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DWTS 14 End-of-Season Award Winners: What Was the Biggest Controversy?

Other responses:

All of the above/any combination of the above answers – 17 (Sorry guys, too many different combos to list them individually!)

Derek & Maria’s kiss – 1

William & that stupid running & sliding move in every single dance – 1 (Annoying, yes, but is it really a “controversy”, per se?)

Katherine’s “injury” – 1

Derek’s behavior – 1

Cheryl’s Emmy-worthy creativity *sarcasm* – 1

None – 1

Rock & Roll Week – 1

Overstating Maria’s injuries, ribs NOT broken…hurt, yes, but not broken – 1

William wearing the same shirt in many different colors – 1 (Again, it’s annoying, but is it really controversial?)

Dance marathon – 1

Courtney: Again, it looks like we have several different interpretations of the term “controversy” here. I guess the way I interpret it within the context of the show, a “controversy” is something that occured that caused a great deal of debate and dissenting opinions on the issue – but maybe some other people interpret it as something that just really bugged them personally. I guess I need to be a bit more specific in my explanation of next season’s awards, perhaps along with eliminating the write-in category 😛 Anywho! I think the results are about right on the money – I found the most prolonged, contentious, polarizing issue of the season was the question of whether or not William was getting unfairly favored by the judges and/or the TPTB, and just the judges being highly subjective in their scoring across the board.  I don’t think we’ve ever had a precedent for a situation like the one that unfolded this past season – I can’t recall a time in a past season where the judges were so blatantly displaying favoritism towards a certain contestant.  Granted, there is always some degree of subjectivity, and the judges do tend to pick favorites each season, but I don’t think we’ve seen it before to the degree that we did this season.  As for Jaleel’s behavior, the dance duel, & Cheryl’s behavior – yes, they all generated a great deal of debate and polarity in opinions, but perhaps weren’t as prolonged as the William/judges controversy.  As for the trio dance – I know some of you are probably balking at the notion of it being “controversial”, but I seem to recall quite a few debates about which couples would pick which pros and how it would be advantageous to some and a disadvantage for others, so there was at least a bit of controversy there.  Especially on the topic of who would get Tristan 😛

Vogue: I think this poll was spot on as well. As much as I loved William himself and his dancing too, the pimping was over the top. I was patient about it at first and could understand the interest in him being he was a new sexy Latin star to hit the Hollywood scene, but, the hype and the manipulation from the producers and the judges scoring and then Cheryl herself out of control took it’s toll on a great many of fans. Sadder yet, was that William himself could see it too and it wasn’t something he welcomed. I really admired his humbleness through out it all which made me a fan. I wish I could say the same for Cheryl. I’ve lost a lot of respect for her that I once had. I was also outraged with Jaleel’s behavior. I was so glad when he was finally picked to go.

Heidi: I think the top three were the only real controversies – and they were doozies. The rest? Nah.  And the write ins?? Some people need a little reality check.  🙂  Although I did snicker at the “emmy worthy creativity” one. 🙂  Every season there is someone who is the judges favorite – but it’s usually someone who is the best dancer. Not this season. This season they had their favorite….and he was also pimped to high hell at every opportunity by the show itself. It was quite ridiculous.  Now can we go to my favorite moment of the season? Carrie Ann’s mouth falling open when said controversial dude took THIRD place. 🙂  Anyway, after a while it seemed to be a highly orchestrated dance (pardon the expression) between production and judges to make sure this guy went to the finals. Of course, they seemed determined to get Katherine there as well (and keep Donald away), but it was at a much higher level with Willy…and Katherine could really DANCE. Madness.

*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor

July 18, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS 14 End-of-Season Awards – Which Celebrity Improved the Most?

Other responses:

William Levy – 9 (Not sure how you can improve your ass-shaking & shirt-removing technique a whole lot…)
Roshon Fegan – 7
Gladys Knight – 3
Jaleel White – 2 (Maybe if you consider witholding his crocodile tears an improvement…)
Sherri Shepherd – 1
Everyone – 1 (If only that were true :-))

Courtney: I don’t think this season’s “most improved” award was quite as clear for me as it’s been in previous seasons – I know when I voted in season 12, it was like “Duh, ROMEO!” and in season 13, “Of course it’s Rob!!!” This season, I found myself wavering a bit, as it seems like a lot of people started out being good and then stayed pretty good the entire season – and then there were others who were a bit up-and-down.  In the end, though, I think the improvement was most apparent with Maria.  I remember muttering “Yikes!” after her cha-cha in week one, as she looked downright terrified and pretty unsteady on her legs.  Then she looked a bit more relaxed and in the zone in week 2, and a little more in week 3, etc. By the time classical week rolled around and she managed to get the first perfect 30 of the season, I was pretty impressed.  As for Donald – I do think he improved, but it wasn’t quite as marked as Maria – plus he really never seemed to get the love he deserved from the judges, so I guess it kinda distorted things for me.  It became a matter of “Is he really improving drastically, or are the judges just finally warming up to him?” I will credit Melissa with improving in her stage presence, but overall, I think her dancing only improved slightly during her stint on the show.  I think Gavin could have improved quite a bit, had he stuck around a little longer – but his transformation in the short time he was on was enjoyable nonetheless.  🙂  I feel the same about Roshon as I do about Donald – I don’t know that he was truly improving (I thought he was pretty good the whole season), but the judges just seemed to vacillate between lavishing praise upon him and absolutely ripping him to shreds from week to week, so I think it gave a false impression of him having all of these dramatic ups and downs.  I thought Gladys gave it a good try, but only had a slight net improvement throughout the season; I thought Jaleel was down more than he was up; and I still don’t think I even saw enough real dancing from William to even determine if he improved greatly.  I think his finale cha-cha looked better than his week 1 cha-cha, but that’s the only benchmark I have to compare to.

Vogue: Court, I’m with you again. When I first read this Poll, I was baffled for who to vote for “most improved”? With every season we’ve done this, I usually know straight away for who to answer with, but, not this time. After thinking on it, I voted for Maria. Looking back to her first interviews and first dances, she was weak and a little uncoordinated. She so nervous and unconfident. She was worried she wouldn’t be as good as Derek’s other partners which she voiced several times in interviews which, in turn, made me nervous for her too. Well, just like Derek said, he worked on her “walk” first. After that, he totally molded her into a confident dancer. Soon, we saw her relaxing and them playing off of each other’s humor and creativity. His Fox totem was hard at work and in tune again. He can “blend” into anyone to make a union work. It amazes me how he can do that season after season. It’s too bad Jack Wagner was sent home so early. I think he could have improved more with every show too.

Heidi: Yeah, I’d go with Maria. The problem with this category is that you pretty much have to totally tune out the judges nonsense and the crowd reaction to get to the heart of what is real – that’s very hard to do. Roshon started out good and stayed good – but it’s easy to think there is actual improvement when one week the judges are saying how poorly you did and the next week they are raving. It’s very easy to hear all that “noise” from them and have it start to sink in. As for Donald? The judges never liked him, IMO, and never “wanted” him to win (I think in the end their rank comes out in the scoring regardless), so when they finally started giving him credit it was like an epiphany. “Oh, he’s improving!!” Well, maybe – but not as much as Maria. The judges own bias turns into noise, which turns into false impressions for a lot of the dancers. But I think Maria truly went from “Bambi on ice” (per Derek) to a decent dancer. She’s not the best of his partners in terms of dance quality, but I think she did go the farthest in terms of growth.

*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor 

June 27, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS 14 End-of-Season Awards – Which Couple’s Elimination Was the Most Disappointing?

Other responses:

William & Cheryl – 4
Jaleel & Kym – 2
Katherine & Mark – 1
Gavin & Karina – 1
All of them really they were all so much fun – 1 (Vogue, did you write this one in? 😉 )
None.  Even if it was a shocker, I wasn’t disappointed because I wasn’t rooting for them. – 1 (And I thought I had a hard time this season!)

Courtney: This is always an interesting category, because I think certain people interpret it in different ways – some people seem to vote for the most shocking elimination, some people vote for their favorite couple (because it would stand to reason that their elimination probably would be the most disappointing in their mind!), some people vote for someone in the finale that they felt they didn’t place high enough.  *shrug* To each his own.  I guess I tend to vote for the couple whose elimination seemed to illicit the greatest emotional response in me – and I think that often gets colored by how that couple fares throughout the season.  My knee jerk reaction with this one was Roshon & Chelsie, but then I realized by the time they got sent home that they had been beaten up so badly by the judges week to week that I was almost relieved that they weren’t going to have to endure it any longer, and I wasn’t going to continue yelling at the tv in frustration.  I was kinda sad to see Gladys go, for the simple reason that I thought they really kinda screwed her in the end; I was disappointed to see Maria & Derek go, because I thought they could have delivered a much more entertaining performance in the finale than William & Cheryl.  But in the end, as surprising as this may sound, I think I was actually most disappointed to see Jack go – because at that point in the season, I wasn’t totally jaded by all the fishy stuff the judges were doing, and I thought Jack was one of the stronger male dancers in the competition and I wanted to see more from him.  I guess by the time Roshon & Maria’s eliminations rolled around, I was kind of “whatever” about this season as a whole, so it didn’t bother me quite so much – but I was definitely upset by Jack’s earlier ouster.

Vogue: My feelings in this category stumped me too. I thought this award would go to Roshon all season, but, he actually stuck around until the right time despite how harsh the judges were on him all season. In the end, it was a toss up between Martina, Jack, and Sherri. Who did I pick? Sherri!! Yes, Sherri. At first I had my misgivings with all the cheating stuff and then she started wrapping me around her finger with how funny and compassionate she was about learning how to dance. She was so into it all. When she cried during her elimination, I cried too. She was so thankful to her fans and the experience. I also loved it when she said to take on the things you are most scared of and how that can make you the happiest in this life “on the other side”. Remember that? I melted. I was sad to see Jack go as well because there was potential there and he was just an all around nice guy. I would have liked to have seen his message about adoption and finding his daughter played out more. Then there was Martina. I was really hoping to see a retired tennis champ and one of my tennis mentors really take over the dance floor “mentally” somehow like she did tennis and her competitors somehow, but, I was more disappointed in Tony than in Martina. I will always wonder if she had another partner, would she have done better? Maybe not?

Heidi: Well, believe it or not, I don’t think I voted and I don’t think I was really disappointed to see any of them go – I’m a glass half full kind of woman when it comes to Derek and partners like Maria. Maria was not a natural dancer, but she worked so freakin’ hard and wouldn’t give up and had so much fun and made Derek have so much fun that it’s probably one of my favorite partnerships. But really, with someone like Maria and Derek I end up just being grateful that they made it as long as they did. Sure, I much preferred them to William and Cheryl and they would almost certainly have brought more to a free style – but Maria had a great run. And it was a more successful season for Derek than it was for Cheryl, that’s for sure. Despite all the pimping, Cheryl couldn’t get past third place. Derek, on the other hand, took someone that he thought would be eliminated in week three or four and found a way to make sure she stuck around in a season where she could have easily been forgotten in the William/Katherine mass pimpage.  Katherine being the only one worthy of such pimpage. 🙂  Well, yes, I was probably sad to see Jack go…and Gladys…but disappointed?? I dunno.   Hellooo? Katherine and Mark were not actually “eliminated” – they just didn’t WIN. Geez, greedy much? 🙂

June 21, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS 14 End-of-Season Award Winners – Which Dance Was the Worst?

I think it’s safe to say that this one is pretty cut & dry 😛

Other responses:

Sherri & Val’s jive – 3
Maria & Derek’s jive – 2
William & Cheryl’s rumba – 1
William’s porn “dance” sequences – 1 (Normally I’d eliminate this one for ambiguity, but I’m curious – what’s a porn dance? :-P)
William & Cheryl’s finale cha-cha – 1
William & Cheryl’s quickstep – 1
William & Cheryl’s Argentine tango – 1
William & Cheryl’s paso doble – 1
Katherine & Mark’s 1st jive – 1
No bad ones – 1
NO comment – 1 (Then what do you call your write-in response?)

Courtney:  Poor Martina…she was kind of a shoo-in, methinks.  It was really kinda hard to watch that jive…she just got so awkwardly off-time and never really regained her footing, and you could tell she was really frustrated.  I don’t think that costume did her any favors, either – shame on you, Tony, for dressing your partner in a bedazzled tuna net! Mama Spence voted for William & Cheryl’s jive, because she loved watching the part where William tries to swing Cheryl around and her foot awkwardly thunks on the floor – repeatedly.  And she laughed heartily each time. 🙂 I think the worst part of that routine was that, by the end of it, I think William was to the point of “f*ck it” and just half-assed the last few bars.  As for the rest of the dances – I think a lot of them suffered because of bad song choice.  Unless you’re a pro who ROCKS at doing out-of-the-box-but-still-proper dances, you’re probably gonna get screwed by a bad song at least once per season.  The Shaft routine? Now that was just a hot mess. 😛 And in a move that will probably surprise some of you, I’m actually gonna disagree with all the William write-ins – I actually never thought he was a bad dancer.  Far from it – dude had some natural talent.  But what turned me off is how much they were hyping him, and how oversexed his routines became.  But despite that, I still don’t think he had the worst dance of the season.  Even though I enjoy seeing Mama Spence crack up at his jive 🙂

Vogue: As much as I hate to admit it, the voters in this Poll pegged it. Being I was a huge tennis fan of Martina’s, I was really hoping she’d stun the dance world like she did her tennis days back in the day. But, oiy,…as soon as I saw her costume for the Jive, I cringed and could foresee her fate. From there, it just got worse. I felt so sorry for her. It wasn’t like she was trying. Like Court, I blamed Tony for the costume. This dance was proof positive how a costume can set the tone. Even still, she was lagging in time. It was sad and painful to watch. She knew it was bad too. As for the other dances, I was shocked (yes, I am pathetic) to see Jaleel and Kym’s Shaft dance have the outcome it did. I wasn’t a fan to Jaleel all season, but, the Shaft dance actually made me smile and laugh. I liked how it kind of poked fun of him. It was so “him” too.

Heidi: How can you NOT blame Tony for the costume since he’s the one that repeatedly uses that type of costume on his partners? Take a look back at some of Melissa’s dances with him. At least it was better on her. I think Martina looked in the mirror and could no longer focus on dancing because of that horrible costume. Horrendous. Gawdawful. Worse than the dance even. As for William – yeah, he wasn’t a horrible dancer, but he was also not the best thing since Gilles like they promoted him – and I laugh every time I see that Jive too. 🙂  Of course, it gave Cheryl something to blame and she ranted about that shoe to anyone who would listen for days afterward.  As for the other write ins – why take the time to write no comment or no bad ones?? And I also think that anyone who writes in Maria or Katherine is someone with an axe to grind. Disgruntled William fan? 🙂 Same goes for Sherri and Val’s dance, actually. Worst?? With Martina in the running? Right. 

*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor

June 18, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS 14 End-of-Season Award Winners – Which Dance Was the Best?

Lesson Court learned from putting together these awards: perhaps the “other” option should be eliminated, starting with next season’s end-of-season awards 😛 I got an insane number of write-in responses for the “best dance” and “celeb you most want to see on the all-star season” categories, and let’s just say it was no easy task weeding through all of the write-ins 😯 I also learned that some people are too lazy (or inattentive) to click “read more” and vote in the other categories, and as a result we got almost double the number of votes for the “best dance” category than we did everything else.  I love our readers, but sometimes they drive me a little bit bonkers 😛

Other responses:

Donald & Peta’s freestyle – 23
Melissa, Maks, & Val’s samba trio – 10
Katherine & Mark’s Argentine tango – 8
Maria, Derek, & Henry’s samba trio – 4
Katherine & Mark’s jive – 4
Maria & Derek’s rumba – 3
Roshon & Chelsie’s freestyle – 3
Katherine & Mark’s freestyle – 3
Maria & Derek’s Viennese waltz – 3
Katherine, Mark, & Tristan’s cha-cha trio – 3
Sherri & Val’s foxtrot – 2
Team Paso Doble – 2
Maria & Derek’s Argentine tango – 2
Katherine & Mark’s 2nd paso doble – 2
William & Cheryl’s samba – 2
Gladys & Tristan’s cha-cha – 2
Tristan & Karina’s waltz demo – 1
Tristan & Chelsie’s DaD samba – 1
Melissa & Maks’ paso doble – 1
Katherine & Mark’s samba – 1
Roshon, Chelsie, & Sasha’s paso doble trio – 1

Courtney: Can’t say I’m too surprised at the results – the two that I predicted would do well ended up on top, and the rest got a small share of votes, likely from diehard fans of that particular couple.  I do think the jive trio was the dance of the season – the fact that they took a dance that was hard to do with only 2 people and managed to create something fun, energetic, and proper with 3 people was beyond impressive to me.  And the fact that they DIDN’T get a perfect 30 for it??? APPALLING.  I seriously think people don’t realize how HARD it is to lead 2 women – and Donald’s the only one that took on that challenge in his trio dance, and he KILLED IT.  I didn’t see Roshon or William trying to lead two ladies.  Maria & Derek’s paso was good – for this season.  I just can’t seem to get too excited about it, though, because it just wasn’t up-to-snuff with the paso choreography I’m used to seeing from Derek.  As for all the other responses – I think they all were those couples’ best dances, but probably not the best dance of the season.  Write-ins? It’s the usual smorgesbord of random dances, and I usually find myself shaking my head reading some of them, and saying “Really? You REALLY think that was the best dance?” But alas, different strokes for different folks.  🙂 The only one I’m gonna comment on is Donald & Peta’s freestyle…and I guess Katherine & Mark’s, too.  I always shy away from including those as options in the “best dance of the season” category, because it seems that, unless a couple REALLY picks a dud, it’s a dance that most couples do well with, and the scoring is pretty inflated – it almost seems like too much of a gimme.  That said, I did really enjoy Donald’s freestyle – but I didn’t think the level of difficulty was as high as his jive trio was.  And I thought Katherine showed better endurance in her jive than in ther freestyle.

Vogue: Court, you took the words out of my head this time. My favorite dance of the season (and the dance I thought was the best) was Donald and Peta’s Jive trio. Donald’s fast leg and footwork amazed me at the time. So much so, I screamed to my husband in the other room to come watch (and we had to replay it after the show several times …which I don’t ever remember doing with him as long as I’ve been watching this show). Our mouths literally dropped to the floor especially when Donald jumped over the top of both girls. 😯 A blow away for me as well was their Freestyle. I also loved their Paso Doble and Argentine Tango with the amusement ride twirl. Other stand out dances for me that I thought were the best were Derek and Maria’s Bollywood Trio dance and Paso Doble. Looking back now, I will remember Derek and Maria’s Bollywood Trio dance the most of their dances even though it probably wasn’t her best dance technically, but, it was different, so creative, theatrical, and entertaining. Another dance I have to give props too is also William and Cheryl’s Argentine Tango. I loved all the passion in that dance. William was so into his character and I loved his tails which is when he looked the sexiest in my opinion. 🙂 Anyway, great poll and results!!

Heidi: Yeah, I agree with the top two – by a MILE. Say what you want about the “talent” this season, but Donald and Maria were the two most memorable. As for Derek’s choreography –  I think that Maria was one of his least naturally talented partners EVER (she’s in a club with Joanna and Shannon and wouldn’t have gone as far with ANYONE else), yet his dances with her were just as memorable as anything anyone else did. That’s quite an accomplishment for both of them. He has a way of doing that. He was really challenged with her – she wasn’t naturally talented and she was pretty injured the whole time.  Poor Derek though – he’s set his own bar too high. 🙂  But the Bollywood Samba I also loved, and their rumba just because they were so into it.  As for the write ins?  Sad to say I don’t actually REMEMBER a lot of those dances. Most of Katherine’s dances have left my brain. Oddly, several of Willy’s I remember out of sheer disgust.  Someone wrote in DaD?? All I remember is Chelsie almost getting blown off a table. 🙂

 

 *photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor

June 11, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

Vote for Your Favorites in the PureDWTS Season 14 End-of-Season Awards!!!

 Ok kids, it’s time once again to vote of our biannual “end-of-season” awards…our sort of “wrap up” for season 14, where we see what you guys think were the highs and lows of this season 🙂 If you want to get a feel for how these awards work, you can check out previous seasons’ award recipients here.

First, the rules: I’ve picked what I deem to be the most likely candidates (with the strongest chance of winning) for each category – of course, some of you are going to disagree, and that’s fine.  If you don’t see your pick listed as an option, you can write-in your own nomination in the “other” box.  But here’s my biannual disclaimer about the dreaded “other” box: if I can’t read what you wrote because it’s badly misspelled/grammatically nonsensical/generally incoherent, YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  If your response to the question does not make sense (i.e. you simply vote “Donald” for best dance), YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  If you simply repeat one of the already listed responses because you can’t be bothered to actually pay attention, YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  If you’re just generally being a nudnik and giving harassing responses, YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT.  *shakes head* I still can’t believe that I have to give this spiel twice a year…

…anywho, we’ll give you guys a week to get your votes in, and then we’ll reveal the results in a series of posts starting next week.  Now ready…set…VOTE!!! 😀

Read more..

May 24, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS13 End-of-Season Award Winners – What Change Do You Most Want to See in Season 14?

Soooooo many write-in responses for this one…and the results were quite interesting 😉

Other responses:

No more theme nights – 10

No Maks/Maks taking a break/Maks sitting out a season/get rid of Maks – 9

New judges – 7 (I think this could fit under “better judging”, as it’s implied that “better judging” could be new judges altogether…)

More Tristan – 4

Better quality of dances/ringers/celebs with better dancing capabilities – 4

No troupe/troupe actually dancing in sync – 3

All of the above – 3

More Derek – 3

Replace Brooke with Carson/Carson added in any format – 2

Get rid of Brooke/new co-host – 2

Bring Chelsie back – 2

Bigger cast/more celebs – 2

I love the show the way it is/If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – 2

Better band – 1

Start sooner – 1

TIE: Better judging & better music – 1

Less talking in between dances – 1

More traditional music (no Katy Perry/Gaga/Beyonce/etc.) – 1

Less Derek – 1

No more Carrie Ann – 1

NO MORE NANCY – 1 (Ummm yeah, pretty sure you don’t have to worry about that, ya asshat.)

Total season’s votes included in calculation of winners – 1

Better intro packages before the dances – 1 (HA! Keep dreaming…)

Courtney: Thank goodness this is the last award, because you guys (as much as I love you all) are killing me with all of these write-in responses.  Anywho…I agree that improving the judging could definitely help take some of the edge off of watching the show.  Looking back at a lot of my power rankings from the past few seasons, I see that I most often got upset when the judges were way off in their scoring…either for better or worse.  Now I don’t think getting rid of the judges we have and starting anew is the solution – and it seems like a lot of you agreed in our poll about the judges last season – new judges altogether could be even worse, especially if those judges haven’t judged on a dance show before.  However, I’m not sure how to really force Len, Carrie Ann, and Bruno to judge more fairly – it’s such a subjective thing.  As for “better celebs” – I guess I should have been more specific about that one, as “better” can mean different things to different people – better could mean “more famous”, or better could mean “more skilled dancers”.  And speaking of which – there is something to be said for having ringers, kids.  The past 2 seasons, we haven’t really had a skill ringer – and I notice that a lot of you have complained that the dancing has not been as good as it has in previous seasons.  Ringers can ensure that we get to see dynamite dances each week, and tend to raise the level of competition during the seasons in which they compete.  More pro dances are always welcome for me – just as long as they’re not troupe dances 😉 Better music? Yeah, it would be nice if they didn’t ditto quite so many songs; but to whoever wants “more traditional” music, be advised that this could severely limit the music that can be used on the show, and can run the risk of alienating more casual viewers – contemporary music can make the dances more relatable.  I don’t think we need more dance styles OR more couples – whenever someone starts clamoring for that, I start to worry that we might have another season 9 on our hands, aka the “Kitchen Sink” season, where there were just so damn many dances, couples, and nuances that it was hard to keep up.  Now to the 2 write-ins I found most interesting: “total season’s votes included in calculation of winners” and “better intro packages before the dances”.  Sorry, but I find both of these to be pretty implausible.  What would including the total season’s votes in the calculation of the winner accomplish? Do you really think it would change the outcome of a season? It’s possible – but it could have unintended consequences.  I think it would tend to help bad dancers who stuck around far too long (think Bristol, Marie, Hope, Kendra, etc.) and could hurt really good dancers that maybe had smaller fanbases (Mya, Chelsea, Brandy, etc.) The bottom line: as much as the whole “50 % scores, 50% votes” scheme may piss off fans who don’t get their desired outcome, it’s probably the fairest system they can use on this show – it’s equal parts popularity contest and dance contest.  And as for the “better intro packages before the dances” – I have to wonder if this was written by a Maks fan, as they seemed to be the ones most concerned about the intro packages this past season.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – the producers are going to cut together the footage that will generate the most “buzz”…and if that means using the footage of a couple fighting or crying or storming out of the studio, so be it.  The solution? Don’t give them anything negative to work with.  If you’re seeing a couple fight in their intro packages week after week, it’s because they’re probably actually fighting week after week and that’s all the editors have to work with – not because the producers are conspiring to ruin them.  Asking them to make a warring couple look like they’ve got rainbows shooting out of their ass is futile if all they have footage of is a couple screaming at each other.  It’s a tv show, people – they’re gonna go for ratings.

Heidi: Correct – and any pro who’s been on the show for more than a season KNOWS this and SHOULD react accordingly. Just sayin’.  🙂  As for the total season votes? I don’t think that will work like you would want it to work. 🙂 Increasing the number of votes  would likely just make the winner more of a solid winner – it’s a percentage of the whole, not a count. If they don’t have a high enough percentage at the end of the season, adding in their votes through out the season won’t likely change anything, except make the individual votes count less. Particularly if the judging portion remains the same.  You wanna make it votes only, like American Idol?? Well, how often does the best singer win that show?? Like, less than half the time? And who’s to say an individual is “best” – it’s subjective.  The judges may suck from time to time (particularly when they are for YOUR couple), but I actually trust them to balance out the wacko fans in the audience who will vote for Kate Gosselin just for giggles.  Was Donny Osmond the best dancer? No, but if it were up to the audience alone, Mya probably wouldn’t have made it to the final two. This is an extreme case of “be careful what you wish for.” I have a feeling that some haven’t considered the potential ramifications.  As for me…I don’t remember what I voted for.  I may not have voted because I pretty much like the show the way it is, better the “devil you know” and all that. I would normally say “more pro (non-troupe) dances” but I was pretty happy with that this past season as well, simply because I got a lot of Derek. For a change. I do think they could use more all pro dances similar to those in seasons 5 and 6 – no musical act, just great dancing.

Vogue: I was at a loss on this polling. It seems during the last several seasons I complain the most about the judging. I really think the judges go too far sometimes when they get too “personal” instead of just judging a dance. For instance, dissing about a person’s weight or things a celebrity can’t help is just low. At the same time, I really don’t want any judging changes as all three of them add excitement and diversity to the show. In the end, I voted for “better music”. There is so many times I wish they’d stick to traditional music that fits the dancing styles instead of what they use for theme weeks that don’t match the style of dance.

*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor

January 29, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS13 End-of-Season Award Winners – What Was the Best Catchphrase?

Other answers:

All of the above were so memorable/epic – 2

“There must be a mistake cause this is my show!” – David (on getting eliminated) – 1 (Loved this one too!)

“Sorry Jesus, I have to curse!” – Chynna – 1

“LMFAO & Bruno ‘WTF’ Tonioli!” – Tom – 1 (Oh that Tommy Bergeron!)

Can’t think of any – 1

NOT NANCY – 1 (Ok, seriously – get a hobby)

Courtney: Poor Tristan the leprechaun and his brogue 🙂 Gotta agree with the results on this one – the infamous “turd step” comment was unfortunately said so early in the season (and was hilarious enough to be remembered) that it gave anyone and everyone (Nancy, Len, the Dance Center guys, etc.) plenty of chances to give Tristan a good ribbing about it…a ribbing which the amiable Tristan seemed to tolerate really well 🙂 “This is MY show!” was pretty funny too, although I actually found it funnier when David humorously adapted it for his own use when he was eliminated 😛 I just thought it was cool how Rob went from looking totally uncomfortable to grinning broadly as he exclaimed “Because I LOVE to dance!” And really, anything that comes out of Carson’s mouth is probably going to be riotously funny, so of course I laughed at “Maks, hold me!” too. 🙂

Heidi: The funniest thing about “This is MY Show” was watching Derek, Rob and Cheryl in the background. Their faces were priceless. 🙂  But yeah, I went with the turd step as well.  It’s so funny that I wondered if he was putting it on.  I think the Dance Center bit about the turd step was even better than the original thing though. 🙂

Vogue: Ya know…while I just loved Tristan’s “turd step” phrase and his wonderful Irish accent all through out the season, I loved Rob’s “Because I LOVE to dance” phrase even more. I remember just stopping for a minute when he said that and you felt his whole journey at that moment totally from his heart. I was warmed thinking that is exactly what this entire show is all about. He never thought he could dance, but, he DID!! He surprised all of us and he surprised himself. So cool!!

January 26, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS13 End-of-Season Award Winners – Who Was the Cutest Kid in the Audience?

Other responses:

Johnny Solo, Hope’s nephew (kid in Buzz Lightyear costume) – 6 (Some of you seem convinced that this was a deliberate omission on my part – I can assure you it was not.  I honestly didn’t know that the cute kid in the costume during movie score week was her nephew.)

All of the kids were cute – 4

I didn’t even notice the kids in the audience/did not enjoy the kid distraction – 2

No vote – 1 (Ok…so why bother even voting, then?)

Tie between Coco & Hope’s nephew – 1

Tie: Nancy’s twins – both! – 1

Maks (on the day of the finals) – 1 (He did seem unusually chipper…)

Carson – 1 (I can’t recall a time when they actually got him to stay in his seat…)

Oksana – 1 (Hehe)

NOT NANCY’S – 1 (Go back to your lair under your bridge, troll…)

Ricki’s sons – 1

Courtney: First of all, some clarification – this was not meant to be a mean-spirited question, and I think some of you kind of assumed it was, based on some of your write-in responses.   I just found it interesting that this was a season where the “shot of somebody’s kid in the audience” played a bigger role than ever before – I can’t recall a previous season where we were constantly bombarded with cute, clapping, gap-toothed grinning kiddie faces week after week, and we even discussed the fact that TPTB may be rather invested in whose faces we see each week – hence the “boost” they may have been giving David.  Really & truly though, I agree with the majority – I got the biggest kick out of seeing Coco’s little bashful, excited face each week after her daddy’s dances.  She really is a mini-David, with some of the faces she pulls! I just loved that she seemed so happy to be there, and so proud of her daddy after every dance, whether he knocked it out of the park or failed miserably. Mason was also cute in his few appearances – I got a kick out of seeing him dressed as an Indian during Halloween week, and during the non-dress up weeks, I just thought it was cute how he clapped more out of mimicry of the rest of the audience, rather than actual comprehension of what was going on around him 😛 Nancy’s twins were fun in that they seemed like polar opposites – John David seemed like the sweet, affectionate one, waving to the camera, smiling and blowing kisses; I think a lot of us agreed that Lucy seemed like the handful, often pouting and scowling in pictures and refusing to cooperate.  Nancy’s gonna have fun with those two! 😀 I think I only caught a short glimpse of Hope’s nephew in his costume, but he was cute too 🙂 And I can only recall Ricki’s sons showing up once, and they’re a bit older, so they were pretty tame, just clapping politely and smiling rather than doing anything generally considered “cute”.

Heidi: Well, ya know, to some people everything is mean spirited. 🙂  Oh, and by the way – saying “no vote” is, in reality, A VOTE.  :::rolls eyes:::  (That was mean spirited of me… 🙂 )  Anyway, on to the kiddies. While I do think Coco is adorable and loved seeing her, I think Mason Disick is probably the most beautiful child I’ve seen in a while.  How does such a thing happen in that family? I mean, have you seen their various shows?? Ridiculous – complaining about paparazzi while being the biggest famewhores (looking at you mamma Kris and Kim, in particular) is so eye roll inducing as to give me a massive headache. The list goes on with the absurdities on those shows. Yes, I did see some because it comes on after E! News on Saturday morning. Like a trainwreck, I couldn’t look away. Sue me. It won’t happen again.  Anyway, I like all the kiddies in the audience and think they are all cute, but Mason gets the award from me – the indian outfit capped it off. 🙂

Vogue: Courtney, I didn’t think this was a mean spirited question. I thought it was a fun one especially being the camera showed the celebrities kids and family so much last Season. All the kids were so cute. I voted for Coco being her heart was so much into the whole show. She was clapping nonstop! You could tell she loved being in the audience and her love for her Dad was so apparent. Nancy’s kids caught my eye too…but, boy oh boy, I imagine they are a handful…..much like SHE is. LOL!!

*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor

January 24, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.

DWTS13 End-of-Season Award Winners – What Was the Biggest Controversy?

Other responses (lots of paraphrasing here…and some in-line commentary):

Hope being rude about getting three 7’s in the semifinals – 1 (One of the dangers of overscoring: bad dancers expecting good scores all the time…)

The Kadrashian’s voting tweets/Kim tweeting Rob’s voting # as Justin Bieber’s – 2 (Kadrashian, Kardashian, Cardassian, Klingon…whatevs)

Awful scoring by the judges – 1 (In other news, fire is hot & water is wet…)

Maks, “This is MY show!” – 1 (Ehhh…I think this kind of falls under the same category as “Maks fighting with the judges”)

Anything to do with Hope – 1 (Lemme guess: Maks was the innocent bystander?)

Carrie Ann telling Maks not to smile – 1 (Again – this is kinda the same thing as “Maks fighting with the judges”)

Carrie Ann being an awful judge – 1 (Again, nothing new – but it ain’t just Carrie Ann…)

Kym’s comments – 1 (???…Are you talking about her calling Roethlisburger a DB? Cause that was just funny…;-))

The continued presence of Maks’ evil clone (bring back the Maks that danced w/Kirstie) – 1 (Preaching to the choir…)

Both/all of Maks’ controversies – 2 (I’m thinking I should have just put “Maks” as one of the responses…)

The continued inability for Brooke to do her job – 1 (Not so much a controversy as a source of comedy…)

Derek & Maks rivalry – 1 (Seemed like more of a one-sided thing to me…)

Rob, who still cannot dance, coming in 2nd – 1 (Lemme guess: Ricki fan?)

Courtney:  The biggest controversy category is always a bit amusing (and simultaneously, a bit of a headache) for me, as it tends to reveal a bit of the rivalry between certain fanbases – and also seems to invite a TON of write-in responses, as some people want to hone-in on one very specific aspect of one of the previously listed options.  And somehow, Maks’ name always seems to come up.  *sigh* I’m honestly a little surprised that there weren’t more votes for “Maks vs. Hope”, because the “shove heard ’round the world” seem to really strike a nerve with people – and boy, were lines drawn! I guess I’ve come to expect the perennial “Maks vs. the judges” controversy; and in retrospect, after watching some older episodes of the show, I’m starting to wonder if some people were a little hypersensitive about the Chaz issue, as I’ve noticed that Bruno has always tended to use animal analogies to describe some contestants’ dancing…not saying that Bruno was right, but I’m wondering if those comments would have evoked the same response had they been directed at another contestant…say, Rob or Chynna.  Definitely not the most sensitive choice of words on Bruno’s part, but I don’t think they were as fat-phobic/insulting/condescending as some were some were making them out to be.  Bottom line: Bruno’s an idiot, but I don’t think he’s a cruel idiot…unless you name is Hope.  But that’s another story 😉 The Kardashians started out strong as the antagonizers, but as the season wore on (and Rob actually started doing well, and stopped running his mouth to the press), the hype kind of died down.  Hehe…”Nancy’s nudism” was actually a half-joking nomination on my part, as I think I wanted to have 6 responses.  So for those 19 of you that voted for it, I have to ask: were you really that perturbed about catching a peek of Nancy’s nipple or underwear, or at the prospect of her *gasp* passing gas on live tv? Cause I certainly didn’t lose any sleep over it 😉 As for the write-ins…I find that the majority of the responses kind of fell under some of the nominees we had already, although some of the nominations make me curious about the demographics of those doing the nominating…but I’ll just leave it at that 😉

Heidi: I didn’t think Maks yelling at the judges was that big a thing. So what? At the end of the day he’s comes off looking like an unprofessional jerk and it’s not the first time.  Anyone following my private twitter account even saw where I was agreeing with him…up until the point that he just wouldn’t STFU.  He couldn’t stop with just having his say out on the floor, he carried it upstairs, then he carried it to the media like a petulant child. For me it was the Hope versus Maks thing – that was very painful to watch. He went way too far this time.  It was just disgraceful.

Vogue: I voted for the “Maks vs Hope” on this one. The “shove” to this day haunts me. As most of you know, I’m a big Maks fan and I was never more disappointed him as I was in all my time watching him dance. On one hand I understood how Hope was bringing out the worst in him and vice versa. She was in no way innocent…and yet, no one deserves to be physically abused. No, it wasn’t full out physical abuse, but, it was still a shove/yank, or whatever you want to call it. Do I still love Maks and am I fan? Yes, because none of us are perfect, he’s acknowledged the incident, being wrong, and he’s a constant work in progress….and, in the end, aren’t we all? His comments to the judges were over the top too at times, but, sometimes I think they are necessary to keep them more balanced and to cool it. So, I can’t fault him all the way on that one. IE: Bruno’s over the top nasty comments to Chaz.

*photo courtesy ABC/Adam Taylor

January 22, 2012 I Written By

Ultrasound sales specialist by day, semi-knowledgeable DWTS fan by night...with a smattering of hair & makeup enthusiast, occasional model, baker, and crazy cat lady peppered in to make things REALLY interesting ;-) I might pee my pants in happiness if Donnie Wahlberg ever does DWTS - or if they ever use "Sunglasses at Night" as a paso doble.