Dancing with the Stars Season 20, Week EIGHT – Let’s Discuss Tonight’s Show!! (Spoilers)

Theme of the week is America’s Choice. Theoretically. I mean, looking at Rumer’s songs I am skeptical.  In my mind, how the judges behave tonight is a strong indicator of what will happen going forward, although we may not know it until tomorrow night ends.  What do I mean? Well, sometimes you’re not sure of why they’re behaving in a given way until after an elimination – or after the MBT is handed out.  If they continue to score Rumer appropriately, I would say she’s not going to win. If they massively overscore her, though, it doesn’t mean she’s going to win….it could also mean she’s in danger.

And that same rule applies to most of them. I think. It’s possible that they could start lowballing Riker and Nastia in an effort to give Rumer a better shot at getting votes under the theory of “everyone wants to vote for a winner”. That’s dangerous though, because I think both camps could rally and knock Rumer right out of the game. It’s really hard to say – but it will be interesting (and likely very aggravating) to watch.

T-minus 30 minutes…I need food and a nap. NYC is exhausting, ya’ll. 🙂

Julianne looks great. Love the dress, love the hair.

Yeah, Noah’s dance was a bit stiff, understandably.  I don’t know if he’ll ever top last week.

Gee, guess Rumer is going last since she’s up in AllAccess. Huh.

Hmmm….Chris didn’t suck, but 34 out of 40?? Seems a bit….high. Does that mean they’ve reconciled themselves to him in the final, or that he’s going home?

Riker and Allison’s dance was really too fast and a tad jerky for me.

The judges are raving- except Len of course. I’m thinking the front runners are going to get high scores (whether they deserve it or not) to keep that clear demarcation between upper and lower tier dancers, which increase the odds that we lose Robert and Chris.

Yeah, that was not a 39 dance, ya’ll.

I’m tired. I missed the kiss. And Len was all nice after this dance. Weird. The judges give them a 33….which I think is probably fair.

Nastia is going to get the bad edit. Okay….later she will.

Oooo…nice Paso. Coulda a been a bit tougher in places.  Len is going to hose them.

Derek does not look ridiculous, Jules.  And I didn’t see out of sync. But I guess Rumer needs to be on top this week.

Hmmm…that dance was better than Riker’s and yet he was overscored. I wonder why?? Yeah, underscored relative to Riker for sure. Waiting for Rumer’s comeback arc and perfect 40. Whether she deserves it or not.

Val has a moment of self awareness. Amazing. Kudos for that.  That will get them some votes.

Okay, that was a really good dance, I’m just not sure I saw a lot of Rumba content. That said, I’m generally not a rumba fan so I may not be the one to comment on content.

Oh boy, here comes the narrative about how much it means to Val. Every season. :::rolls eyes:::  I don’t actually quibble with the 40. She’s tied for first place with Riker with Nastia only one point back. Perhaps she needs it to be safe from Robert and/or Chris and/or Noah.

Liked the salsa from Noah better than his first dance – little wobbly on the Emma Lift, but overall good choreo from Sharna with nice visuals.

I just burned all your crops. LOL.

I gotta hand it to Chris, He’s trying and he’s stepping it up!

Great dance from Riker. Loved it. I think he might just win this thing, if the producers let him.

Oh come on, Len. That was every bit as good as the rumba from Rumer.

Riker is a full 20 points ahead of Chris right now – this is what I was talking about with the two tiers of scores to try to ensure the good dancers stick around.

Lots of timing issues with Robert, and I think Jenna even lost track of him at one point. She’s not experienced dancing with a celeb. CAI is being VERY kind to Robert.

While I think that the concept and the choreo was AMAZING for Derek/Nastia/Sasha, I feel like she got off time in one or two spots. But it was certainly no worse than Riker’s first dance.

Again, Rumer does a good dance…yet I feel like there wasn’t a lot of content in that dance. It seemed very repetitive in a few spots and there was a spot where Val and Artem were dancing with each other and Rumer didn’t have much to do. And CAI just said “saved the best for last”. I cry bullshit.  And of course she gets a 40. She must be in danger.

And Tom just said “Check the number and dial carefully”.  Hmmmmm…..

In case you’re wondering, Nastia and Rumer are tied at the top with 117, and Riker is two points back at 115. Interesting how they don’t mention THAT at the end of the night.