DWTS 15 | Pure Dancing with the Stars

DWTS 15 End-of-Season Awards: Which Dance Was the Worst?

And the fun continues…

Write-ins:

Gilles & Peta’s Bollywood – 3

Bristol & Mark’s cha-cha – 2

Shawn & Derek’s non-samba samba – 2

Kirstie & Maks’ paso doble trio – 1

Shawn & Derek’s bhangra – 1

Gilles & Peta’s cha-cha – 1

Melissa & Tony’s freestyle – 1

Sabrina & Louis’ paso doble – 1

Shawn & Derek’s rumba – 1

Kelly & Val’s contemporary – 1

Courtney: This is all I’ll say about the write-ins: it’s obvious when someone is writing in a certain dance simply out of spite, or just to try to get a reaction out of people. How very puerile of them Was Pam & Tristan’s cha-cha a bizarre, fumbly train wreck? Yeah, but I almost think it’s unfair to even count first week dances…because they’re the ones with the highest potential to look like crap. I usually find myself more turned off by bad dances that occur later on in the season – because by that point, you can’t cite “first week jitters” as a reason to f*ck up. For that reason, I actually think I chose Gangnam Style – I hated that dance because it was a cop-out. They basically got a free pass to do ANYTHING they wanted – they could have put a completely unique spin on it, thrown in some cool tricks & lifts, and incorporated some ballroom steps to please Len. Instead, it was as if they said “Y’know what? Let’s just copy the video, add some additional raunch, and call it a day.” Was it fun? Sure. But I can think a dance is fun and also think it’s terrible. Case in point? Carson & Anna’s pirate Viennese waltz in season 13. Amusing in a trainwreck fashion, but I definitely wouldn’t say it was my favorite of that season…or even that week, and it was still a complete mess. I think my second choice was Bristol & Mark’s quickstep, because it just ended up being a complete mess, both in terms of choreography & execution. Not sure what to make of the surfer flamenco – I guess I would categorize that one as a “cop-out” as well, since it seemed like they said “Welp, we don’t know any flamenco, so let’s do paso in skimpy swimsuits and hope nobody notices!”

Heidi: Courtney!! How dare you say that people write in comments just out of spite!! That NEVER happens here!! Well, okay, only every other day. Totally agree with you that I wouldn’t look at first week dances and cry out “worst dance ever!!” So many of them DO look like crap in the first week. Anyway, when I looked at this category two dances immediately came to mind – Team Gangnam Style and Gilles’ Bollywood nightmare. Team Gangnam style just disgusted me because they didn’t even TRY. Any actual dancing that was included was sloppy and disjointed – I seem to recall thinking that Emmett was the only standout from that mess. Pretty sure that’s the one I voted for…although I could have written in Gilles.

Vogue: When I saw this poll, I almost voted for the Team Gangnam dance as the Worst dance. I remember thinking it was just awful comparted to Team Call Me Maybe’s dance which was so well executed, choreographed and full of creative content. In the end though, I voted for Val and Kelly’s Surfer Flamenco (what an awful combination) as that dance beat them all as worst dance ever in all of the seasons of Dancing With The Stars PUT TOGETHER!

DWTS 15 End-of-Season Awards: Which Couple Was the Most Mismatched?

Ok, it’s official: I’m probably going to eliminate the write-in category the next time we do these, because it seems like it got misunderstood & misused quite a bit this time. HINT: if you wrote in several of “shawn n derrick!!!” dances for best dance, yet also wrote in ”shawn n derrick!!!” for most mismatched couple, I’m going to assume you probably did not understand the question. Oy

Write-ins:

Bristol & Mark – 11

Shawn & Derek – 11

Kirstie & Maks – 6

Kelly & Val – 1

Melissa & Tony – 1

None – 1

Courtney: First things first: if you wrote in any of the three finalists in this category, this is me rolling my eyes at you, because I daresay Melissa & Tony, Shawn & Derek, and Kelly & Val were probably 3 of the MOST compatible partnerships this season – and obviously they did something right, or else they likely wouldn’t have made the finale. Methinks there are likely some sour grapes over the outcome of this season coming from those writing any of those 3 couples in. And yeah, Bristol & Mark were mismatched in season 11, and they were mismatched again this season…but honestly, does anyone really think Bristol would have fared better with any other pro? I’m not even sure Derek could have shined that turd. As for non-written-in results – I’m not sure I agree that Pam & Tristan were the “most mismatched”, per se – I would argue that they seemed to get along well in their rehearsal package and in their pre & post-show press, but that Pam just wasn’t able to put in the necessary effort to hack it in the all-star season. In retrospect, I actually think that Drew & Anna were terribly mismatched – and as a result, I think they didn’t go nearly as far as they should have, given their combined skill set. From what I gathered from insider info about their rehearsals, Drew came into the all-star season with a “let’s have fun!” attitude, but Anna’s intensity and the pressure she was putting on him to get things perfect took its toll and by the end of his run, he was stressed out, anxious, and definitely not having fun anymore. Unfortunately, as much as I love Anna, I think her intensity is the one thing that may be standing between her and an MBT – unlike Karina, who seems to have figured out how to balance being intense with having fun, I don’t know that Anna has figured out how to relax and enjoy the experience…and I think that may take a toll on her partners. As for Gilles & Peta – yeah, in the end, I think they ended up being a mismatch…but I blame that more on Gilles being a complete d-bag, and Peta just letting him get away with it. Apolo & Karina had some edgy moments, but overall I think they were well-matched; didn’t see enough of Helio & Chelsie to really make a judgement one way or another; and Sabrina & Louis were at about the same level of annoying perkiness, so I guess that means they were compatible

Vogue: I voted for Peta and Gilles for “Most Mismatched”! When we first heard they were going to be teamed up, I thought, “Wow, this pairing is brilliant. We are really in for something special.” Both gave off a classy, ‘old Hollywood’ feel in all of their promos. I loved Gilles the first time he danced, so I was quite taken back with his ego from the get go. I felt sorry for Peta so much of the time. I got the feeling he didn’t trust her since she was more new to the scene and would have rathered had Cheryl as a partner. It was a disappoinment. I didn’t get a “mismatched” feeling from anyone else like I did with Peta and Gilles …and like Courtney, I blamed it on Gilles too.

Heidi: Again – don’t remember who I voted for. And I didn’t feel sorry for Peta at all – she fed his ego instead of reining it in. I have to say that I agree with the Drew/Anna mismatch – that was just no fun at all. I don’t get why people think Pam and Tristan were mismatched. Because they went out first?? That’s a bit of a cop out – just because they were first out doesn’t mean that they were mismatched, just that she was the least skilled dancer who also had the fewest voters. Saying that the most mismatched couple is the one that went out first is kinda like saying that the best dancer always wins. Ummm…no. Also, Courtney – I’ve noticed on PDH that people tend to not read real closely on these sorts of things.

DWTS 15 End-of-Season Awards: Which Celeb Improved the Most?

Ok, now that I’ve finally worked up the motivation to start revealing the results, I’m gonna do this a bit out-of-order – mainly because I simply don’t have the patience right now to tally up some of the awards with HUNDREDS of write-in votes This season has definitely made me question whether to even include write-ins as an option in the future. But I digress – let’s start with an award where the results were pretty cut & dry:

Write-ins:

Bristol – 6

Helio – 2

Kirstie – 1

None – 1

Courtney: No arguments here – prior to the start of the season, Kelly was one of the celebs that I thought would REALLLLLY struggle, given that she was probably the weakest of the DWTS returning champions, based on her performance in season 1. Apparently Alec just didn’t know how to tap into her potential back then, because she was definitely one of the stronger dancers this season! Maybe Kelly just had time to mature between season 1 and season 15, maybe it helped to have a partner that she could really connect with (and wasn’t an “Iceman”) – whatever it was, she definitely impressed me this season, as did Val…makes me wonder if he could be the next great choreographer on the show in Derek’s absence. I also feel a bit vindicated now, since I’ve always said that Alec probably wasn’t that great of a teacher – if he was truly that great, he would have been able to pull performances out of Kelly 8 years ago that were as good as some of the ones we saw in season 16. I think Shawn & Apolo also improved, albeit not as drastically as Kelly; Melissa improved a little bit, as there didn’t seem to be quite as many cheerleader moves this time around; I think Sabrina stayed about the same; and Gilles got worse. I’m guessing the 6 votes for Bristol came from 2 well-known Bristol trolls on different computers – because she was even trainwreckier this time than she was before

Vogue: I voted for Kelly as well in this category. From the beginning, she seemed intent on doing well and improving herself. She had something to prove and that she could dance with the best of them. Despite a busy ongoing schedule with General Hospital, she gave it her all and it showed with every week that passed. Both she and Val had a powerful passion. They couldn’t have been more suited for each other. He wanted to do well too and set a name for himself other than just being Mak’s little brother. She gave him the confidence to do that and they flew with it even with the odds stacked against them. I loved them and I too look forward to Val’s future on Dancing With The Stars.

Heidi: I actually don’t remember who I voted for in this category, but if I was voting now it would be for either Kelly or Shawn. Kelly for all the reasons already stated – as much as the showmance made me nauseous by the end, she still ended up much better than her original season. I also have high hopes for Val in terms of choreo – that he’s inspired by Derek and not, say, Tony. He is a musician, so he starts out ahead. He did a lot with Kelly and made her seem warmer than I suspect she might actually be. If he continues to look at what Derek did as cool and creative as opposed to “rule breaking”, he can be the next great choreographer on the show. Take notes, Tony and Louis. As for Shawn, she was like a different dancer with Derek. She inspired him to up his game and she was fearless – talk about two people who complimented each other. Derek just pushed and pushed and pushed and got her to not only up her dancing, but her emotional connection to the dance. Awesome.

DWTS 15: Why I Hated the All-Star Season

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated…much to the chagrin of my detractors

Yes, I am back, after a rather prolonged post-season 15 hiatus. Part of it was due to a hectic year-end at work, part of it was due to other stuff, and part of it had to do with what I’m about to elaborate on in this post. Thanks to everyone who checked in on me on Twitter, and I can assure you I’m back full-time now

Many of you have noticed that I tend to take a bit of a break from Pure after the end of each season – mainly due to the level of burnout we all seem to reach after being in full-on DWTS mode for 3 months straight while we’re covering each season. Generally, I just need a break – some time to appreciate other things in my life besides DWTS – and I’m back after a week or two. This time, though, I had a harder time getting back into the swing of being excited and inspired to write about DWTS – and for awhile, I couldn’t figure out why. Then I had a revelation…

…I HATED THE ALL-STAR SEASON.

There, I said it. I hated the all-star season, and I think it has now surpassed season 9 as my least favorite season of DWTS EVER. Reflecting on this past season, aside from a few standout performances (and all the great interactions I had with Pure readers ), I was hard-pressed to really feel nostalgic and pleased about it. In fact, what I tended to remember the most was all the frustration, chaos, and general feelings of “WTF is going on???” that I had while watching and blogging from week to week – and when I really got to thinking about it, I found that there were 5 key problems that left me feeling totally turned-off the all-star season. Without further ado, I give you those reasons… Read more..

Melissa Rycroft Discusses Winning the DWTS Title, Dance Experience, And More

Melissa Rycroft tells Pegasus News that she and Tony thought for sure Shawn and Derek had won Dancing With The Stars last week. They both had to take a minute and think “Is this really happening? Did this really just happen?” She discusses more about winning the title at the link, but, I thought this take was interesting about why she did the show for a second time. She also discusses “dance experience” and if that can help or hurt a person on Dancing With The Stars. See if you agree as I think she makes a great point. Just because a person has dance experience means that someone will win this show and it’s not just as hard and challenging for them. How many times has Heidi told us that?!

This was your second time on the show; why did you decide to compete again?

It took me a little bit to make the decision, because Season 8 for me was such a highlight. It was perfect — the stars aligned, and I knew at the time I was coming off of all The Bachelor hoopla, and so in my mind that was kind of what propelled me to the finals … I was hesitant coming in to the all-star season because I didn’t have that anymore. [I asked myself], what if I don’t have the audience behind me now, now that I don’t have the drama and this experience that was so magical just ends on a dead note? Ultimately, I went, “This was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and if you have the opportunity to do something like that again, why wouldn’t you?” So I just said let’s do it.

Do you think your dance background helped you at all?

I wish dance experience helped you on the show … you’ve got the athletes that are trained to perfect themselves … you’ve got the actors who can emotionally get into character, and then you have the musicians who can hear music in ways that other people can’t hear it. Sometimes in the competition, that can actually hurt you. You can overdo it, your body may not react the way it should, and that’s what I experienced … from dancing with the [Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders] … everything that I had known from that was wrong in ballroom, and it hindered that. Tony actually had to erase what I knew because I wasn’t coming in as a blank slate.

Heidi: This is a classy, classy girl. Tony take note. This was my favorite part of the interview:

In Season 8, you were edged out of the top spot by Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson. How does it feel to come back in Season 15 and beat her?

As much as everybody would love it, there was no competition between Shawn and I. Shawn and I were actually very good friends this time around. We pushed each other; we picked each other back up. I’ll be honest I was happy to make it to the finals. The three woman that made it, to me — we were all winners walking in on Monday night to have accomplished what we did. To come out on top is an unbelievable feeling. Like I said, it still hasn’t sunk in, and I don’t look at it as “You beat an individual person” or “There was one group we were after.” It’s just it was amazing to be standing at the end of the competition as talented as this one was.

She had the right attitude, for sure. I’m thinking she was raised right. She is right on target about the dance experience debate – the only thing I would add is that, while it can be a disadvantage, she’s not the only person who has that disadvantage. She frames it like “all these other people have these great qualities while I have dance experience which is actually a disadvantage.” I know what she’s saying, but that’s a tad simplistic. EVERYONE has an advantage of some kind, and I think that the only one that is greater than the others is likely youth. Of course, dance experience, being an athlete, being an actor – all those are going to have more advantage than, say, a stand up comic or a model. But Melissa falls into neither of those latter categories. Everyone also has a disadvantage, just like she did. Shawn had to work on her emotional connection, Kelly was so shakey a lot of the time, Apolo…well, I can’t think of any Apolo flaws, but that’s probably just me.

Tony Dovolani: From Dancing With The Stars To His Golf Game (New Interview)

The Morning Blend interviewed Dancing With The Stars champ Tony Dovolani on his win with Melissa Rycroft. Other than his kids being born, it was one of the highest moments of his life. He is still “pinching” himself. “Did that really happen?” They also talk of Tony’s golf game which he continued to play during the season of Dancing With The Stars. He is at an “index” of 2 (what does that mean? Can someone explain?). He talks of how Dancing With The Stars has helped his game and the pressure when golfing. He also gives his thoughts and predictions on Tiger Woods. Interesting interview!!

Val Chmerkovskiy And Kelly Monaco Chat On General Hospital And Dancing With The Stars (New Interview)

ET Online interviewed Val Chmerkovskiy and Kelly Monaco on their Dancing With The Stars post finale thoughts. Val reflects back and said he expected to get Bristol Palin for a partner which he would have been happy with. He’s thankful for getting Kelly instead and he did what he was asked. Kelly says they had so much fun and have formed an amazing friendship together. They also talk of Val’s upcoming role on General Hospital too at the end. Nice interview. More in detail below….

Finale Review, Jordyn Wieber Would Love To Dance On Dancing With The Stars

Afterbuzz reviewed the finale of Dancing With The Stars! They run through each of the dances. They also talk of the inconsistency and unfairness of the judges and scoring for what we’ve been upset on too. Even more interesting is that they also interviewed Jordyn Wieber, Olympic Gold Medalist and one of “The Fierce Five” who danced with Shawn and Derek in their Freestyle. She comments that she loved Dancing With The Stars and had so much fun, she’d like to dance on the show as well. Is she was going to pick a partner, she’d pic Va Chmerkovskiy. She talked to him and she likes him very much. More in detail below….

What do you think? I think Afterbuzz nailed it on so many issues that we’re having with the show. I also think Jordon sounds serious about wanting to do this show. I’d have no issues with it. We better put this one on “watch out”.

DWTS Tony Dovolani Talks About Landslide Victory, Wants Paula Abdul As A Judge, and More (Video)

Wendy Williams praised Tony Dovolani for how good he looks on her show. He says he owes it all to the Dancing With The Stars finals. He thanks Wendy for all of her support. They run through how he and Melissa approached the show. He also mentions how he and Melissa won by a landslide of votes (really? I have a hard time believing that! Then again, there were a lot of voting issues with the official site and phones that could have played a part from what Derek Hough fans have said when they tried to vote.). They also discuss the judges and needing a shake up. Tony would like to have Paula Abdul be a judge. Lots more below….

General Hospital Preview With Val Chmerkovskiy, Talks Of New Reality Show With Brother Maks (Videos)

“Were they or weren’t they”? That’s the question Wendy Williams asks the audience as Kelly Monaco and Val Chmerkovskiy sat down to be interviewed on the Wendy Show today. Then she asks Val about the current idea of Maks and Val starting a new reality show. Val says they are currently still thinking the idea over and “they definitely want to do it”. More below including Kelly talking a little about General Hospital.

Speaking of, George Pennacchio of ABC7 in Los Angeles did a nice little spread on Val and his guest role coming up on General Hospital. The video below gives a little preview of Val in action on the set. Don’t forget, you’ll be able to watch his appearance on General Hospital on December 10th.

ADDING: Kelly and Val were also interviewed by VH1….

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DWTS 15 End-of-Season Awards: Which Dance Was the Worst?

DWTS 15 End-of-Season Awards: Which Couple Was the Most Mismatched?

DWTS 15 End-of-Season Awards: Which Celeb Improved the Most?

DWTS 15: Why I Hated the All-Star Season

Melissa Rycroft Discusses Winning the DWTS Title, Dance Experience, And More

Tony Dovolani: From Dancing With The Stars To His Golf Game (New Interview)

Val Chmerkovskiy And Kelly Monaco Chat On General Hospital And Dancing With The Stars (New Interview)

Finale Review, Jordyn Wieber Would Love To Dance On Dancing With The Stars

DWTS Tony Dovolani Talks About Landslide Victory, Wants Paula Abdul As A Judge, and More (Video)

General Hospital Preview With Val Chmerkovskiy, Talks Of New Reality Show With Brother Maks (Videos)

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