Julia here! I'm excited to share this debut instalment in a new miniseries of posts I'll be doing for this blog! I'm going to share my thoughts and observations on each of the DWTS Season 21 teams between now and the Season 22 première! As requested by @hannah_rob on twitter, this first post will be all about Tamar & Val, our fifth-placers of the season!
I didn’t have a lot of thoughts on this couple before the season première. I saw the announcement on Good Morning America and while I didn’t know a lot about Tamar, the pairing did intrigue me a little because I like it best when pros get different “types” of partners. The fact that she was a talk-show host and singer rather than an actress (which Val has had a parade of for the last six seasons) intrigued me and I was interested in seeing how this would go. I did see some comments with expectations that they would not get along very well due to both of them having strong-willed and dominant personalities, so I figured they’d maybe make it about halfway through the competition. But since some of the other pairings consisted of pros and celebs I knew I really liked, I didn’t pay much attention to Tamar and Val until the actual show.
For the first few weeks I enjoyed watching their dances, but moreso their packages. Val likes to have control and be in charge of things, and up until this point his partners have more or less complied with this system. Tamar, on the other hand, was not having any of it, and was not afraid to voice her opinion on the creative and technical elements of the routines. My favorite of these instances was when she was confused by Val’s, um, “creative choice” to go shirtless during their Charleston when it didn’t suit the theming of the number and when she called him out on repeating the same storyline of “secret affair between two lovers where the guy is always in control” in the dances. Seeing as the latter especially was a complaint I’ve had about Val’s routines in the past, particularly last season with Rumer Willis, I was all for it. I know a lot of viewers didn’t like Tamar very much and were sympathizing with Val in this situation, but I was on her side for sure. In my personal opinion, it was about time someone gave Val a reality check and reminded him he was not the be-all and end-all of DWTS!
However, at the same time I felt that Tamar just might not have been a good fit for Dancing with the Stars. She was a great dancer (my jaw dropped when she did an amazing Quickstep on WEEK 1 and I liked pretty much all of her numbers) but she seemed very guarded, which doesn’t usually get votes. In addition to good dancing, the majority of the audience roots for contestants who are likeable and have an interesting story. Most of Tamar’s screentime during the first few weeks of the season consisted of the aforementioned “creative discussions” with Val and her wearing this neutral, sort of “unimpressed” expression, which was not only present in her packages, but also when getting comments and scores from the judges. It was also in a lot of her dances, especially when she was dancing with Val instead of solo. I know she was used to being a solo artist and that this was a challenge for her, but her expressionless face seemed very strange and out-of-place during her routines.
For the first few weeks I enjoyed watching their dances, but moreso their packages. Val likes to have control and be in charge of things, and up until this point his partners have more or less complied with this system. Tamar, on the other hand, was not having any of it, and was not afraid to voice her opinion on the creative and technical elements of the routines. My favorite of these instances was when she was confused by Val’s, um, “creative choice” to go shirtless during their Charleston when it didn’t suit the theming of the number and when she called him out on repeating the same storyline of “secret affair between two lovers where the guy is always in control” in the dances. Seeing as the latter especially was a complaint I’ve had about Val’s routines in the past, particularly last season with Rumer Willis, I was all for it. I know a lot of viewers didn’t like Tamar very much and were sympathizing with Val in this situation, but I was on her side for sure. In my personal opinion, it was about time someone gave Val a reality check and reminded him he was not the be-all and end-all of DWTS!
However, at the same time I felt that Tamar just might not have been a good fit for Dancing with the Stars. She was a great dancer (my jaw dropped when she did an amazing Quickstep on WEEK 1 and I liked pretty much all of her numbers) but she seemed very guarded, which doesn’t usually get votes. In addition to good dancing, the majority of the audience roots for contestants who are likeable and have an interesting story. Most of Tamar’s screentime during the first few weeks of the season consisted of the aforementioned “creative discussions” with Val and her wearing this neutral, sort of “unimpressed” expression, which was not only present in her packages, but also when getting comments and scores from the judges. It was also in a lot of her dances, especially when she was dancing with Val instead of solo. I know she was used to being a solo artist and that this was a challenge for her, but her expressionless face seemed very strange and out-of-place during her routines.
.I was quite surprised when she did what was basically a 180 during Week 4, sharing her story about her family and finally managing some sort of connection with Val during their Rumba. As entertaining as their banter in the early weeks was. it was great to see Tamar finally show some sort of emotion other than annoyance with her partner, and I especially loved how she immediately headed over to her husband after the dance was done. It was a sweet moment and once again put Val in his place!
After the Switch-Up (I do plan on talking about the switch-up pairings in these posts but I honestly don’t have much to say on the Tamar & Louis except I think they worked reasonably well together and deserved slightly higher scores for their dance) I did notice an uprise in the bond between Tamar and Val. During Week 6 Tamar fell ill, but refused to back down and showed how much she wanted to stick around in the game by managing to pull off a perfectly-scored Jazz routine. I continued to see their connection improve with that routine and in their Foxtrot this next week, which also included the now-infamous package in which she claimed to be “the best dancer in the competition”.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding this statement, and apparently she was tricked into making that comment by the producers and didn’t actually mean it. But to be completely honest, I was not nearly as interested in whether or not Tamar believed the remark to be true as I was in seeing how Val would handle it, as pros who have been in similar situations have had various methods and degrees of success in doing so. And to be completely honest again, I was totally expecting Val to go on a frustrated rant and come across as egotistical and arrogant, digging the hole even deeper for them. But I was very pleasantly surprised at how he handled the whole thing. Yes, he was (understandably) upset and said so, but instead of trying to go all PR-specialist on the audience he focused on his partner and her needs, making sure she was okay and her confidence was kept up.
The package and dance that week along with this interview done after the show really showed how much both had grown over the season and had developed a strong bond. It made me really excited to see what they would do the next week, which, as it turned out, would bring the biggest test yet for their partnership.
I’m pretty sure we all know what happened with Tamar’s health during Week 9 so I won’t get into the details here. I was kind of surprised she didn’t tell Val, or anyone working on the show for the matter, that she was going to the hospital in the middle of dress rehearsal. That didn’t seem very fair to anyone, especially, Val, Nick, and Sharna (and Jenna who had to learn her part very quickly as a backup). I also wish she’d just gracefully withdrew at the end of the Week 9 show so Alexa didn’t have to be pointlessly eliminated (because it seemed quite obvious that there was no way she’d be able to recover, learn two new dances, and compete in the next week) but I think it all comes back to this being a pair of two very strong-willed, dominant people. Tamar wanted the world to see her as a strong and determined woman who put her all into everything she did and never gave up, so it was probably not in her nature to make a big deal about going to the hospital or to drop out of the competition unless she was told she absolutely had to (which, thankfully, she was).
I think Val is similar in that sense. He wouldn’t want any of his partners to endanger their health, but he seems to encourage them to persevere and push through any obstacles life throws at them, and wouldn’t want to discourage Tamar from doing so (though in this situation if he knew they full story I think he would have tried to get her to stay at the hospital) whereas I think certain other pros might be more precautionary in a situation like this and sort of “baby” their partner a bit more (though I don’t like to use that term). They would probably insist on being with their partner at the hospital and ensure they’d get clearance to dance before the show and if that didn’t happen, then they’d drop out. I understand Val wasn’t fully aware of what was going on, and I’m not saying one method of partnership is better than the other, but that he seems to trust the judgement of his partners more to a certain extent (as in, being somewhat okay with not knowing everything and trusting his partner is doing what is best).
Speaking of Val, I was again most interested to see how he would handle her sudden disappearance and the announcement that she was in the hospital. And, well, I do think he could have been a little more mature about it. (”I don’t want to hear what the judges have to say” seemed like a really rude thing for him to tell the world, especially when they were RIGHT THERE WHEN HE WAS SAYING IT, and I also didn’t like when he randomly attacked an Alexa fan after having to withdraw.) But I did appreciate his focus on his partner above all else (he even subbed in for her on an episode of The Real while she was sick, which was equally sweet and hilarious).
Of course, one very common question when it comes to celebrities on this show is whether or not they would have done better with another partner. In this case it certainly is something interesting to consider because if you don’t already know, Tamar was not originally supposed to be partnered with Val. I’ve heard mixed reports on what happened before the official announcement, but the most common story I’ve seen is that she was going to be the partner of Artem Chigvintsev (who had originally been announced as a pro for Season 21) but Val’s original partner had to drop out of the show and so Tamar was switched to him and Artem was dropped to troupe and pro numbers as a result. Why Artem got dropped instead of certain other male pros is beyond me, but unfortunately, that is what ended up happening. (And no, I don’t know who Val’s original parter was.)
So would Tamar have done better with someone other than Val? My guess is probably not. It’s hard to say how far she would have gotten had it not been for her health issues, but I couldn’t see her getting past third place at best even if none of that stuff went down.She was definitely a good dancer and probably would have done well in that department regardless, but my reasoning is mainly based on votes. Tamar was a “bigger name than a good chunk of the other Season 21 contestants, but I noticed most of the buzz surrounding Team Valentay was coming from people who were already supporters of Val from previous seasons and not much from Tamar’s pre-DWTS fanbase. Obviously internet buzz doesn’t always reflect the opinion of the general audience, but I definitely think at this point Val has a big enough fanbase of his own to make an impact on voting results (I know a lot of pros have sizeable fanbases, but few of those actually seem to have the power to affect the outcome of the competition without a lot of other factors mixed it) so I expect to see him do well in any future seasons he is a part of, and I don't think Tamar would have done any better unless she had a pro partner as or more popular with the regular DWTS audience than Val.
So would Tamar have done better with someone other than Val? My guess is probably not. It’s hard to say how far she would have gotten had it not been for her health issues, but I couldn’t see her getting past third place at best even if none of that stuff went down.She was definitely a good dancer and probably would have done well in that department regardless, but my reasoning is mainly based on votes. Tamar was a “bigger name than a good chunk of the other Season 21 contestants, but I noticed most of the buzz surrounding Team Valentay was coming from people who were already supporters of Val from previous seasons and not much from Tamar’s pre-DWTS fanbase. Obviously internet buzz doesn’t always reflect the opinion of the general audience, but I definitely think at this point Val has a big enough fanbase of his own to make an impact on voting results (I know a lot of pros have sizeable fanbases, but few of those actually seem to have the power to affect the outcome of the competition without a lot of other factors mixed it) so I expect to see him do well in any future seasons he is a part of, and I don't think Tamar would have done any better unless she had a pro partner as or more popular with the regular DWTS audience than Val.
Despite the unfortunate end to her journey, I think Dancing With the Stars was an overall positive experience for Tamar. It seems to have helped her be a little less afraid of public vulnerability (both in terms of connecting with the audience and being open about her health struggles) taught her an important lesson in biting off more than one can chew, and made her a new friend in Val (I think he said she is part of “The Fam” now which is nice I guess).
As for Val, I think he may have taken away even more from the experience of this season than Tamar did. This was probably the biggest rollercoaster of a season yet for him, and was a real test for him in many ways. Despite not handling every single thing that happened perfectly, I was very impressed by Val this season and have a whole new respect for him. I do want to mention that I think he has “chilled out” a bit since his win last season. Earlier this year (er…LAST year now that it’s 2016) I heard him say he wanted to win the Mirrorball Trophy once and then after that it wouldn’t matter as much anymore.Honestly, I didn’t really believe that, but after this season I think it may be true, because I’m not sure he would have handled all of what Season 21 had to throw at him nearly as well if he had still yet to pull off a win. It was great to see Val grow so much this season, and I hope that we continue to see more of this attitude from him going forward.
What did you think of Tamar & Val’s partnership? Would you rather have seen Tamar compete with a different professional partner? And which Season 21 pairing would you like me to talk about next?
Until next time, check out one of my favorite moments from Tamar and Val!
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