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S23: James Hinchcliffe: Racing Around The Dancefloor

radishcake

By radishcake
in Dancing With The Stars

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Mondayeve
Mondayeve

I am proud of James and what he was able to do coming from where he came.  I loved his little speech when he came in second and I thought he was gracious in his second place.  James was always graciou

sparrowtime
sparrowtime

What's not to like about James? He's good looking, funny, personable and a great dancer! I would love a  Team StopAndGo victory.

Mondayeve
Mondayeve

That's what Len always says about the AT and I agree.  He says it is an intimate club dance and sets a mood.  I always feel the AT is the dance where the man and the woman are alone in the room and re

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PhD-Purgatory15

PhD-Purgatory15

Visually, he looks a little like the country music singer Kip Moore.

He seems to have a positive, I'm not going to take myself too seriously kind of attitude. But if you were purely asking people for their snap judgment, name recognition this season he'd surely be at the bottom of the cast list along with Terra Jole.

http://beyondtheflag.com/2016/08/31/hinchcliffe-dancing-stars-interview/

I found it interesting, that he was actually scouted last spring and was invited to a DWTS taping in conjuction with a race in California and an appearance on ABC's Celebrity Family Feud.

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CED9

CED9

(edited)

They did a little Facebook Live Q&A this morning if anyone is interested to watch. They seem to have a good vibe between them. Sounds like they have a Ballroom dance first. Crossing my fingers for Foxtrot.

http://facebook.com/Hinchtown

ETA: Found a YouTube link:

Edited by CED9
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RedFiat

RedFiat

(edited)

He's Canadian?  Count me in!  It bugs though, nobody outside the US can vote, not even on FB  this season.   Way to alienate a fanbase. :(  I guess the show MUST get their  US Olympian a win since they also hired a douchebag US Olympian for trainwreck ratings.  

Really unfair how they do this stuff.   I guess I'm not as interested in this show this season afterall. 

Edited by RedFiat
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Uke

Uke

(edited)
5 hours ago, RedFiat said:

He's Canadian?  Count me in!  It bugs though, nobody outside the US can vote, not even on FB  this season.   Way to alienate a fanbase. :(  I guess the show MUST get their  US Olympian a win since they also hired a douchebag US Olympian for trainwreck ratings.  

Really unfair how they do this stuff.   I guess I'm not as interested in this show this season afterall. 

It's really so unfair. They opened up everything for Bindi - people in Australia could watch the videos and vote, so it proves they can do it if they want to, or for who they want to.

Edited by Uke
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simplyme

simplyme

56 minutes ago, Uke said:

It's really so unfair. They opened up everything for Bindi - people in Australia could watch the videos and vote, so it proves they can do it if they want to, or for who they want to.

Sorry, Canada, but we're still pissed you exported Justin Bieber.

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RedFiat

RedFiat

(edited)
17 hours ago, simplyme said:

Sorry, Canada, but we're still pissed you exported Justin Bieber.

I'd buy that but they opened up the voting for Canada when Pam Anderson was on.  Now they got a really good dancer and the voting is closed. He's even doing the Canadian things like watching hockey in between on air segments...Bergeron comments on how polite Canadian voters are.. huh,  it's not going to work for him if the appeal is only going to be available to Americans.   Not cool when they have to stack the deck for Laurie.  I think she can win on merit alone, not on this bs.  Let's at least give James a chance to be competitive! 

Edited by RedFiat
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vibeology

vibeology

13 minutes ago, RedFiat said:

I'd buy that but they opened up the voting for Canada when Pam Anderson was on.  Now they got a really good dancer and the voting is closed. He's even doing the Canadian things like watching hockey in between on air segments...Bergeron comments on how polite Canadian voters are.. huh,  it's not going to work for him if the appeal is only going to be available to Americans.   Not cool when they have to stack the deck for Laurie.  I think she can win on merit alone, not on this bs.  Let's at least give James a chance to be competitive! 

I don't think it's some sort of horrible conspiracy. There aren't really that many Canadians who watch the show (ratings are harder to verify but last season it didn't crack the weekly top 30 at any point including the premiere or finale)  and then like with anything, only some who watch would take the time to vote. Canada isn't some huge voting bloc being shut out. The producers just didn't think about it and likely James and his agent didn't think to ask about it whereas I'm sure Bindi's far more media savvy team requested it.

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RedFiat

RedFiat

(edited)

Actually, Canada is a pretty significant viewership.  The show  is on CTV in Canada and they always win the Canadian ratings night, with over 2 million watchers. In a country of 33 million that's like California being shut out.  

Canada is also one of the most proficient users of on-line and social media, meaning a higher percentage of Canadians use social media more than Americans.  

I think they took Canada off because our significant numbers  skews the data too much. Due to Canadian broadcasting regulations, Canadians only get Canadian approved advertising when watching the show.  So oftentimes we do not see American advertising. 

The number of hits the webpage and fb gets is supposed to be evidence for American advertising to want to do business with the show.   I think Bindi got her Austraila vote because Disney was going into the Zoo in Austraila and they wanted to measure the effect of her as the advertising for this new venture.     

Edited by RedFiat
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sparrowtime

sparrowtime

(edited)

I am very much anticipating immunity for #TeamStopAndGo tonight. Sharna said the other day, "getting some hip action going". Always a good thing in a ChaCha! 

I went the VPN route awhile ago which enables this Canadian to vote. Voting on DWTS and other American shows wasn't my primary reason for VPNing, Internet security was, but it's a secondary plus.

Edited by sparrowtime
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simplyme

simplyme

On 10/1/2016 at 5:52 PM, legaleagle53 said:

I think I figured out who he reminds me of.  There's something about his expression that makes me think of Gonzo every time I see him.

This never would have occurred to me, and yet it is bizarrely true. I mentioned your Gonzo thing to my mother at dinner Monday night. She greeted me Tuesday morning with, "Thanks for telling me James looked liked Gonzo. Now I can't stop seeing it. I'm just waiting for him to fling himself in front of a taxi."

So, yeah. Thaaaaaanks. :P

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RedFiat

RedFiat

(edited)

Moving from Week 4 Results:  

I bet if a random survey was taken, people are not voting for Hinch.  At least not enough.  I think Laurie has a high portion of the fan vote, much like Shawn did in her first year.  Gilles Marini went up to within 1% of her vote, I would argue Gilles was a more natural dancer, but  I think Hinch is a more disciplined dancer.  Hinch is getting dinged for tiny mistakes, whereas Gilles was the frontrunner leading almost every week with the judges, to make up for his inital fanbase being too small to make up the difference.  Plus, this is the first season since season 10 that they have completely closed off the vote to Canadians, who would have been a natural fanbase from almost 2 million watchers.  In a show that now averages about 10 million viewers, I can see why this could have been a threat.      

I totally buy James has a very small fanbase, he is not Helio Castroneves,  who won Indy, and had the Pensky machine behind him, he is working up the ranks.  He is getting votes solely on his ability to dance, he is being scrutinized far closer than his competition, and in a show of fanbases that is very costly.   I think the show is signalling he needs help by putting him in the bottom so early.  If he goes there again, he may be voted off before the end.  We have had surprise eliminations before, however, it would be a total shock for a fairly well liked guy who can dance to go early. 

Edited by RedFiat
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CED9

CED9

(edited)

It's hard to say why they randomly put someone in jeopardy. The bottom 2 is usually the legitimate bottom 2, but the 3rd person is always a toss up. Could've been just because they needed to put someone there.

FWIW, his phone line was busy for a good 15 minutes after the show (which is why I usually vote right when they open the lines). So, he may be picking up steam with casual voters. I know some people who also said they were vote splitting between Laurie and James but after jeopardy would go all in for James as well as some Vanilla Ice fans who said they would do the same. (Partially because they're pissed at the Val pimping regardless of how lovely Laurie is.) 

 

I don't think TPTB expected that James dance wise would end up as Laurie's main competition (preseason it seemed they were setting it up to be Marilu and yet another Val/Derek showdown) and now they're scrambling a bit.

ETA: Interview from yesterday:

Edited by CED9
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legaleagle53

legaleagle53

3 hours ago, sinycalone said:

That was a funny interview.  James and Sharna really seem to mesh beautifully.  Also, she now has a prospective beau!

Yeah, that's a "no" on the last part.  James isn't married, but he has a steady girlfriend whom he's been dating for several years now.

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sinycalone

sinycalone

1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

Yeah, that's a "no" on the last part.  James isn't married, but he has a steady girlfriend whom he's been dating for several years now.

I hope you watched the video....because I was referring to the matchmaking the interviewers on the show were attempting with a member of their crew and Sharna, lol.

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crossover

crossover

20 hours ago, CED9 said:

I don't think TPTB expected that James dance wise would end up as Laurie's main competition (preseason it seemed they were setting it up to be Marilu and yet another Val/Derek showdown) and now they're scrambling a bit.

Pairing him with Sharna was enough for me to think he must have dance ability or a decent fanbase.

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CED9

CED9

1 hour ago, movement said:

Pairing him with Sharna was enough for me to think he must have dance ability or a decent fanbase.

That is your prerogative. He has a big Canadian fanbase (that can't vote for him all of a sudden this season), but I could count on one hand the number of Americans I know who knew of him before the show (and they all live in Indy so are pretty much predisposed to liking IndyCar). Seemed to me that after two "ringers" in a row that turned out to be total head cases, they were cutting Sharna a break with a hard working guy who they assumed wouldn't be particularly good on the dance floor. Comparatively, on paper.

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crossover

crossover

39 minutes ago, CED9 said:

That is your prerogative. He has a big Canadian fanbase (that can't vote for him all of a sudden this season), but I could count on one hand the number of Americans I know who knew of him before the show (and they all live in Indy so are pretty much predisposed to liking IndyCar). Seemed to me that after two "ringers" in a row that turned out to be total head cases, they were cutting Sharna a break with a hard working guy who they assumed wouldn't be particularly good on the dance floor. Comparatively, on paper.

Like you stated, that's your prerogative.  BTW, I didn't mean that I knew of him.  I was just playing the odds because of the Sharna connection.  It's a shame that they cut off his Canadian fanbase.  I guess they want to give Laurie every chance possible.  She is a cutie though.

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RedFiat

RedFiat

Quote

It's hard to say why they randomly put someone in jeopardy. The bottom 2 is usually the legitimate bottom 2, but the 3rd person is always a toss up. Could've been just because they needed to put someone there

My concern with the 3 standing there is that Tom would normally say not necessarily the bottom and he did not say that this time.  Maybe they just needed to put James there, but it would be sad not to take the hint to vote more for him if he is a favorite.  

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Mondayeve

Mondayeve

I think RedFiat may have a point because I have noticed that James' YT views are much lower than the other celebs although this week he has taken a little bit of a jump but still nothing like the numbers that Laurie gets.  I don't know how much that factors in but I have noticed that the celebs with low views are the ones who end up being eliminated (unless they did a dance everyone is buzzing about but was not very good). 

This is why I think he may not have a lot of votes despite his scores.  I hope I am completely wrong and he is growing in popularity because I would love for him to go all the way.  For someone with no dance or performance experience he is just killing it and I think he and Sharna have that "teamwork kind of chemistry" that is so much fun to watch.  It is the best kind.  I always feel like a celeb can bring out the best in a pro just as much as the pro brings out the best in a celeb by the way they work together.   Surely the producers are liking this surprise in how well James is dancing and perhaps are letting the public know it is important to vote even if you think a celeb is safe based on scores alone.  We have seen that so many times.  James could have gone down the Waltrip dead-end road and instead he is going down the Castroneves fast lane.

I saw a video on ET and his tango is looking good. 

My concern is when he has to do difficult Latin later in the season when he has admitted that Latin is difficult for him.  He struggled with that cha cha and dress rehearsal was not good at all.  It was great that he pulled it out on show night but a difficult Latin will be a challenge if he has not built the fan base to keep him in if he struggles.  We shall see.  He looks more comfortable each week so I am hoping the Latin choreo will come easier to him. 

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sparrowtime

sparrowtime

17 minutes ago, CED9 said:

Lord help us, if we go by YT views, Laurie and Amber would be the Top 2. Interestingly on Facebook, all of his dances have 700,000+ views.

I tend to judge by FB views too. FB responders are so many in number compared to YT views. You can usually get a pretty good idea of which way the wind is blowing by perusing FB comments and right now James is a solid second and climbing. He and Sharna have caught the imagination of viewers in a way none of the rest have. This tango coming up is ultra important to StopAndGo's trajectory and if done well, coupled with his ultra dramatic MY story of his near fatal car crash it should result in a big push. 

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Mondayeve

Mondayeve

Well, that makes me feel more positive.  I am not on facebook so was not aware of that.  I wonder why YT viewing  is so different than FB?  Does anyone have an explanation?

I do think this will be a very important week and I am looking forward to it.  His story is compelling and I love how engaging he is and his approach to deciding to do DWTS full out.   

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CED9

CED9

Facebook is more in line with the older skewing DWTS viewership, I think. You can kind of get a better idea of who the older less social media inclined are voting for. Not just who is trendy or whatever.

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kitcloudkicker

kitcloudkicker

To add to that, the source for sharing video has fractured. It used to be that the video got put up on YouTube, and then you would share that video via Facebook or Twitter, and so the YouTube view count was a decent barometer of who was viewing it. But now, all the social media companies are competing to become straight Media companies, and encourage content creators to post things directly to Facebook/Twitter. And Facebook especially, rewards those videos by pushing them higher in people's newsfeeds, getting them more views. So the older demographic who is on Facebook is going to get more videos via Facebook directly. The tweens are probably getting them mostly via Twitter, and YouTube tends to still be where bloggers, like the Previously.tv recappers, would go to get videos to embed in their articles. With some cross-pollination, obviously, but it makes it harder to read the whole landscape than when everything was funneled into YouTube. 

But I also think it's why someone like Amber tends to get higher views on YouTube than I would guess shows in the votes she might be getting -- she's made her brand on bloggers posting about her, so they may be embedding her videos in their articles, and the people that follow those sites may be watching them that day, but I would be surprised if those are translating to people watching live and then power voting. And on the flip side, James might not generate a lot of media buzz, but I stand by my guess that his personality will track like catnip to DWTS core voters. 

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Uke

Uke

For those who follow Sharna, has she made any mention of the fact that Canadians are being blocked from voting and if she's trying to get the voting opened up?

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CED9

CED9

She did before the season started, but it was more just retweeting about it. Because this is literally the first season Canadians haven't been allowed to vote. I saw some people speculating that TPTB didn't want another Bindi situation on their hands, where they had opened voting to Australians.

A bunch of us were trying to pass around how to download VPN's and James retweeted one of those but he took it down after some Laurie (Val?) fanatics accused him of cheating. Which is as much "cheating" as making a bunch of fake email addresses to vote.

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Uke

Uke

I'd think they'd WANT another Bindi situation - they're the ones that pushed her to ridiculous levels, and they still tweet about her now and then.    It just frosts me how they open up the viewing and voting for one and shut it down for another.

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RedFiat

RedFiat

(edited)

As a fan, it seems like the most memorable year has helped put James in contention with voters.   Surviving the crash and his comments about how he lives his life now was the most shocking and inspired story of the show. Having a really good night of dancing was a real bonus.  It has, at least in on line comments, got people enthusiastic about him.  I was worried that people would not stick with him when he will have an off night and he would be vulnerable to leaving, but I think he now has some receipts that fans can bank on.  I am still bummed I cant vote, but  I am rooting for him.  

Edited by RedFiat
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Mondayeve

Mondayeve

According to twitter James has a rumba to Need the Sun to Break by James Bay.  He has the whole week to practice and get it down.  Rumba is so hard for  male nondancer celebs to get it right.  The chemistry is there so I think they will have that in spades.   Technique may be the challenge and I think if James pulls it off  he can show he can do Latin.  It does seem like Latin technique does not come to him as easily as ballroom but I am very hopeful. 

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CED9

CED9

He may get dinged just because it's his turn again to get toppled off the top of the leaderboard even if he does really well.

 

It's a little frustrating to have 6 couples with 2 each doing the same style and then the random 3 couples doing a different one each. 

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McManda

McManda

James might do decently well at a rumba because he seems to be aware of you how his body moves and he's generally good at finishing his lines. Makes in the rumba end up looking weird because they always seem to be uncomfortable with it, but he's shown to be okay with they've thrown at him so far, so that's a plus. 

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CED9

CED9

Well, they're going to miss a day of rehearsal because Sharna got stopped and near strip searched by TSA agents for having plastic on the drawstrings of her pants. 

They're...very thorough, apparently.

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RedFiat

RedFiat

(edited)

I think James has the styles pretty much nailed in terms of conveying the appropriate attitude of the dance. And he has great chemistry with his partner. He also has really worked on his posture from the first week so I give the guy huge props. The only note I would give him for that Tango after watching it back is to watch the footwork.  He was pretty sloppy in places. No heel leads throughout, you know Len would have been pushed to give him a 9.  But I think Hinch makes up for some of that footwork in how he moves in the space, he has wonderful graceful but masculine arms, and I think what they showed on the upper stage could be a prelude to what we might see on the Rumba. 

Edited by RedFiat
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Mondayeve

Mondayeve

Yes, I remember Len giving Helio the dressing down for his lack of heel leads in his tango.  As I recall he said to Helio sternly "not one heel lead" and he was not happy with that.   I thought James' tango was wonderful but even if Sharna looks at the small details she will see that James had some misses in his foot work and he still has banana hands.   I agree Len would have called him out on his footwork especially in week 5.  He commented on his cha cha that he was doing heel leads and as I understand it heel leads in cha cha is wrong.   James has mastered the frame and posture and the mood of his dances so very well though and footwork can be worked on.   Plus he is getting all ballroom dances where the technique is much more scrutinized than in contemporary or jazz dances.

That is why I am slightly concerned for the rumba.  Bruno in particular can be hard on male celebrities with their rumba who don't get the flowing continuous movements and the toe leads right.  But if there has been a male celebrity who has the potential do this well it would be James. 

I am sure if Sharna watches the video back and picks out all the things he needs to improve on and will clean it up as the season goes on.  When Len gets back and James is in the final (which I believe is gonna happen) he will be tougher on James to do heel leads when it is called for and not do heel leads in the Latin dances that do not.

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RedFiat

RedFiat

I really like James' arms and hands, I don't have an issue with them, I think they are very graceful, I thought they are so much better than say Helio or Apolo Ohno in that respect. so I do think the Rumba will be pretty good. However,  it will be less exciting than a Salsa full of gymnastics, and may be marked accordingly. 

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sabretooth

sabretooth

(edited)
On October 13, 2016 at 3:39 PM, CED9 said:

Well, they're going to miss a day of rehearsal because Sharna got stopped and near strip searched by TSA agents for having plastic on the drawstrings of her pants. 

They're...very thorough, apparently.

I'm not sure where Sharna was heading when she had her issues with the TSA, but on Thursday, James was testing his Indycar outside St. Louis, so it's entirely possible they were missing a day or two of rehearsal anyway.

Quote

Surviving the crash and his comments about how he lives his life now was the most shocking and inspired story of the show. 

You want to read an inspiring story about a racer coming back from a traumatic injury, google Alex Zanardi. His story is truly inspirational. Just a warning that the video of his wreck makes Hinch's look like he stubbed his toe. 

Edited by sabretooth
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