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‘Dancing With The Stars’: Who Won The Mirror Ball Trophy?
After 11 weeks of competition, Dancing with the Stars has crowned this season’s champion. The two-night finale was action packed with memorable performances from previous contestants of season 17, musical guests, fusion dances and even creative freestyles.
In Monday night’s episode, contestants had to deal with three dance rounds: the judges pick, an intense freestyle, and a samba relay to gain extra points on their scores. For round one, the judges chose the dances they felt the contestants can best improve on, which also gave the judges a chance to sit in on the contestants studio practice and help out.
Bill Engvall had to dance the Viennese Waltz again. This time to Billy Joel’s “She Always A Woman To Me, which gave the performance a real romantic elegant feel. Even though his dance wasn’t that much of an improvement, he was still very entertaining to watch. Carrie Ann, Bruno, and Len didn’t expect him to make it as far as he did because he isn’t the same caliber as the other competitors. His first set of scores totaled 24/30 and his samba routine was mediocre compared to the others. Sadly, Bill came in last place, which only gave him an extra two points on his score.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: The Semifinals
It’s hard to believe that Dancing with the Stars is nearing the end of this season. This week, the challenge was to perform two different dances to the same song: one to the instrumental and the other one to the original. Not only are the dances getting more intricate, but the judges decided to bring back Dancing with the Stars’ bad boy, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who is known for his opinionated ways and not always agreeing with the judges. It was interesting to see Maksim’s take on the remaining competition.
Leah Remini’s dances for this week were the paso doble and the tango to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” Her first dance was all about taking charge, but she’s still having trouble getting into character mode. Her dance partner expresses most of the emotion. Maks said it best “he’s looking crazy and you’re not.” Overall, it was neat and precise, but this is semifinals, you have to take more risks than Leah did. Her argentine tango was very romantic. However, it was very slow. The acoustic version of the song truly helped set the mood for these two people. The judges still feel that Leah needs to step up her game if she hopes to make it to next week’s finals. Leah’s dance total 65/80.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Who Leaves Next?
It’s hard to believe that nine weeks ago, Dancing With the Stars kicked off its 17th season and now the show is almost coming to an end. The contestants are really feeling the pressure of week nine because they need to learn and perform two full dances. After Brant’s elimination last week, who is going to be the next to leave the competition this week?
Amber Riley’s first performance was the fast paced quickstep. Even though Amber is still pulling through a knee injury, she is still in it to win it. The choreography was not only technical, but fun to watch. Bruno calls her “dazzling,” but he and the other judges feel Amber has a few more things to work on. Amber got all 8s across the board giving her a total for round one of 24/30.
Leah Remini’s first dance was the tango. Even though the judges praised her on her tango, I wasn’t impressed at all. There weren’t any memorable moments and she just felt very stiff in her footwork. Len liked how Leah brought flavor. Bruno thought the dance “was a badass proper tango.” The judges all agreed and gave Leah 9s across the board for a total of 27/30.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Who Goes Home Next?
After a surprising no elimination last week on Dancing with the Stars, the competition is turning up a notch. Week seven not only brought the tears and the injuries, but threw in learning two dances as well. Tom Bergeron mentioned that next week guest judge, Cher, will perform and give her feedback to the contestants. If that isn’t scary enough, the countdown is nearing the end to see who will win the coveted mirror ball trophy.
Elizabeth Berkley, who received the first thirty of the season last week, performed the quick step. The dance was very quirky because of the character’s personalities and the dance was dealing with U.F.O.s. Len Goodman said this was a true U.F.O: “Utterly Full On; full of content.” This was a great dance to start the show as he also points out. The judges agreed and gave Elizabeth 9s across the board, totaling a 27 out of 30.
Brant Daugherty’s goofy sense of humor certainly didn’t disappoint in his jive. Even though, he had a few tiny slip ups, such as slipping on his dance partner’s skirt, Brant continued to have a good time with the dance. Carrie Ann felt that “this dance was a bit to challenging for him”. The judges decided to give Brant all 9s for a total of 27 out of 30.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: The Half Way Point
Everyone still can’t get over the Christina Milian shocker from last week. She received the highest score of the night, but still went home. It just proves that anything can happen on Dancing with the Stars. Even though one of the best dancer on the show didn’t make it to the half way point, the remaining dancers are that much closer to winning the mirror ball trophy. So how did they do last night?
Bill Engvall did a tango to Jimmy Buffet’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Putting these two odd elements together seemed to make a nice combination. He lost the smoothness in his footwork. I think he was more fixated on wanting that cheeseburger. Len liked how the routine was sharp and had tanginess to it. Carrie Ann and Len gave Bill 8s whereas Bruno gave him a 7, totaling a 23 out of 30.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Dancing Through The Years
Last night on Dancing with the Stars, everyone was on top of their game, which made for a very entertaining show. Not only were the dances beautiful to watch, but they had a great story behind it.
Christina Milian chose 2010 to be her most memorable year because of the the highs and lows that came with it. She gave birth to her daughter and also got a divorce the same time. Her dancing the cha cha was very entertaining to watch because her footwork and technique were on point. Carrie Ann and Bruno gave Christina 9s, but Len gave her the first 10 of the season, which gave her a score of 28 out of 30.
Jack Osbourne’s most memorable year was 2012 because he married his wife, had a daughter, and two weeks later was diagnosed with MS. Dedicating his waltz to his wife and daughter was a truly beautiful moment. The interaction between him and his dance partner, Cheryl, was very moving to see. Carrie Ann said it best “you took my breath away.” The judges gave Jack all 9s across the board, totaling a 27 out of 30.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Julianne’s Back
Within the first five minutes of last night’s Dancing with the Stars, the professional dancers were introducing guest judge Julianne Hough, who is a two time champion of the show. She was on the show last night to her new film Paradise and fill in for Len Goodman. Julianne mentioned that she is on the dancers’ side and wants to see everyone succeed. So when she gives a constructive criticism, she does it out of love.
Jack Osbourne danced the quickstep. The quickstep requires a lot of sprinting and its physically taxing on your body. He did pretty well throughout the routine and kept the energy in tact. The footwork seemed to be very polished and on point. Julianne said “Wow, that’s a definite improvement from last week.” The only critique she had for Jack is that he needs to showcase him having more fun. When he dances, he probably thinks way too hard about the dance steps and the counting aspect. Bruno was in love with Jack’s footwork, but in the end was starting to lose his frame. Carrie Ann thought Jack was more animated this week than last week which is a good sign. The judges all agreed and gave him 8s across the board. For this week, Jack scored a 24 out of 30.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Walk of Fame or Walk of Shame
Dancing with the Stars got glammed up for Hollywood Night. The celebrities were paying homage to some of the legendary icons. Most of the dance routines consisted of flapper dresses and 1920’s Gatsby style routines. There is a certain style that comes with 1920s Hollywood. The elegance, sophistication, and storytelling truly did show amongst the performances. Tom Bergeron made an announcement that Bill Nye has a badly torn tendon and is seeking medical attention. Bill decides that he is going to dance, the show must go on.
Leah Remini and Tony’s performance was the rumba and required a lot of eye contact. She had to portray a Bond girl as Adele’s “Skyfall” played in the background. Her footwork felt very sloppy and Leah’s hair was getting all over her face. It was very distracting because no one could tell what her facial expressions were. The judges praised Leah for getting out of her comfort zone. The chemistry between Leah and Tony continues to sizzle. Len mentions that the routine certainly wasn’t deadwood. She received 8s across the board for a score of 24 out of 30.
‘Dancing With The Stars’: Who is the First to Leave?
Amber Riley and Derek Hough
In hopes of staying in the competition, contestants had to dance their butts off this week for their first elimination of the season. This week contestants were dancing the jive, rumba, paso doble, and samba. Even though there was a lot of booty shaking going on, I wasn’t impressed with tonight’s performances. It was to the point that I was constantly changing the channels between the new Chuck Lorre show Mom and the season premiere of “The Voice.” It wasn’t entertaining to watch.
At this early point of the game, it’s important to stand out and make yourself known. The highest score for the first two weeks were Glee’s Amber Riley. She got a 51 out of 60. Everyone also congratulated her dancing partner, Derek Hough, who a received an Emmy on Sunday for best choreography.
The dance that really didn’t interest me at all was Bill Engvall’s jive. He was dancing to Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” and the performance was very rigid. It was AARP Country meets jive. Bill Engvall was a walking a prop, while his dance partner, Emma did all the hard work. With his performance he received 7’s across the board giving him a total score of 21.
‘Dancing with the Stars’: First Week Jitters
Mondays are my new favorite night when it comes to watching television. No it’s not Monday Night Football for me, but it’s something else that deals with a lot of technique and precision. Season 17 of the Dancing with the Stars started last night on ABC. It was larger than life. Opening the show, the professional dancers came out in style. Having a limo, red carpet, and paparazzi snapping away photos, the choreography was brilliant in how it introduced the new cast the new cast members. The judges and the hosts even got in on the action and danced in the opening act.
Brant Dougherty and Peta Murgatroyd
Pretty Little Liars star Brant Dougherty was the first celebrity to take the dance floor. His partner is Peta Murgatroyd. Their first dance was the cha cha. He said he decided to do the show because he knows how much his mom loves the show. They dance to “Blurred Lines” and a lot of booty shaking was going on. The judges all agreed that he is very easy on the eyes and the chemistry between them two will be very entertaining to watch. Bruno, one of the judges, noticed that Brant lost his timing. It’s the first week and you can only move up from here.
Carrie Ann gave Brant a 7. Len gave the first 8 of the season. Brant received a 7 from Bruno for a 22 out of 30. Now the first week jitters are all over. He must feel very happy and relieved to have gone first because not only are you the first to get it done and out of the way, but now you setting the bar high and raising the standards of the new competition.
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