If you’re familiar with Dancing with the Stars, you’d know that this season has been one of the most anticipated yet. Social media coverage by the pros themselves as well as the fans have been off the charts, and I personally loved the celebrities chosen this season.
In the semi-finals, no one was eliminated, making the finale a quadruple elimination. The bottom two of this Tuesday’s elimination were Stephen Nedoroscik and his pro partner Rylee Arnold, as well as Ilona Maher and her partner Alan Bersten. While I personally love both Ilona and Stephen, it made sense to me why they were at the bottom as they have been receiving criticisms for weeks about certain things. Stephen tends to get ahead of the music, and Ilona has a hard time loosening up and lacks movement. However, she made amazing progress in the semi-finals and has a strong sense of determination about her.
The most solid in this entire competition, in my opinion, was Joey Graziadei, who is partnered with Jenna Johnson. While it could be argued that Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong have been the most consistent, the competition is about improvement as well as consistency. Chandler has gone through dance training before, and Joey is a perfect example of a celebrity who had no prior experience but has made visible progress. To me, Chandler is absolutely a talented dancer, but she has stayed at a very stagnant level the whole season. She started strong and is still great today. Even judge Carrie Ann Inaba has said that the show is not only about blowing the judges away every single time, but also showing that you take their criticisms to heart and apply them in the following week.
Danny Amendola and Witney Carson have also made incredible progress throughout the season, but I would still argue that Danny has issues with being light on his feet and loosening up. I understand that this has a lot to do with his athletic career, but it is still a downfall for him. He has been less heavy on his feet than he was at the beginning of the competition though. I think this also ties back into how well he takes criticism. Danny, Ilona, and Stephen all take the judges’ comments seriously and I think that they have made as much progress as they have because of that trait. It was a skill they picked up by being professional athletes and constantly having to improve through coaches’ feedback.
My ranking for the finale goes as follows…
- Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson (Winning the Mirrorball)
- Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong
- Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten
- Danny Amendola and Witney Carson
- Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold