CliqueClackWho will win Dancing With the Stars 17?
What do you think about the stars who will be in the finale of ‘Dancing with the Stars’? Are you happy to see some underdogs still in it to win it or do you think the audience has made some notable mistakes along the way?
After a season of some stellar — and awkward — dancing, season 17 of Dancing With the Stars is about to wind down with a two-night finale featuring Corbin Bleu, Amber Riley, Jack Osbourne, and … Bill Engvall! Yes, two underdogs have made it to the finals amid a lot of controversy over the merit of Engvall’s dancing skills. Many dancers who had shown marked improvement went home long before they should have, and this week’s elimination of Leah Remini has outraged some fans and divided our own DWTS “experts.”
Kim: This has certainly been a shocking season on Dancing with the Stars. We’ve seen many talented dancers go home far too early, including Elizabeth Berkley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Christina Milian and Brant Daugherty, while a few of the underdogs like Leah Remini, Bill Engvall and Jack Osbourne have remained in the competition. What do you think about the audience’s remaining choices for the upcoming Season 17 finale? Do you think any of the four remaining couples have the Mirror Ball trophy on lockdown?
Chuck: At this point, it’s hard to tell WHO the audience is going to vote for or who will win. They seem to have forgotten that, while voting for their favorite performer, this is still a dance competition in which the better dancer should be rewarded. If anyone should get the Miss Congeniality award, that would be Bill, but the mirror ball trophy? No.
KT: I’ve seen a lot of raging debates in the social media discussion boards. Personally, I think it’s been more exciting that no one has been safe this season. Most seasons you can make a fairly educated guess about who is going to make the semi-finals and the finals even if you have no idea about ballroom dancing or even the vaguest notion of who all the celebrities are in the competition. I also love rooting for underdogs – they are what this competition is all about. I enjoy watching people who didn’t have much dance experience improve week-to-week. They are inspirational in their own way.
CD: Yes, the show is supposed to be about people having little-to-no dance experience, so one of the debates is how fair is it to everyone else that Corbin seems to be a shoe-in. What people seem to forget is that his style of dance is NOT ballroom, which is all about the frame and the hold and the technical steps. For anyone who trains in a specific genre, re-learning all that is tough. He might have an advantage, but he still has to lose the swagger that comes with his training (and which had been pointed out to him earlier in the season). Perhaps the previous dance experience also played into Elizabeth Berkely’s early departure, but it seems a little ridiculous to me to get a 30 for your dance and then be eliminated by someone who has the lowest score several weeks running. Jack is certainly the main story of inspiration now, and I am very happy that he’s made it this far. But there have been many stars who did show week-to-week improvement (like Leah) who deserve to be there over Bill.
KT: I’m surprised that Bill Engvall is still around in the competition at this point, but I’m not mad about it. Bill works just as hard as any other contestant and he obviously has a huge fan base with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Having a huge fan base means a lot in this competition – but it always has, not just this season! I get annoyed by some of the comments I read online. I say kudos to him for lasting and surprising everyone. Some of the others may have been better dancers, but I believe he puts a lot of heart and soul into it and he deserves to go as far as anyone else in the competition.
CD: Sorry, but I’m mad that Bill is still there. He’s a nice guy and all, and he works hard, but his performances are all over the place. This week alone, the first dance was not good, but he improved on the second. There’s got to be some point where the fans just say, “we like you, but you really have to go.” I mean, the voters got rid of Valerie Harper pretty quickly, and you’d think she’d have the most sympathy votes of anyone there regardless of how badly she was dancing. I just can’t believe Bill’s fan base can keep him there with such low judges scores. He really should have gone home the week Snooki was eliminated. Of all the “underdogs” who have shown the most improvement, only one of them is left. Leah Remini should not have been eliminated this week. I would have been happy had the four included her and not Bill. She overcame her biggest obstacle the last few weeks – her own self-doubt. It just bugs me that likability is trumping real growth and accomplishment.
