Glaadrial

I got the impression from Val pleading with CAI to go easy on the hip-movement criticism because Laurie is "America's Treasure," read: She's 16/17? and dancing with adult man (twice?) her age, so can we agree not to over-sexualize her hip movement? (Not at all a direct quote, merely my interpretation of what looked to be a plea for support traversing this minefield.) I loved Val's collaboration with Zendaya and how he was able to side-step some of the pitfalls that could have come from a teenager being asked to dance sexy while partnered with an adult man who oozes maturity (Mark/Derek are more playful in their routines and both seem to be more ambivalent about choreographing routines within the lines, so they don't come with the same baggage as Val when guiding younger partners through the competition. Laurie is in a completely different mindset than Zendaya. I get the impression that she would be upset if Val didn't allow her to learn and execute the requirements of the dance (including the feel and the intent). If it comes to this, Val could manage to cast himself in either a subordinate role (like Zendaya's Bodyguard routine), or at least be more passive in how he responds to aggressiveness from Laurie, in say, an Argentine Tango or Rumba. These routines might be able to bypass the skeevieness factor if Val casts himself as a Master teacher of sorts who can withstand and redirect a full-on romantic assault by a very talented protegee. Val's a very creative and, I think, under-rated/respected choreographer, so I know he'll rise to the challenge. I can't wait!

I think I know what you're talking about to a certain extent. I started to watch Matt Lauer's poor/gross/offensive imitation of an investigative reporter, but I lost interest when he seemed intent on being obtuse about what Ryan was willing to say with regard to the incident. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 so Matt's little "gotcha" ambush was bit too offensive for me to continue to watch. Ryan's official account of what happened (with the exception of "ripping the poster off the wall") is pretty close to what the video footage shows to have happened. The discrepancy between the "NBC official account" and Ryan's description of events, occurs when hearing and giving full credibility to the people at the gas station. The "defensiveness" on Ryan's part came up when Matt tried to get Ryan to go farther than he was willing to go in substantiating the one-sided story as it was being presented by the Brazilian officials and NBC. He was likely pressured by the USOC (Is it still an open question whether Los Angeles is in the running for an upcoming Olympics?), and USA Swimming who are still reeling from having dropped the ball with their biggest and brightest star, Michael Phelps, "hitting rock bottom." In any case, Ryan is now on DWTS attempting to pick up the pieces of his life and move forward. I'm sure there were a myriad of options available for him to pursue and he chose this one. By not speaking further about what, it looks to me, he considers to be the truth, he's accepting full responsibility. His dance with Cheryl was very entertaining and I was very impressed that a non-dancer with a swimmer's build could do as well as he did. Thank you for your most interesting and informative perspective on the matter. For me the face of Brazil will always be Guga, because I follow tennis, and his is indeed a face that exudes much happiness. Post-Olympics, Gisele's final catwalk has been delightfully etched into my memory; she, too, seemed to personify what I think of when I think of the happy spirit of Brazil. The "makeup" that you mention, I think, is also a fabrication of NBC who had a vested interest in telling a particular story with their coverage in the US. I think the US Media tend to sell a different product than the UK Media, or at least sell the same product in a different way. In regards to Ryan Lochte appearing on DWTS, I can't tell from your post if the general feeling about it in Brazil is mostly negative or indifferent.

Because it literally stopped the show, I'll address the Locte topic here so that, hopefully, the topic can be replaced by the dance content we get in the coming weeks. The Lochte incident seems to have taken on a life of its own and, I think that, ironically, it's not Lochte's fault. For me, the USOC and USA Swimming and, to a lesser extent but still relevant, the US State Department dropped the ball on this one. Ryan did not "flee" the country, he departed on schedule while his teammates were basically "locked up abroad." Regardless of the hyperbolic nature of the interview he gave to a color commentator, there is no excuse on the part of these organizations for condoning a situation where someone pulled a gun on an American athlete during the Olympics. Team Australia were much more emphatic in their support of their own athletes when the host nation mistreated them. With all the camera footage that the store-owner had available, it would not have been hard to get compensation for property damage; there was absolutely no reason to pull a gun on these athletes. Had Ryan not backed down, we could be talking about how a US Olympic athlete was shot in the host country. That would have been a legitimate international incident, not this nonsensical situation. That said, Ryan is taking full responsibility and, from what I saw last night, is doing a good job of getting beyond the negative sound bites by showing a game nature and taking the competition seriously. It's a shame that the proceedings were interrupted as they were last night after his dance. Honestly, though, I don't think it quite tops "Fainting Marie Osmond" as the all-time most random/disturbing incident to occur while being addressed by the judges...so there's that. Thank goodness for Laurie Hernandez, I don't know of anybody else who could get away with equating this show with a doing a victory lap after winning a Gold Medal at the Olympics. Having seen some of her talking heads during the Olympics, I find it refreshing that she's not having any of it, with regards to the PC media training she's probably had to endure. She's navigating the experience with the ease and confidence that she shows when traversing the balance beam. I'm sure there were other celebrities who appeared on the Laurie Hernandez DWTS exhibition event. Handing her the trophy right now would be a crime because we'd be robbed of the performances from Laurie/Val on their way to the Finals.

Ah, to be so young...The Great Dame happened to win an Oscar for being funny. Nevertheless, the point that Katya did not do as much with Princess Di as she could have is not without merit. I won't go so far as to actually call "Shenanigans!" on the season thus far, but I do recognize the watermelon sized machinations at play. If what Katya said in her talking head is true about having been assigned a different character, then there's really no blame on her for this performance. While everyone else merely had to execute what they had prepared, Katya had to come up with something on the spot. Given her talent, even this most vanilla of characters could have been spiced up if she'd had time to prepare (What immediately comes to mind for "this English Rose has thorns," would be to hold up photos of the Ginger Prince and Diana's rumored Ginger Lover). In any case, I agree with what someone said upthread is that the machinations robbed us of a polished performance from definite front-runner in the competition. A couple of head-scratchers from this episode: Why did we get only a bottom two this week instead of three that we've gotten from the beginning? Why did Ru wait until after critiques to announce the top and bottom two. It felt like she needed some kind of support from the peanut gallery to justify the mystifying selection this week...which kind of back-fired a bit because of the abundant praise of Ginger's performance which should have landed her in clearly "safe" territory regardless of the runway. Moreover, has anybody else noticed that with Ginger gone, everyone remaining has had an opportunity to Lipsync for her Leagcy, except PhiPhi? Leave it to Ayssa, boldly and likely unwittingly, to FU the script by saving Katya, who was probably being setup to be the star of whatever "to be continued" means. Unless, the TBC happens next week, then we'll have our first repeat queen in the top 2.

This is an outstanding description of Alyssa's performance. Sadly, for Alyssa, this show rewards spontaneity in performance and being able to seize opportunities to mine comedy from what's happening "in the moment." The "look" queens who excel on the run-way also have a certain degree of spontaneity (or, least a very good simulation of such) in what they put together. Neither is Alyssa's strength, she's at her best when she's well rehearsed and put together flawlessly. Some standout situations that went over the poor girl's head and became, for me, missed opportunities are: 1) Since this was the latex challenge, she should have taken the off-hand remark about wearing her facial mask on the run-way and run with it. The exact look she presented with the addition of her latex facial mask would have slayed, in my opinion, because it would have been totally unexpected from her and it would have allowed her to jump right out of the pageant girl box that does not play well in this environment with these judges. 2) Although I loved her "Alyssa Edwards as Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford AS ALYSSA EDWARDS," I think it would have been ballsy of her to drop the Faye Dunaway and Joan Crawford and just come out as Alyssa Edwards as Alyssa Edwards! This season, from what I understand, was put in the can a short while after S7 season where Violet did Alyssa for Snatch Game; essentially legitimizing Alyssa as a credible celebrity to impersonate. This would have played to her strength in performance because she seems to do very well when she's able to plan out and rehearse what she's going to present. She could have mined the web for content about her image and presented it as an over-the-top caricature of herself, which I think is in her wheelhouse because she's terrific when she has tome to think about what's she's doing. It would have come with the added bonus of giving herself more wiggle room when having to react with what was happening in the moment because a few well place tongue clicks could allow her to add some spontaneity to her performance. 3) In the first episode Talent Show, instead of lip-syncing herself in her Variety Act, she should have sung (err...talk-sung) live to give her performance the boost of energy that it needed for anyone who has seen her lip-syncing herself in the past. I've caught her warm-up routine for finale's of previous seasons, so even if this, err...song?, was recorded specifically for her Talent Show performance and new to casual fans, everyone in the room has seen her do this kind of routine before and they're the ones doing the judging. Fresh is queen at Ru Paul Dragrace. I think she'll stick around a bit more but when the numbers get lower, she'll become a casualty of there just being no more "safe." Ironically, if she manages to keep the "House of Edwards" alive and thriving, she's one of the best positioned of a very select few drag alumni who could carry on after Ru with regards to finding an promoting the Drag Stars of Tomorrow. PS: If HoE is now defunct, then: nevermind that last sentence.

It looks to me from the first two episodes that Ru is picking the top 2 herself and then taking the judges' opinions into consideration when selecting who is "safe" from the bottom 4. It seemed less obvious in the first episode, but it's kind of what I thought at the time, and mostly confirmed by this episode to my eyes. With all the cuts to Alyssa's Joan Crawford smacking those watermelons Ru was throwing at her out of the ballpark, there's just no way that PhiPhi could possibly have been in the top 3, most especially because her runway did her absolutely no favors. I love Katya, and I'm definitely rooting for her, but I had her as a solid third place in Snatch Game (my guess is that her superior runway edged her ahead of Aylssa). I wish that Ru had been more graceful on the main-stage about Adore's departure. If these queens are invited as all-stars, then it's reasonable to assume that their individual aesthetics would be respected enough to keep the criticism in line with what has made them an All Star in the first place. In my opinion, Michelle was not interested in helping Adore become a better version of what she's doing, she was using this platform to turn Adore into something that she isn't and doesn't want to be. Adore was gracious enough to point out that she does not want to "fix" Michelle, she just wants to be herself and neither of them should be placed in a position where their respective visions are compromised.

This 100%. Tamar was absolutely, without question, the dance of the night for me and truly deserving of the pimp spot. I don't think any of the judges are consistent in their critiques of technique so I won't even bother with what constitutes perfect technique (especially comparing Nick's Contemporyish dance vs. Tamar's Paso). What made the dance so exciting for me is the dramatic tension between Tamar and Val. It was consistent throughout the dance and kept me on edge the entire time. I appreciated the damage control that the producers allowed for Tamar and Val to do in the package...if for no other reason than it really showed how this non-showmance partnership is strong and supportive. It's so much more meaningful than the junk packages the producers were trying to sell early on. As for the danceoff...I'm dumbfounded. While I can understand that Derek's superfans would throw their support to Mark (whose concept for their ATish partner dance I really liked, btw, even though it fell a bit short in the execution), I don't know how CAI could give the danceoff to Mark/Alexa with all the obviously missed steps from Alexa (unless, of course, it was a prearranged decision knowing that the Audience Vote would break a tie /eyeroll).

I thought that when Amy remembered to take her hands off the microphone (as Rhianna suggested) she was able to connect more fully with the intent of the song. It's possible that Amy does not see herself that way; but if that's the case then, I agree, the song choice was not a good one for her, and that's on her. I really wanted her to go full on with what RhiRhi suggested (the hair and sultriness). There aren't many opportunities for these contestants to connect with the audience by going deeper into themselves and allowing the audience an almost voyeuristic glimpse into something so intimately personal. I was glad that she was stolen, although I think she would have been better off on Blake's team because Blake has a way of intensifying what his steals bring from their time spent with another coach (I think CWB needed to spend some time with Gwen in order to flourish when he returned to Blake). Maybe it's because I don't know either of the songs that Amy and Madi performed, but I thought that both of them managed to make two obvious classics from way back when sound modern, and more importantly, relevant in today's market. Kudos to both for that, but I agree that Madi was more successful on the night. If Amy had committed more, I could see her easily taking the battle because what she did do was that interesting to me.

I'm fairly certain that both Tamar and Val are not shy about the use of hyperbole for comic effect. I went in expecting fireworks and tantrums; I was very pleasantly surprised by both the package and the resultant dance. I agree with someone who wrote elsewhere that Tamar/Val's was the lone dance delivered that deserved across the board 10s on the night.

I stopped watching when Darvina just had to speak up about Maks' critique about Bindi. She paraphrased Maks as saying that from watching at home he couldn't tell if Bindi's enthusiasm is genuine or manufactured. Darvina thought this was so horrible, mean-spirited and nonconstructive; her self-indignation meter was dialed up to it's highest level. She seems to have missed the minor detail that Maks' comment was made in prelude to his saying something to the effect of: experiencing Bindi's enthusiasm up close leaves no doubt in his mind that it really is genuine and truly inspiring (or somesuch). It was actually a lovely compliment. Now, I think that it's possible that his critique was running long or the show was short on time, or he maybe he was getting booed for his first sentence and since she was in studio, Darvina couldn't make out what Maks was trying to say, but to come down so harshly without even taking the time to re-watch the exchange about something that she's going to talk about as part of this chat show...to me that's the height of unprofessionalism. I can't believe that her comment went unchallenged.

I'm not positive, but in this instance, I think the "jerky and frantic" has to do with needing to choreography a 4/4 time signature with a 9/12 count in order for it to be a waltz. I seem to remember that it also happened earlier in the season with another couple (Derek?). I don't disagree that Allison has a penchant for frantic, in general, so it may not have made much of a difference even with a 3/4 time signature, but it might have helped a bit. For me Bindi's was the dance of the night. I do wish that Bruno hadn't let Maks down by agreeing with JH & CAI. All the dances, tonight, had problems but I think that Bindi & Val's cha cha cha had the best mix of performance, content and connection. It may have been too subtle but it seems that Val was able to highlight her enthusiasm within the context of the dance. For me, it made her over-the-top personality not at all over-the-top and entirely appropriate for the dance. ETA: I also very much liked Nick's dance. I was kind of baffled by Maks harsh on it, but I'm sure he's able to spot a Paso when he sees one so, there's that. I found myself agreeing with his judgment more so than the other three on pretty much everything else.

Well, there you go. I've just outed myself as being ignorant of all things Twitter.

I, too, went to the free Twitter Analytics page and was expecting Val to end up being partnered with Paula because it looked like Mark was the overwhelming favorite partner for Bindi. I was surprised by the announced pairings, so I did a bit of research. Here's what I found. From the DWTS voting FAQ page: Given the demographics for DWTS, I find it plausible that much/most? of the audience would have voted using the Switch Up Voting page instead of Twitter. It's hard to say whether or not the "valid tweet" that is generated actually gets posted to Twitter. It's possible that these "tweets" are sent exclusively to an internal vote counter and are not available to the Twitter Analytics page. I find it incredibly implausible that the show would mess with Standards and Practices in order to protect Val from having to partner with Paula for one week. That's just silly (IMO, of course).

Spot on, I think. But since it's out there...it might be an interesting concept to try if they ever decide to make a run at a new All Star season (unlikely, I know), but either random draw or lowest scoring couple (based on judge's votes) for the night could get first pick at a new partner from the pool of pros still in the competition. Obviously, there could be trouble if the male/female possibilities do not work out evenly, but making the troupe dancers (excluding pros who have been eliminated) available, could make for some interesting partnerships and allow the troupe dancers to get some experience in partnering with a celebrity.

I was on board with this interpretation of the lyrics until the "Every vow you break" part. I wouldn't have found it at all inappropriate to substitute with a repeat of: "Every move you make, every step you take, I'll be watching you," but they didn't do that...so creepy. For me it falls into the category of one of the Voice contestants (Amanda Brown?) dedicating "I Will Always Love You" (basically a kiss off song) to her kids. Or an anecdote that Idina Menzel tells in concert about when she used to be a wedding singer often asked to sing "Saving All My Love for You." Despite the warning: "You know this is a song about cheating, right." they'd still want the song. A few stolen moments is all that we share, You've got your family, and they need you there...(cheating)

Perhaps not strictly country, but Grace Potter does include a duet version of "Stars" with Kenny Chesney as a bonus track of The Lion the Beast and the Beat.

It seems you are correct. I found this from a copyright attorney/DWTS fanatic. "Copied" has a negative connotation for me; I'd probably use "referenced," myself. If what that attorney's speculation about Derek's dance (which seems reasonable to me) is correct. I think that it's likely that Jerome Robbins' estate probably wanted a significant chunk of change in order to allow the use of his original choreography. I think this is probably not very likely because DWTS producers have been willing to pay for choreographic rights in the past; not only for this show, but also the recreation of the Dirty Dancing finale dance that Tony did a few seasons back which shouldn't have been cheap (or maybe DD was doing some kind of promotion like an anniversary DVD or somesuch). It's more likely that the JR estate insisted that the dance be recreated, rather than merely referenced, if any portion of the choreography appeared in the show. Over the years, there have been numerous planned professional productions of WSS that couldn't be realized because JR estate is very protective of JR choreography. All first class productions of WSS must recreate JR choreography with no deviation.

I think maybe that, if she is getting the Nastia edit, Val/Tamar will rise above it or somehow work it to their advantage. What I see from the packages is a strong personality with enough of a performance background to know that there is more to a performance than doing all the steps right. I think that her artistic instincts were spot on with what she brought up with Val. She forced him to consider the lyrics and the message she wanted to convey for her hometown memories package. This week, Tamar challenged Val artistically and he rose to the challenge. Both their dances this week were interestingly choreographed and well executed. I think that Val was able to strike a balance between cha cha cha partner work and the solo work she did with the girls. I also think that she was right to question the idea that she would dance a quickstep with a guy she caught cheating on her (maybe a paso or a tango, but a Lindy Hop, I mean, Charleston...What was Val thinking?) I like that Tamar is insisting that Val to think more deeply about the dances he's choreography. Because she's so in touch with her artistic voice, she is most certainly better qualified to determine what she's capable of portraying successfully or, at least, what's she's interested in performing. That Val respects her vision, is a credit to him and makes their partnership a nice collaboration. (I just had a mental image of Tamar being paired with ultra control freak Derek.../chuckle).

Interesting point, I hadn't thought of that. I makes me wonder what the response would be if it had been he who made the comment to this teenage boy?

I'm pretty miffed that they didn't cast Standing Ovation. Maybe it was a boy/girl quota--nonsense reason, of course, given that they've eliminated the boy/girl couples only concept of getting to the the top 10. I am really, really, REALLY disappointed at the missed opportunity to throw gender stereotypes out the window with a pairing of Standing O and Moises doing a Contemporary routine where she lifts and supports him, and he's allowed to really highlight some of his pretty lines.

Bringing this over from the Season 20 Finale thread because the discussion I'm interested in furthering encompasses many seasons and several pros past and present, and the impact their legacies may have on future shows and dance in general. Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree with what's been written above in regards to producer manipulation. I'm particularly interested, however, in the part in bold. I'm not a dancer (although I've taken Jazz and Ballet classes as part of my performance training), so I'm curious about whether the folks around here, with more experience with ballroom technique, concur with the part that I've highlighted in bold. There was a really terrific breakdown by someone in another thread that explained perfectly what I and others saw as "sloppiness" in Riker's dancing by pointing to specific examples of some issues with his footwork that could read as sloppy. For the record, I don't lay the sloppy or frantic choreography at Allison's feet because I think that Sharna, who has the Ballroom credentials, to my eyes produced similar results with Charlie and was less successful in a similarly competitive season (but that's a digression). Anyway, I'm of the opinion that, because she's an athlete, Nastia may have actually been more accomplished with her technique than Rumer who admitted she doesn't even work out (core strength and endurance, I think, play a huge role in performing complex choreography). Considering Val's AT choreography for Meryl, for example, that dance seemed infinitely more advanced than what he designed for Rumer. Ironically, although in hindsight, not surprisingly, I guess, his connection with Rumer in their AT/Contemporary made for a much more compelling and, IMO, successful performance than the brilliantly intricate choreography he designed for Meryl who brought to the competition a similar skillset as Nastia (although Meryl did have the advantage of having to connect with music and an audience in her discipline, although that didn't seem to help Charlie who came in with the same skillset). Val said he had to find his own voice when choosing what to present as a freestyle for Rumer; that voice, not surprisingly, seemed to be speaking with the vocabulary of his big brother. Which brings me to another point brought up in another post from the same thread: I don't agree that Maks wasted ringers or was handed a win. I think there were many factors that went in to him coming close yet not being able to cross the finish line. Maks had to find his own way to the Mirrorball, just as Val did. Maks had to trial and error his way into finding out that he was never going to win the trophy by looking to what was successful for Derek (since Derek is the 5-time DWTS Champion, I've singled him out, although, obviously, there are/were other pros in contention throughout the years). It was a personal journey that made for compelling television. I saw season 18 as a perfect storm that paved the way for what was to come. Even Len giving his last 10 to Max/Meryl and taking his own leave fit perfectly into the narrative. Although Len was convinced later to stick around longer, as we all know, he still managed to give his last 10 to Maks' younger brother who's been passed the baton, so to speak (unless that changes, too). I've yet to see a more exciting lead on DWTS than what we've seen from Maks as a ballroom dancer during his tenure on the show. I suspect, however, that Val is likely a more talented choreographer and I'm excited to see if he will be able to carry the torch in future seasons now that he's "found his own voice," as he described it. Given that his foundation was built using the tools available from working with his brother, it's not surprising that what worked for Maks also worked for him. The challenge, I think, will be to keep exploring and creating new things until his, like Derek's, will also be an important voice in shaping the future of DWTS or even of dance, in general. One of the most interesting things that came out of season 20 was that in the "People's Choice" challenge, Val was asked by his fans to create traditional, no messing about, dances for his partnership with Rumer. Personally, I'd like to see him continue to explore the boundaries of ballroom dance, but always maintaining a healthy respect for his foundation steeped in tradition. If he does it right, by reaching into his bag of ballroom tricks, it won't matter what crazy style he's given, the result should always be fun to watch.

I don't recall seeing an AT from Rumer/Val this season so I'm ecstatic that they chose to go in this direction for their FS because I really loved Val's AT with Meryl and have been bummed that he hadn't been given a chance to perform one with Rumer. Moreover, I think it's likely that if they had performed the exact same routine for an assigned an AT, they probably would have been dinged by at least a couple of the judges (Len/Jullianne) for not performing a straight up AT. I'm remembering the Maks/Meryl Rhumba that was called "not a Rhumba" by many. In that instance, I'm of the opinion that the culprit was the dual-challenge that the hip action and the required constant fluid motion provided for Meryl; similar choreography executed by Max/Karina, IMO, would have likely been considered more Rhumbesque. I think there were similarities in Val's approach to this freestyle--not so much in the dance itself, just the approach to creating a fusion that emphasized his partner's strengths. For me it's a modernization--a contemporary (little "c")--approach to ballroom that I very much enjoy because I find it beautiful to watch. I like the traditional stuff, too; I think there's room for both. Nevertheless, I'm fairly certain that the notion that a "Freestyle" cannot be limited to one dance style is neither stated nor implied in the "rulebook," such as it is. Tony and Stacy as far back as Season 2 performed a straight up Disco routine. Of course, they did not win the Mirrorball trophy that year, but it was more likely because their execution/choreography could not overcome what Cheryl came up with for Drew rather than because they stuck to one style of dance in their routine. Likewise, there have been many examples of straight up "Hip-hop" routines over the years that have also had varying degrees of success; some produced winners, others not. Maks did a straight up, one style, Contemporary with Erin that also didn't win but, again, most likely because others were more successful, not because he somehow broke rules (written or unwritten) for a Freestyle by performing only one style of dance. Another aspect that I found interesting about Val/Rumer's FS, is that it was truly a piece of Performance Art because of their contributions to the music that they chose for the dance. I've heard other covers of Toxic, even some with the stripped down orchestration, but Rumer brought something the vocals, a certain kind of longing that I don't think was the original intention of the song. Val was able to support with his violin and accentuate it with the choreography that Rumer executed brilliantly. The collaboration on all aspects of the performance made it unique and special and--dare I say it? Yes, I will go there: I found the performance intoxicating.

From the Afterbuzz thread regarding the Access Hollywood Interview: Derek & Nastia address Val's comment at 1:26 fyi. As a huge fan of Nastia's I'm so happy that we got this moment of true redemption. The responses above appeared in the Afterbuzz thread but I wanted to respond here because Nastia's talents in managing an interview in a tricky situation are second to none. I know that she's been media trained to within an inch of her life but her true talent lay in making it believable. No, this elimination is nowhere near the disappointment that she felt at the moment when she knew that her gymnastics career was over. She's a natural in front of the camera and hers is a voice that I would love to hear commenting about gymnastics or any other judged sport. I also just had a random thought: What would she look/sound like if she were doing Erin's job?

Wow! I had to double-check that I was in the right season. How is Derek's thread on Page 2? I don't normally post in this thread because I'm not a fan and I prefer not to make negative comments in the threads of those who are not my favorites. Anyway... From his TV Guide blog: I'm somewhat confused by his read of the situation. Nastia got the redemption edit at just the right time to push her into the finals. Maybe he's not used to the harsh edits that Max and to a lesser extent Val have had to endure (seriously, even Max went a little off on how intense Little Bro returned Meryl with injuries after the switch-off week). To me, who is obviously not as close to the situation, it looked like the harshish package/redemption arc was meant to boost her numbers in the crucial SF week. I hope we can assume that Noah was the third place contestant, and if that was the case then the ploy should have worked except that the judges didn't leave enough room in their scores for her to make up the 1.5% difference between the bottom two, so the plan went horribly wrong. I think that if the judges gave Noah a tongue bath and then showered him with 8s across the board (because this is the SFs after all), then the result could have been different. If it was one of the other two couples in the bottom two instead of Noah, then manipulating the scores becomes a more tricky exercise because either of them scoring lower than Noah would have been too blatant to be believable based on how each performed on the night. Maybe what they showed as the bottom two, really were the bottom two, in which case maybe they thought that the two point deficit would be enough to keep Nastia in (I had to scratch my head at Jullianne matching Len in giving a 9 for what Val/Rumer did with the VW and then basically saying that what Noah did immediately after doing the same dance merited the same score). In any case, I hope that Derek was being sincere in his blog and not just doing a PR shtick when he explained how he prepared Nastia for what he saw as their inevitable elimination based on how the show was edited (I'd think that leaving out his talking head commentary--assuming he recorded some--was a pretty good indicator of what was to come). It would explain why Nastia was able to be gracious and poised in her interview immediately after the result. Still, I saw her lose the Gold in a tie-breaker at the '08 Olymipics in her signature event, This elimination likely pale's in comparison, but I'm sure the "head's up" helped some. I do wish that TPTB had chosen to show us some of the footage that Derek describes of her nurturing behavior and their heart-to-heart interactions because those kinds of scenes could have gone a long way to helping the audience recognize subtleties in their partnership that could have allowed her to appear less aloof. Also from the blog: This is high praise, indeed.

There's a certain amount of irony at play here, I think. Not so obvious, of course, because I think that each of the couples did well with what ended up happening pairing-wise. I've said before in another thread that I thought that Nastia/Val would have been a better fit and now I'll add that I think that, in hindsight, perhaps Rumer/Derek could have gone all the way (or at least to the final). Nastia/Val have the whole Eastern European connection that I think could have worked in their favor. Also, I think that Val's emphasis on connection could have really brought Nastia to life for the audience. Also, Nastia's athleticism could have given him the opportunity to raise the ante choreographically. I think they made it a point during one of the packages to highlight that Rumer, as fit as she looks, is not really athletic; this says to me that her smoking physique is probably more the result of diet and not so much exercise. Core strength and endurance are key especially in these last weeks of the competition. Conversely, Derek is a master of producing the precision and intricacies in his choreography mostly through repetition. As an actress, Rumer would have been able to supply the emotional aspects that would have really sold his choreography without needing as much coaching from Derek (especially given his limited schedule). I sincerely do not know if I could have warmed up to Rumer if she were partnered with Derek, but I'd like to think that I would given, his track record for brilliance...I mean Psycho Tango was a masterpiece for so many reasons and it was created with Rikki Lake as his partner. Disclaimer: I'm by no means TeamDerek, but neither will I deny brilliance when I see it. I find it hard to imagine that Nastia/Val vs. Rumer/Derek in the Finals would not have happened, because I think that these two pairings are far more complementary than what we got this season. Moreover, I think that the package narratives would have been far more interesting as well. From what other have said, though, those pairings were never on the table because of how things shook out regarding the casting this season. If Nastia was a last minute replacement or was chosen to give Derek someone based in NYC who could adjust to the limitations based on Derek's other commitments, then the way it played out was the only way to pair them. Still, the thought of two evenly matched ringers each paired with a pro that suited her temperament and talent could have made for a really exciting finale.