Season 33.E09: Semifinals

[Irlandesa]

55 minutes ago, DietCokeJunkie said:

I wonder who was really supposed to go home tonight that they decided to protect with no elimination?

Do you mean who was on the bottom?  That's a good question.

If you mean who was scheduled to leave, no one.  Someone let it slip a few days ago that it'd be a 5-person finale, which became obvious once the three-hour finale came out. So production knew that no one was leaving before the opening dance.   

[Andiethewestie]

I still have a strong opinion that Chandler was most vulnerable. Perhaps she got a rally of support after the hate fest on line last week. That would be great wherever she can find the support because the personal attacks have returned. Last week she had a bad vibe.Now she's a smug self entitled bitch that doesn't take criticism because they were confused by Carrie Ann's deduction.
 

The confusion is warranted btw. In Dancesport unintentional lifts which this was, are not deducted from the score. But even if it's just Carrie Ann's rules she is inconsistent.

Allen choreographed a lift for Ilona's Foxtrot and Witney choreographed an assisted lift on their Quickstep last week. So it's a bit exhausting I'm sure for this team to be nitpicked. Carrie Ann just won't give that gorgeous foxtrot a 10. It was danced right on the edge beautiful dance topline, and lovely over sway. I am as always disappointed in Carrie Ann. 

[boyznkatz]

11 hours ago, LexieLily said:

Sorry, not sorry, but five people are too many for a finale. 

Everyone gets a participation trophy!

[babyhouseman]

I wonder even though she's so good, would Chandler have gone? The others have established fan bases: Bachelor, Olympic, sports. It's just a theory. We'll find out next week.

[FilmTVGeek80]

19 hours ago, Desperado said:

“A friend for life” has been said so often on this show and I haven’t believed it for one second, ever. 🤣

I think it is true for many of them. I know some of the previous pairings have stayed friends. Heck, a few have gotten engaged or married.

Ugh!! Echo those who think a five-person finale is too much. At least last year, when they pulled "Shocker, no one is being eliminated," there were only four people in the finale. I had an inkling this would happen because I didn't finish the ep last night, and today I saw an E! headline about the "shocking" elimination twist. Since they indicated it was a twist that was allegedly shocking and not an elimination, I wondered. Before the last segment, the way Julianne stressed how unimaginable it would be to lose any of them seemed fishy. Also, you can usually tell when they do stuff like this because there's so little time in the last segment. Once I saw there were only four minutes left, I was pretty sure no one was getting eliminated. Even though I hated it, Stephen and Ilona's reactions were cute.

I still believe they're trying to protect Chandler. I guess they feel we can't have a finale without a teen, Disney kid, or Bachelor/Bachelorette contestant. 

Chandler reminds me so much of Charli and other contestants like her. I can tell her dances are technically good, but for the most part, they make me feel nothing. Bruno mentioned how unforgettable her foxtrot was, and I forgot about it before she had even finished.

I didn't realize how forgettable Danny was until I was shocked to completely forget he hadn't performed his final dance. I find him and Joey almost interchangeable, except Joey does really well at emoting. I think Danny tries, but I feel like he always looks dead behind the eyes, and whatever character he's attempting feels hollow.

Ilona did have a great night. My favorite two dances of the night were her waltz and Stephen's tango. I almost had to watch Stephen's cha-cha through my fingers. He must have completely given up on sexy because he smiled that goofy smile of his two seconds into the dance, and I was like, "Cute, but not sexy." There were other obvious mistakes. I agree with Derek that I love the song for their tango - "Sweet Disposition." My heart was in my throat when I saw his glasses were askew. I agree with Carrie-Ann; how he handled that (and Rylee as well) was impressive!

Like I said, I hate the idea of a five-person finale. I hope they do like they used to when they had four-person and three-person finales where all the finalists did the dances, and then they eliminated one contestant right after the freestyle. 

[iMonrey]

3 hours ago, babyhouseman said:

I wonder even though she's so good, would Chandler have gone? The others have established fan bases: Bachelor, Olympic, sports.

So long as the judges keep her in first place she's not going anywhere. Votes can't overcome low scores, and Stephen was far enough down there he probably would have gone (53 versus Chandler's 58). 

[Backwards999]

On 11/19/2024 at 9:22 PM, Irlandesa said:

Chandler is so good but I find Brandon's choreo kind of boring.  I miss the kinds of routines someone like Derek used to do with his ringers.

 

Can we talk about this because...Yes, this is a huge problem for me as well.  Take this episode for example, other stars that are not anywhere near as good as her dance wise had great dances because the music and routine were superb like Stephen's Tango for example.  Half the time, I don't even like the music Chandler is dancing to.  To me, sometimes Brandon doesn't choreograph well for entertainment and television (music, groove, interesting choreo, choreoing to his partners strengths, etc can be off sometimes). He's doing much better this year (The Rhumba to Billie Eilish was exceptional), but I hope he can pull something spectacular off for the finale because I doubt if she has a large fanbase.  Still, I would love to see them win.  He's never been this close and she may be a ringer but a bit of an underdog in the fan department imo.

Edited Yest. at 10:38 AM by Backwards999

[SunnieDays]

I firmly believe that Chandler was going to be eliminated and thus the five person finale. She is an exceptional dancer but she somehow doesn't connect with anyone I know. Of all the people I talk to no one mentions Chandler as the person they are rooting for. Something about her performances seem cold to me. I don't think Brandon has the audience draw of a Val to carry her through either. 

[Andiethewestie]

2 hours ago, SunnieDays said:

I firmly believe that Chandler was going to be eliminated and thus the five person finale. She is an exceptional dancer but she somehow doesn't connect with anyone I know. Of all the people I talk to no one mentions Chandler as the person they are rooting for. Something about her performances seem cold to me. I don't think Brandon has the audience draw of a Val to carry her through either. 

 Oh she will be eliminated but  imho not for the reasons stated.
 

In my home  she is by far the most beautiful entertaining dance contestant we have seen in quite a while. She has been robbed of perfect scores to create some asinine drama. And keeping those scores at razor thin margins ensures she will be eliminated because the social media cockroaches have pelted her with boring and too much dance experience as if this were new.
 

What is new is how blatant the racism.  What is new is Carrie Ann not giving a perfect score to the Viennese Waltz because it's judged differently? And what is new is saving that goddam lift police for Chandler and no one else all season for probably one of the best Foxtrots in the history of the show. What isn't new is fans defending Carrie Ann because the contestant being penalized isn't their favorite. When it's anyone else, they go after Carrie Ann.
 

In a season of firsts, only Joey gets an official mention as the first Bachelor to make the finals. 

There is no mention at all that Chandler and Brandon are the first Black couple to make the finals in 33 seasons. 

And while all the others have their gimmicks and their championships in other areas for me their poor dancing is about as entertaining as a drunk uncle at a wedding. Marginal improvement to simple choreography or going backwards and not being able to do one Latin ballroom doesn't hold much for me to vote for.

She is being used for the Carrie Ann drama, She is attacked all over social media and many are very vocal about how much she is disliked and dismissed.again she's taking the deluge on social media so it very clear the voters of this demographic don't want her around

Brandon has hinted their Freestyle will be a celebration of their reaching that milestone. And it of course will be met with racist and misogynistic vitriol. And yet being able to showcase a little piece of the black culture in dance will be fire I'm excited to see if it's a little bit of Alvin Ailey, or Lindy or African Jazz or Hip Hop the sky is the only limit. It's amazing just how much dance has benefitted from the black experience. But then again it's not hard to imagine how much the culture is appropriated but not credited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[boyznkatz]

Other contestants have incorporated black culture into their freestyles. Amber Riley comes to mind and there were others. Brandon's choreo is pretty vanilla and I don't see him being influenced by Alvin Ailey, but we'll see. Here is his chance to show what he can do.

I wish they would have some actual pros who actually ARE influenced by ethnic choreography and incorporate it into the show. Derek has attempted to do it, although he was more miss than hit (that monkey bangra dance he did with Shawn Johnson was horrible) but I do appreciate the effort. I'm Indian, so know crappy Indian choreography when I see it, but I loved that they used to attempt Bollywood.

Edited 18 hours ago by boyznkatz

[Ilovepie]

I agree with everyone that five in the finals is too many, but I can't be mad because all five bring something different to the dance floor and are all really likeable. I think the leaderboard at the end was accurate - Chandler and Joey tied, Ilona in the middle and Danny and Stephen at the bottom. 

I think Chandler, Joey and Ilona had the best nights, and Chandler is objectively the best dancer left (as she should be), but I just am always so bored by her. Is it that Brandon is mediocre? Is it that she is boring as far as personality? Is it that she and Brandon have no chemistry? Is it that I am over the perky Disney kids? I don't know, but she is not my favorite. Even though she is great, when this season is over, I won't remember any of her dances except maybe that Tango from last week which I thought was stellar.

I hate all the bachelor/bachelorettes almost as much as the Disney kids, but I love Joey. Now here is a team that has chemistry for days! And he has all the charisma and great technique despite NO dance training. I loved their foxtrot. Go Joey!

I love both Olympians, but I feel like Ilona has improved more than Stephen, and maybe that is because of the pros they are paired with. Mark got more out of Stephen in one session than Rylee did all season. When Ilona says she and Alan will be friends for life I believe her - they are awesome together and you can see how much he adores her. Love them and glad they made it to the finale. Even if they don't win (and I do think it's a possibility - they are hugely popular on SM) I think they just wanted to go all the way so they could keep dancing and hanging out together and that is fine with me.

Danny is my least favorite of the five that are left. Witney over-relies on tricks and lifts and I think that's boring. He's cute, but kind of boring and I really think they are only here because of that trick on his contemporary being so viral on social media. He's the only one I really don't want to win.

[Meowwww]

So.   I watch this show for the journey.  The non-dancer, no dance training, finding themselves dancing and full of joy. Ilona does that for me.  Her smile when she waltzed…..so lovely.  
I vote on this emotion and I vote on how these people make me feel when they dance. Chandler, while gorgeous, does nothing for my emotions. I certainly don’t see racism.

I think there are lots of people like me out there.  
 

[Andiethewestie]

2 hours ago, boyznkatz said:

Brandon's choreo is pretty vanilla and I don't see him being influenced by Alvin Ailey

Well both contestants are Black. Derek and Shawn appropriating Indian culture was farcical because neither one is nor do they care about the cultural detail.
 

Brandon's choreo for Soul Train Night was the only memorable piece that celebrates the cultural with a super slick ChaCha infused with LL Cool J inspired Run DMC old school hip hop. So creative and fun.
 

Maybe it's ambitious to consider Alvin Ailey but there's no question I could see some tribute by the girl who  is inspired by it, or by an icon like Debbie Allen. But there's so many directions they could go. One of the reasons Iman was so successful in his freestyle is Dani had the courage to meet him where he lives with the Chicago footwork. 

Part of me would love to finally see a Samba inspired by the Black Brazilian culture. Whatever they do I won't be bored 
 

[boyznkatz]

37 minutes ago, Andiethewestie said:

 

Part of me would love to finally see a Samba inspired by the Black Brazilian culture. Whatever they do I won't be bored 
 

Now that would be awesome. Why not get some pros from other countries like Brazil? Their usual vanilla Utah pros aren't going to do it.

[A.Ham]

7 hours ago, SunnieDays said:

I firmly believe that Chandler was going to be eliminated and thus the five person finale. She is an exceptional dancer but she somehow doesn't connect with anyone I know. Of all the people I talk to no one mentions Chandler as the person they are rooting for. Something about her performances seem cold to me. I don't think Brandon has the audience draw of a Val to carry her through either. 

The first show I thought I would be rooting for Joey but Chandler has fully won me over and she would be my pick to win. I also prefer Brandon's choreo to Val's.  I wouldn't be able to point out reasons why I would find Brandon's choreo sub-par, so I do not get the criticism--I felt the same way with Lele last season, she should definitely have made it further. I just connect to his work, I suppose. But maybe I am an outlier, I do tend to like ringers and have no issue with people with dance experience. I have rooted for non-ringers as well throughout the years, but if someone wants me to watch a dancing show, I need to see good dancing, not just amateurs.

[twilightzone]

6 hours ago, SunnieDays said:

I firmly believe that Chandler was going to be eliminated and thus the five person finale. She is an exceptional dancer but she somehow doesn't connect with anyone I know. Of all the people I talk to no one mentions Chandler as the person they are rooting for. Something about her performances seem cold to me. I don't think Brandon has the audience draw of a Val to carry her through either. 

It's because she's had more professional dance training than any of the others.  And viewers traditionally love rooting for the underdogs.  That was the original spirit of DWTS and what put the show on the map - taking someone who had no dance experience, getting them out of their comfort zone and doing something totally foreign.  It will ultimately come down to the viewer votes and most viewers aren’t going to nick-pick over every little move.  Relatability, Personality, Heart matters.

[boyznkatz]

13 minutes ago, A.Ham said:

The first show I thought I would be rooting for Joey but Chandler has fully won me over and she would be my pick to win. I also prefer Brandon's choreo to Val's.  I wouldn't be able to point out reasons why I would find Brandon's choreo sub-par, so I do not get the criticism--I felt the same way with Lele last season, she should definitely have made it further. I just connect to his work, I suppose. But maybe I am an outlier, I do tend to like ringers and have no issue with people with dance experience. I have rooted for non-ringers as well throughout the years, but if someone wants me to watch a dancing show, I need to see good dancing, not just amateurs.

I too liked Lele and was pissed when she got eliminated too early. I think Brandon has grown as a choreographer and it will be interesting to see what he does in a freestyle. IMO he plays it too safe, but it would be nice to see if he really goes for it and does something innovative. Same goes for Rylee. Her choreography has been meh so far, but let's see what she can do in a freestyle.

I'm really not interested in yet another Alan or Witney freestyle. I can't remember a single one either one of them did.

[realdancemom]

I also think Chandler is the one that would have been eliminated. Five people is a lot for the finale. However, if it means that she and Brandon stay, I'm all for it. I think Danny or Stephen should have been eliminated if it was based on dancing. That wasn't going to happen based on fans.

There are people on FB complaining that Danny and Witney should have received 10s for their salsa. Yes, their lifts are amazing especially the first one where she shot up so high. But he was mostly standing there setting up for the next lift. What little dance steps existed were not good. He's very stiff and stompy.  His facial expressions are stoic. I think his best dance in terms of performance was his jazz since we got to see some humor.

Stephen doesn't do sexy or hips. I don't understand why the costume people can't put some back strap on his glasses so they don't fall off. Each strap could match his outfit color. If they can bedazzle Anna's ankle monitor, they should be able to do that. My eyes aren't that great but not as bad as his. I would still be squinting and not dance as well without glasses though. 

Ilona for most improved. She looked gorgeous, sexy, and powerful in her paso.  I can see her winning based on social media. I think her personality makes somebody want to root for her. She was so happy getting her scores on the first show. 

I believe Brandon was teaching proper technique for each dance. However, freestyle is anything goes so he isn't restricted to a certain style. Today, I saw Derek's FB post where he acknowledged his first dance teacher, Rick Robinson. He was one of the owners of Vibe so he has taught most of the Utah ballroom dancers, especially the ones you see on the show, like Brandon and Witney. Rick not only is a great Latin ballroom dancer but is an excellent hip hop dancer. I'm saying this since I'm sure Brandon is capable of fusing different styles like he did during soul train night. Or he can ask for help from his mentor, one of Debbie Allen's instructors, or maybe Debbie Allen herself. Fingers crossed since Chandler is very capable of doing an excellent freestyle. 

[crowceilidh]

I am team Joey , I guess because he is so amazing as an amateur.  One thing I noticed in that show when Witney seemed to be blocking the cameras from seeing Danny (I would be happy for him to go out first or second) was that Jenna has NOT been blocking the cameras (which she can do when warranted).

I'm always very interested in what Chandler is going to do, because I appreciate her talent and skill -- she is getting better at projecting emotion (maybe), but there can be big problems with cameras and lighting where black contestants are concerned.  I remember it from Danny Tidwell's season on SYTYCD, a long time ago now - we had long discussions about it back then and a group of us watched carefully for it to improve.  It seemed to sorta improve eventually (Cyrus and Comfort), but I definitely feel that if the cameras were closer to Chandler's face, or if she was lit better, that the complaints about her emoting would be more muted. And, as I've said before, I just don't find Brandon that interesting, although this particular epi disproved that.

Steven and Danny should be gone.  This is going to be a loooong 3 hours.  

[realdancemom]

5 minutes ago, crowceilidh said:

I am team Joey , I guess because he is so amazing as an amateur.  One thing I noticed in that show when Witney seemed to be blocking the cameras from seeing Danny (I would be happy for him to go out first or second) was that Jenna has NOT been blocking the cameras (which she can do when warranted).

I'm always very interested in what Chandler is going to do, because I appreciate her talent and skill -- she is getting better at projecting emotion (maybe), but there can be big problems with cameras and lighting where black contestants are concerned.  I remember it from Danny Tidwell's season on SYTYCD, a long time ago now - we had long discussions about it back then and a group of us watched carefully for it to improve.  It seemed to sorta improve eventually (Cyrus and Comfort), but I definitely feel that if the cameras were closer to Chandler's face, or if she was lit better, that the complaints about her emoting would be more muted. And, as I've said before, I just don't find Brandon that interesting, although this particular epi disproved that.

Steven and Danny should be gone.  This is going to be a loooong 3 hours.  

I noticed that about Witney covering up Danny too. You couldn't see what he was doing most of the time he was doing dance steps. I'm sure that was on purpose. Jenna like the other female pros know how to dance circles around their male partners to make the routine interesting and distract from their partners. It's nice that Jenna doesn't have to do that this season. Joey has great musicality probably from his drumming. I did not see where he lost timing in his foxtrot. I guess it happened since both CAI and Bruno pointed it out. If it was just one of them, I would be skeptical. I will say that song was fast for a foxtrot. It seemed more like a QS. But the concept was excellent and Joey pulled it off nicely.

I think DWTS fans are brutal with Chandler. When she was showing her fierce face for the AT, people would say that she has a bad attitude. She can't win with those type of fans. 

[boyznkatz]

Joey and Chandler are both good. I hope they are the final two.

[RomanKat]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So long as the judges keep her in first place she's not going anywhere. Votes can't overcome low scores, and Stephen was far enough down there he probably would have gone (53 versus Chandler's 58). 

The final margins behind Joey/Chandler: Ilona 0.4%, Danny 1.4%, Stephen 1.8%. Considerably smaller than last week wrt Chandler (2.5%, 2.8%, 1.9%). I was tracking margins during the show. For a while, I thought they might be targeting Stephen, but when they didn't mark down for the second dance--despite being gifted the opportunity to apologetically do so after the glasses mishap--It was clear that they weren't caring about margins anymore. They did their job in the quarter-finals, getting the finale 5 they wanted.

With two weeks of combined scores, those margins are more likely to close than to open. The judges will have work to do, should they want separation. The combined fan vote margins also are likely to close, but those may already be decisively big. Looks to me like the producers are satisfied to go with the fan vote results.

4 hours ago, boyznkatz said:

Now that would be awesome. Why not get some pros from other countries like Brazil? Their usual vanilla Utah pros aren't going to do it.

The only "other country" pipelines they pursued were International versions of DWTS (e.g. Kym, Gleb, Artem) and Burn the Floor (e.g. Peta, Sharna, Emma, Tristan, Sasha, Keo). Indirectly, those who competed on other tv dance shows like SYTYCD & WOD (e.g. Dmitry, Pasha, potentially Roman).

When Miami dancers started making waves on other pipeline shows, I thought they might become the next talent pool for DWTS. But that fizzled fast. One troupe season each for Sofia Ghavami and D'Angelo Castro, then two pro seasons for ballroom-transitioned Koko...and they're back to mostly Utah and Eastern European prospects. At least they're finding more diversity among the Utah prospects, even if their cultural identity is primarily still Utah.

Edited 11 hours ago by RomanKat

[Andiethewestie]

4 hours ago, Meowwww said:

watch this show for the journey.  The non-dancer, no dance training, finding themselves dancing and

I watch for dance first. If a non dancer does something extraordinary I'll root for them hard , like Gilles Marini doing an incredible AT or Iman Shumpert just bodying that electric contemporary, or Jason Mraz impressing the Lindy Hop experts. They are worth voting for. They go beyond simply being great personalities, they take the assignment and move with it.
 

Cheryl said in her podcast that Chandler 's dance experience isn't the great experience for ballroom that people think it is. In fact her training can be counter productive to learning as she has to unlearn a lot of her training and she says she's never lied about training which bring integrity to the process. Cheryl said you wouldn't believe the number of people who lie about their dance training just to get an advantage but she didn't name names.
 

What I wont vote for ever is people who lie about their experience in dance in order to get a leg up. People like Mario Lopez and Riker Lynch assholed their way to top two because they bald faced lied about their experience. Jimmy Kimmel outed Lopez after he said he had no training whatsoever and Lynch competed in Dancesport against his DWTS trios partner Brittany Cherry. That's some balls to go on a ballroom dance show to downplay that. 
 

Oh but Chandler hasn't had a journey. Except she's had the bumpy ride of her life dealing with the hate, and Carrie Ann ginning up the hate for no apparent reason except she hates women of colour. She now has Maks in her corner after the latest bs from Carrie Ann. I was shocked he would say anything given his sister in law is in the competition, but he did, I guess he hates Carrie Ann more and didn't waste the opportunity. 
 

 

[peachmangosteen]

7 hours ago, Andiethewestie said:

What is new is how blatant the racism.  What is new is Carrie Ann not giving a perfect score to the Viennese Waltz because it's judged differently? And what is new is saving that goddam lift police for Chandler and no one else all season for probably one of the best Foxtrots in the history of the show. What isn't new is fans defending Carrie Ann because the contestant being penalized isn't their favorite. When it's anyone else, they go after Carrie Ann.

Unfortunately, I don't really think any of that is new.

[Andiethewestie]

1 hour ago, peachmangosteen said:

Unfortunately, I don't really think any of that is new

Maybe not but I had no idea the extent of the hate and misogyny until Charity Lawson went public after the season last year. She of course is helping Chandler get to the other side of this abusive behaviour by the show and how it invites racisim to flourish. It is emcouraging  that Charity, Brittany, Jenn, Cheryl Burke and Maks Chmerkovskiy are speaking out about the inequities. That kind of support we haven't seen because for all its faults social media also reveals the truth about how this show really feels about black contestants 
 

 

[Stats Queen]

The only social media I follow a little bit is X. People on X were blasting CAI and were encouraging others to vote for Chandler. (maybe I successfully blocked most of the jerks)