I’m curious how everyone else here feels about the “dance off”? After the results show, please comment if you thought it was fair or not.
The cons to it are
it’s costing each couple critical rehearsal time they need for their main dance
Judges are playing favorites on dwts. They’ve consistently over scored William and underscored Melissa every single week. Is it a coincidence her partner is Maks? They have been much harsher to Gladys too. Which is really weird because they usually give the senior citizen contestants easier scores. The judges know its ten times harder for a 67 year old to do this stuff then a 28 year old. I don’t see judges’ bias changing in the dance off. They’ll practically fall out of their chairs trying to save William. ABC must have stock in that guy or something.
I noticed today (Tues) several pros tweeted they were using this morning to rehearse the dance off just in case they are in the bottom.
Well, I’ve got to say that the dance-off included two couples who for whom bottom-two status was not outrageous, and of them, I feel the judges selected the better of the two for that particular dance. So, no issues.
Totally agree. No controversy this week at all. One guy was obviously much, much better than the other dancer.
The added pressure on the celebrities is pretty bad with the dance off. They showed that most of them spent Mon night after the show rehearsing and then again Tues morning. All the couples had to go through that extra work. Tuesday was the only day off from dancing that they were getting.
Getting started Wed morning on next weeks dance will be tough without any break at all. I know that’s the job they took when they signed the contracts. But, it also impacts a lot on how good the dancing is. Exhausted & possibly injured people just don’t perform as well as more rested ones.
I don’t think the judges are playing favorites with those two - they have consistently (along with Gavin) been the worst dancers. I’m absolutely boggled that tonight Jaleel was in the bottom two and Melissa and Gladys weren’t.
I agree they’re way over-scoring William though. The screaming in the ballroom every time he shows up on a camera is aggravating, but they know what keeps their ratings up, and clearly he does.
Well, except that there’s a huge honking component – audience vote. I don’t think the SDMB is some isolated pocket of dislike of Jaleel – he’s just not getting the fan vote that Gladys is, and apparently Melissa as well.
Yeah - I suspect Jaleel is reaping the consequences of all the tabloid fodder and his bitching about it to the press. I would have thought he’d have a nice, solid fanbase out voting for him, considering he was a high-profile child actor, but his personality is coming across pretty badly and I think it’s costing him votes.
The lady that helped build Motown will be dancing to classic Motown music. If I understood Tom correctly, live Motown artists will be personally singing for the dancers. So Gladys will be out there dancing as one of her friends sings just for her.
I don’t see it as an advantage or anything. It’s just going to be a little surreal for Gladys.
It would be really cool if Gladys did double duty. Dance with Tristan and then later sing one of her hits as part of the live Motown dance music.
I’ve been hanging around William’s “rabid” fanbase and I gotta say these people are organized and committed, not only because he’s a hunk, he represents struggle and triumph out of Cuba and making it in America. His name is after his maternal grandfather, who was Jewish. Being Cuban he probably didn’t belong to any religion, but he did convert to being a Catholic when he came to Mexico/America. As a major star in Latin America, they are hugely behind him to do well in the states. Surprisingly it’s not just women who make up his fanbase, there’s a contingent of males (not gay males, although they are voting for him too) who are behind his storey.
I thought William did an incredible Argentine Tango this week. It was more reminicent of what I saw in Argentina last Christmas, the dancing beginning with emotion and passion, not with how many tricks you can fit into a minute thirty. I would have preferred authentic music, but this worked well. I thought there was precision in the movement as well, something that I missed seeing in Katherine, I thought her legs were not right for Argentine Tango, there was no quick explosion of gaunchos, or strong ochos, but a lot of striding steps. It was scored very high for what it was.
So for the duel, do the judges flat out choose who stays and who goes? Or is it “the judges scores combined with yours from last night’s voting…”
I don’t mind the way it’s working out now. But I could see it going very badly if the judges continually save the same dancer over and over and over again even though “America” wants to vote that person out.
By what they said last night, completely based on their decision about that specific dance – not who’s been doing better all season, but who did better in the dance-off.
Well, yes that’s the way it’s supposed to be. It’s designed to equalize big fan bases, but it ends up pissing people off, because ultimately it’s about who watches the show, and if there’s millions watching Bristol Pallin clumping awkwardly through a rumba then it is what it is. Giving more decision power than 50% of the vote to the judges is beyond what the fans think is reasonable, especially the ones voting hard.
Gavin was resigned to leaving. He knew he didn’t have the base behind him. They love his music, they don’t like him appearing on a dance show, so it appears to be a set up for Jaleel eventually leaving in the next couple of weeks. I think this guy, although not a bad dancer at all has let personal problems creep into his time on the show and it’s just uncomfortable for everyone involved.
I’ve been worried about Katherine. She’s primarily a European star. No one really knows how many votes she’s getting. She could be top of the leaderboard and still not get enough fan votes.
The dance off is a mixed blessing. The person second from the bottom certainly doesn’t see it as a good thing. Instead of being safe they now have to dance to stay in.
We’ll never know if Gavin was screwed by the dance off or not. At least in his case, I think Gavin was ready to leave. Karina was really cracking the whip in the rehearsal footage. If you just aren’t good at something its not much fun having a tough instructor like her.
I think the show is primarily about Celebrities establishing a new fanbase or enhancing what they have in fanbases so they can go out and do something different, such as establish a career in Hollywood or possibly resurrect a dying career
If a Celebrity is likable they will grow the fanbase. So people like Gavin see it as a win win.
If Gavin had actually wanted to stay on the show, the correct strategy for him would have been to rehearse cha-cha all week, with just enough attention to his assigned dance to avoid embarrassing himself on live TV. I’m just waiting to see if anyone actually employs that strategy.
The bottom 2 just happened to be a couple of guys who didn’t have the Cha Cha previously. The vote could have put Rochon there, who already had Cha Cha training.
It was obvious regardless who the better dancer was going to be.
This week it’s the Jive, I think for the bottom 2, so the duals may involve people who have had Jive training.
There’s also this “Motown Marathon” on Tuesday, and this also takes away from the fans as the contestants are awarded “points” which are added to their overall score and then factored in. This is after the vote on Monday, so there’s some manipulation here as well by the show to protect those perhaps without a fan base.