But “best” according to what? Overall ability, their dances over the entire course of the show, or tonight’s dances?
Going in to tonight, I would say JR is the best dancer, Ricki is a better performer than Rob, but for the past couple of weeks, it feels like Rob’s being asked to do more. (The choreography is confusing me. It’s seemed like Derek is doing a lot of “dancing around” Ricki, which makes it feel like someone is trying to distract me and makes it harder for me to see if she’s dancing well or if I’m just being distracted. Cheryl dances around Rob, too - but it doesn’t seem as showy this season).
However, if tonight JR is mediocre and Rob hits it out of the park, who would I vote for if I were voting for the “best dancer”?
Twicks - I totally agree (although I didn’t vote, because I never do). He blew that dance out of the water! I was impressed with the lifts, particularly.
Looks to me like Rob had the most technically demanding freestyle, and from a conceptual standpoint I quite liked it, but for me there was only one 10-worthy dance tonight, and that was JR’s freestyle, even if (it seemed) that he and Karina ran out of tricks a little too soon. But dang, those lifts were something.
None of the set dances really knocked me out. Derek/Ricki’s cha cha was frenetic and seemed a bit disjointed; Rob’s waltz seemed a little stiff, and JR’s cha cha a bit slow and careful.
I really have no clue at this point who going to collect the trophy, but I’ll hazard a toss-up between JR and Rob. Sorry, Ricki.
I thought Rob’s lifts were great, especially considering he’s an ammy who seemed to be an overweight punk just a few weeks ago. They weren’t as good as Derek’s, but I wouldn’t expect him to be.
JR’s hiphop routine didn’t do much for me, but I’m not a fan of that style. I thought his first number was just meh.
Ricki’s first number was good, but her second didn’t wow me.
Did Derek’s (normally awesome) choreography seem a little…repetitive tonight, or is that just me? I love the guy but I thought “I don’t want to see that move once more tonight.” about two different moves in their first number (sorry, it would take me a half hour to explain which ones). Why so much recycling? He is usually so inventive.
Rob was a huge surprise. A good one!
Everyone seemed to be a little low on energy or confidence tonight…although Karina came back from the panic pretty damn fierce, JR seemed a little tentative.
So what happens tomorrow…dances and then eliminations, or are they doing one of those three day in a row things?
Not an easy choice tonight. For me it’s between J.R. and Rob. Ricki seemed firmly in third place tonight.
I gave J.R. my votes. That freestyle was impressive. I can easily understand why Rob may win this year. He’s building momentum and getting better every week.
Never know how the casual fans are voting. If Ricki takes a surprise win I’ll be very disappointed.
Voting for Rob.
JR just seemed a little off all of the time (both in the cha cha & the freestyle) Also, a couple of weeks ago I said that Derek seems to know where the cameras & lights are. Karina doesn’t seem to do that. So there were some things where the camera angles weren’t where they needed to be. And since DWTS tends to have pretty decent camera work, I’m guessing that there was nowhere better to film.
Or else, they just don’t like JR and/or Karina.
And Ricki’s transitions really showed (She did move 1. Then move 2. Then move 3. etc. rather than flowing through the dance).
But one thing I always like seeing is someone really just enjoying dancing - and that’s what Rob did. As well as nailing his freestyle, he looked like he was just having a blast out there during both dances. I loved that.
One thing that bothered me in Rob’s freestyle was the final lift/spin that he holds Cheryl in for 5 or more seconds. She’s on his shoulders and then slides down into his arms. He was grabbing her right in the crotch. Very noticeable in rehearsal when she had pants on. He did the same thing in performance.
It was obviously choreographed that way. But seems like a very bad choice on Cheryl’s part. It is just not an attractive way to end a dance.
I also didn’t care for the move where he’s dragging Cheryl on the floor by the leg. I don’t understand that choreography choice either.
I can’t believe Cheryl’s freestyle choreography deserved three tens. It wasn’t that well thought out. That’s not Rob’s fault, but a dance should be really special for three 10’s.
Once again, I seem to watched a different show from both you guys and the judges. I’m beginning to suspect where the problem lies… Everyone but me is nuts.
For me, Ricki and Derek’s cha-cha was technically good, but kind of blah. Neither of them seemed to be selling it. I liked their freestyle better, but neither dance wowed me.
All I could think during Rob’s waltz was what a long way he’d come. However, I still felt that he was being rated on a different scale from the other two. For Rob, it was a terrific dance. For either Ricki or J.R., it would have been a decent but not great dance. But I loved Cheryl’s freestyle choreography; I think she played to his strengths very cleverly, and even though I don’t think that dance would have earned trip 10s for either of the other contestants, it was certainly quite a good dance, and I don’t begrudge him the scores.
But here’s where I part ways with the judges and you guys. I thought J.R. nailed that cha-cha. I thought it was sassy, and hot, and everything a cha-cha should be. I went back and rewatched the dance after hearing the judges’ criticisms, and I couldn’t see any problem with his hands nor with his timing. But, of course, I’m not qualified to judge. Maybe there were flaws. But I couldn’t see them. His freestyle was not a style I care for, but it appeared to me to be flawlessly executed.
So on both phone and internet, I gave four votes to J.R. and one vote to Rob. Based on the discussion here, it looks as if Rob may win. Taking the season over all, J.R. has been the best dancer, Derek has been the best choreographer, and Rob is by far the most improved, so each of them is deserving of the win in their own way.
There’s reports of the judges ranking the dancers tonight and an instant cha cha. No telling how much that will over ride popular voting.
The vote may split evenly between Rob and J.R. Meaning neither couple gets a majority. That leaves Ricki a chance to slide in under the radar.
I’ll bu pretty disgusted if that happens. She’s the one dancer that hasn’t improved much throughout the season. It’s all one not and middle of the road for her.
I lost most of my faith in the finals after the judges stole Evan Lysacek’s win a couple seasons ago. IIRC they had some kind of instant judges dances nonsense that time too. I’d rank Evan in the top four celebrity dancers this show has ever produced. He was a thousand times better than Jennifer Gray or any of this seasons finalists.
Seriously? I too would have liked to see Lysacek win, but Jennifer Gray was very good, and she had Derek choreographing for her. I really can’t complain about the outcome of that season.
I have been disappointed with the outcome of a season probably slightly more times than I have been pleased, but I’ve never yet seen a season where I could honestly say that a runner up had been utterly robbed. The only season I remember where there was only one plausible outcome was when Kristi Yamaguchi was on, and she won, of course.
Uh, wait a minute. Lysacek didn’t lose to Grey. He lost to Scherzinger. Not that much difference, actually. Both were pro dancers partnered with Derek.
We’ll have to wait and see what kind of impact the judges pre-ranking and instant dance has tonight. I’m really hoping the fix isn’t in.
I was just using Evan as an example of the same sort of shenanigans. One legit factor in his loss was a poor freestyle that Anna choreographed. Anyway, that’s old history. I’ve moved on.
It would be great someday to have either a season of 2nd & 3rd place winners competing against each other. Or an all stars season with the season winners competing for overall champion. That’s assuming they could talk enough people into another season of dwts. It’s such a grueling physical experience.
For that to work, every celebrity would need a new partner. Otherwise there would be too many people aksing for Derek and Cheryl.
I agree with you, Oy. I thought JR’s cha cha was amazing. Maybe they were trying to worry people enough to vote??
I also think that Ricki’s freestyle was ridiculously overpimped. It just wasn’t that interesting.
And I felt like Chelsea Kane got totally robbed last year, but not by the judges, at least. This year I feel like the judges are shoving Ricki and Derek blatantly down our throats, and she’s good, but she’s not THAT good compared to JR.
J.R. and Karina’s jive was better the first time with the lift and Lindy kicks. I think the judges realized that too. They didn’t have much to say about the repeat jive tonight. The judges got what they asked for and got a much less exciting dance.
Ricki & Derek did a good repeat of the Psycho dance. Rob’s repeat dance with Cheryl did show more confidence than the first time. They may have gotten the first ranking if Rob hadn’t slipped.
Congrats to Ricki for a good season. Third place isn’t bad for a mom in her 40’s. Derek’s Choreography was excellent this season and made Ricki look much better than she really was. That’s why Derek wins so often. He’s one heck of a teacher and his choreography is so clever.
Just mentioning that Chynna and Tony’s ‘Mission Impossible’ routine (which I missed the first time and which she apparently had made a royal balls of at the time) was just great. If only, if only…
