<p>I like Derek. I say this because my next comments may come across more critical than perhaps I intend.</p>
<p>Okay … I think Derek played a major part in the second place finish. To me, all Shawn’s dances started looking alike. After a certain point, the flips, handstands, etc., lost the wow factor - still impressive but somehow expected, even occasionally annoying. I expected some sort of gymnastics freestyle theme and got it. Having the “fierce five” participate punctuated the point. Derek and Shawn did a great dance but got lost a bit in the spectacle.</p>
<p>I think the “rule-breaking” quickstep also was a mistake: points are close in the final and it made it seem as though Derek and Shawn felt they could break rules.</p>
<p>(Cheryl made much the same mistake with William Levy last season: viewers expected a Latin dance freestyle, so it failed to seem new and exciting when they saw it.)</p>
<p>I loved Tony’s reaction to winning - about the most thrilled and surprised I’ve seen on reality shows. And talking about reality shows - did anyone else catch The Bachelor promo for Ashley and JP’s wedding? What is that, the third couple total to tie the knot?</p>
<p>
I believe the dance scores are calculated as a percent of total points awarded. So - Melissa and Tony scored 88.5 for all three dances, Kelly and Val 87.5, and Shawn and Derek 87. Total points awarded 263. Percentages were M&T 33.65%, K&V 33.27%, and S&D 33.08%. Not much difference! Even if S&D had gotten 90 points, their percent would have only increased to 33.83%. M&T would have been 33.27%. Hope I didn’t lose anyone!</p>
<p>That percent is added to the percent of viewer’s votes. The combined total percents wins. So yes, if the popular vote was very close, the instant dance scores could definitely make a difference. I’ve read elsewhere that various polls had Melissa and Tony pulling at least half the votes, although no one can say if that translates to the official DWTS votes. If so, they could have been scored 0’s on the instant dance and still won. Highly unlikely Shawn’s three missing points made any difference.</p>
<p>I firmly believe the entire reason for the supersized freestyle was to get the fierce five involved. Not a coincidence that they performed both nights! These girls must be heavily booked and they didn’t just hang around on the off chance that Shawn and Derek might be asked to repeat.</p>
<p>I totally agree. Even though Shawn doesn’t have the long elegant traditional dancer body, she had lovely form and technique when she danced. She could have done a lot more dancing and a lot fewer tricks and would have been just as impressive and would have probably received more votes because of it. But win or lose I keep wondering what is next for her.</p>
<p>I loved S&D and M&T. Shawn and Melissa have different strengths and think both Tony and Derik did a great job coreographing to them. I thought Shawn did a wonderful job incorporating her gymnastic strength into the flow of the dance. It never lost the wow factorfor me, mainly because they weren’t just tricks they were part of the dance. I thoroughly enjoyed their choice to bring in the fab 5! I don’t know if there is another reality star who has turned lemons into lemonade the way Melissa did since her days on the bachelor. Good for her. She and Tony did a awesome job and so nice to see everyone get a shot at the win. I really couldn’t choose between the two couples. Only thing I hated was that Sabrina was eliminated so early.</p>
<p>^^^^Agree about Shawn’s dances all season, with the exception of the freestyle one in the finals because that one felt more like a gymnastics routine and all the previous dances flowed as dances.</p>
<p>I split my votes for Melissa and Shawn for the last three weeks. I would have been happy with either winning and actually was very happy for Melissa since she hadn’t won before. I LOVED everything Shawn did all season. I think she’s terrific and I didn’t think her dances were just gymnastics (I have two dancer daughters, one also a former gymnast, both very short like Shawn). She had to play to her strengths (athleticism and spirit and musicality), just like Melissa had to play to hers (long lines, great extension). Melissa was already a dancer/DCC. Shawn was a gymnast and I’m sure has had some dance training (at least all the competitive gymnasts we knew did). Either way, someone was going to win, who wasn’t really a non-dancer. Overall, I think the all-star season was a bit weird because everyone (well almost everyone-Pamela Anderson??? really???) began the season in pretty good dance form, so the scores were too close/competition was too close. But I still love the show.</p>
<p>Just watched Ali Raisman dance and it was hard to focus on anything but her wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen! I breathed a sigh of relief when she was done.</p>
<p>Haven’t seen Dorothy Hamill dance yet, but can I just say, she looks AMAZING!!!</p>
<p>Darn, I missed most of it. Just saw Winona, Andy, and Jacoby (sp). Thoroughy enjoyed Jacoby even if the technique was not there - fun was there! From the looks of the short replays it looks like we have some pretty good dancers.</p>
<p>Have to agree about Derek always seeming to get a star.</p>
<p>I thought Kelly, Derek’s partner, was wonderful. I think she was scored too low (relative to others who got the same score later) because she went first. </p>
<p>Was a bit disappointed in Dorothy…she looked like she was looking for the ice and was so out of her element. But bless her for trying! Also Ali Raisman seems to be a bit lacking in the rhythm department and her costume was just awful. </p>
<p>Sheesh I feel so catty when I comment on these things.</p>
<p>I missed the first half; I think the first I saw was the Disney girl. She was pretty awesome for the first show. Who is Derek’s partner?</p>
<p>Also, I couldn’t watch Ali for staring at her, hmmm…bosom, and wondering if they just had them pushed up way far or if she has had some “work” done. lol. Catty indeed.</p>
<p>Derek’s partner is Kellie Pickler. She is a Country and Western singer who was on American Idol. She didn’t win but has had a fairly successful career. She was always fun to watch on Idol.</p>
<p>I’m trying to remember a gymnast who was on the show before…female…not a very good dancer though she tried REALLY hard. Anyway, that’s when I realized being an outstanding & graceful athlete doesn’t necessarily translate to having a sense of rhythm when it comes to dancing.</p>
<p>churchmusicmom, mommusic, musicmom, swimcatsmom… the season just started and I’m already having a hard time getting the names straight-- of the posters!</p>
<p>Derek and Kellie look about as well-matched as a couple can look. Probably a tad premature to call them frontrunners, huh???</p>
<p>You also might not recognize Kellie from her Idol days because of the boob job she got shortly after her season ended. It was quite a dramatic change, and led to a classic moment when, upon her heavily cleavaged return to the show as a guest the next season, Ryan asked if there was anything in particular she’d been spending her earnings on. She said “shoes”.</p>