S31.E06: Prom Night

[Melonie77]

OMG - Tyra's gown is hideous!🤣 I thought she was going to slap herself in the face with the giant bouncing ruffle when she did her diva dance entrance.

[CraftyHazel]

Tyra drives me crazy.  She’s not the cute young model she thinks she still is.  She’s still beautiful, but her personality sucks so much that it ruins everything else about her.

They need to stop having Charli behind her mother when her mother is being interviewed by Alfonso.  The constant mugging makes me like her even less than I’m already predisposed to.  I wish she’d be a shocking boot SOON!

[Melonie77]

Loved Gabby and Val's dance and am so glad they got some respect tonight with the first all tens score of the season!

Trevor's jive was good especially the side by side parts so I'm not sure why he still got lower scores.

Love Daniel and Britt's partnership. His enthusiasm for their prom routine was wonderful to watch and I really enjoyed their dance.

Joseph did well tonight but yet received stingy scores again! 

Shangela and Gleb were on fire! Loved her diva entrance. Fabulous routine yet not the greatest scores once again and too much nitpicking over technique. Gleb is bringing the choreography this season and this partnership is my favorite.

Not sure why Jordan and Brandon scored higher than some of the other couples.

Artem and Heidi seem to have a good partnership. Artem's choreography has been great but Heidi leaves me cold.

Wayne's samba was fabulous - loved Whitney's choreography! Wayne has great musicality and swag! Well deserved tens!

Edited October 19, 2022 by Melonie77

[CraftyHazel]

I actually liked Joseph, and I’m sorry he’s going.  Heidi would have been no great loss, and neither would several others.  

[Josh371982]

10 minutes ago, CraftyHazel said:

I actually liked Joseph, and I’m sorry he’s going.  Heidi would have been no great loss, and neither would several others.  

Joseph left over the Production Pick's mom? So NOT SHOCKED. 

18 minutes ago, Melonie77 said:

Loved Gabby and Val's dance and am so glad they got some respect tonight with the first all tens score of the season!

Trevor's jive was good especially the side by side parts so I'm not sure why he still got lower scores.

Love Daniel and Britt's partnership. His enthusiasm for their prom routine was wonderful to watch and I really enjoyed their dance.

Joseph did well tonight but yet received stingy scores again! 

Shangela and Gleb were on fire! Loved her diva entrance. Fabulous routine yet not the greatest scores once again and too much nitpicking over technique. Gleb is bringing the choreography this season and this partnership is my favorite.

Not sure why Jordan and Brandon scored hirer than some of the other couples.

Artem and Heidi seem to have a good partnership. Artem's choreography has been great but Heidi leaves me cold.

Wayne's samba was fabulous - loved Whitney's choreography! Wayne has great musicality and swag! Well deserved tens!

Shocker that ABC darling Gabby got all tens! Bet she's right up there with Charli as a Production Darling 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Josh371982

[vibeology]

You know what really wears me down? Tyra's constant interjections during the judging. It's awful and it ruins the flow of the show. I hate it.

Is Charli neurodiverse in some fashion? I ask because she never makes eye contact ever with anyone. Or the camera. She seemed totally checked out during the dance off.

I'm so confused about Heidi's prom year and what she called her prom song. Cyndi Lauper was a creature of the 80s. The early 80s even. I know the show makes them say dumb things sometimes but that was especially odd. Also, while we're talking music, I don't think I should have to listen to an abuser while watching my fun dance show even if Jordin dueted with him. And making a weak voiced band member sing Kelly Clarkson is just mean.

Shangela got closer to the scores she deserves but I still feel like they're underscoring her and nitpicking in a way they don't with other contestants. For me, Shangela and Wayne are the people I look forward to seeing because they're fun. I want to watch this show to have fun and Shangela always delivers.

Gabby going on about being cool and popular was so off-putting. And if that was supposed to be jokes, they did not land. 

I'm sad to see Joseph go. I think he's a better dancer than Vinny and Jesse who are still there and maybe even Trevor, Jordin and Heidi. And could have grown to be even better still. I think his potential was exciting.

[LadyMustang65]

I don't even know what to say about tonight's show.  Jessie is one of the, if not the, worst dancer left, but she wins the dance marathon?  They really wanted her to stay, I guess, and God knows she desperately needed the points.  Pfftt!

It seems like almost everyone was either overscored or underscored (imho, of course) tonight.  Carrie Anne and Derek were right about Charli tonight.  She was off in that jive.  Didn't deserve any 10s.  I didn't think Gabby's tango deserved all 10s, but I guess they had to make it seem as if this is somehow actually a competition.  I loved Wayne's samba, and I thought he did deserve all 10s.  I like Trevor and thought his jive was a lot of fun.  Judges seem to forget they have paddles other than 8s when it comes to him, though.  They made up for it a bit by keeping him in the marathon longer.  I hope that next week he gets something more flowing like a waltz or fox trot.  I think that style would suit him better, and maybe then he'd catch a break from the judges.  Shangela was on fire, and she and Wayne were hands down (for me anyway) the standouts of the night.  Jordin did a lovely job as well.  I thought Joseph's dance was one of his weaker ones, but even without that, I think we could have called that the judges would save Heidi tonight so they can keep up the faux mother-daughter "competition" angle for a while longer.  Vinny and Daniel didn't have their best nights tonight either.

This was just a very strange night over all for me, and I couldn't help but notice that even with all their shenanigans with scoring and eliminations, they couldn't keep Charli out of sole possession of first place.  I'd be shocked if there is ever a week she is anything less than tied at the top of the leaderboard.  

I love Michael Buble, so here's looking forward to next week!

[nickp1991]

I absolutely absolutely love watching Britt and Daniel and watching Britt grow this year and is learning ASL

[Melonie77]

5 hours ago, CraftyHazel said:

I actually liked Joseph, and I’m sorry he’s going.  Heidi would have been no great loss, and neither would several others.  

I really felt bad for Joseph and wanted to see him continue on in the competition! His potential growth would have been a lot more interesting IMO than Vinnie's, Jessie's, or Jordan's. I had been looking forward to what Daniella could do with him. Heidi is the better dancer but just leaves me cold. I agree with those who are saying that TPTB want the mother daughter competition to last longer.

The marathon didn't make any kind of sense to me other than it appeared to be a planned method of keeping certain people and trying to move others out.
I really enjoyed the dancing but just could not understand the criteria being used to tap the couples out starting with seeing Daniel go first. Surely there were others not doing as well as him. And how could the better dancers like Wayne, Gabby and Shangela get tapped out before someone like Jessie?

Jessie's 'win' most likely caused Joseph to go home. Her unearned score elevation from the marathon probably brought her out of the bottom two. I noticed that the judges did not give any sort of explanation for how they decided on the order they tapped the stars out. And unless I missed it there was no explanation for how Jessie won!

Edited October 19, 2022 by Melonie77

[Lady Calypso]

Honestly, I have a lot to say about the dances but I gotta get that Dance Marathon out of the way. JJD winning was...something. Yeah, sure, she was moving around, but Alan just kept lifting her up whenever it seemed like she got tired. We saw at LEAST six lifts from her, two of them she almost tumbled OVER Alan. And she wins because...well, it helps she was in the FAR corner throughout the first half, being blocked by everyone else (if the Marathon is to believed as a non-rigging comp) and the second half, all she needed was to keep her feet moving, regardless if it was actual dancing, and have Alan lift her up or her do cartwheels. So I guess the Marathon was not about dance, but about endurance? 

So, congrats JJD, you being handed that win got you out of the bottom two, most likely!

No, on to everything else that was decent!

Shangela is FINALLY scored accurately AND almost won the Dance Marathon! Shangela/Gleb were actually doing content in the Marathon, more than kicking your feet, doing cartwheels and defaulting to lifts when all else fails. But also, their dance tonight was phenomenally fun. I was surprised, but happy, Len didn't call out the "faffing about" at the start. It was just a whole lot of fun and, honestly, if everyone else can get overscored, I am 100% fine with Shangela getting those 9s she should have gotten last night and last week.

Daniel/Britt are my favourite partnership this season, full stop. They just care for each other so much and it shows. Now, I do think that Britt REALLY REALLY needs to push Daniel into tougher choreography. He has the basics down, you can see he has the fluidity and the ability to get those moves down, but she needs to give him more to do in the dances. She still hasn't figured out how to make his dances flow better and she REALLY REALLY needs to next week because he's already in some danger, just from how his scores are starting to waver. He clearly is one of the better male celebs this season, but Britt, or maybe Daniel himself, is holding him(self) back. He can absolutely do it! They just need to go all out! 

I'm gonna say it right now: Trevor/Emma's jive was my favourite dance of the night. I don't care if it wasn't the best dance, it was my favourite one to watch. Trevor does surprisingly well with these faster dances. Emma gave him great choreography....also, I REALLY love Green Day and although Basket Case isn't a jive-type song, they made it work. More pop-punk on this show! It was genuinely fun, Trevor performed it very well and it definitely goes on my top ten favourite dances of this season.

Charli's jive was off, for sure. I enjoyed Trevor's more than hers. She wasn't following through with her legs. 

Gabby's tango was great. A perfect score, maybe not, but I do think it was one of the best of the night AND I felt like a bit of personality finally shone through.

Wayne's samba was a lot of fun. Again, maybe not a perfect score worthy, but it was genuinely a joy to watch.

Vinny now replaces Sam Champion as Most Smiley Celeb During a Dance. I'm glad to see he's having more fun. I still think he should have gone this week, but him making it through again makes me VERY worried about the next three weeks. 

Jordin's dance tonight was ok, nothing great, but her dancing to her own song was lovely to see. Also, goddamn, she was seventeen/eighteen when her biggest song came out. Damn.

Heidi is technically good, as always, but man, she really needs to figure out a way to connect to her dances or else she's surely going sooner than we think. I AM glad it's showing that she's not getting the votes, as I was worried today about her making it to the finals, but she may start to get saved by Len a lot if it continues.

Sad for Joseph, who was showing improvement bit by bit, and got screwed by the Marathon (that clearly saved Jessie or someone else that scored higher).

Overall, I AM glad it wasn't a TOTAL shock elimination for my favourites, but still not a fantastic end here.

[Melonie77]

5 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

So, congrats JJD, you being handed that win got you out of the bottom two, most likely!

Heidi is technically good, as always, but man, she really needs to figure out a way to connect to her dances or else she's surely going sooner than we think. I AM glad it's showing that she's not getting the votes, as I was worried today about her making it to the finals, but she may start to get saved by Len a lot if it continues.

Sad for Joseph, who was showing improvement bit by bit, and got screwed by the Marathon (that clearly saved Jessie or someone else that scored higher).

I just don't understand why Jessie was chosen to be gifted with that win out of all the stars who have not been doing as well. 
I too was relieved to see tonight's' bottom two revealed that Heidi is not getting a lot of votes. I hope that it's the same for Charli!
Unfortunately I think Vinnie must be getting a lot of votes as he has not been in the bottom two yet. I wish they had used the marathon to let him go. He can be entertaining but I enjoy the rest of the cast more. They should have tapped him out first before Daniel and Britt.

[Melonie77]

51 minutes ago, vibeology said:

You know what really wears me down? Tyra's constant interjections during the judging. It's awful and it ruins the flow of the show. I hate it.

Is Charli neurodiverse in some fashion? I ask because she never makes eye contact ever with anyone. Or the camera. She seemed totally checked out during the dance off.

I'm sad to see Joseph go. I think he's a better dancer than Vinny and Jesse who are still there and maybe even Trevor, Jordin and Heidi. And could have grown to be even better still. I think his potential was exciting.

Tyra is very tiresome indeed! She babbles on so rapidly it's difficult to interpret what she has said half the time.

Charli's facial expressions remind me of emojis.😁😑

[White Dog]

I was never so happy to cancel my subscription to Disney Plus. The manipulation is just so obvious. We have a TicTok dancer who doesn’t have the cajoles I guess to compete on SYTYCD so she slums it on DWTS. Then you have various people who beg for you to love them when all I wanted to see is someone learn ballroom and try to improve in the process. But Disney decides by a sneaky work around the voting with an  asinine  marathon to add points to a pathetically weak country singer in order to pull the plug on the bastard child of Arnold. I keep thinking Arnold was likely asked to be in the audience by the showrunners and maybe he and Joseph decided it was a better idea to do it his way without dad’s star. And that is what sent him home, because his dancing was better than at least 3 or 4 of the remaining “dancers” whoring for votes. 

[DietCokeJunkie]

I was sorry to see Joseph go. He seemed to be enjoying himself and was definitely better than some of the other remaining dancers. 
Heidi did not look happy to be in the bottom 2. She really gives stank face when not pleased. As much as I love Artem, she can go anytime. 
I was thrilled for Shangela and Wayne tonight. They were so good! And I loved seeing some of the eliminated pros in the opening and on the balcony. 

[boyznkatz]

Prom Night is one of the cringiest themes they've ever come up with. Please go back to Latin Night or Rock and Roll or Classical if they have to have a theme.

It was nice to see Louis and Sasha in the ballroom. I'm still pissed that Louis wasn't given a partner who could win. Why did Mark get a ringer but not him?

Edited October 19, 2022 by boyznkatz

[LadyMustang65]

5 hours ago, boyznkatz said:

Prom Night is one of the cringiest themes they've ever come up with. Please go back to Latin Night or Rock and Roll or Classical if they have to have a theme.

It was nice to see Louis and Sasha in the ballroom. I'm still pissed that Louis wasn't given a partner who could win. Why did Mark get a ringer but not him?

From something Mark said, I got the distinct impression the only reason he agreed to come back was because he was guaranteed to get Charli.  Louis was probably not so hard to get.

[ljenkins782]

21 hours ago, Melonie77 said:

I just don't understand why Jessie was chosen to be gifted with that win out of all the stars who have not been doing as well. 
I too was relieved to see tonight's' bottom two revealed that Heidi is not getting a lot of votes. I hope that it's the same for Charli!
Unfortunately I think Vinnie must be getting a lot of votes as he has not been in the bottom two yet. I wish they had used the marathon to let him go. He can be entertaining but I enjoy the rest of the cast more. They should have tapped him out first before Daniel and Britt.

I don't understand the move to save Jessie either, it seemed like the judges found her as cringe-y as I do. And there is a zero percent chance that it was anything but manipulation, Alan was literally swinging her up over his head like a toddler over and over. Even if by some miracle she danced the very best that she'd ever danced in her life (which she didn't), she'd still be worse than Wayne, Gabby, and Charli on their worst days. 

It really irritates me because it was the perfect day to get rid of her. Even if Joseph still hit the bottom 2, I would think the judges would have easily saved him over JJD, who's been stompy and desperate. I admit to feeling sorry for her in her package about her high school days and wonder if the show was trying to give her a nice moment, there were so many other references to her "tough night" that something behind the scenes drove this stupid dance marathon win.

I also don't understand how Carrie Ann could call Joseph's rumba one of the top rumbas ever done by a man in all of the years of the show and not break out the 10 paddle. Witney and Wayne got a 10 from Bruno on a rather lukewarm dance the previous night and it was clear as day that Witney knew it was a subpar performance, her utter shock at the 10 showed that she knew the score was BS. Wayne is great, but the dance (I forget which one it was) was slow and a bit dull, not his best. 

I'm very disappointed because with Jessie gone, I would really enjoy the remaining crew. Even the ones who don't always dance the best are entertaining. And watching someone like Joseph improve so much and have so much fun is much more entertaining to me than JJD desperately trying to get approval from the judges and not really getting it. Shoulda put her out of her misery when they had the chance.

[Stats Queen]

Vinnie is not a good dancer, although I do applaud his efforts.

How surprising that the dance marathon ended with Charli scoring just high enough to get the most points for both nights when Gabby and Wayne were ahead of her. That was annoying.

[Melonie77]

4 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

I don't understand the move to save Jessie either, it seemed like the judges found her as cringe-y as I do. And there is a zero percent chance that it was anything but manipulation, Alan was literally swinging her up over his head like a toddler over and over. Even if by some miracle she danced the very best that she'd ever danced in her life (which she didn't), she'd still be worse than Wayne, Gabby, and Charli on their worst days. 

It really irritates me because it was the perfect day to get rid of her. Even if Joseph still hit the bottom 2, I would think the judges would have easily saved him over JJD, who's been stompy and desperate. I admit to feeling sorry for her in her package about her high school days and wonder if the show was trying to give her a nice moment, there were so many other references to her "tough night" that something behind the scenes drove this stupid dance marathon win.

I also don't understand how Carrie Ann could call Joseph's rumba one of the top rumbas ever done by a man in all of the years of the show and not break out the 10 paddle. Witney and Wayne got a 10 from Bruno on a rather lukewarm dance the previous night and it was clear as day that Witney knew it was a subpar performance, her utter shock at the 10 showed that she knew the score was BS. Wayne is great, but the dance (I forget which one it was) was slow and a bit dull, not his best. 

I'm very disappointed because with Jessie gone, I would really enjoy the remaining crew. Even the ones who don't always dance the best are entertaining. And watching someone like Joseph improve so much and have so much fun is much more entertaining to me than JJD desperately trying to get approval from the judges and not really getting it. Shoulda put her out of her misery when they had the chance.

We both came to the same conclusions. I too thought the judges were not that excited over JJD throughout the season and was completely perplexed by the marathon results. I hate to think this but I wonder if they planned the order of elimination ahead of time as a method of score manipulation and not based on the dances at all. I noticed poor Daniel got tapped first within about 20 seconds of the dance start. I'm not sure how he could have been eliminated so quickly.

I also agree with you re Joseph's scores. Carrie Ann looked foolish proclaiming Joseph's rumba a top DWTD number and yet holding up an 8 paddle! Both Joseph and Trevor got all 8's and I couldn't help but think those scores were manipulation as well. I think both deserved at least one or two nines. Hopefully the scores will be more accurate and fair next week!

[Lady Calypso]

5 hours ago, Melonie77 said:

I noticed poor Daniel got tapped first within about 20 seconds of the dance start. I'm not sure how he could have been eliminated so quickly.

It's frustrating because they should allow some time for couples to get into the dance, but especially for Daniel, who can't hear and was placed in probably the worst spot for him to feel the music, which is far from the band AND I think even the speakers (that and Alfonso talking over the music probably didn't help Daniel much). 

I get it's a Marathon so they have to start eliminating couples at some point, but gee, wonder why Daniel was eliminated first! Oh yeah, because he's at a disadvantage but the judges have to judge fairly, I guess. 

It just sucked because 70% of the couples started doing lifts and tricks right off the bat and that's more of the reason why they lasted longer. Just lift up the woman and you're guaranteed to get farther! 

5 hours ago, Melonie77 said:

I hate to think this but I wonder if they planned the order of elimination ahead of time as a method of score manipulation and not based on the dances at all.

I am 100% convinced it was pre-planned on who would go when. Why? Because I noticed the FIRST thing Alfonso said once the couples started dancing was "Jessie and Alan NEED THIS WIN" (to paraphrase). And gee, look who won.

[MissPriss]

I agree the marathon was predetermined. How can judges see all the couples, confer, rely to Alfonso and him announce so quickly? Impossible. We know how long winded and slow the judges can be. No way this was legit. 
And if WE see through this, once the dancers catch their breath, they can see through it as well. We all deserve better‼️

[boyznkatz]

They sure were working overtime to keep Jessie around. Is she going on the tour? Maybe Heidi is going as well. They seem interested in Trevor all of a sudden, so maybe he is going too. Daniel and Vinny must have said no to them. LOL

[Ilovepie]

Really sorry to see Joseph go - he has a really nice personality and he and Daniella make a good team. I think one of favorite moments last night was when Alfonso was talking and Joseph walked behind him cradling Sasha - so dumb and funny! I would rather have seen Heidi or Jessie or Vinny go before Joseph. Bummer.

WAAAAAYYYYNNNEEE! That was The Dance! I absolutely loved it - could not stop smiling while I was watching. That and his Hamilton dance are my favorites of the season. Fire!!!!!

Shangela and Gleb are awesome - she was selling it and I was buying it! Fab!

I don't usually like the Bachelorettes on this show but I kind of love Gabby - she's so wonderfully weird and funny. Voting for herself for prom queen, I appreciated her just jokingly (sort of) owning it. And props to her for being a nurse during the pandemic. That tango was great - glad she got the top score.

Charli is very good, but man, when you compare her to the other three I mentioned, she just comes across a little robotic. I'm more interested in someone like Trevor who started so terribly and is getting better every week. I like seeing Emma really pushing him.

Jordin was overscored, but I always think contemporary is on this show because they just don't know how to judge it. I wish the show would stop doing contemporary.

[Melonie77]

On 10/20/2022 at 7:55 AM, Lady Calypso said:

I am 100% convinced it was pre-planned on who would go when. Why? Because I noticed the FIRST thing Alfonso said once the couples started dancing was "Jessie and Alan NEED THIS WIN" (to paraphrase). And gee, look who won.

YES!!! I noticed there were a number of comments that Alphonso made during his running marathon dialogue that appeared to give a pre-planned order of elimination away! 

On 10/20/2022 at 9:46 AM, MissPriss said:

I agree the marathon was predetermined. How can judges see all the couples, confer, rely to Alfonso and him announce so quickly? Impossible. We know how long winded and slow the judges can be. No way this was legit. 
And if WE see through this, once the dancers catch their breath, they can see through it as well. We all deserve better‼️

It's still a mystery to me why they chose Jessie as the recipient of this gift. I'm not rooting for her as I enjoy other dancers more but I felt bad for her when I realized that if she was not aware that night that the win was most likely a gift, then she surely knew by the next morning. I noticed that the official DWTS social media sites were hit with a lot of complaints over the marathon decisions with questions about Jessie winning and Joseph going home.

I noticed the judges had paddles with each contestants name and used those to signal to the crew members who were tapping the couples out. Alphonso was watching for those paddles. But the decisions were still made way too fast and made no sense. I don't know if this blatant manipulation is new due to the move to a streaming platform but I hope this is not something that the show will continue to do now that it's no longer on a network channel.

On 10/20/2022 at 11:02 AM, boyznkatz said:

They sure were working overtime to keep Jessie around. Is she going on the tour? Maybe Heidi is going as well. They seem interested in Trevor all of a sudden, so maybe he is going too. Daniel and Vinny must have said no to them. LOL

I've never paid much attention to which stars end up going on the tours but I thought they were usually chosen from the top contestants. Have they picked less skillful dancers other years? If so, then this is a great theory!
I was also thinking that maybe JJD complained to producers that she was feeling picked on by the judges. Perhaps she is prone to employing victim narratives?

Here is the order of how the contestants were tapped out starting with the last/top score earner first...

Jessie
Shangela
Heidi
Trevor
Charli
Gabby
Wayne
Joseph
Jordan
Vinny
Daniel

Edited October 22, 2022 by Melonie77

[Milakaren]

What's the criteria for winning in the dance marathon? I could see all of them dancing, so not sure how they got eliminated.  I felt sad to see Daniel go out first. He was doing a good job. 

Among the performances,  Wayne's samba was totally on another level. He and Whitney were so amazing.  It was the best performance for me.

Charlie's jive was low in energy,  but she still got high scores.

I enjoyed Trevor and Emma's jive more than Charlie's.  He was underscored as usual.

Gabby and Vals tango was also great. But I somehow didn't like her blowing her own trumpet.  It makes me not like her but a huge fan of Val. He is fabulous. 

Heidi and Artem were good. But not a fan of the  Jazz dance form.

Jordin was boring. And surprisingly she got 9s   Maybe I don't understand contemporary dance routines.

Jesse's dance lacked the grace. It was my least favorite.  I preferred Vinny and Joseph's dance over hers.

Daniel was great and I enjoy watching him dance. He should had got some 9s.

[realdancemom]

Haven't commented much this season since I'm way behind on episodes. I did watch memorable year because of this forum and I wanted to see Selma leave on a high note. I haven't watched the prom episode but from the episodes I have seen, Joseph was a decent dancer especially for a big guy. He did a nice rumba and was graceful not stompy.  Not the best dancer but for somebody that hasn't danced before, I think he was aware of how his body should move probably from exercising. He also seemed nice and humble. I would rather that he stayed over some other people. Don't know why Jessie won the marathon. From what I've seen, she's not a good dancer. I don't think a bunch of  lifts and tricks should count as dancing. For Jessie, my comments are based on her dancing on other episodes. 

[DancinCat]

It must be an amazing feeling to work hard all week, overcome your nerves, finish your routine well, bask in the audience's applause,
make your way over to the judges' table for critique, then

Wait! Wait! Let's take a look at this judge's old photo! Can you believe that hair?! What a hoot! Hee hee...

Anyhow, where were we? Ah well, I guess it's not important.

[RomanKat]

On 10/20/2022 at 6:55 AM, Lady Calypso said:

It's frustrating because they should allow some time for couples to get into the dance, but especially for Daniel, who can't hear and was placed in probably the worst spot for him to feel the music, which is far from the band AND I think even the speakers (that and Alfonso talking over the music probably didn't help Daniel much). 

It was a Hustle marathon.  Imho, it was a tactical error for Daniel to start off with mostly freestyle disco moves instead of basic Hustle steps.  With basic Hustle, he would have had more visual cues from facing his partner and he would have physical cues from the push / pull action inherent in Hustle partnering.

Edited October 22, 2022 by RomanKat

[anonymiss]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:55 PM, Lady Calypso said:

Honestly, I have a lot to say about the dances but I gotta get that Dance Marathon out of the way. JJD winning was...something. Yeah, sure, she was moving around, but Alan just kept lifting her up whenever it seemed like she got tired. We saw at LEAST six lifts from her, two of them she almost tumbled OVER Alan. And she wins because...well, it helps she was in the FAR corner throughout the first half, being blocked by everyone else (if the Marathon is to believed as a non-rigging comp) and the second half, all she needed was to keep her feet moving, regardless if it was actual dancing, and have Alan lift her up or her do cartwheels. So I guess the Marathon was not about dance, but about endurance? 

So, congrats JJD, you being handed that win got you out of the bottom two, most likely!

No, on to everything else that was decent!

Shangela is FINALLY scored accurately AND almost won the Dance Marathon! Shangela/Gleb were actually doing content in the Marathon, more than kicking your feet, doing cartwheels and defaulting to lifts when all else fails. But also, their dance tonight was phenomenally fun. I was surprised, but happy, Len didn't call out the "faffing about" at the start. It was just a whole lot of fun and, honestly, if everyone else can get overscored, I am 100% fine with Shangela getting those 9s she should have gotten last night and last week.

Daniel/Britt are my favourite partnership this season, full stop. They just care for each other so much and it shows. Now, I do think that Britt REALLY REALLY needs to push Daniel into tougher choreography. He has the basics down, you can see he has the fluidity and the ability to get those moves down, but she needs to give him more to do in the dances. She still hasn't figured out how to make his dances flow better and she REALLY REALLY needs to next week because he's already in some danger, just from how his scores are starting to waver. He clearly is one of the better male celebs this season, but Britt, or maybe Daniel himself, is holding him(self) back. He can absolutely do it! They just need to go all out! 

I'm gonna say it right now: Trevor/Emma's jive was my favourite dance of the night. I don't care if it wasn't the best dance, it was my favourite one to watch. Trevor does surprisingly well with these faster dances. Emma gave him great choreography....also, I REALLY love Green Day and although Basket Case isn't a jive-type song, they made it work. More pop-punk on this show! It was genuinely fun, Trevor performed it very well and it definitely goes on my top ten favourite dances of this season.

Charli's jive was off, for sure. I enjoyed Trevor's more than hers. She wasn't following through with her legs. 

Gabby's tango was great. A perfect score, maybe not, but I do think it was one of the best of the night AND I felt like a bit of personality finally shone through.

Wayne's samba was a lot of fun. Again, maybe not a perfect score worthy, but it was genuinely a joy to watch.

Vinny now replaces Sam Champion as Most Smiley Celeb During a Dance. I'm glad to see he's having more fun. I still think he should have gone this week, but him making it through again makes me VERY worried about the next three weeks. 

Jordin's dance tonight was ok, nothing great, but her dancing to her own song was lovely to see. Also, goddamn, she was seventeen/eighteen when her biggest song came out. Damn.

Heidi is technically good, as always, but man, she really needs to figure out a way to connect to her dances or else she's surely going sooner than we think. I AM glad it's showing that she's not getting the votes, as I was worried today about her making it to the finals, but she may start to get saved by Len a lot if it continues.

Sad for Joseph, who was showing improvement bit by bit, and got screwed by the Marathon (that clearly saved Jessie or someone else that scored higher).

Overall, I AM glad it wasn't a TOTAL shock elimination for my favourites, but still not a fantastic end here.

Trevor is one of my faves and progressing on track but he is being judged by the Ringer metric so is just fodder. Charli, by that same metric, did not live up to expectations and performed a very lackluster jive.

Similarly, I've enjoyed seeing Jessie work hard to grow each week. I was happy for her and Alan. It felt like my legs were aching after watching them!

Edited October 22, 2022 by anonymiss

[Melonie77]

9 hours ago, DancinCat said:

It must be an amazing feeling to work hard all week, overcome your nerves, finish your routine well, bask in the audience's applause,
make your way over to the judges' table for critique, then

Wait! Wait! Let's take a look at this judge's old photo! Can you believe that hair?! What a hoot! Hee hee...

🤣That was indeed a weird time immediately before judging to show the old prom photos! I wonder if that was another mistake made by Tyra? I enjoyed seeing the pictures but there were many far better spots during the show to reveal those photos. IMO Tyra often makes DWTS production look amateurish and clunky.

On 10/20/2022 at 2:52 PM, realdancemom said:

Haven't commented much this season since I'm way behind on episodes. I did watch memorable year because of this forum and I wanted to see Selma leave on a high note.  

Hope you are able to catch up and join us more frequently! I miss your knowledgeable dance critiques. Have you seen how well Alexis from SYTYCD is doing here on this show? Her dancing has been beautiful, she's confident and friendly, and has made a seamless transition into the dynamics of DWTS. She even filled in for a pro while they were out with COVID and did such an excellent job including having to choreograph one of his routines. I think she's a great addition to DWTS and I'm so happy for her!😊

[Melonie77]

On 10/18/2022 at 11:36 PM, White Dog said:

We have a TicTok dancer who doesn’t have the cajoles I guess to compete on SYTYCD so she slums it on DWTS.
But Disney decides by a sneaky work around the voting with an  asinine  marathon to add points to a pathetically weak country singer in order to pull the plug on the bastard child of Arnold. I keep thinking Arnold was likely asked to be in the audience by the showrunners and maybe he and Joseph decided it was a better idea to do it his way without dad’s star. And that is what sent him home, because his dancing was better than at least 3 or 4 of the remaining “dancers” whoring for votes. 

That's an interesting point about Charli. She would have been a better fit for SYTYCD than here on this show.

Regarding Joseph and Arnold....Joseph said in an interview that he had been trying to make arrangements to have his dad attend one of the shows but he was eliminated before he had the chance. I wish Arnold had at least supported Joseph's dancing on his social media. But I know he has supported him in his other endeavors so there was perhaps a chance he would have attended a DWTS show.

I wonder if the producers in their apparent wish to save Jessie did not expect Joseph to be the one that faced the consequences of the marathon scoring. They awarded Jordan, Vinny and Daniel lower points than Joseph. Maybe they either expected one of those 3 contestants to end up in the bottom two and they then would have saved Joseph, or one of those 3 could have been in the bottom with Heidi and she still would have been saved.

What bothered me the most about the marathon was that there was no criteria given for how the results were formulated. That seemed rather insulting to both the cast and viewers.

[anonymiss]

1 hour ago, Melonie77 said:

🤣That was indeed a weird time immediately before judging to show the old prom photos! I wonder if that was another mistake made by Tyra? I enjoyed seeing the pictures but there were many far better spots during the show to reveal those photos. IMO Tyra often makes DWTS production look amateurish and clunky.

It wouldn't surprise me if the awful timing was her decision. They have to give her something as EP and she bragged about having all "this input" except for casting.

[babyhouseman]

They've shown old pictures and videos of people on the show during the Tom era. I remember Maks and Derek looking so young in audition tapes I think. They showed Bruno in Elton John's music video.

I'm with Charli because of Mark. I have to admit her personality isn't very lively. I thought all social media women were bouncy and friendly like Jojo Siwa.

[Blissfool]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:20 PM, vibeology said:

Gabby going on about being cool and popular was so off-putting. And if that was supposed to be jokes, they did not land.

Yes! I found her so obnoxious. About her high school days, "I wasn't a mean girl, but I always sat at the cool table." 🙄

Glad she wasn't crowned Prom Queen in high school or here! Especially after she said she thought she deserved it.

1 hour ago, babyhouseman said:

I'm with Charli because of Mark. I have to admit her personality isn't very lively. I thought all social media women were bouncy and friendly like Jojo Siwa.

Gabby's obnoxious personality is what I expected from Charli, but instead I see that Charli is more reserved and vulnerable. I'm really liking her and I always like Mark's choreography, so that helps.

[Melonie77]

1 minute ago, Blissfool said:

Yes! I found her so obnoxious. About her high school days, "I wasn't a mean girl, but I always sat at the cool table." 🙄

Glad she wasn't crowned Prom Queen in high school or here! Especially after she said she thought she deserved it.

Gabby's obnoxious personality is what I expected from Charli, but instead I see that Charli is more reserved and vulnerable. I'm really liking her and I always like Mark's choreography, so that helps.

I watched Gabby during the last season of the Bachelorette as well as the prior season of the Bachelor. She has an odd quirky sense of humor and it's not coming off very well here on DWTS when you only see little snips of it. She really is very nice though. She actually has major issues with self-esteem due to problems with her mother so these comments she is making are definitely jokes and NOT boastful comments.

Gabby is an ICU nurse who worked with COVID patients when the pandemic first started in 2020. She was also a cheerleader for the Denver Bronchos. Check out the video linked below of a GMA interview of Gabby (which focused on her work as a nurse) as well as the comments below it. She is an accomplished, intelligent and talented person with a great sense of humor!
I don't know whether Gabby will win after a Bachelorette just won 2 seasons ago but she definitely deserves to go to the finals. And she is a better dancer that Kaitlyn Bristowe was.

[MissPriss]

Gabby is a doll. Her humor is an acquired taste. She’s intelligent, compassionate, talented and really quite humble. She has a delightful self deprecating sense of humor. I’ve watched her and read a lot about her. A bimbo she is not. 

[peachmangosteen]

I absolutely love Gabby's humor but I can see why it's something some people just don't enjoy.

[Lady Calypso]

As a non-Bachelor/ette/in Paradise fan, I know nothing about Gabby, only from what she presents on this show. I can't say I love her humour, because it borders on a very fine line between being dry humour and being mean and masking it as humour. Again, I know nothing about Gabby herself, she could be a fine person, and I always love witty/dry humour but the way she presents it could easily be misinterpreted and for a reason. 

That being said, I don't mind her and don't think she's an awful person. She seems fine, overall, just her segment this time around borders on "is she actually joking or is she not?"

[marykat71702]

I am way late posting this week, so just a couple of thoughts.

Overall, I enjoyed the show. 

I really wish we could have at least one week without a theme.

Laughed out loud at Wayne's "contractually obligated".  He killed it tonight.

Charli does not need to be behind Heidi during the after-dance interview every time.

Gabby sounded like a full-of-herself airhead tonight.

Shangela stared off slow, but picked it up toward the end. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Vinny, Daniel, Jessie,and Trevor are at least trying, and not just "phoning it in", but they should be the next to go. Vinny's Jersey Shore fanbase may keep him around for a while, though.

Gabby and Jordin are just meh and forgettable to me.

I can't stand Charli. Her mom doesn't bother me that much, to me she seems more real and somewhat relatable.

Between the bottom two, based on the amount of improvement, I feel like the judges made the right pick. 

[marykat71702]

On 10/20/2022 at 12:11 PM, Melonie77 said:

Here is the order of how the contestants were tapped out starting with the last/top score earner first...

Jessie
Shangela
Heidi
Trevor
Charli
Gabby
Wayne
Joseph
Jordan
Vinny
Daniel

I know I'm somewhat biased, but there's no way in hell that Wayne should have gone out that early.

Also, I just want to say that I write/post my comments before I read the previous comments, so if I repeat something that someone already said, it is unintentional :)

[marykat71702]

I have now read all all of the comments, and reading the ones about Gabby  were interesting and informative. I knew about her being an ICU nurse, which is awesome, and the insights about her personality/way of humor are good to know for future reference. Thanks y'all

[Melonie77]

It's interesting reading everyone's thoughts on Gabby's sense of humor....Yes, when seeing only small snippets of it on DWTS it does not come off well. It's like we're seeing only half of whatever she was joking about and not the set-up portion or the follow up but only the parts that make her sound obnoxious!

I've cringed a few times listening to her on DWTS knowing that she was NOT like this on the other shows. For those who did not see her on the Bachelor franchise, she took part in the first double bachelorette season and she was so very supportive and kind to her co-bachelorette Rachel. 

I'm hoping for a 4 person finale this year with Wayne, Gabby, Charli and Shangela! And I'd love to see Daniel and Trevor make it as long as possible!😊

[realdancemom]

23 hours ago, Melonie77 said:

Hope you are able to catch up and join us more frequently! I miss your knowledgeable dance critiques. Have you seen how well Alexis from SYTYCD is doing here on this show? Her dancing has been beautiful, she's confident and friendly, and has made a seamless transition into the dynamics of DWTS. She even filled in for a pro while they were out with COVID and did such an excellent job including having to choreograph one of his routines. I think she's a great addition to DWTS and I'm so happy for her!😊

Thank you for your comment.  However, I'm not knowledgeable in ballroom.  That would be my daughters and they don't watch this show since they think most of the contestants are pretty bad.  I'm just a fan like others on this forum.  I would say that I'm more like Bruno and CAI.  I have now watched this episode even though I still haven't watched other episodes.  I was curious about the dance marathon because of forum comments.  

After mentioning Bruno and CAI, I had the same observations about Joseph as they did.  In my previous comment, I mentioned that he had great body awareness which is what CAI said.  I also noticed that he was graceful in his upper body and I believe Bruno made a similar comment.  When it comes to eliminations, I would have to agree with the judges that Heidi is the better dancer when you judge the whole season.  But I can also see CAI's point where it would have been nice to see Joseph's progress especially with Daniella's choreography.  I love watching Alexis in the troupe.  She did great filling in while Daniella was out.  I would have also given Joseph extra points since that was two weeks that he had to deal with a different partner.  And the first week, it was a last minute substitution.  Alexis is great but dancing with a different partner still feels different especially for a non dancer to have to adjust to that.  As a side note, I also love that Koine is a pro although I hope she has a better partner in future seasons.  I like how hard Vinny is trying though and he's a funny guy.

This episode, Wayne and Gabby were the ones that shined.  Gabby has beautiful lines which I noticed in her second week dance.  This week, her personality came through in the dance too.  I didn't get her personality on the first week.  But I get it now.  She is trying to be funny but I can see where it could come off wrong with the little clips that we get.  Wayne and Witney was just fantastic.  I love Witney's fusion choreography and Wayne is the type of performer and dancer that can pull it off.  I'm rooting for him to win.

Shangela and Charli need to combine their skill sets to be a perfect dancer.  Charli is technically excellent and it's nice to see Mark being able to fully use his choreography skills on a talented dancer. I've also never been opposed to ringers.  At least, she's honest about it not like that Catfish guy.  I liked watching Jojo last season.  The difference between Jojo and Charli is that Jojo was not just technically excellent but she's a good performer too.  Charli is not exciting to watch.  Even during the marathon, I thought Mark and Charli were playing it safe.  I can see why they were knocked out. I thought Mark's partnership with Paige was more exciting.  Even Lindsey S. was more enjoyable to watch because she put some personality in her dances.

Shangela has personality for days.  But I cringe when I see her legs and feet.  She needs to work on that and other technique issues so she can get the same scores as the top three.

As for the marathon, it did help me to watch it.  From what TPTB showed us, I can see why Jessie won.  The second dance was Lindy Hop, so the lifts make more sense now than when I previously read the comments.  Mark and Charli were not fun to watch since they played it too safe.  Trevor and Emma were fun but he did get tired there and I think he fell or they botched a lift right before they were eliminated.  I have no idea how Wayne or Gabby did since they weren't really shown.  It was probably on purpose so that you couldn't see how good they were.  Shangela landed very awkwardly during a lift even before other contestants were eliminated.  And again, her legs and feet bother me.  Jessie and Alan kept doing the same lift but at least they kept their energy up and the dancing was decent.

Edit to add - I forgot that I was going to mention that while Mark should and did get the younger contestants when he first joined the show, he's older now and Charli should have been partnered with a younger pro like Brandon and Alan.  I'm glad he shaved for prom night because while his beard matched for anxiety, he was looking really scruffy and shaving made him look at least a little bit younger.  I know it's about height too and Brandon pairing with Jordan made sense.  Alan is also tall.  Plus Mark would have never come back to be partnered with Jessie.

Edited October 23, 2022 by realdancemom

[Melonie77]

42 minutes ago, realdancemom said:

Thank you for your comment.  However, I'm not knowledgeable in ballroom.  That would be my daughters and they don't watch this show since they think most of the contestants are pretty bad.  I'm just a fan like others on this forum.  I would say that I'm more like Bruno and CAI.  I have now watched this episode even though I still haven't watched other episodes.  I was curious about the dance marathon because of forum comments.  

After mentioning Bruno and CAI, I had the same observations about Joseph as they did.  In my previous comment, I mentioned that he had great body awareness which is what CAI said.  I also noticed that he was graceful in his upper body and I believe Bruno made a similar comment.  When it comes to eliminations, I would have to agree with the judges that Heidi is the better dancer when you judge the whole season.  But I can also see CAI's point where it would have been nice to see Joseph's progress especially with Daniella's choreography.  I love watching Alexis in the troupe.  She did great filling in while Daniella was out.  I would have also given Joseph extra points since that was two weeks that he had to deal with a different partner.  And the first week, it was a last minute substitution.  Alexis is great but dancing with a different partner still feels different especially for a non dancer to have to adjust to that.  As a side note, I also love that Koine is a pro although I hope she has a better partner in future seasons.  I like how hard Vinny is trying though and he's a funny guy.

This episode, Wayne and Gabby were the ones that shined.  Gabby has beautiful lines which I noticed in her second week dance.  This week, her personality came through in the dance too.  I didn't get her personality on the first week.  But I get it now.  She is trying to be funny but I can see where it could come off wrong with the little clips that we get.  Wayne and Witney was just fantastic.  I love Witney's fusion choreography and Wayne is the type of performer and dancer that can pull it off.  I'm rooting for him to win.

Shangela and Charli need to combine their skill sets to be a perfect dancer.  Charli is technically excellent and it's nice to see Mark being able to fully use his choreography skills on a talented dancer. I've also never been opposed to ringers.  At least, she's honest about it not like that Catfish guy.  I liked watching Jojo last season.  The difference between Jojo and Charli is that Jojo was not just technically excellent but she's a good performer too.  Charli is not exciting to watch.  Even during the marathon, I thought Mark and Charli were playing it safe.  I can see why they were knocked out. I thought Mark's partnership with Paige was more exciting.  Even Lindsey S. was more enjoyable to watch because she put some personality in her dances.

Shangela has personality for days.  But I cringe when I see her legs and feet.  She needs to work on that and other technique issues so she can get the same scores as the top three.

As for the marathon, it did help me to watch it.  From what TPTB showed us, I can see why Jessie won.  The second dance was Lindy Hop, so the lifts make more sense now than when I previously read the comments.  Mark and Charli were not fun to watch since they played it too safe.  Trevor and Emma were fun but he did get tired there and I think he fell or they botched a lift right before they were eliminated.  I have no idea how Wayne or Gabby did since they weren't really shown.  It was probably on purpose so that you couldn't see how good they were.  Shangela landed very awkwardly during a lift even before other contestants were eliminated.  And again, her legs and feet bother me.  Jessie and Alan kept doing the same lift but at least they kept their energy up and the dancing was decent.

If you have the time to catch up on the rest of the episodes they are worth it - the show is improved this season with less Tyra, a return to opening number dances, more time with cast during rehearsals, expanded troupe / pro numbers and demonstrations, a live audience, no commercials, a great cast and some really special partnerships!

Great point that Joseph should have been awarded a higher score for dealing with a substitute partner. He and several others have been regularly underscored by the judges this year.
I didn't realize that Vinnie's pro partner was Koine from SYTYCD until the second or third week! She's using the name KoKo here and I didn't recognize her nor associate her with ballroom as I think she is a trained contemporary dancer. The only other non-ballroom pro I remember DWTS hiring was Allison Holker. But Koine / KoKo is fabulous dancer no matter what style she is performing. I remember her being on the same season as Lex on SYTYCD where I loved their Pizza Dance! Here it is if anyone else wants to see this really fun performance with Vinnie's pro. Koko and her partner Lex came in first and second in their SYTYCD season:

[anonymiss]

I think it's just really disingenuous when someone who is obviously extremely confident pretends not to be. You don't have major self-esteem issues and insecurity "being sexy," like she claimed to have if you're throwing yourself into the public eye/show business where your persona is largely dependent on your looks, have Broncos Cheerleader on your resume, and, sign up for The Bachelor and Bachelorette.

That's why her "jokes" are off, too; they seem like humble brags or fishing for compliments. She claimed imposter syndrome and said high scores are needed to fix that when she already has always been tied near the top.

Edited October 23, 2022 by anonymiss

[boyznkatz]

I have mixed feelings about Gabby. I have the utmost respect for anyone who was a doctor or nurse during the pandemic. However, she does come off as playing dumb and fishing for compliments, which makes her seem obnoxious. She would probably come off a lot better if she presents herself as the intelligent person she obviously is. That said, she and her dancing are beautiful.

[Melonie77]

3 hours ago, realdancemom said:

As for the marathon, it did help me to watch it.  From what TPTB showed us, I can see why Jessie won.  The second dance was Lindy Hop, so the lifts make more sense now than when I previously read the comments.  Mark and Charli were not fun to watch since they played it too safe.  Trevor and Emma were fun but he did get tired there and I think he fell or they botched a lift right before they were eliminated.  I have no idea how Wayne or Gabby did since they weren't really shown.  It was probably on purpose so that you couldn't see how good they were.  Shangela landed very awkwardly during a lift even before other contestants were eliminated.  And again, her legs and feet bother me.  Jessie and Alan kept doing the same lift but at least they kept their energy up and the dancing was decent.

I watched the marathon once again after reading your comments including the cast led explanations of how it was going to work. Derek did mention that they would be looking for stamina and endurance. It was also stated that improv and 'creative moments' would be important. Was this the entire range of their criteria? What about technique? If so, it certainly would have helped if they had explained why each person landed in the spot they did and what specifically the top score earners did to win. I still don't understand how Wayne and Gabby went out when they did nor how Jessie won without more creativity and less sloppiness.

I do enjoy these contests (despite being puzzled over the results of this one), and I'm hoping they have team dances this year as well as the trio dances.

[White Dog]

On 10/22/2022 at 1:13 PM, Melonie77 said:

Regarding Joseph and Arnold....Joseph said in an interview that he had been trying to make arrangements to have his dad attend one of the shows but he was eliminated before he had the chance. I wish Arnold had at least supported Joseph's dancing on his social media. But I know he has supported him in his other endeavors so there was perhaps a chance he would have attended a DWTS show

I think Arnold or his people decided it would be too awkward for him to be there. Maria Shriver has power in Hollywood, enough to lobby to have kept a drama about her famous uncle off the air. As there are some who are sympathetic to what Maria went through, they may have wanted to nip it in the bud before fans started up the old gossip.  If there were no problems Arnold could have been there the first week like Bruce Willis or Ozzy Osbourne that hugely affected how the audience viewed their children as contestants. Big names in the audience affect ratings and votes. They were desperate this year with pushing the Kardashians. Arnold wasn't coming.  So, for DWTS despite his improvement as a dancer, Joseph was expendable. Parents come when they are needed, except when the contestant is the reason for a messy public divorce 

Edited October 23, 2022 by White Dog

[White Dog]

3 hours ago, anonymiss said:

hat's why her "jokes" are off, too; they seem like humble brags or fishing for compliments. She claimed imposter syndrome and said high scores are needed to fix that when she already has always been tied near the top.

Edited 2 hours ago by anonymiss

Exactly she's pulling this humble act for the show but she doesn't believe what she's shovelling. 

[Melonie77]

23 minutes ago, White Dog said:

I think Arnold or his people decided it would be too awkward for him to be there. Maria Shriver has power in Hollywood, enough to lobby to have kept a drama about her famous uncle off the air. As there are some who are sympathetic to what Maria went through, they may have wanted to nip it in the bud before fans started up the old gossip.  If there were no problems Arnold could have been there the first week like Bruce Willis or Ozzy Osbourne that hugely affected how the audience viewed their children as contestants.. Big names in the audience affect ratings and votes. They were desperate this year with pushing the Kardashians because Arnold wasn't coming.  So for DWTS despite his improvement as a dancer, he was expendable . Parents come when they are needed, except when circumstances and a messy public divorce prevent it.

If true about Maria Shriver preventing Arnold from attending I think that's very sad because Joseph seemed to believe his father was planning to come for one performance. Cher came to see Chaz dance - but only one night from what I remember.

I'm not sure what you mean by the show pushing the Kardashians. I remember some of them being in the audience but can't recall who they were there to see. Was it Joseph?