DWTS Season 22, Week 7 – Dancing by the Numbers

I must say, week 7 of Season 22 was exceptionally dull until about the halfway point of the night. Super dullsville until we got to (surprise, surprise) Wanya and Lindsay. Major props to Lindsay for bringing the whimsical style foxtrot to the show – I could totally see Derek choreographing that dance. I can’t give a bigger compliment. Was it perfectly executed? No – but I loved it more than one of the so-called perfect dances.

Which brings me to Val and Ginger. I LOVED that dance. I thought it was beautiful. Would I have given it a 30? Based on what I had seen up to that point on Monday night, no – probably a 28 or 29.  When comparing it to Nyle, Wanya and Paige’s dances earlier in the season, it wasn’t even close to a 30. When stacked up side by side with Paige’s dance on the same night – not even close. Paige’s dance was jam packed with content, was extremely fast, harder, and better performed. Were both dances perfect? No. Paige had a couple sync issues while Ginger’s arms got thrown away more than once. I find it a disservice to both women to give those dances the same perfect score when Paige is dancing at a much higher level. Not only that, but (as has happened in the past to Val and Maks’ partners) she will now expect high scores for less than perfect dancing and will be upset if and when it doesn’t happen.  She will be blindsided. And Val will not help her temper her expectations – we saw that with Maks many times. They buy into their own PR instead of attempting to be pragmatic or realistic.

Speaking of faults – was tremendously excited to hear Shirley Ballas echo what I’ve said MANY times about the pros on this show. TRAIN IN THE OFF SEASON!! She specifically mentioned Derek by name as one who’s training even now, in his off season. He is constantly on a mission to learn something new and perfect things – this is why he’s the best choreographer this show has ever seen and will likely ever see. Shirley was making these comments while talking about Jodie and Keo…but it certainly applies to every pro on the show. Val in particular could try expanding his horizons and learning something new to perhaps inspire him to get some creativity back in his choreography. There is no question he’s a great dancer – it’s his choreography and teaching ability in question. For that matter, other than Derek and Cheryl, do ANY of the pros train in the off season?? Do any of them take classes?? I saw on twitter where Gleb was taking hip hop classes. Anyone else? I think this is a huge mistake.  All the dancers from SYTYCD that have been on tour with MOVE, Justin Beiber, and other world class artists are always taking dance classes. Why do the DWTS pros not do the same, ESPECIALLY since the show is expanding beyond ballroom? I would rather see just ballroom on DWTS, but if they’re going to add contemporary and jazz, I would like to see GOOD contemporary and jazz. Hell, keep learning BALLROOM as well. The SYTYCD dancers get together and DANCE all the time, learning from each other. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Derek has multiple Emmy nominations and two statues AND he’s the only pro who crosses genres and regularly works with Nappytabs, Travis Wall and many others? He’s been dancing with Allison since before Season 13. Not a coincidence.

I digress. Sort of. I think part of my overall dissatisfaction with the show, and finding more than half of it dull, is due to things like pros who aren’t living up to the standards set by Derek, Cheryl (and her ghost) and Julianne. Mark is – but he can’t do it alone.  I think if all the pros took Shirley’s advice, this season wouldn’t be such a letdown.  Jodie and Ginger both have experience – both should be performing at Paige’s level. Shirley kindly implied as much. But they have pros who are letting them down.

Anyway…Peta is working miracles with Nyle, but it’s time to fix some of his issues. Sharna is doing what she can with Antonio and apparently has Julz helping her – do what it takes, girl. Lindsay – we already covered her, but again – she’s doing a great job. Love them both. Wanya and Paige are my clear favorites, and Nyle is interesting to me. I would be okay if any of those three won. Not so sure that Nyle has it in the bag – he has to step it up (or Peta does) and start polishing some of his issues.

The only thing better about the numbers this week is that we’re only losing one contestant. That’s right, they are still dreadful, with very small margins.

DWTS S22 Wk 7 Table 1

Only 6 contestants left and a three way tie for second place? Oy veh. Jodie’s at the bottom, Nyle at the top.  That’s a shame, really, but it can’t be helped due to the Team Dances. The men had the clearly more cohesive, more entertaining, better executed dance. If not for that, Ginger and Jodie would be solidly in first place. Oh well.  I think the only two not in serious danger are, again, Nyle and Wanya. I *think* Paige’s stock is going up – I just hope it’s going up fast enough to not get forced out by the Ginger pimping and Jodie’s fanbase.

But Jodie is the one on the bottom – check it out.

DWTS S22 Wk 7 Table 2

The margin between Jodie and Antonio is TINY and unfortunately I don’t think she can cover it which sadly makes Antonio safe. In order for Jodie to be safe, she needs ONE of the following things:

  • She needs to get about 2,400 more votes per million votes cast than Antonio, OR;
  • She needs to get about 9,400 more votes per million votes cast than ONE of Ginger, Paige or Wanya, OR;
  • She needs to get about 11,700 more votes per million votes cast than Nyle.

I doubt very much she is getting the votes she needs to get past Antonio, Wanya or Nyle. Ginger and Paige? Who knows.  Jodie went first and her dance was…weird. In contrast, Ginger and Paige both had very good to great dances and perfect scores.

DWTS S22 Wk 7 Table 3

You would think, by now, that a perfect score would NOT lull fans into complacency, but it does still happen. I go back again, also, to the pros – Ginger and Paige have two longer running, more popular pros. That won’t win you the show, but it can allow you to squeak past another contestant.

What about Ginger and Paige – what do they need to do in order to be safe? Paige needs ONE of the following things (Ginger needs the same, just change Paige’s name to Ginger’s):

  • Paige needs for Jodie to NOT get the 9,400 more votes per million votes cast, OR;
  • Paige needs for Antonio to NOT get the roughly 7k more votes per million votes cast than her, OR;
  • Paige needs for Ginger OR Wanya to not get the ONE more vote per million votes cast than her, OR;
  • Paige needs to get 2,400 more votes per million votes cast than Nyle.

Once again, Wanya is almost certainly getting the votes and neither woman is likely getting the votes to get past Nyle. I think it’s likely that Antonio is also getting the votes to get past Paige and Ginger.

At the end of the day, I think the men are safe and the women are in jeopardy. Which of the three women will end up being eliminated? I tend to think it’s the end of the road for Jodie, but the only “shocking” elimination would be male.

So, I’m going to say that Jodie will be eliminated. My second choice would be Ginger, I think. But Paige would not surprise me.

What say you?