PureDWTS Season 29 First Impression Polls: Who Are You Rooting For? Who Will Win? And More

Alright guys – it’s that time again! First impressions polls 🙂 Who are you rooting for? Who do you think will win? Who do you think will make the finals? Who will be the first out? And who do you think is going to surprise us…either positively or negatively? Go vote, then tell us how you voted in the comments.  My thoughts are after the polls 😉

Who is Court rooting for? Perhaps odd, but the name that actually jumped out at me at the announcement was Justina’s. I LOVED her role on Six Feet Under (a superb show you should totally watch, if you’re hitting a wall in quarantine like me – it also features a pre-American Horror Story Frances Conroy, a pre-Dexter Michael C. Hall, and a pre-911 Peter Krause). I haven’t gotten around to watching it myself, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about One Day at a Time, too – so I’m rooting for Justina; also interested to see Vernon Davis, who is the older brother of Vontae Davis (who used to play for the Colts) and Jesse Metcalfe (John Tucker Must Die is a cinematic masterpiece, don’t @ me – not that you can, ’cause I’m not on Twitter anymore 😉 )

Who does Court think will win? I do not feel very confident in my predictions these days, as the dwindling viewership has led to some very unexpected outcomes in recent years (Bones winning, Lindsay’s partner from last season long outstaying his welcome – nope, still not saying his name). That being said – I think there’s a possibility that Skai, AJ, Kaitlyn, or Johnny will win. I think it’s going to greatly depend on who they get as their respective pros, and what kind of voter fatigue we see; I feel like the knee-jerk reaction for a lot of people is “Oh, well Johnny’s totally going to win!”, but I’m wondering if Adam has already fulfilled the “flamboyant figure skater” quota and Johnny will lose a bit of novelty by comparison.  On the other side of the coin, I think Johnny is someone who has been on a lot of viewers’ wish lists for a long time, thus inflating expectations for his performance on the show – I think if he falls even a tiny bit short of the inflated expectations fans have for him, it could hinder his chances of winning. Kaitlyn has dance experience and the Bachelor Nation on her side, but it’s been 5 years since her season and we just had another Bachelorette win last season; AJ will likely come with the same sort of lofty expectations we had for Nick Carter in season 21 – and it’s possible he could fall woefully short of them, just like Nick. Skai’s the Disney kid and likely be a good dancer, but she is a Disney kid – and despite the network’s best efforts, sometimes there just is no propping them up all the way to the win. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out…

Who will make the finals? I’d put money on Johnny, Kaitlyn, Skai, and AJ…with an outside chance of Jesse and/or Vernon sneaking in there and displacing someone as well.

Who will be the first out? Considering this is the largest season we’ve had since season 9 (the “kitchen sink” season), I think anyone from a very niche fanbase is likely going to struggle, votes-wise – Nev could possibly get lost in the shuffle if he doesn’t make a splash from the beginning. And in the grand tradition of basketball players not doing particularly well on this show (and the only two pros with any level of success at partnering with big height differences benched due to pregnancy), I think Charles could also be an early out. Carole will likely last a week or two on infamy alone, but I don’t see her either thriving on the dance floor or charming a good chunk of viewers, so she’ll likely be an early out (but not the first). I see Anne as an early out as well – at one time, she was A-list, but anymore, I think she’s just remembered as that kinda flaky actress that dated Ellen at one point. Nelly and Monica are big question marks for me: the former has had some legal troubles in recent years, and may be trying to do a bit of reputation repair; the latter might actually be a bit of a ringer (due to her cheerleading background), but she seems to be the very reserved, tough-love type – not necessarily a personality that sparkles on camera.

Who will surprise us? I think expectations for Kaitlyn and Johnny in particular are high – and I’m not sure that they’re going to live up to them. The one I could see being a dark horse is Jesse – the jury’s out on whether he’ll be more of a Juan Pablo or more of an Antonio Sabato (zzzz), but for some reason I think he may actually end up being good. No logical reason there…just a gut feeling. 😉

How did YOU vote?