John challenged me to do this, despite my clear and obvious Hough bias. But it does say MY favorites, so these choices are all my own. As I said in response to comments on John’s post, being a great DWTS Pro is about more than just dance ability. I think several things are required: choreography skill, teaching ability and PERSONALITY (aka The “IT” Factor). And, of course, you have to be one hell of a dancer. I don’t dislike ANY of the pros, male or female, but I do have my clear favorites. You all can guess my Number one, right? Say it with me:

1. Derek, Derek, Derek – Derek is not only a great dancer and choreographer, but he’s one of the more charismatic people on TV right now.  When he’s on screen in a pro dance, I occasionally read about people who are not fans being annoyed because he’s “distracting” – I have to laugh, because that “distracting” behavior is called charisma and “IT”.  He draws the eye. As a fan of old movies (thanks, Grandma), he reminds me of Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire. He has never finished lower than sixth and he was only as low as sixth once, with Shannon. He has a way of taking celebs with either baggage or no fanbase (or both) and turning them into respectable dancers – or at the very least, making them likable. His celebs are always labeled as “disliked or likely to be disliked” (Joanna, Lil’ Kim) or as likely to leave early (everyone else) – yet he never leaves early. As for his choreo – two words: Futuristic Paso Doble.  Wait…three words. (John’s Comment: See the rest of Heidi’s Derek bias on Pure Derek Hough)
2. Louis Van Amstel – yes, this shocks me too.  Louis was one of the faceless male pros who were there and gone most seasons.  But holy cow – his work with Kelly Osbourne, and their relationship, was just a joy to watch. Kelly would never be the best dancer – in fact, I would argue that she was no better than 6th or 7th place – but people LOVED her and I think a lot of that is attributable to Louis.  There is no question the man can dance, and he’s a very good choreographer (although I think my #3 did better on the tour), but I think it was only this season that his personality and teaching ability came to the forefront.  Lovely, lovely guy.
3. Maksim Chmerkovskiy – cranky as hell at times, the man also has IT.  He really won me over with his work on last years tour – brilliantly done.  He also manages to survive what I think is a crappy edit nearly every season – sure he’s blunt, but his partners seem to love him. And he writes a great blog, which I appreciate.  I also love how he treats Derek and Mark as slightly annoying little brothers – very sweet to watch on tour.  The feeling I get from Maks is that he’s all bark and no bite.
4. Mark Ballas – I was tempted to leave Mark off the list, although he’s always been one of my favorites.  Why? Well, maybe it’s just my perception, but I thought he acted badly when dancing with Melissa Joan Hart.  He seemed upset that they weren’t doing that well – whatever the reason for his behavior, it seemed TO ME to be poor sportsmanship.  He’s had two Olympians as partners – surely he can suck it up when dancing with someone who is trying hard, but isn’t an Olympian??  Anyway, despite that, Mark is a hell of a dancer and seems to be a good teacher.  He gets a lot of flack for out dancing his partners (usually in the Jive, which I don’t think he can help), and he occasionally picks hellish costumes with polka dots,  but he is a very talented guy.
5. Tony Dovolani – Tony doesn’t really impress me as a particularly great choreographer, but he’s a hell of a dancer and he’s very, VERY charming.  He’s just NICE.  I like him a lot.  He seems to work well with his partners, is a good teacher and is an all around good egg.

I think that only leaves Jonathan, Dmitry and Alec.  Dmitry and Alec suffer from an apparent lack of personality – notice I didn’t say that they don’t have a personality, just that it isn’t *apparent*. They are too quiet, and I don’t think either of them did a particularly good job in terms of choreography.  Doesn’t *everyone* know how Len feels about gimmicks, Dmitry??  As for Jonathan, he suffers as a result of drawing poor celebrities – how can I tell how good of a choreographer or teacher he is when he never stays on the show for long?  That said – he clearly has the patience of a saint.  And lord, when he’s dancing with his wife it’s a thing of beauty.

Okay, everyone, go ahead and tell me how wrong I am.  :-)  I can take it.

While waiting on the breakfast to be ready (Champagne Brunch – Yay!!), I took a stroll around twitter and found the celebs and pros have been tweeting fools. Enjoying their time off. I won’t post all their tweets, but some of them and their twit pics were fun. If you want to follow them and see what they have to say, you can find all their twitter accounts on a previous post!

Aww, Tony, so sweet. And the Ballas men – strange. Lacey and Lance at the Dizzy Feet Gala!! And Natalie Jinxes herself.

Mark has a hot cousin, ya’ll.

Joanna is talking about her new Peta Ad campaign. Jonathan cracks me up, as does Louie Vito.

Natalie – word to the wise, never talk about how good traffic is, because then it WON’T be. Derek being a good uncle, taking the kids to Miley Cyrus with Julianne and his sisters. They apparently hit a local honky tonk after – I assume someone took the children home.

For those who didn’t know, Carrieann had some sort of surgery yesterday – it appears she pulled through nicely. Apparently it was minor and related to her neck/back. I could look it up, but dudes it’s Thanksgiving and I’m stuffing myself.

Natalie tweeted two of her favorite pictures from Finale night:

Kym J. finally gets some sleep.

Many of you know that we’ve been doing our best to list all of the songs used on Dancing with the Stars. Hopefully you’ve found that useful. I see a lot of people visiting those pages, but rarely hear what people think about it.

Anyway, I always think it’s fun to look back at the music from the season of Dancing with the Stars and see which songs were the most popular. This isn’t scientific. It’s basically based on which songs got the most clicks. So, here’s the top 4 songs used on Dancing with the Stars season 9.

Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen (this blew all the other songs out of the water)
Would You…. ? – Touch & Go
Living on Video – Trans-X
They – Jem

Very interesting set of music. Thanks for stopping by all year for the DWTS music. Of course, we’ll be doing our best to keep up with the other rumors in the off season and be back for more DWTS music next season as well.

Huge thanks to Codebear on Youtube – he/she got a ton of media with just makes my job easier.

Good Morning America!

Mya and Dmitry on Entertainment Tonight

Donny and Kym on Entertainment Tonight

Kelly and Louis on Entertainment Tonight

Kelly and Louis on TV Guide Network

Final three on The View

The View exit interview

…Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the best person won out of that final three. I never thought, at the beginning of this season, that I would be so ecstatic that an Osmond won the competition. But, while not the best dancer, Donny had heart, humility and passion for this show that was required to win. Sans the massive fanbase and ringer status, he still deserved to win over Mya and Kelly. The man got it done.

Why? Well, for me, it boiled down to Donny and Kelly. The two of them made me FEEL their dances – I cried when Kelly and Louis cried. Donny just plain entertained during his freestyle which Mya, with all her technical perfection, just couldn’t do. And, tonight, Donny made me feel all mushy and happy – yeah, he’s got too much of a mouth at times, but tonight when he was genuinely shocked that Kelly took third, and then he was over joyed when he won….well, he showed more excitement and heart than Mya showed all season. And that, my friends, is the key to winning Dancing with the Stars.

Congratulations again, to Donny and Kym.

Okay, I got a pretty good response from my math lesson post from earlier this week, so I’ll break it down again.

Unfortunately, as with the last several finales, there is a dance on Tuesday that only the judges score – which has the potential to decide the winner if the votes are close. Which annoys me tremendously. But you all knew that. Anyway, the judges sort of broke with tradition tonight and did not leave an even playing field. I am of two minds about this. Part of me agrees with Maks – let the VOTERS decide at this point in the season. But the other part of me realizes that Kelly had a couple mistakes that the judges couldn’t overlook (then again, she’s the only non-pro in the group). The judges started off badly by underscoring her Argentine Tango, so when her dances didn’t do better relative to the other two as she went along, she went into a hole. Mathematically, this makes it very hard for her.

The total points out of a possible 90 for the night:
Kelly = 76
Mya = 87
Donny = 85

The total of those three scores is 285. Based on those total points awarded, the following is each celebs share of the judges scores:
Kelly = 30.65
Mya = 35.08
Donny = 34.27

As you can see, there is almost no space between Donny and Mya; less than a point. Kelly is farther out with well more than four points between her and Mya and almost four between her and Donny. Now, that might not seem like much, but at the end of the day I don’t see her beating BOTH Donny and Mya. She was certainly charming enough, IMO, to get LOTS of votes, but I don’t see her getting higher than 3rd place. There are too many people who don’t vote until the last night of the season and odds are those votes will go to Mya and Donny.

Now, based on the Freestyle – well, this show is much poorer without a Hough or Ballas in the finale. Absent the sibs, Kym did an amazing job and they won the night, and possibly the show, with that Freestyle. Kym is only hampered by the fact of Donny’s age and his extreme schedule – no disrespect to Donny intended. He is doing an amazing job for being quite a bit older than Mya and Kelly both – and sorry, but Kym and Donny kicked Mya and Dmitry’s ass in the freestyle round. And, because he kicked their butts despite his age – well, he should take the trophy. And this is coming from a woman who despised the thought of another Osmond on the show – so it’s high praise indeed. I will add, that if not for her fall, Kelly would have easily taken second place – Mya and Dmitry simply did not do the work to win that round. Kelly had more risks and more excitement than Mya did. Yeah she fell – but she did a move that you could fall out of. Mya played it safe. And that pisses me off – what, you expect them to hand it to you?

Okay, enough with the editorializing. Donny, Mya and Kelly fans see what they have to do. It appears to be a shoot out between Mya and Donny. Now, lets speculate. Let’s say that the judges revert to type for the final dances tomorrow. Which I guess means:
Kelly = 27
Mya = 30
Donny = 28

Or something like that. I THINK that means the judges score gets added to the previous judges scores which then counts for 50% of the vote, which means:
Kelly = 103
Mya = 117
Donny = 114

For a total points awarded count of 333. Divide the individual score by the total points awarded to get the percentage for each celebrity:
Kelly = 30.93
Mya = 35.14
Donny = 33.93

As you see, that widens the gap between all the celebrities by a good bit. I suggest that Donny and Kelly fans seriously vote like crazy. Donny has the best shot of beating Mya. With Mya’s as the score to beat, Donny and Kelly need 1.21 and 4.21 percent MORE votes than Mya to beat her. As I said before, it’s anybody’s game. So – what will happen? I’ll go out on a limb and give it to Donny Osmond. But – don’t count Mya out. Fans who assume that one or the other wins could end up losing.

Many of you probably already know about our list of Dancing with the Stars people on Twitter. We also have a “Twitter list” of those on Dancing with the Stars season 9 which is easy to follow as well. Now, if you want to know the reactions from the stars, pros, judges, etc that are on Dancing with the Stars Season 9, you can just check out the widget below for the latest updates about the show by people on the show and Pure DWTS tweets as well.

We’re back again with the list of music from tonight’s DWTS season 9 performance music. Interesting songs. The freestyles always offer a nice little twist to the show. I’ll admit that I think that Dancing with the Stars swung for the fences on this season’s music. Some were big hits and some were big misses. You can see the full list of DWTS songs here. Now on to tonight’s music:

Kelly & Louis danced Argentine Tango to the song “Los Vino” —Otros Aires
Kelly & Louis danced Megamix to the song “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” —Frankie Valli/”Whenever, Wherever” —Shakira/”Maniac” —Michael Sembello
Kelly & Louis danced Freestyle to the song “I Will Survive” —Gloria Gaynor
Kelly & Louis danced Viennese Waltz to the song “Trouble” —Ray LaMontagne
Mýa & Dmitry danced Paso Doble to the song “We Will Rock You” —Queen
Mýa & Dmitry danced Megamix to the song “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” —Frankie Valli/”Whenever, Wherever” —Shakira/”Maniac” —Michael Sembello
Mýa & Dmitry danced Freestyle to the song “You Can’t Stop the Beat” —from Hairspray
Mýa & Dmitry danced Jive to the song “Would You…?” —Touch and Go
Donny & Kym danced Cha-Cha-Cha to the song “September” —Earth, Wind and Fire
Donny & Kym danced Megamix to the song “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” —Frankie Valli/”Whenever, Wherever” —Shakira/”Maniac” —Michael Sembello
Donny & Kym danced Freestyle to the song “Let The Good Times Roll” —Ray Charles
Donny & Kym danced Argentine Tango to the song “Tango a Pugliese” —Orquesta Color Tango de Roberto Alvarez

Heidi says…
I just love Kelly Osbourne, and that shocks the hell out of me. She’s what the show is all about; a B or C-list celebrity comes in and is paired with a professional partner and she LEARNS how to dance. And dance pretty well. No, she’s not perfect – that’s not the point of the show. She learned how to dance and she is charming as all get out. What’s interesting to me is that once she decided to do this show, she threw herself into it and worked for it. She even went so far as to go to the producers before rehearsals started and told them they better give her a pro she couldn’t push around; she was originally supposed to get Mark Ballas and they switched it up and put her with Louis (yes, this says something about Mark and Louis, but that’s another post ) – that speaks to Kelly’s desire to do well. And she has. I think she stands a good chance to win this thing because she is seen as the non-dancer and people love her – it often doesn’t take more than that. Just listen to Rosanna Tvarez of Reality Chat – I bet there are a whole bunch of people like Rosanna out there.

John says…
What scares me is that I think you’re right. There are a lot of people that like Kelly on DWTS and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Sure, there have been people on Dancing with the Stars that I can’t believe I ended up liking (Joey Lawrence did that for me), but Kelly just annoys the heck out of me. The crazy part is that much like you can’t explain why you like her I have a hard time explaining why I don’t like her. Let me give it a try.

She’s just absolutely awkward on the floor. Her lines are the worst to watch. When I watch her dance, I feel like she’s only going half way. Yes, I’ve seen her talk about how hard she’s trying, but on the dance floor she just feels like she’s only going half way in all her movements. It’s like she’s afraid to go all the way and finish the move. However, the thing that bothers me most is her face. I’m not even sure why, but it’s just so unattractive for me to watch and makes me cringe every time she gets up to dance.

Yes, I know how un-American it is for me to not like the underdog, but this will be the first time I’m not with the underdog. She seems like a sweet girl, but if she hoists the mirror ball I’ll be really disappointed with this season.

Heidi says…
Don’t worry, John, she’s still the long shot, even though she has a shot. I would agree with you in terms of awkward and her face up until the last two weeks or so – I think the fact that she visibly over came those problems is one of the reasons that Joanna went home instead of her. If she’d had another night where she danced like you describe, I think she would have gone home.  But, she’s getting stronger. She seems like she had something of a breakthrough. Be afraid of America’s Sweetheart – not to mention we are total suckers for a British accent.

John says…
That’s what’s so crazy. I usually LOVE to see people who overcame bad dancing (see Ty from last season) and I’m also a huge sucker for girls with accents (see Cat Deeley…Yummy!). Not to mention my love of blondes. You’d think that Kelly would be my absolute favorite. That’s why it’s so amazing that she couldn’t find a way into my heart. I hope you’re right and that she does get sent home. I predict the judges will give her higher scores than she deserves and possibly lower scores for the other 2 just to keep things interesting.

Heidi says…
Nah, if the judges stick to their usual finale script, you won’t see a huge difference in the scoring unless someone falls down and breaks something. Unless of course, Len is so pissed about Gilles losing last season he gives all 8’s to Kelly and Donny and all 10’s to Mya. Could happen. But as I showed in a previous post – that might not be enough to give her the win.