“Dancing with the Stars: Is it Fair for Athletes to Compete?”

BuddyTV.com asks the question – is it fair for athletes to compete? Complete with a poll. I think I subscribe to the idea that everyone comes into the show with advantages and disadvantages. But I have to say, in terms of conditioning and being accustomed to rigorous training, I think athletes do have an edge. Should they be barred from competing on the show? Nah.  Discuss.

Here’s an excerpt:

Week after week for 11 weeks, the dashing Gilles proved that he’s not just a good dancer; he’s also one of the front runners of season 8. He was a consistent leader on the score board and had the most number of perfect 30s than anyone in the competition. But sex appeal and graceful dance moves could only take him so far and at the end of the day, it’s also about popularity —and clearly Shawn has the most number of fans.

But the “popularity game” is not what’s troubling skeptics at the moment. There are now talks about whether Shawn or any other athlete should be allowed to join the show in the first place since athletes have an obvious advantage in this contest.

I was especially struck by season 4 winner Apolo Ohno’s parting words to Shawn prior to her final performance on Dancing with the Stars in which he said that “there’s no Olympian who’s made the finals who has not won the show.” Adding that Shawn brings “in a totally different mentality from the Olympic games and being a competitor that nobody else possesses and that’s gonna give [her] the edge on the competition.”