DWTS Season 14, THE FINALE – Who’s Dancing What…and when?

So, for the finals this week, we get three dances over two nights. According to the press release that Vogue found, on Monday night they dance the judges choice dance and then the freestyle. After the show they are handed music for a dance style of their choosing and have the 24-hour challenge to choreograph and learn the dance.

Now, NORMALLY, the judges choice is a dance that the judges feel like they could do better – I’m not entirely sure that’s the case this time around. I bet they give William a dance he did well the first time and Donald one that he didn’t do so well the first time. All these subtle ways of tilting this show in William’s favor just seem to happen every week. Like bringing back Salsa for the first time in several seasons. :::rolls eyes:::

As for the dance order, it really doesn’t matter, but it MIGHT be an indication of how the production feels about the dances. Might. Only time will tell.  I think it’s entirely possible that the edge goes to the couple dancing first in terms of voting, at this stage of the show, since the average viewer is more likely to vote in the finale and they may vote early.  But in terms of best dances?? I think they may put the best one last. I don’t know – I go back and forth. Logically, it seems at this late date, going first helps with the voters, especially if you do a good dance. But much is noticeably different (and not for the better) with the show this season. Unfortunately, this will be easier to judge in hindsight.  BASED on what they did last week, and how I do think that partly affected Maria (in addition to a variety of other factors), I think they will dance in the order below. Keep in mind, that it’s entirely possible that they don’t care who wins, they only cared that certain people got this far.

ETA: It appears my dance order is the correct one for Monday night. Shocker. Not. Also – Paso Doble for Katherine. Thanks to KMark4theWin.

William and Cheryl – Dancing First
Monday Night:
– Judges Choice: Cha Cha Cha
– Freestyle
Tuesday Night: ??
Voting # 1-800-868-3408

Katherine and Mark – Dancing Second
Monday Night:
– Judges Choice: Paso Doble
– Freestyle
Tuesday Night: ??
Voting # 1-800-868-3410

Donald and Peta – Dancing Third
Monday Night:
– Judges Choice: Argentine Tango
– Freestyle
Tuesday Night: ??
Voting # 1-800-868-3403

FOOTNOTE:  While I was writing this, I was watching the full length Afterbuzz TV show from Mixology last Monday night and Maria said something that I’ve NEVER heard before, ever. She said the judges see the dress rehearsal. Meaning, they see all the dances before the show goes live.  This is a fairly huge deal, IMO.  The context was very innocent and I don’t think she realized that she was providing some new information for some of us. She was talking about how totally horrendous both of her dances looked on Sunday after a 12 hour rehearsal, that she had neither of them down and that normally she had a full Saturday rehearsal that she didn’t have this past week.  She was very, very upset and down because she was afraid she was going to go out on a low note.  She didn’t think she had time to pull it together because she’s not there till dress rehearsal and “the judges see dress rehearsal because that gives them the landscape of how the show is going to be.”  It was a very off hand comment in her discussion of how bad it was, and how Derek was hurt…she also said both of them were terrified of their Jive because it was so out of the box.  Anyway, this information is a pretty huge deal and it actually goes a pretty long way in explaining some of the wack ass commentary the judges give on the dances.   If a dancer does crap in dress, then does really well on the live show it can go two ways: one, they over rave about it to the point you’re scratching your head because they were expecting LESS, or two, they pan a dance that wasn’t that bad because their opinion was formed during dress and it didn’t get changed either because they didn’t care for the dance or they weren’t paying attention.  Same goes for if they do well in dress and do crap on the live show.  Veerrrry interesting.