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Mirrorball Mania: My Dancing With The Stars Predictions

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Wisconsin chapter.

My realistic Dancing with the Stars predictions

As this heart-stealing season of Dancing With The Stars unfolds, there are many mixed emotions on who will win the mirror ball. Going into Halloween week, there are easily four couples who have a shot at winning in terms of skills. However, anyone who watches the show knows it’s how you connect with the fans that really brings competitors to the end as well as how you perform your dances. That being said, it is truly up in the air who will go home as the champion this season, and sadly some fan favorites might not have what it takes. 

Joey Graziadei has already convinced me he has what it takes, and I might be biased, but I believe he and pro partner Jenna Johnson will come out of this with a victory. Don’t think so? Let me show you how he is a clear leader in this competition. 

To put this potential win into perspective, we have seven couples left going into Halloween week: Dwight Howard with pro Daniella, Chandler Kinney with pro Brandon, Stephen Nedoroscik with pro Rylee, Ilona Maher with pro Alan, Jenn Tran with pro Sasha, Danny Amendola with pro Witney, and of course, Joey Graziadei with pro Jenna Johnson. This list alone makes you realize why this season is so huge.

Watching Dwight and Daniella, who have a close two feet height difference and seeing Daniella choreograph these incredible dances is something that blows my mind every week. Even though Dwight forgets all of his dances, he tries so hard, and it makes my heart so happy that he wants to do so well! Unfortunately, I don’t know if votes can get him through many more weeks if he keeps forgetting. It makes me sad to say but Halloween night might be the last time we see Dwight dance. I hope to be proved wrong, and I may be as we saw a couple of seasons ago, Daniella works wonders. Her Halloween dance with Iman in season 30 is nominated for an Emmy, so hopefully she pulls something breathtaking together for her and Dwight this week, and if not, it might be the end of the road for this duo.

Then, Chandler came in and DOMINATED the show the first couple of weeks, so of course, she’s still here. Yes, she may have some past dance experience and some people have mixed emotions about that, but she’s an incredible dancer and it’s so fun to watch someone be able to do well so early on! Although she is a really incredible dancer, and I do think she will most likely make it to the finale or semi-finals, I don’t think her fans have enough power to make her champion. Especially because in the past couple of weeks she has fallen off the leaderboard, but there is always hope!

People love Stephen and Rylee because of their innocence and friendship. He is happy to be here, and people seem to love him. Personally, he is not in my top favorites, and I know this is a hot take, but that’s just my personal take. I think his fans have a lot of power, but for most of the dances, I finish only mildly impressed. I do think he will be saved by the fans for a couple of weeks to come, but I am not too sure if he can win.

Who doesn’t love Alan and Ilona?!? Only a heartless soul isn’t in love with their friendship, and how Ilona has been able to show sides of herself she hasn’t been able to before. Watching Alan develop such a strong passion for Ilona and showing her how proud he is of her every day, they have stolen the show just based on this. He cried when she told him she thought she was disappointing him. That was the cutest thing I have ever seen, and I almost teared up myself. All that being said, it just breaks my heart to say I don’t think votes are an issue for them, but skill-wise, I don’t think it is in the cards for them to win this season. I wish it was different, I really do, but other dancers are just so much stronger technically. 

Then there’s the unpredictable Jenn and Sasha, who might be in love. We have no idea, but we all hope their romance is true. The pair is gaining fan support, and their dances are excellent, but I think Jenn may get lost in the mix. Personally, she doesn’t stand out to me as much, and I think a lot of people agree, so when it comes to voting, I think people will have a hard time voting for her over the other stars, making me think she could possibly go home this week too.

Then you have the one and only Danny Amendola. Wow. I am sorry but what a man. He focuses so hard. Watching the TikToks he and Witney post are so entertaining because he is focusing intently on his dances. I think he is most improved, and people love him because he clearly respects Witney so much, and has even moved to the top of the leaderboard from being almost at the bottom. Not to mention, his dedication dance for his coach who passed away will live in my head rent-free for probably the rest of my life. Just incredible. 

Yes, I know there are a lot of strong dancers this season, but now we get to talk about my prediction for the winner of season 33 of Dancing With the Stars: the beautiful Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson. I am confident in this partnership and think based on scores and fan support, they are the clear winners. Joey is incredible at dancing, and Jenna choreographs the dances perfectly to fit his strengths. Even though they started strong, they are still increasing their scores every week and are on the way to a perfect score. To be honest, after the rock and roll week and Disney week, I am not sure how they haven’t received a perfect score yet. He has the potential to win with his steps, and his accuracy in the dances, but he also has a huge following on social media. Everyone loves him, his dedication and respect for his fiancée Kelsey Anderson, and his amazing (and really attractive) dances. Once again, I could be biased, but I don’t care because he deserves it, and so does Jenna.

It all comes down to the connections and chemistry of the partners, the performance, and the fan interaction that will determine who will win the mirror ball this season. Even though I would be more than happy with almost any of these couples winning, I personally think the answer is clear. I hope there are Joey fangirls out there with me who will agree with these takes, but if not, sorry not sorry! 

Lillie Makinster

Wisconsin '28

Hi! I am Lillie Makinster and I am a freshman at UW Madison! I am studying Journalism and looking to go into sports broadcasting! I love listening to music, finding coffee shops around Madison and playing Softball!