what happened to Dancing with the Stars?
"competition" "reality" "show"
i haven’t watched Dancing with the Stars since Shawn Johnson won in 2009. i’ve caught some highlights of the best dances since then, but none of the celebrity casts were compelling enough for me to watch an entire season.
until now.
three specific celebrities drew me in to this season: Olympic gymnast and “pommel horse guy” Stephen Nedoroscik, Olympic rugby player and Sports Illustrated cover model Ilona Maher, and, of course, Olympic con artist and socialite Anna Delvey.1 so i’ve faithfully watched every episode this season, and cast my votes for my favorite couples each week. and ahead of tonight’s finale, i find myself with a question.
what happened?
when last i left this show, it was truly competitive. the judges gave real scores based on the celebrity’s actual dance ability. couples were eliminated every single week — there was even a midseason double elimination. some celebrities competed through injuries like pulled muscles and fractured ribs for their shot at the coveted Mirrorball Trophy. the competition was fierce, and the competitors were hungry. it was an absolute joy to watch.
don’t get me wrong, i do love this season, and have enjoyed watching every week. the spectacle of the show has at least tripled since season eight, and watching my favorite competitors’ progress (minus Anna, who was cut in the first elimination) has been inspiring and exciting. i also found myself endeared to competitors i didn’t expect. i’m not a member of Bachelor Nation, but was heartbroken at Jenn Tran’s elimination after watching her truly commit herself to the art of ballroom dancing, especially considering she started rehearsals immediately after being traumatized on live television during the finale of The Bachelorette. i have never watched basketball, but Dwight Howard’s earnest dedication to improving week after week despite being a comically diabolical nineteen inches taller than his partner was immensely charming. i outgrew the Disney Channel long before Chandler Kinney first appeared, but her performances are always captivating and beautiful. all in all, it’s been a great watch.
to be completely fair, it’s been a long time since i last tuned in. of course the show has changed in the thirteen years since Shawn’s victory. but in the midst of that change, it seems that true competition has, to an extent, been thrown by the wayside. while at least one couple was eliminated every week in season eight, this season has had multiple episodes without an elimination, including last week, when it was announced that all five remaining couples would advance to the finale. by comparison, season eight had only three finalists.
additionally, the judges’ scoring has not only been inconsistent throughout the season, but has significantly inflated since i last watched. any score below a 7/10 has been rare this season, yet i remember watching the late (and deeply missed) Len Goodman steadfastly rate a dance as low as 3/10 when he felt it was justified. his dedication to scoring a dance on its actual merit and not on spectacle made the instances when he gave a dance a perfect score exceptionally special, whereas it seems all one needs is a few flips and a set of six-pack abs to earn a 10/10 from Carrie Ann Inaba these days.
Carrie Ann’s judging has been a widespread gripe of many fans this season, some even calling for her removal from the show. watching the Halloween episode, wherein she gave a perfect score to each and every male celebrity, yet scored Chandler and Brandon’s beautiful Viennese Waltz a 9/10, was particularly frustrating. Carrie Ann tries to hide her chronic underscoring of Chandler with weak excuses of needing to critique more technical dances more harshly, but it honestly does seem like she has some weird personal vendetta against Chandler, and it’s jarring to watch.
speaking of Halloween week — since when have there been so many themes?? i can understand a few themed episodes sprinkled in, like Halloween or Oscars Night, but each episode this season has had a theme, and some of them have felt truly forced. i mean, Hair Metal night? who asked for this??
there is also a more limited variety of dances this season than i recall, and more relaxed rules for each. i feel like every week i’m watching a Viennese Waltz and an Argentine Tango, whereas every episode in season eight featured a new dance style, including some that i haven’t seen performed at all this season, like the Lindy Hop and the Mambo. half the time, this season’s dances haven’t belonged to any true ballroom style at all, and have simply been categorized as “contemporary” or “jazz” (which seem to just be code for “slow” and “fast”). gone are the days of losing points for breaking hold in a Quickstep or performing a lift in a Foxtrot — except as a convenient way for Carrie Ann to avoid awarding Chandler a 10/10. not adhering to a rubric for each style is not only confusing for the dancers, but for the viewers, most of whom have no way to conceptualize what a “good” Jive looks like when compared to a “bad” one. the judges’ scores used to be based on actual stylistic technicalities. now, they seem to just be a matter of opinion.
a lot of my criticisms of this season come down to the show prioritizing viewership over…well, everything. i think the producers are convinced that viewers find ballroom dance to be boring, leading to the decision to relax some rules in favor of spectacle. i also think the decrease in eliminations comes down to the producers worrying that viewers will stop watching if their favorite celebrity goes home, which is why we have five couples competing in the finale. and i think that they are misguided.
in reality, heeding the limits of any given dance style is not only educational for the viewer, it forces the professionals to work creatively within their constraints to create a standout dance that suits their given celebrity — which engenders more variety, not less. and diluting the sense of competition by avoiding as many eliminations as possible makes the show less exciting. i want to actually fear that my favorite celebrity could go home at any time — that’s what makes a competition reality show interesting to watch. and i want each of the final couples to have abundant time to shine in the finale, instead of squeezing in ten different dances by five different celebrities. ultimately, the producers of Dancing with the Stars could stand to return the show to its roots. that would honor the memory of Len Goodman far more than naming the prize trophy after him.
and yet, for all its faults, i’m still entirely mesmerized by this season. so let’s talk about tonight’s finale.
my favorite of the remaining celebrities is far and away Ilona Maher. on top of her mission of body positivity and self acceptance, she has visibly improved over each episode, earnestly applied herself to the work, and been exceptionally emotionally vulnerable over the entire season — a side of her that is so interesting to see contrasted with her performances on the rugby field. she has earned her spot in the finale, and with it, my vote.
while i love Stephen Nedoroscik, with his famous glasses and winning personality, i unfortunately struggle to see a scenario where he goes home with the Mirrorball. it’s like his body is allergic to any movement that can be considered sexy or sensual (which he freely admitted on last week’s episode). he has improved markedly, and he should be immensely proud of his performance this season. i’m eager to see all the tricks he pulls out in tonight’s freestyle, but i doubt it’ll be enough for me to think he’s really earned the trophy.
i think this is an unpopular opinion, but i really don’t like Danny Amendola or Joey Graziadei. i’ve found each of Danny’s performances to lack any emotion or storytelling, and though his partner Witney Carson has done a wonderful job using his athleticism to mask that, he really should have gone home after his Salsa last week failed to include much Salsa at all. Joey is a favorite both of fans and of Carrie Ann’s, and maybe i’m just biased against classically attractive men, but i have a hard time seeing why. his dances have been good, but i haven’t found them particularly special at all. however, he is loved both by the viewers and by the judges, so i think there’s a real chance that he will emerge victorious tonight — even if i will grumble about it.
and truly, my heart goes out to Chandler Kinney. she’s been chronically undervalued, particularly by Carrie Ann, but also by all of the judges. after her incredible Tango in week one proved that she had serious dance skills, it seems that she is being held to a higher standard the other celebrities. she’s also received backlash from many viewers who say that her previous dance experience should disqualify her from this competition. i think this is ridiculous. the “previous dance experience” they’re referring to was many years ago, and while her skills have certainly given her a leg up, training in ballroom is leagues different than training in other dance styles. i might feel differently if it seemed to me she had been resting on her laurels, but you can tell that Chandler gives every dance her all, and consequently, she has visibly grown throughout the season. if she does go home with the Mirrorball, she will have deserved it wholly.
in a way, i hope that Chandler does win. if this competition were based solely on actual dance ability, she would far and away be the victor. and to me, that’s what lies at the core of Dancing with the Stars — not fanbases, not acrobatics, not storylines, but an actual competition of who among these celebrities is the best ballroom dancer.
but i’m still voting for Ilona. sue me.
xo
LSW
Anna Delvey did not go to the Olympics for con artistry. you knew that, but i also felt the need to say it.