PureDWTS Season 22, Week 6 – Power Rankings

I feel as though now is a good time to remind everyone of a very important thing to heed when watching the rehearsal packages: BEWARE THE EDIT. Last night, we saw two packages that very clearly illustrated how the tone of a package can get skewed with the right editing – they made Nyle, the well-loved, down-to-earth frontrunner seem like a self-absorbed egomaniac; and they took Antonio, the lazy narcissist who has only put in an average of 10 hours of rehearsal time for the first 5 weeks of the season, appear to be a hard-working, misunderstood victim of his pro’s apathy.  That latter in particular made me wanna toss my cookies, because as we reported (and as it’s been parroted all over Twitter) – Antonio has done nothing but make excuses for his lateness/lack of rehearsal time, and then apparently spent 45 minutes ranting to the confessional camera about how Sharna has checked out of their partnership and he’s “putting her on notice”.  He failed to assume any responsibility whatsoever for their partnership failing to “boom”, cast all the blame onto her, and came across as chillingly aggressive – and yet, because of the edit he was given (and the subsequent falling into line that the judges did), he appeared to be the uber-dedicated “comeback kid” this week, and managed to skate by with nary a negative word uttered about a routine that would probably gotten torn to pieces if it had been performed by Nyle, Wanya, Paige, or even Von. On the other side of the coin, I’m fairly certain poor Nyle got baited into one of the many loaded questions production loves to ask the celebs in order to illicit some of the juicier sound bytes we hear in packages – I’m guessing it was something like “Who is your biggest competition this season? Do you think you’re sexier than anyone in the cast? Who do you see yourself beating in a wet t-shirt contest?” Given that I’ve heard nothing but praise for how Nyle was on ANTM (“the nicest guy EVER” is a phrase that gets tossed out a lot), I find it hard to believe that he’d suddenly decide to start seriously throwing shade and bragging about himself.  He was JOKING, guys – but because of the edit he was given, it was made to appear serious.  I’m guessing Tamar was also somewhat joking last season when she got baited into saying “I’m the best”, and I’m sure Nastia didn’t set out to come across as the icy bitch they painted her as during the infamous bad edit of season 20. Just something to keep in mind when things start feeling…off.

God bless Doug – I do think he really gave it his all this season, and for what it’s worth, I actually found myself really enjoying his Bollywood routine tonight.  Karina was smart to keep it simple, and Doug kept up surprisingly well.  But I do feel like he had reached a point where he wasn’t really having fun anymore, and the stress was maybe wearing on him – so I didn’t get the impression that he was all that broken up about leaving tonight. He was thankful for the experience – but he seemed ready for the ride to stop. But with Doug gone, that leaves us in an very sticky situation: there are really no more “bad” dancers left – everyone remaining ranges from decent (when he’s trying) to great.  Which means the eliminations are gonna get painful from here on out, particularly this double one we’ve got coming up next week.  Given who we saw in jeopardy last night, it’s entirely possible we could lose one of the stronger dancers – and that those just skating by may end up outlasting the better dancers, if people don’t start voting.  Hope you did! Otherwise things could get pretty heartbreaking, pretty fast…

Can someone please explain to me the strange fixation Val has with being half-naked for no real reason at least once in every show? More often than not, multiple times? Twice last night, we saw him shirtless (once when he was also in his underwear) – and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why and how that fit choreographically with the dances he was doing at the time.  I’m all ears if someone has an intelligent explanation…

1.) Antonio & Sharna – I feel the need to remind everyone that the power rankings are not a ranking of who I liked best or who I think did the best – it’s simply a ranking of how likely I think someone is to be eliminated.  That being said, after the dog and pony show that was his rehearsal package and dance, I daresay he’s probably statistically more likely to get nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize than he is to get eliminated next week – the average viewer is gonna eat that sh*t right up.  I would RELISH being wrong about this, but after the “poor Antonio, he’s just the hardworking victim of a lazy pro – but now our partnership is reinvigorated!” storyline of the package, and a lively dance where he actually seemed to apply himself and put in the effort…by comparison to his previous dances, Antonio is sitting awfully pretty.  Note that I said in comparison to his previous dances – I didn’t say compared to OTHER dances this week (hell, even previous dances this season).  The problem is this: that dance was a PERSONAL best, but it was far from being the best of the night, or the best of the season.  While other couples have been growing in the first 5 weeks of the competition, really polishing up their moves and getting better technique…Antonio’s just been skating by.  So even though last night was a personal best for him, he’s still quite a way behind Wanya, Nyle, Paige, & even Jodie, and I think Von is making strides at a much quicker pace, while also coming across as more likeable. Antonio looked really good in some of the solo jive work, and I saw some promise in his kicks & flicks – but then there were other parts that were just a hot mess, and he seemed to just get a little wild.  That spin move he did towards the end with Sharna almost ended in disaster – he was all over the place, and they both nearly fell over. I’ll admit he sold the showmanship – but he really needs to hone in on the technique now, and I’m not sure he’s going to be able to get up to speed in time to secure a place in the finals. Or who knows – if the propaganda machine keeps churning along next week, perhaps he’s already been allocated one…

2.) Wanya & Lindsay – Again, full disclosure: I’ve been rooting for Wanya since day 1.  And while I acknowledge that Nyle is “a frontrunner” and “very popular”, I actually think last night illustrated for me why I think Wanya is the superior dancer and may end up edging Nyle out: Wanya is always RIGHT ON TOP OF THE MUSIC.  And there’s more to that than just staying on-time – Wanya’s musicality is just off-the-charts, and he lives and breathes each beat of the routine, and is in the pocket from count 1. Yes, I know that Nyle “can’t help it”, but I also “can’t help” that I enjoy watching Wanya more because he really becomes one with the dance. Loved that they were loyal to the original dance, while still putting their own spin on it – they could have easily gone the “Backstreet’s Back” route and done “the move” to death, but I kinda love that we only saw the “Bye Bye Bye” move once at the end of Wanya’s routine.  To quote someone on Twitter – this routine was everything that Nick’s freestyle last season WANTED to be. And I think from here on out, we may see the judges begin to favor Wanya a bit more than Nyle – have to wonder if it’s getting harder for them to overlook some of the small mistakes Nyle makes because Wanya just hits everything so perfectly by comparison…

3.) Nyle & Peta – I’ve already had my rant about the bad edit, but just to further clarify even further – Nyle apparently said on All Access that he had said he wanted to “look like” Val, not compete with Val…and you can see what kind of twisty, manipulative edit they gave him. Once again, the pattern I mentioned seems to hold: the judges alternate lavishing Nyle with praise and nitpicking him to death, often without any great variation between the quality of the dances they’re judging. Yes, guys, I know that Nyle “went off-time” last night – that’s not what I’m debating, and got tired of repeating this till I was blue in the face on Twitter last night. What I’m trying to say is that he’s gone off-time before, and the judges have conveniently overlooked it. Thus, I reiterate – the pattern holds: they praise Nyle in odd-numbered weeks, and then nitpick him in even-numbered ones. To what end? I’m guessing they don’t want it to appear that Nyle is running away with the MBT this early in the game. And really, after talking with Deep Throat, I think TPTB may have been setting Nyle up for failure this week – apparently neither Peta nor Nyle were particularly keen on the idea of Nyle wearing the actual mask, but production insisted upon it; they also seemed to push them to go more with the Lindy-type dance style seen in the movie, rather than a more traditional quickstep like Peta wanted to do (and which would have been easier for her to guide Nyle in). I heard a lot people kinda ripping into this routine, and I have to wonder if they let themselves be swayed by “arrogant Nyle” in the package – it wasn’t THAT bad, guys. Yes, Nyle went off-time a few times, and his frame could have used some work – but it was still an entertaining dance that he did a great job of selling, the energy was high, and he stayed true to the movie. And he was still better than at least 3 other couples last night…don’t let yourselves get swept up in the propaganda, guys.

4.) Ginger & Val – Well, this was about as “Nasty” as Kirsten Dunst in Bring it On – I was half-expecting Ginger to yell “Ready?! OKAY!” before each move, because this just felt so…cheerleader-y.  Very little attitude, a little too much smiling, and none of the moves getting hit very hard. It felt like a leisurely stroll through the routine, and while she didn’t miss any moves, I don’t really think she hit them fully, either.  The whining about her schedule in the package also rubbed me the wrong way – you don’t see Wanya whining about having to do a tour while also rehearsing for DWTS, or Paige whining about having to travel and do UFC stuff, or Kim complaining about not being able to balance her family with DWTS…basically, I have no sympathy if someone starts bitching about their schedule: YOU signed up for this, YOU need to suck it up.  But hey, it’s Ginger, so of course they want us to feel bad for her and her busy, busy schedule. And I may not have been paying close attention, but did I also hear her bitching about thinking she deserved higher scores last week??? HA. And they’re trying to paint NYLE as the arrogant one??? Ginger’s doing a fine job as coming across as an entitled little brat, all on her own! And again – what choreographic purpose does it serve for Ginger to yank Val’s shirt off at the end? I’m all ears.

5.) Paige & Mark – After Heidi and I heard the story of how these two lost their first song choice, we both agreed it was a tad…hinky.  I’m not going to discuss it here, but I’ll just say that I was told the reasoning behind it was less due to legal issues and more to do with appeasing a certain friend of the show – ALLEGEDLY. Admittedly, my first thought upon viewing their rehearsal package was “Are we sure the producers aren’t just feeding Mark a line of bull about legal issues, because they just don’t want Paige & Mark to slay this routine?” And trust me – with Mark’s choreography and Paige’s skills, they would have brought down the house with they dance they had originally. But anyway – they still did a great with the Austin Powers routine.  We saw goofy Mark in his element, and we saw Paige groovin’ with ease – LOVED the aerial; wasn’t wild about the basket toss, though, simply because I didn’t think it fit choreographically. But I’m beginning to worry about whether or not Paige is getting the votes, simply because we’re now at the point where there’s no low-hanging fruit left to eliminate – meaning we’re heading into (not really) shocking elim territory. I think TPTB did Paige (and Von) a favor in firing a warning shot last night – I’m not sure she’s in imminent danger of going home, but I think she could be at risk here pretty soon.  Hope everyone voted – I think she’s most deserving of the 3rd spot in the finale, next to Nyle and Wanya, but I worry that they may sacrifice her in favor of making room for *shudder* Antonio…

6.) Von & Witney – Von is adorable. I LOVED seeing how excited he was to dance to MJ – that alone kinda made me enjoy his dance last night: he was just thrilled. But I do think I’ve finally figured out what Von’s major issue is: he is not super-comfortable with his height and “moving big”.  I’ve found that a lot of the taller guys (and gals!) we’ve had on the show seem to suffer from this same problem: they seem to be so aware of how big they are, that they end up moving small so as to keep from bumping into people, looking awkward, etc.  I think Witney needs to work with him on just getting comfortable and aware of his body, and getting used to moving big.  Because this routine actually showed a lot of promise – he stayed on-time, didn’t miss a move, and he embodied the right attitude.  He’s really becoming quite the showman – he just needs to kick it up a notch. Now where I worry is that, unlike Antonio, TPTB don’t seem to have as strong an interest in keeping Von around – sure, they put him in jeopardy last night, but they sure didn’t give him the “comeback kid” treatment they gave Antonio.  I doubt we’re going to see them do a whole lot more than letting him know he’s in jeopardy, in order to keep him around – which means he & Witney are gonna have to hustle on their own in order to get votes.  Will they? I think they may avoid elimination next week, but after that? Who knows.

7.) Jodie & Keo – And now we get down to who I think may be disposable in the eyes of TPTB.  They gave Jodie a warning shot a couple weeks back – but I’m thinking that was really only to make sure she outlasted Doug.  Now that he’s gone – I’m thinking she is probably still kinda in trouble, but the motivation TPTB might have had to keep her may have since waned.  We’re getting to the point where SOMEBODY’S gotta go home – and I think they’re beginning to prioritize who they want in their finale, and I unfortunately don’t think that’s Jodie. She did decently well with her dance – but they gave her a dance that was not nearly as well-known or upbeat as most of the others last night, and they also saddled her with a crappy running order position. They complimented her routine, but they didn’t GUSH – and all-in-all, she got a pretty mediocre score. Unfortunately, I think she really got lost in the shuffle last night – and may not have gotten the votes, especially since TPTB may have rallied voters to run and vote for Von & Paige. I wouldn’t mind seeing Jodie stay – but I think her days are numbered.

8.) Kim & Sasha – Like Jodie, I think Kim has unfortunately become kinda disposable in the eyes of TPTB – and the fact that Carrie Ann said what I have been saying for weeks (that Kim is kinda playing it safe and needs to step up her game) makes me think that she may be suffering in the votes department, too. Although I will say that she did better last night than she probably has the past few weeks – it was high-energy, she sold it well, and I was entertained.  But she did seem to be babying her feet a bit, so – like Jodie – maybe TPTB see her as damaged goods, and therefore kinda expendable. Don’t get me wrong, I like Kim & Sasha – I always find myself smiling after their dances – but I do think they’ve maybe been middle-of-the-pack for too long, and are probably at the point where they’re not standing out enough. It’s really a shame, cause I would much rather see Antonio go than either of the two I think are actually going to be leaving us next week…

So what are your thoughts?