Emily-D

The only thing I’m confident about next week is that Melora will be in the bottom three. She got a perfect score last week and still landed bottom three, so no way is she getting the votes to beat three other couples even if she gets another perfect score. The question is whether she finishes bottom or lands in the dance off again.

Probably the best thing she's done since joining the show to be honest!

That is so so tough on Jimmie. He got absolutely snowed under, with the bad score right at the top of the night combined with all the perfect scores. It was the right decision in the dance-off, but it's so sad that he goes whilst Cody for example stays. I knew Jojo would get a vote bounce, but it was very interesting that Melora got the least number of votes between her, Amanda and Suni tonight after that finished even on scores. That shows how the voting ranks have changed every week because Suni has already been in the bottom two. Will that change next week? If not, she's toast because she finished third bottom in votes even with a perfect score. Could Amanda win this thing? She hasn't been massively memorable to me but still hasn't landed in the bottom two whilst all the other women have. Feels like a journey very similar to Kaitlyn Bristowe last season.

After seven weeks and last night with Jojo going in the bottom two, I'm now confident enough to say that one of Jimmie or Iman is going to win this thing. Whilst Jimmie is the better dancer, Iman is more of a standout when he has a really good routine. Plus when Iman gets to the final he'll be able to redo that contemporary, as well as a freestyle where he can throw Daniella all over the place with his strength and win over the audience. I can easily see him getting two perfect scores and a mirrorball. Thankfully from my point of view, I'd be more than happy if either of those two won, as I would if Melora or Amanda won, although I don't expect them to. At this stage, I think Jojo joins Iman and Jimmie in the final as I can't see the judges not saving her over any other couple if she lands in the bottom two again. That leaves one more spot. My hope is that Melora makes it, but I have a horrible feeling that it's going to be Olivia or Cody. Next week, I expect us to lose two women with Cody's fanbase dragging his lame ass through. It will probably be any combination of Amanda, Olivia, Melora and Suni. Will all come down to performances, scores and votes on the night. I'm hoping for Olivia, but expecting the worst.

It still annoys me that Cody was not pulled when he should have been after testing positive. He should be the next to go at this stage, but he won't be and now over the next couple of weeks we're going to lose couples that deserve to stay in over him because of his nutty fanbase. At this point, you could toss a coin in terms of predicting who goes home week to week. It all comes down to which combination of bottom two goes to the judges vote. However, it does feel like the men are getting a lot more votes than the women (bar Jojo) and that the women are now getting picked off. Mel and Olivia in bottom two last week, Suni this week. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Melora and Amanda land there next week. To be honest, I thought Melora was bottom two bound after getting saddled with the dreaded hound dog Jive that I can never take seriously since Michael Bolton's attempt years back. I was encouraged that she was saved. The middle aged woman ain't out of this thing yet! Iman's dance was excellent, so so good and probably the dance of the season no matter what happens from here on it. However, Contemporary is right down his street with the lifts and tricks you are allowed to do, so I'm expecting him to get bumped right back down in scores next week when he's doing a ballroom dance.

Poor Mel had no chance with Gleb. A better partner and she'd still be here no doubt about it. People, including myself won't vote for Gleb though. Good to see that Olivia's voting support is low, although I'm expecting a judges tongue bathing for her next week. Kenya had a nice moment and deserved to stay, but unless she goes up against Iman or Cody in the judges vote, she's gone next week. Speaking of the judges, I'm assuming this "save" they supposedly have doesn't exist anymore or else surely they'd have used it tonight?

I'm throughly enjoying Jimmie and Iman. It's nice to see a baller who can actually dance for a change. Daniella is a excellent pro, if the show lasts long enough for her to get given a proper ringer as a partner then she's going to fly. I also always seem to a huge soft spot for any older contestant who does really well against younger opposition, so well done to Melora. I think the Justina comparison from last season is a good one, however I do worry about her fanbase going forward compared to others. Although it made me look like an idiot, well done Len for taking the chance to ditch Matt, Yes Kenya could potentially be toast going forward, but I thought she was the better dancer tonight. Shame Tyra is the worst host of all time and couldn't explain the simple rule regarding the head judge having the casting vote in the event of a tie, leading to mass confusion from the viewers. Honestly, I despair of her!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Bachelor Nation for once again making me look like a complete idiot!

Agree, although Matt is in the lower rung of dancers. When BAG goes, the next group of dancers who should be eliminated from an ability basis are Kenya and Matt, but it's not going to happen with Matt. One thing I'm fairly confident about, is that Melora and Olivia (I think these two have the least fans of the women) are going to make up a shock bottom two sometime within the next two or three weeks and that will be the elimination in which the judges use their save pass (if it still exists). I could also see Suni in danger sooner rather than later, she just isn't standing out to me. All of these women are arguably better dancers than Miz, Jimmie and Iman, but I think all of them have far more fans who will vote. On a positive note, I still think like last season the winner is up in the air, which is good as it makes things more intriguing.

Yeah it has. It's usually been up against that, The Voice and Big Bang Theory until that ended. All hugely popular shows, but DWTS held its own because it skews slighter older. NCIS moving over though is probably the closest overlap to the sort of viewership who would usually watch DWTS and combined with Tyra taking over the show and the lack of star power nowadays has ultimately led to this drop. I do think that season Bobby Bones won really hurt the show long term. It lost so much credibility with viewers that season, including myself, although I really enjoyed Season 29 (last year).

If Grocery Store Joe can get to the semi-finals or whatever it was, then Matt James can definitely get just as far. Let's be honest, hardly any of these stars really have any proper built in fanbases. Even if half of Bachelor Nation is voting for Matt, that will be enough to carry him a long way especially when taking into account how easy it is to vote now with the text voting as opposed to calling in.

I must say the huge drop in ratings this season surprised me, as it came from nowhere. However, I just realised that NCIS now airs at the same time on CBS which probably explains it. I'm assuming that those two shows hugely overlap in terms of viewership and that loads of people are skipping DWTS in favour of watching that. Mind you, DWTS don't help themselves by uploading the dances straight onto Youtube afterwards, it means anyone missing it can just catch up by watching those. You do have to wonder now how long DWTS can go on for, on ABC anyway. I could see it doing an American Idol and taking a break for 2-3 years before another network picks it up and throws loads of money at it to try and perhaps attract bigger stars to dance. Take NBC for example, they've wanted a good dancing show for ages and only gave up on that World of Dance recently. Tom B just signed a new contract with them, whose to say they couldn't pick DWTS up in the future, bring back Tom to host and throw a bigger budget at it to get new stars.

The problem with Jojo is they missed the boat. Same sex dancing has already been done in the UK version of the show. It's not as big a deal as it may have been a few seasons ago.

Unfortunately, Matt won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Allow me to introduce you to Bachelor Nation...

Brian Austin Green needs to go, it's painful watching him. Let him and Sharna take their dancing to the bedroom.

I'm not surprised they've moved heaven and earth to keep him on the show. He's probably the only male dancer who can match up to some of those girls unless one of the others show dramatic improvement, then you've got his fanbase and the show's desperation not to lose those viewers. I think we all know had this happened to a middle of the roader like say Christine, they'd probably have been withdrawn.

As a Spice Girls fan when I was younger, it's very disappointing that Mel C has the worst pro on the show if the spoilers online are true. I simply can't vote for her with him. The cast doesn't really stand out, I thought last year's was better but it's very much subjective. I have a Peleton and whilst I certainly question his "star credentials", the instructor will go very far in the competition. He's got a great personality, very easy on the eye and can definitely dance". Of those who watch the show that don't know him will probably grow to like him. I know about the Miz through wrestling as well, he's also got a great personality to but I'll be surprised if he's that good a dancer. Very much identical to Chris Jericho, probably a mid season boot. The rest of the cast I either don't know or dislike (Matt James, Loughlin's kid). I can already tell early on that Matt James getting voted through by Bachelor Nation every week despite being absolutely terrible is going to see me tune out real fast. The gymnast will probably go for as usual, the country music singer looks like he'll do well, the basketball player physically looks like he could buck the usual trend of getting kicked off week 1 and Nick Cordero's wife was a Rockette (thanks Wiki), so she's a major ringer.

Something's not right there, 100%. I'm not jumping to any conclusions, but everything is definitely not what it seems there. Some nice juicy drama though for the offseason!

Probably not, but that isn't a bad thing for me. What other show on television shines such a light on ballroom dancers? It must be great for industry that these people become stars in their own right and that kids at home can look up to them and want to be like them. If you replace the pros every season then you sacrifice that as it's impossible to get attached or invested in any of them. I bet a healthy portion of long time DWTS viewers out there don't care who gets casted every year and tune in solely to see the pros. I for one very much enjoy seeing the group dances for starters and it's the one thing I really missed this season due to Covid. Every show should have a proper opening number danced by the pros only.

Yep, I'm certain Jenna won't be back next season as she'll be the next female pro on the pregnancy train. Take out one of Cheryl or Peta as well and that'll be the two female pro spots reserved for Witney and Lindsay's return. Daniella deserves to stay I think, I'd give her, Brandon and Pasha the best dancers next season.

CAI always goes overdramatic in the finale, I've lost count of the amount she's said this is "the best dance ever done on DWTS". Best thing is to do what most people do 90% of the time CAI speaks....ignore her! 🤣 Watched the dances back and I know I never liked him, but I still thought he was most likely to win going into the finale. But I also thought Nev's freestyle was a bit of a dud. I was begrudgingly expecting the dance of the season when I find out he was doing Singin in the rain and it didn't really live up to my (admittedly high) expectations. Nelly I also thought busted on his freestyle, which was a shame as Daniella had done so well all season up to that point. He just didn't really move that much, I was expected some big extravagant cool hip hop number. I can't help but think that those two freestyles busting ended up opening the door ajar for Kaitlyn to sneak in. The two girls I thought had much better freestyles, but Justina as we knew from last week never had the votes so unfortunately it did little good for her chances. Speaking of Daniella, am I the only one who thinks that she feels like another Karina Smirnoff? Maybe it's just the accent, but I feel like there's a comparison to be had between the two. I'd be happy to see her get someone very good next season to see what she can do with a ringer. Agree that nobody from the Bachelor franchise should be cast next season, but I'm not holding my breath. Ultimately the show doesn't care about the long term fans, they only care about ratings and the promotion of other ABC shows. Worst of all the next Bachelor apparently has a dance background (I don't know how much or the details), so the alarm bells are ringing. Personally, I'd be happy with another All Star Season with contestants who never won the mirrorball.

I was absolutely shocked when her name was called there, I was 95% certain it would be Nev. I’m absolutely thrilled to bits for Artem, nobody on the entire show deserves it more than him. This time last year he was sat at home having been unduly fired by the producers. This is some turnaround for him and he’s probably in the 1% of people in this world who has had an amazing 2020. That will probably be it for me in terms of the show unless Tyra gets fired. I can rest easy now Artem has his mirrorball:

How convenient that a man who apparently marched for BLM would just happen to post this on the very week days before he needs viewer votes to win a reality show whose viewership skews hugely conservative.

I'm not normally one to get all petty, but Nev deleting politically antagonising social media posts in order to avoid losing votes is very funny. He really is absolutely desperate to win this thing more than any of the others put together. If him and Nelly are the last two standing and Nelly gets called the winner, I want a camera trained permanently on Nev's face so I can see his reaction. Things don't normally go my way though, so I'm sure Nev will win and I'll have to endure that smug cheesy grin forever more!

I fully agree that he's not as bad as Bones, but the reason he gets singled out as the main comparison to Nelly is because it would be an identical case where the weakest dancer in the finale by a mile makes a mockery of the show dubbing itself 'a dance competition' and takes the win due to overwhelming fan votes. Even the cast is similar to S27 with the two women and two men. Justina is Alexis in the bottom three the week before, Kaitlyn is Evanna with the pro in his first final and Nev is Milo with the Utah based partner. It's eerily familiar.