As usual, I apologize for the tardiness 😛 This has been a rather rough season for my asthma, as the constantly vacillating temperatures here in the Midwest have created the perfect storm of mold, pollen, and other allergens – I’ve been medicating pretty heavily and not always super sharp and able to write. Let us all pray that it gets cool and stays cool soon, for the sake of my lungs AND brain!
Seems like many of you have some strong feelings and a lot of questions about Tuesday night’s show. One question that seems to be on everyone’s lips: what the hell happened with the phone votes??? For those that missed it, Tom mentioned (rather in passing, as the show was ending) that the phone votes from Monday night “were not available” and thus only the online votes and scores from Monday night were counted towards Tuesday’s elimination. I was too busy on Monday evening to even carve out time to vote, so I can’t personally vouch for anything hinky happening with the phone voting; but I vaguely remember maybe one person tweeting me to say they were getting a weird message on the online voting number…? Anyway, for whatever reason, phone votes either weren’t available (or weren’t counted), so only online votes and scores determined Tuesday night’s eliminee – which happened to be Danelle. I’ve said this on Twitter, but I’ll repeat it again here: I tend to think Danelle was headed home regardless, and I really doubt the phone votes could have saved her. I’ve heard all manner of outrage on Twitter and IG about how “unfair” the vote was to Danelle, and how people think she was screwed over by the phone votes getting thrown out, how she would still be here if they had included the phone votes, etc. – but those same people also seem to be the ones answering “Well, no, but” when I ask if they actually voted for her. Danelle was in the bottom 5 last week in votes and scores, and was consistently one of the lowest scorers in her two dances last week and the two she did this week. Is it really that much of a stretch to assume she was probably a goner no matter what??? Both Heidi & I called it, and this was before we even heard about the voting issues. “But Court, her story is so inspirational – surely she was getting a ton of votes!” Was she, though? Again, bottom 5 last week, and then I go back to my inspirational story fatigue theory from the pre-season. Additionally, the one difference I noticed between Danelle’s journey on the show and other “inspirational” celebs? Amy, Noah, Nyle, and Victoria all seemed to have these triumphant moments after their dances where they felt like they really persevered – I never really got that vibe from Danelle, and she always seemed to have a certain air of uncertainty and fear about her after she was done dancing. She was more “Well, I got through it, but it was scary” than “I killed that dance and I feel so proud of myself!” And who can blame her? She really had to be completely reliant on other people to maintain her safety, and probably felt pretty lost and alone at times when she was out on the floor. It had to be incredibly frightening to her, and I don’t feel like her experience on DWTS was always fun or rewarding for her. And I feel like the viewers can sense that – I’ll admit, it was hard to watch her sometimes, because it seemed like she was trying so hard but was really frustrated and anxious. Sometimes, seeing those celebs having a hard time get sent home is almost a relief – unless it’s one of the Bachelors (or Nick Lachey), who can act completely miserable, and yet seem to linger week after week 😛
However, I will say that I think that the double elim we had heard about was originally supposed to be Tuesday night – but given the phone vote debacle, I think they opted to just do a single…especially if the other individual in the bottom 2 with Danelle was an aberration. TPTB can see who the votes were going to last week – if someone that was quite safe and was getting oodles of votes last week suddenly landed in the bottom 2, owing to the absence of phone votes, I’d say that would be a good case for opting out of eliminating them this week. If this is indeed a case of TPTB trying to prevent an otherwise-popular contestant from going home, my guess is that it’s someone that appeals to the older demographic of the show, as they’re more likely to be voting via phone, rather than online – my guess is Mary Lou, although I’ve heard a few others thinking it’s Nancy (simply because TPTB “want to keep Val around longer”). By the same logic, it could also be John, although I get the feeling he may actually be getting more mainstream votes than we probably think; I doubt it’s DeMarcus, as he seems to have enough broad-spectrum appeal that he’s likely getting plenty of both online AND phone votes. Tinashe, Milo, Evanna, & Alexis seem like they’re more likely to be getting online votes than phone ones; no idea what to think about Juan Pablo & Joe. I’ve heard some asking “Why eliminate anyone at all, if the votes were messed up?” And my one guess is this: we’re already dealing with a shortened season (9 weeks instead of 10 or 11), and with as much bitching and moaning as I hear from fans about how much they HATE double elims, I’m guessing TPTB were trying to avoid having to do another one. Right now, we’ve got 11 couples left, and 6 weeks to whittle them down to at least 4 – which means we’re already going to have to have at least one double elim somewhere in the mix (if they’re aiming for a 3-couple final, we’ve gotta have TWO double elims). Had they not eliminated anyone Tuesday night, we’d be on the hook for TWO double elims, possibly three. Additionally, the “extras” we see from week to week on the shows (guest performances, special segments, the length of dances, the length of rehearsal packages, etc.) vastly depend on having x number of couples to fit in the show. If they’ve suddenly got to fit (12) couples into Monday night’s show again, we may be dealing with another week of shortened dances, or maybe a musical guest that was originally booked to perform gets bumped. It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare, I think – so I can understand why they opted to do at least a single elim this week. Read more..
