DWTS13 Kym Johnson And David Arquette Ready To Dance On Monday!!
Extra interviewed Kym and David at the Grove in Hollywood yesterday and they said they are ready to go on Monday and they are anxious to begin the Season! David is a sore all over, but, is picking up the moves quickly. Kym said he’s really graceful which surprised her. He said the hardest thing to learn so far is “the frame” and not rushing. He’s ready for the judges criticisms because he think it will be helpful. He’s done his homework in preparing for the show. All this and more below.
Kym also has a new blog up at Ok Magazine. She talks of how “stylish” David is. He dresses up for all of his rehearsals and has bought 12 pairs of ballroom shoes. He’s very serious about doing this show. She writes on the other cast members and the new stage for which she saw yesterday. More in this take….
Right now I’m thinking Ricki Lake is going to be the one to beat, with her partner Derek Hough. From what I’ve been hearing, those two are definitely the ones to beat. I’ve seen Ricki dance — I went to Brooke Burke’s birthday party and Ricki was on the dance floor a lot, busting her moves, and she’s a natural!
I think it’s so admirable that Chaz Bono is doing Dancing With the Stars. I think he’s going to do really well, people will be surprised. He’s just like anybody else, he wants to get out there an dance! I’ve seen him in rehearsals in the hallways, he’s such a sweet guy and he’s really having fun doing this. I think people should just be more understanding and kinder and just support him. Lacey is amazing with him, they’re having a really good time. I’m excited to watch him dance!
After my scary neck injury last season, I spent the summer doing a little rehab and physical therapy and thank goodness, now I’m back to normal again, which is great. It’s been pretty much all summer that i’ve been trying to get myself back to proper health and I’m feeling great now!
I went yesterday to the set, and we’ve got a new stage! It’s so amazing, it looks like an opera theater. It’s got balconies, and it’s much, much bigger and grander than ever before. It’s spectacular! It’s kind of a bit nerve-wracking, I feel like our home got a big remodel! he celebriteies won’t know the difference, but all of us dancers got a shock when we walked in. It spices things up and it gives us more opportunity to do different things with choreography and using the stage in a new way. It’s like a new playground for us!
Everyone knows David Arquette and I think people will be interested in how he’ll do. he’s very graceful, I think people will be pleasantly surprised with what we do. I haven’t seen anyone else’s routines yet, it’s going to be a very intresting show, with a lot of excitement!
I’m excited to see these two and how well they will do….especially after the Howard Stern interview? Time will soon tell.
I’m sure David is everything Kym says he is, but he’s just so darned “twitchy” that I feel uncomfortable watching him in videos. Hope that won’t color my impressions when he’s actually on the dance floor.
Oh, this video cracked me up, just 46 seconds in – Maria asks “How is he doing, is he picking up the moves quickly?” Kym’s response: “David is really enthusiastic”… Maria (to PeeWee): “That means you suck…” 😀 Loved it when Maria caught Kym in the “non-answer-answer”!!!
@Shep, welcome to the site — a haven for sensible DWTS fans 🙂 I found this happy place last season and thank my lucky stars for the wonderful folks who created and maintain it.
I agree, David is extremely fidgety which makes it hard to watch him in interviews. Thought he was calmer and more centered in this interview than in previous ones. Kym is such a soothing, soft-spoken person that I hope spending all day around her will have a positive effect on him.
I’m quite looking forward to seeing what they can bring to the dance floor.
Is it Monday night yet?????
I actually thought he was a bit uncomfortable in the first rehearsal but in the ET video, he seemed to have loosened up. I think on Monday, he might be better because in rehearsals, he probably wasn’t giving it all he got since there were no judges or audience there. But Kym has won 3 times (2 in America and 1 in Australia) so if he’s doing well, she knows what she’s talking about! We’ll soon find out!
LOL – Keep selling it Liz, maybe someone will start believing it counts. It’s kinda like saying that winning America’s Got Talent is the same thing as winning Strictly Come Dancing.
@Heidi – This is all IMO, but if you’re talking about Kym’s wins (2 vs. 3), I’m with Liz on that one. After all, it was the Aussie version of DWTS that she won, along with 2 DWTS wins here in the US. You correctly point out that there may be judging differences, but I’m thinking that it’s pretty much apples-to-apples – after all, a paso is a paso. I’m also thinking the non-dancing components (whether someone is likeable, how to entice people to vote for them, work ethic, etc) are pretty much the same, too. And if there are subtle differences, then extra kudos to Kym for being able to recognize them and play the game with success on 2 continents.
I don’t think it’s the same thing either. No one would say that someone who wins the championship in the Canadian Football league and then plays in the NFL and wins a championship has won the Super Bowl twice. Same thing with the Japanese baseball league and MLB. They are not the same. I’m not an expert, but I’ve heard people talk about the show in different countries and there can be some BIG differences. That doesn’t take away from Kym, I think she is the only pro that’s won two different versions. She’s just won twice on one show and once on another.
Thank you, Sally, for that post. I agree with that. There may be different judges, different audiences etc… but as you said, a paso is a paso. I also think that in some reality shows, there’s always a judge who’s pretty controversial or one people cannot stand because of their criticism such as Len, Simon (AI), Piers (AGT). Oh and I just remembered one of the judges from the Aussie version of DWTS. Todd. OMG he can be mean!
Anyway, all versions of DWTS all over the world can have a lot of similarities. They all have dancing involved, of course and all have judges and people can vote also.
You may be right that the differences might be stuble but to me, it’s pretty much the same with just different voters and judges, hosts etc… Oh and the location of course. Every season, it seems that DWTS is always changing something which might bring in different and more audiences, different rules, formats etc… One example would be having more than a 30 for a perfect score because we may add another judge someday. If I’m not mistaken, on the Aussie version, they had 4 judges to start with and last I checked, they cut it down to 3. It was 4 judges when Kym competed there. Now if Kym went back there and won and there were 3 judges, should we say that Kym won once in Australia? Just saying.
Peonies717, well what differences have you heard then?
Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me what rules or judges any versions DWTS got. A Paso Doble is a Paso Doble. A Cha-cha is a Cha-cha and the judges go with the rules the dances have (or they should). I still say that if a pro won once in a country then another country twice, he won DWTS 3 times. I’d say this for any other pros. Derek won here 3 times but if he also won once on SCD then to me, he won 4 times. Perhaps some Americans might say he won 3 times because of the name of the other show. Maybe each version of DWTS should have different names and not just some. Makes it less confusing lol. Regardless, I think the whole thing is just based on everyone’s opinions.
You can bet that Lacey, Chelsie, Anna, Maks, Dmitry, Louis, Karina, and Tony would take an Australian or another country’s DWTS win LOL!!!
No, sorry – still not the same thing. In Australia she was competing in front of an entirely different audience, competing against different pros and getting judged by different people. Apples and oranges. Gotta go with Peonies football comparison as it’s right on target. Kym’s great and all, but she’s only won twice on the only show that counts here. If the DANCING were all that mattered, you might have a point, Liz, but as you very well know it’s not just the dancing at all
If Derek won on Strictly, I would absolutely not count it. For one thing, there are four judges and the show is FAR less popular in the UK as the US version is here. The much smaller voting population alone changes what it takes to win and what it takes to be voted off. Also, in the Aussie and UK versions, we have no clue what the demographic of the show is – if it’s significantly older or younger, that would change how they would vote dramatically, as would cultural differences. In the UK, the pros are not famous at all compared to the US ones (according to some UK friends I have) and as a result they have less impact on the votes. However, if Derek were to go on that show (which he never would since they are not paid nearly as well – not even close), he would either be first off or he would win every time, depending on how his notoriety from dating Cheryl Cole affected him. Subtle differences like these make the shows not comparable – at all, IMO.
Oh well, when one of my students win ANY competition…I make sure it gets included in their portfolio for their admissions process for HS and college.
Every success counts in my book 🙂
Me too, Sheery.
Well, I guess this is one of those issues on which we can agree to disagree. As to the analogy from @Peonies717 – first off, I absolutely, completely agree that a Canadian football trophy isn’t comparable to a Super Bowl win, and that winning the World Series is a much bigger accomplishment than winning in Japan. But where the analogy doesn’t hold for me is that in both of those cases, the sport originated here in the U.S., and was then exported (fairly recently, as history goes) into those other countries. That doesn’t hold for ballroom dancing. The DWTS franchise started in the UK; the Aussies picked it up in 2004. DWTS didn’t start here until 2005. To me, that’s what makes the apples-to-oranges…
And Heidi, I agree with you that differences in viewing demographics, size, and things like that make winning potentially different from country to country. But that’s something that makes me more impressed with Kym – she’s managed to navigate successfully in multiple environments.
Just for my own curiosity, I went to Wikipedia on this – let me say I’m with you; Wikipedia isn’t a reliable source of information. But what I liked about their writeup was that they mentioned “franchise wins” – they list 3 pros that have 3 franchise wins. Derek, Raimondo Todaro (from the Italian version), and Kym. Of those 3, Kym is the only one with wins from different versions of the show.
Liz, I said I wasn’t an expert on the differences, just I have heard that there can be differences between the shows. That’s not really the point though. I also don’t think it’s a question of one being a bigger accomplishment than another. I don’t think any of us are in a position to say which is a bigger accomplishment, or if indeed one is. It’s not that one’s better or worse, they are just two different arenas. And Sherry, I don’t think anyone is saying it doesn’t count. Of course it does.
Exactly, Peonies. You nailed it. No one is saying that Kym sucks – just that it’s not comparable.
And I totally don’t care what Wiki says. The producers of DWTS thought WTA Cha Cha was a great idea – does that mean it was??
The point about other versions of the show is that they may be EASIER to win because she’s not competing against the best pros. I don’t think it’s possible to argue that all pros are the same or that those in Australia are just as good. If they were, they would be up for the US version, as that’s the best paid, with the biggest audience.
Essentially, is Kym’s record comparable to Derek’s? No. Is she “better” than Cheryl or have a better record than Cheryl because of her Australian win? Well, NO – Cheryl may have beaten her soundly if they were BOTH competing down there. But they weren’t both competing down there. Now, if you took all the US pros to Australia to compete at the same time, maybe we can talk – but still, not really.
Yes, sheery, when one wins the kindergarten spelling bee, and then becomes High School valedictorian, one would count both – but I would argue that the Valedictorian counts MORE.
Again, I disagree with the analogy. The way I’m looking at it is not the difference in winning the kindergarten spelling bee, and then becoming High School Valedictorian. I’m looking at it more like “Sarah was valedictorian at her high school in a small Oklahoma town, and Ralph was valedictorian at his high school in Manhattan”. Doesn’t make Ralph any smarter than Sarah, or vice versa… I guess it’s all in how you look at the different markets that DWTS is in.
How would Cheryl be beating Kym if they were both competing in Australia? They both won twice in one country, am I right or wrong? Before Kym’s win with Hines then I’d agree because Cheryl already won twice and Kym won once in one country before Hines.
Sally, that’s how I’m looking at it too.
I keep having thoughts pop up lol. No, wiki isn’t accurate all the time but it’s not 100% inaccurate. I also agree about the WTA. What a terrible idea! That must’ve been written down before the WTA happened when the producers thought it was a great idea. They probably think it’s a terrible idea (I hope) now lol.
I was giving an example, Liz, not being literal. You keep missing the point, so I’m not going to continue discussing it except to say, once again – you can’t count Kym’s win because she’s not competing against any of the same people. You can’t say that Kym has a better record than Cheryl because Cheryl has not competed in Australia is my point. IF they had gone head to head, you could say that.
It’s like saying that Val is a better dancer than Maks because he won more championships – well, no, not necessarily. It’s a crap comparison because they never competed AGAINST each other, so you don’t KNOW who would have prevailed.
I suggest we give it a rest, because you aren’t changing my mind on this one.
Actually sally, it WOULD make Ralph smarter if the school is better and higher rated. Absolutely would make Ralph better. The only way to seriously know who is better is to have them go to the same school and see who comes out on top – but if Ralph is in a prestigious school that is ranked very high – he comes out ahead. And would likely get into Harvard over the Oklahoma girl.
Ah, but our inability to come to consensus is the inability to rate the high schools, so to say… 😉 I agree with you that no one’s mind is going to get changed, so this is Sally, wishing everyone on this thread has a GREAT remainder of the weekend! 😀
I see what you mean but I still disagree so I’ll agree to disagree. 🙂
Going back to the subject of this article, David looks like he must be kinda nervous or something. Kept playing with his hands.
Can’t believe we got almost one more day!