Donald Driver | Pure Dancing with the Stars

DWTS Season 14 Stats Class – Week 10: The Finals!

Here we go, the last week of the season. Week 10. The following are the dances that the couples are slated to do over the course of Monday/Tuesday:
- Judges Choice: the judges get choose a dance that they would like to the couples to conquer again and the couples will perform it to new music and new choreography
- Freestyle: The anything goes dance… do I really need to describe this to you guys?
- 24-hour Challenge: The couples are allowed to pick a dance but are not given the music until 24-hours before Tuesday night’s show (something similar to the dance off where couples are working on routines/dances the night before Tuesday night’s show)

One thing I want to gripe about is why not have the couple do a dance that they have yet to do? For example Donald has set to do the Salsa, while William is missing a Waltz and Katherine the Tango… I think it would be fairer to give them all new dances… but that’s just me. Ah well. In any case:

DISCLAIMER: At the time of this writing, according to Wikipedia Katherine and Mark are doing the Rumba for their “judges choice” dance, so if there are any changes I may not be able to get to them prior to the show time… and I apologize.

UPDATE: I have updated the Predicted Scores with Katherine’s dance the Paso Doble

WILLIAM LEVY
Dance 1: Cha-Cha
Average Scores:
- Age: 27.190
- Occupation: 24.500
- Professional Partner: 27.000
Predicted Score: 26

Dance 2: Freestyle
Average Scores:
- Age: 28.059
- Occupation: 28.000
- Professional Partner: 28.600
Predicted Score: 28

Predicted Rank: 3rd
Comments: Getting a dance that he did earlier in the season bodes well for William, since he did a Cha-Cha in Week 1 there is a very good chance that he could show off just how much he has improved since then. The other two actors in their 30s that did the Cha-Cha this late in the season:
- Season 3′s Mario Lopez got a 29
- Season 13′s David Arquette got a 24
Personally William is a stronger dancer than David, but not the same caliber as Mario… so getting a 29 would be difficult for me to fathom unless he knocks it out of the park. As for the freestyle:
- Season 3′s Mario Lopez received a 30
- Season 8′s Gilles Marini received a 28
Ironically, both ended up being runners up in their respective seasons… William could end up being a runner up in the current season, but it is hard to tell at this juncture.

Dance Junkies TV Discuss The Dancing With The Stars Finals And Pick Who Will Win

Need a dance discussion fix before show time? If so, Stuart Brazell, Rib Hillis, and Elena Grinenko of Dance Junkies TV discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the contestants leading up to the finale of Dancing With The Stars. They also pick who they think will win it all. Stuart thinks it will be “guy” to win and it will be between Donald and William (I can understand her conflictions. I love both as well). Rib picks Donald to win the Mirror Ball based on fan base, but, enjoys William’s dancing the most. Elena says it will come down to the Freestyle. Don’t discount Mark because he always comes up with the best freestyles. Lots more from this fun trio in depth below….

Stay tuned. It sounds like Rib and Stuart are going to be dancing for us in the future while Elena gives some advise. That will be fun!

Dancing With The Stars Finale Rehearsal Photos, GMA Rehearsal Footage, And More

THE RACE FOR THE MIRROR BALL
by Lois

The Mirror Ball Trophy, all shiny and bright
Will be awarded to the winners Tuesday night

Who will win, who will place, who will show
Katherine and Mark will sparkle, be all aglow

William and Cheryl, shaking hips to the beat
Will Donald and Peta be able to take the heat

All three couples will race to the finish line
All will put on their best, looking mighty fine

The noise will crescendo, the rafters will shake
The ballroom will explode, the win is at stake

The freestyles amaze, dazzle, rock and roll
The dancers bring forth their heart, their soul

Tom and Brooke, the winners they proclaim
Couples nervously waiting to hear the name

The race for the trophy, a dream come true
The winners, showered in confetti of blue

The Mirror Ball is awarded for another season
Which only serves to give us another reason

To tune in again, the show will return in the fall
For another chance to win the next Mirror Ball!

To help us introduce this post, above is a Dancing With The Stars finale poem written by PureDWTS reader Lois gearing us up for tonight. Perfect Lois!! Thanks!

Also, Cameron Matheson of Good Morning America goes into rehearsals to do the same. You can see them practicing on the Dance Floor. The couples give us some teasers (William says Donald will be taking off his pants, lol) as well as tell us why people should vote for them. This is fun…

Also, if you haven’t been following Sherri Shepherd at twitter, be sure you are as she has been tweeting some fun pictures of the cast rehearsing for this week’s finale dances. Below are just a few of them. Be sure to check out her twitter account here for more.

ADDING: TV Guide has a cool commentary up today of what to watch for in tonight’s dances on Dancing With The Stars. They also run through each couples strengths and what they need to work on. Below is what they wrote for Donald Driver. You can read more of what they wrote for Katherine and William at the link.

DONALD DRIVER

For Him : Charm, Packer Nation and sympathy. Despite a handful of strong and dynamic performances, the judges have been underscoring Driver. He also arguably deserved his long-desired perfect score of 30 two weeks ago for his jive trio, but Len Goodman continues to hold back the 10 paddle while over-scoring some other pairs. The underscoring has angered a lot of fans and has not gone unnoticed by the pros.

Needs to work on: Getting out of his own way. Driver’s so desperate for a 30 that he sometimes goes into overdrive (no pun intended) when he dances, which causes him to either slip up or tighten up. Forget about the triple 10s and just dance! If you perform it, they will come.

Why he might win: He’s a better dancer than both Katherine and William; he’s technically sharp and an electric crowd-pleaser. His own eight-pack also doesn’t hurt and neither does his massive Green Bay Packers fan base. Plus: The fact that he’s been a diehard Dancing fan since the first season — and is not doing this to shill something — is surely endearing to viewers. Football players have a great record on the show too, but while there have been many who have made it to the business end of the season, only two have won: Emmitt Smith and Hines Ward. Could Driver be the third?

Watch out for: His freestyle. We all know that’s the make-it-or-break-it dance, and the pressure will be on his partner Peta Murgatroyd, who’s untested in her first final in two seasons against two two-time winner pros, to deliver a routine worthy of Quickie’s talent.

ADDING #2: More rehearsal footage and interviews. This time from ET Online…

DWTS Season 14, THE FINALE – Who’s Dancing What…and when?

So, for the finals this week, we get three dances over two nights. According to the press release that Vogue found, on Monday night they dance the judges choice dance and then the freestyle. After the show they are handed music for a dance style of their choosing and have the 24-hour challenge to choreograph and learn the dance.

Now, NORMALLY, the judges choice is a dance that the judges feel like they could do better – I’m not entirely sure that’s the case this time around. I bet they give William a dance he did well the first time and Donald one that he didn’t do so well the first time. All these subtle ways of tilting this show in William’s favor just seem to happen every week. Like bringing back Salsa for the first time in several seasons. :::rolls eyes:::

As for the dance order, it really doesn’t matter, but it MIGHT be an indication of how the production feels about the dances. Might. Only time will tell. I think it’s entirely possible that the edge goes to the couple dancing first in terms of voting, at this stage of the show, since the average viewer is more likely to vote in the finale and they may vote early. But in terms of best dances?? I think they may put the best one last. I don’t know – I go back and forth. Logically, it seems at this late date, going first helps with the voters, especially if you do a good dance. But much is noticeably different (and not for the better) with the show this season. Unfortunately, this will be easier to judge in hindsight. BASED on what they did last week, and how I do think that partly affected Maria (in addition to a variety of other factors), I think they will dance in the order below. Keep in mind, that it’s entirely possible that they don’t care who wins, they only cared that certain people got this far.

ETA: It appears my dance order is the correct one for Monday night. Shocker. Not. Also – Paso Doble for Katherine. Thanks to KMark4theWin.

William and Cheryl - Dancing First
Monday Night:
- Judges Choice: Cha Cha Cha
– Freestyle
Tuesday Night: ??
Voting # 1-800-868-3408

Katherine and Mark – Dancing Second
Monday Night:
- Judges Choice: Paso Doble
- Freestyle
Tuesday Night: ??
Voting # 1-800-868-3410

Donald and Peta – Dancing Third
Monday Night:
- Judges Choice: Argentine Tango
– Freestyle
Tuesday Night: ??
Voting # 1-800-868-3403

FOOTNOTE: While I was writing this, I was watching the full length Afterbuzz TV show from Mixology last Monday night and Maria said something that I’ve NEVER heard before, ever. She said the judges see the dress rehearsal. Meaning, they see all the dances before the show goes live. This is a fairly huge deal, IMO. The context was very innocent and I don’t think she realized that she was providing some new information for some of us. She was talking about how totally horrendous both of her dances looked on Sunday after a 12 hour rehearsal, that she had neither of them down and that normally she had a full Saturday rehearsal that she didn’t have this past week. She was very, very upset and down because she was afraid she was going to go out on a low note. She didn’t think she had time to pull it together because she’s not there till dress rehearsal and “the judges see dress rehearsal because that gives them the landscape of how the show is going to be.” It was a very off hand comment in her discussion of how bad it was, and how Derek was hurt…she also said both of them were terrified of their Jive because it was so out of the box. Anyway, this information is a pretty huge deal and it actually goes a pretty long way in explaining some of the wack ass commentary the judges give on the dances. If a dancer does crap in dress, then does really well on the live show it can go two ways: one, they over rave about it to the point you’re scratching your head because they were expecting LESS, or two, they pan a dance that wasn’t that bad because their opinion was formed during dress and it didn’t get changed either because they didn’t care for the dance or they weren’t paying attention. Same goes for if they do well in dress and do crap on the live show. Veerrrry interesting.

DWTS Season 14, Week 9 – The Cheesecake Awards!!

We’re back, after a couple week absence…and some of you will not be happy to see us. Them’s are breaks…the weeks we missed we’ll pick up as a bit of retrospective cheese once the season is over.

The Award for Biggest Lack of Commitment to Week 9 – The Costuming Department who really screwed Cheryl out of some fringe on her Samba Costume

Heidi: You might ask yourself, “Are ‘biggest’ and ‘lack’ really the two best words to put together?” but really that was what was going through my mind looking at her costume. Yo, dudes, either add the fringe or don’t – you kinda half assed it here, IMO. Yep, we’re picking nits.

Courtney: Everything about the show this week was so…blah. Most of the routines were ho-hum, nobody really said anything interesting, and even the costumes seemed like they were half-assed. It was as if the costume folks bailed and headed to the bar after only putting half the fringe on her costume. “Yeah, that’ll do. C’mon, we can make it for happy hour if we leave now!” Can’t blame them…even I’m bored with the show at this point.

Heidi: Perhaps you and I should win this award. It was pretty damn boring in retrospect.

The “Most Telling Obsession” Award: Mark Ballas and his fondness for fences

Heidi: Really, dude. You’ve put Katherine in two cages and Bristol in one…is this a comment on how your attitude toward women in general or these two women in particular? Or is it just a sexual kink all the way around? Considering your girlfriend, I’m going with BOTH.

Courtney: I’m sure Freud would have a heydey trying to make something of Mark’s fixation with cages. Who knows what his true motives are – maybe he wants people to think he’s tough, maybe it makes him feel like he’s in control, maybe he just really wants us to know that he’s very, very into MMA. I’m just kinda bored with it, to be quite honest. You know it’s bad when I was actually slightly amused when he put Katherine in a snake basket for their salsa…nice change of pace

Heidi: A cage is a cage even when it’s a basket.

Donald Driver’s Wife Is His Biggest Dancing With The Stars Critic

Donald Driver opens up about once being homeless and selling drugs in People Magazine. If it weren’t for his Mom and his wife, he wouldn’t be the man he is today. Below is a take about his wife. She has some advice for his dancing as well. Be sure to read and see some pics at the link. Great interview. His wife is so beautiful!

“At that time in college, I was still selling drugs and I asked my wife to put a package away for me in her room and hide it while they did a search in the dormitories,” he says. “And she simply said, ‘No. God is testing you and if you want to be with me, then you have to stop this now.’ ”

“That time in college I knew I had a great athletic ability,” he adds, “but that was easy money. But she completely changed my life.”

They’ve now been together for 14 years – married for 12 – with three kids of their own, and Tina remains a strong guiding force.

Even as he performs sexy dances with his beautiful pro partner Peta Murgatroyd, Driver expects to get advice – not jealousy – from Tina.

“She’s my biggest critic,” he says. “She’ll tell me in a heartbeat, ‘Baby, that doesn’t look sexy enough. You need to hold Peta this way, with this expression on your face.’ ”

And if Driver has learned anything, it’s to be a good listener.

“As a man, you never want to embarrass your wife,” he says. “You don’t want to have an expression on her face on national TV like she’s ticked-off at her husband. For me at the end of the day I like to see her happy because I danced so well for her.”

Donald has also penned a new blog today at JS Online. He and Peta have been putting more time into their rehearsals than they ever have. More at the link.

I thought Peta and I were working overtime before, but that was nothing compared to what we’re doing this week. We’re putting in 12-hour days — even when we thought we had a move perfected we went over it a few more times. Hopefully all this work pays off and I can get my first 10 from Len!

Dancing With The Stars Season 14 Las Vegas Odds For The Finals (Might Surprise You?)

The Las Vegas Odds makers at Las Vegas Sports Betting have posted their new odds for the Dancing With The Stars Season 14 Finals. Let’s see how they stack up. Last week they put Maria and Katherine in 3rd place with 3/1 odds…and well, you know who went home. With the results of the elimination, they’ve done some switching around again and now put Katherine in the number two spot behind Donald in first. They’ve put William Levy in last place which shocks me some. I would think they’d put Katherine in the last spot? Regardless, what a tight set of odds again something I’ve never witnessed before.

New Las Vegas Odds for this week:

Donald Driver 3/2
Katherine Jenkins 7/4
William Levy 19/10

Last week’s Las Vegas Odds:

Donald Driver 7/4
William Levy 5/2
Maria Menounos 3/1
Katherine Jenkins 3/1

Let’s get my Pure Dancing With Stars Sistah’s thoughts to help us understand the odds makers more and be sure to tell us what you think in the comments section as well.

Courtney: At this point, I have just given up on trying to predict who will win or whether the odds are on-target or not…this season has just kinda left a bad taste in my mouth, with all the funny business that is clearly going on. But all things considered, and using what I’ve seen on Twitter and other places as a barometer, I do think Donald has the best chance of winning – for the simple reason that those who are tired of all the manipulation seem to be tossing their votes to him. As much as the circumstances that have led to it have sucked, it’s actually kind of nice to see such a sense of solidarity amongst fans of the show – I’ve seen fans of pretty much every eliminated team banding together and pledging to vote for Donald, to take a stand against the pimping of the “Royal Couple”. So where does that leave William & Katherine? Can’t say I really care a whole lot – as long as William doesn’t win, I think I’d be ok with Katherine winning…not necessarily HAPPY, but ok. I’m leaning towards Katherine coming in 3rd, and it coming down to William & Donald for the MBT. I’m fulling expecting The Three Stooges to underscore Donald and overscore both William & Katherine in the finals, but in the end I think Donald has the largest chunk of the voting population behind him – and that’s what truly wins the MBT. Remember, the judges did everything in their power to make Chelsea Kane a winner a year ago – and she STILL came in 3rd place. The judges’ pets have fallen in the past; it’s entirely possible that it will happen again

Heidi: Oy veh. I hope like hell they’re right. But who the hell knows. Courtney is correct, I see a lot of Derek/Maria fans saying they’ll vote Donald. I think some would vote for Katherine, but they’re afraid she doesn’t stand a chance against the two men. You can say that is a bit of a self fulfilling prophesy…but I happen to agree. I think it may be as close as shown up above too. I think back on how positive most were that this was going to be a great season…by the way, this is where I say “I told you so” :- ) …and how we thought the cast was going to be so strong. Well, it really hasn’t turned out that way, if you think about it. That’s all TALK from the judges and the producers, really. Part of that can be laid on having to learn so many dances….but I’ll save that for the Heidi/Courtney/Vogue Season 14 retrospective that will be posted about a week from now or so.

DWTS Season 14′s Donald Driver Chats About Amazing Fan Support And More

The LA Times has a great piece up with Donald answering questions on last week’s dance and pre-package. They ask how his wife has saved him. They also talk of the amazing support from Packer Nation. Donald also chats about what it will take to get a 10 from Len.

Q: What went through your mind when you saw Katherine Jenkins almost faint after her dance?

You just want to run out onto the floor and help her out. She is such a sweet person, you hate to see her in pain like that. Hopefully she’ll be all right.

Q: Judging by the tape shown before your last dance Monday, it seems your wife, Betina, saved you from going down the wrong path. How important has her support been during this whole competition?

When we started dating she put her foot down and said it’s either me or the drug dealing. I didn’t want to lose her so I knew what I had to do. I truly don’t know where I’d be without her. The support she has given me throughout our entire marriage, including this competition, has been amazing. Without her or the kids by my side I wouldn’t have been able to make it as far as I have.

Q: What is it going to take to get a 10 from Len? Maybe you should have your mom talk to him!

It’s going to take a perfect dance. No extra steps, head pointing in the right direction, etc., etc. Hopefully I make the finals and get a couple more opportunities to achieve perfection.

Be sure to read the full article at the LA Times.

Vote for Dancing with the Stars Season 14 Winner

It’s time for our traditional DWTS poll where you can vote for who you think will be the winner of Dancing with the Stars season 14. Will it be Katherine Jenkins, William Levy, or Donald Driver hoisting the Mirror Ball Trophy and becoming the Dancing with the Stars Season 14 Winner? The interesting thing is that usually in the Dancing with the Stars finale the judges scores are quite close and so it’s really all about the public voting.

Of course, this poll isn’t scientific, but when you look at past results from Pure Dancing with the Stars polls they do quite well. So, vote for who you think will win Dancing with the Stars 2012. Don’t worry about voting over and over and over again. The poll does a pretty good job of filtering out extra votes. It’s not perfect, but luckily we will get enough votes that it should be a pretty good predictor of the DWTS season 14 winner.

Feel free to also share in the comments who you wish was the DWTS season 14 winner or who deserves to be the winner of DWTS 2012.

Len Goodman Weighs In On The Dancing With The Stars Final Three And New All-Star Edition

Dancing With The Stars judge Len Goodman weighs in on the final three and gives his take of the upcoming All-Star Season. William Levy reminds him of himself (LOL!!!! I can’t see it!!). Also, he thinks whoever doesn’t win this season, they should come back for the all-stars. He also thinks they should bring back the one week blunders. Hmmm…not sure about that. Lots more below!

DWTS Season 14 Stats Class – Week 10: The Finals!

Dance Junkies TV Discuss The Dancing With The Stars Finals And Pick Who Will Win

Dancing With The Stars Finale Rehearsal Photos, GMA Rehearsal Footage, And More

DWTS Season 14, THE FINALE – Who’s Dancing What…and when?

DWTS Season 14, Week 9 – The Cheesecake Awards!!

Donald Driver’s Wife Is His Biggest Dancing With The Stars Critic

Dancing With The Stars Season 14 Las Vegas Odds For The Finals (Might Surprise You?)

DWTS Season 14′s Donald Driver Chats About Amazing Fan Support And More

Vote for Dancing with the Stars Season 14 Winner

Len Goodman Weighs In On The Dancing With The Stars Final Three And New All-Star Edition

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