I see now — wow, Kym really looks…different. But she is endearing as ever.
I remember the Maks-Willa “romance” from that season, and that was a part of those earlier seasons where it seemed that the female celebrities could not catch a break (still happens, but not as blatantly, partly because some of the male pros have strong enough support to help push their partners through).
Mario was really good — though I wonder how he stacks up among the ringers (I’d love to see a ranking of who we think the best celebrity dancers have been on the show) — I think that over time, they’ve let people with stronger and stronger dance experience participate, so the ringers are getting even more ringer-y.