1. Paige VanZant
2. Ginger Zee
3. Jodie Sweetin
4. Wanya Morris
4. Wanya Morris
5. Von Miller
6. Antonio Brown
7. Mischa Barton
8. Marla Maples
9. Doug Flutie
10. Kim Fields
11. Geraldo Rivera
12. Nyle DiMarco
I put Paige at #1 because she has been studying dance for awhile, seemingly up to and including quite recently. It's also worth noting ballet is one of the styles she has been trained in, which translates very well into learning other forms of dance. (Fun fact: Dancing With the Stars pro Peta Murgatroyd was originally a ballet dancer, but sustained an injury that made her unable to continue with that style so she switched to ballroom, and we all know how that turned out!) Ginger and Jodie have similar dance backgrounds in that they are very close in age and both danced when they were younger, but I gave Ginger the slight edge since her last time involved in organized dance was when she was in college and Jodie's seems to be when she was younger than that.
I think there is a fairly large gap in dance experience between the three aforementioned contestants and everyone else. I believe #4 through #8 might have a bit of an edge over the bottom four but the top three are the clear stand-outs when it comes to previous dance experience.
Recent Media Coverage/Relevancy
1. Jodie Sweetin
2. Von Miller
3. Ginger Zee
4. Antonio Brown
5. Geraldo Rivera
6. Kim Fields
7. Wanya Morris
8. Nyle DiMarco
9. Marla Maples
10. Paige VanZant
11. Doug Flutie
12. Mischa Barton
Jodie, Von, and Ginger are the clear top three here. As a lot of us have noticed, Ginger has been getting a ton of media coverage by ABC, which makes sense since as Good Morning America's meteorologist she is the only Dancing With the Stars Season 22 cast member to regularly appear on the network. However, I put her at #3 because while it is true she has been all over ABC lately, the other two have been all over seemingly EVERYWHERE in the media lately. I think Jodie and Von are basically tied. Von plays for the Denver Broncos, who won this year's Superbowl championship game, which would be enough to get him high up on the list but he was also named the MVP of the game, which puts him in an even bigger spotlight. Jodie is a main cast member on the Full House sequel Fuller House, which just made its debut on Netflix a few weeks ago and has already been renewed for a second season. Since Jodie's media coverage has been more recent, while Von's post-Superbowl media circuit was over a month ago now, I gave Jodie the slight edge but it could very easily tip the other way.
While I think the top three (and possibly Antonio, since while the football season is over, the Pittsburgh Steelers are pretty much always relevant since they are one of the most popular teams in the league) may have an advantage in this category, there is no one in this season I think has a disadvantage in this regard. While most people watching the show might not recognize every single celebrity in the cast, I'd say all twelve of them are pretty well-known (which is more than I can say for recent seasons).
Ability to Gain Favoribility among the Audience (previous fanbases aside)
1. Nyle DiMarco
2. Wanya Morris
3. Ginger Zee
4. Kim Fields
5. Doug Flutie
6. Jodie Sweetin
7. Antonio Brown
8. Paige VanZant
9. Von Miller
10. Marla Maples
11. Geraldo Rivera
12. Mischa Barton
As of right now I can't even see HOW Nyle could be unlikeable so that's why he's on top. Wanya is very charismatic so he's next. The people ranked from #3 to #7 all seem quite likeable and the order is pretty much arbitrary; this is just based on the impression people seem to have of each of them right now. I think Paige and Von could go either way. They could be a lot of fun but as I said in my previous analysis I think Paige could get too wrapped up in winning and lose the ability to connect with the audience as a result (I'm also keeping an eye on Antonio and Jodie in this regard). Von could have the opposite problem. I've heard his partner has started fining him for being late to rehearsals and that may be a sign he is not taking this very seriously and the viewers might not like that. However, not taking it seriously in the sense that he wants to just have fun and be wild could gain him favoribility with the audience. Marla and Geraldo could gain some fans but I have a feeling a lot of people will be rooting against them from the get-go, and so far Mischa seems kind of nervous and quiet which could easily lead to her be forgotten about if that doesn't change quickly.
Teaching/Choreographing Ability and Overall Favoribility of Pros
1. Val Chmerkovskiy
2. Mark Ballas
3. Peta Murgatroyd
4. Sharna Burgess
*5-10*
11. Edyta Sliwinska
12. Keo Motsepe
This list is incomplete because I really didn't want to open up THAT can of worms so I only included pros who I think could provide their partner with a significant advantage or disadvantage. If we were going by statistics alone Mark would be on top. Out of all twelve pros competing in this season, he is the only one with multiple Mirrorball trophys and has made it to the finals more than anyone else. His non-statistical assets include having at least a decent-sized fanbase and also having recently been in the media for things outside Dancing With the Stars. His recently-established musical duo Alexander Jean is about to release its first E.P. and over the hiatus (okay, literally one day after Season 21 ended) he got engaged to the other half of the act, B.C. Jean.
However, I have Mark at #2 because I think Val is going to have an edge over him for several reasons. He clearly has a big fanbase and the show's producers have seemed to love pimping him lately. (I guess they want him to become the new "it boy" of DWTS or something.) He has also been getting even more media coverage than usual lately with the Our Way tour on the horizon, and I think that along with everything else is probably enough for him to edge out Mark advantage-wise.
Peta is third because she has also proven to be a very good coach and choreographer and has experience with challenging partners (remember, she got Tommy Chong to the smi-finals of his season). She doesn't have any special projects going on right now, but she has been getting a lot of press surrounding her lately since getting engaged to former DWTS pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy.
I also wanted to mention Sharna as an asset because she is the current longest-standing pro without a Mirrorball trophy (other than Edyta but we'll get to why this probably won't matter in her case soon) and will inevitably be pimped into oblivion by the producers and have a lot of fans supporting her in making this happen.
This will be Edyta's eleventh season of DWTS and a lot of people are surprised she is back since she has been known to trash the show in the past. Because of this, despite having gotten as far as second place in the past I'm ranking Edyta at #11 because I'm expecting her to get mixed reception from fans and no special treatment from the producers.
And then at the bottom we have Keo, who has one of if not THE worst track records in the show's history. Because of this, he hasn't really been able to build up much of a fanbase and his teaching skills are questionable at this point. Granted, he has never been given a "ringer" like Jodie before, but his past showings as a pro have been less-than-stellar.
Julia's Predictions for the Final Rankings
12. Geraldo & Edyta
11. Misha & Artem
10. Marla & Tony
9. Doug & Karina
8. Kim & Sasha
7. Von & Witney
6. Paige & Mark
5. Ginger & Val
4. Nyle & Peta
3. Wanya & Lindsay
2. Jodie & Keo
1. Antonio & Sharna
I already gave a big breakdown on everyone in a previous post so I'll keep this short. I have Antonio on top because I think the producers really want to get Sharna a Mirrorball Trophy and after they failed to do so last season I think they might manipulate things more this time. Antonio seems to be a good dancer and we know this couple already have Steeler Nation behind them. If they can get a decent number of additional voters on their side it might not be too hard for them to win.
I have Jodie in second right now but she and Ginger could easily swap places if Ginger gets a lot of focus put onto her on the show (and she just so happens to be the only person dancing a style no one else has on premiere night, while everyone else shares their style with at least one other couples).And we all know the producers are not above giving people bad edits, so if Jodie turns out to be a threat to Ginger I wouldn't be surprised to see her be the next victim of that if the producers want to keep her out of the semi-finals and or the freestyle round.
Wanya seems like he'll be the dark horse of the season if there is one so I have him in third, and since people with big physical/health challenges have tended to go far on this show in recent seasons, I think Nyle has a good chance of going far so I have in in fourth. These two could also be swapped. Same with Von and Paige, honestly.
I feel like everyone else will take up the #12 through #8 places but not sure in which order yet, so I ranked them based on how well I think they'll dance and how likeable they'll be to the audience.
* * * *
Bentley here! Julia did an amazing job analyzing this season with her predictions and rankings! I agree with a lot of what she said, but not completely. Here are my two cents.
Although Keo has not necessarily arguably gotten the most famous or most rootable partners on the show (i.e. Lolo Jones, the woman who ate her own words after a complete blackout; Charlotte McKinney, the burger girl that was portrayed as unintelligent: and Chaka Khan, the thirteenth place singer who went on to bash DWTS), but I think because Keo gets the "worst" (in the best meaning of the word "worst") partners for a year and a half now, fans are going to feel bad for him and give him sympathy votes. But once when Jodie proves to be a dance machine, those original sympathy votes are going to turn into This-Couple-Is-Amazing-So-I-Want-Them-To-Win votes. Jodie has a "full house" (pun intended) of people wanting to vote for her, so I do not think that Keo can drag her down in any way, even if he was disliked by the people, even though he is not.
I know there are so many people out there tired of hearing about this, but I have a different view on Marla Maples than most. People are saying that she will be eliminated early, which I do think is very probable, but I don't think she will be out as early as the media says she will be. There is a high number of Republican viewers of the show, which proven by the not-so-natural dancer Bristol Palin, daughter of Republican politician Sarah Palin, reaching third on season eleven of DWTS as well as returning for All-Stars to come in ninth place. There are also a lot of celebrities that make it further than expected because of the strong amount of hate they get, just like Kate Gosselin, who made it to week five despite criticism from all over media. I'm not saying that people will hate Marla, but I can already see people not liking her because of her outdated connection with Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. I do think she will get a lot hate, but I think all of the Trump supporters' votes will cancel that out. Trump is a lot more popular than many individuals think, and even though I doubt the Trump connection will not overall help Marla on the show, I do think that she will not be hurt by any hate thrown towards her way.
I see so many people saying that Wanya will be in the finals, but personally, I honestly do not think that is the case. Because this season had such potential in terms of both good dancing and votes for the couples, I think that Wanya will fall in the middle of the pack. He seems like a great personality for the show, but I think it appears a bit quixotic for him to make it all the way to week ten. I'm making a snap judgement here, but from common Dancing With the Stars knowledge, DWTS historians know that those over the age of forty tend to only win when they are phenomenal dancers. Will Wanya be able to compete will the other contestants' dances? I'm not too sure about that. I probably come off as a bit truculent, but I have an unpopular opinion about this. Hopefully I am wrong!
I'm just going to be laconic about Geraldo Rivera. It does not look like many people like him at all, and it also looks like Edyta has lost support since last being on the show. Ultimately, I do not see this couple going further than week four unless Geraldo turns into the fun and "older" personality of the season, such as Paula Deen, Gary Busey, Tommy Chong, Bill Engvall, etc. Similar thing goes to Mischa. Many fans, myself included, do not see any type of personality from her yet. In order for her to get past the first couple of weeks, she needs to show her fun and wild side. Unfortunately for her, she has the Tango for week one, so it looks like that if her fun side will be shown, it will be later rather than sooner.
Kim will probably get some votes to get by at first, but in all honesty, I don't think that will be enough for her to make it past week seven. I'm not too sure whether I think she will be out first or sixth, but I have come to the conclusion that she will not make it too far just because of the fact that she is from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She doesn't seem as eccentric as housewife NeNe Leakes to me, so I feel as though she will out before the tight competition comes into play. I think Kim will be more like housewife Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who only made it to week three of the show. Granted, she did have to drop out due to a medical emergency, but I doubt she would have made it much further anyway. So, Kim's dancing life on the show looks to be quite short. Of course, I could be wrong. Crazier things such as Chris Soules making it to the quarter finals in season twenty has happened!
The hardest thing I have predicting for this season is the placement between the football players, Doug, Von, and Antonio. From the video clips and interviews I have seen, it seems like both Von and Antonio are both technical powerhouses when it comes to dancing, so it seems as though their eliminations will come all down to the votes. And as we have seen in the past, having people with the same fan base on the show in the same season cause for a supposed "shocking" elimination. It might be evident that Doug will be eliminated relatively early in the competition, leaving the NFL votes between Antonio and Von. The hardest thing to predict now is who will be the sacrificial lamb between the two. One day I think one thing will happen, and the next day, I will suspect a different thing to happen. After long contemplation, I feel as though Antonio's personality will beat out Von's, but Von's current popularity will cancel that out. So my prediction is that there will be a "shocking" elimination of a football player midway through the season, with Von and Antonio in the so-called bottom two, and one of them will be booted with a very close vote. From the looks of it now, I think that shocking elimination could be Von. . . But then again, I am always changing my mind about this!
With all the other contestants, I think they are going to do outstanding. Nyle's journey with being deaf and trying to feel the rhythm will melt hearts, Paige will be a fierce and feminine character that has never been seen on the show before, and Ginger will make it far with her apparent natural dancing skills and promotions from ABC.
With that being said, I can make an "educated" guess on who I think will make it far, and who I think will be out right away.
Bentley's Elmination Predictions (Twelfth Place to First Place)
12. Geraldo and Edyta
11. Kim and Sasha
10. Mischa and Artem
9. Doug and Karina
8. Wanya and Lindsay
7. Marla and Tony
6. Von and Witney
5. Paige and Mark
4. Antonio and Sharna
3. Nyle and Peta
2. Ginger and Val
1. Jodie and Keo
There a lot of good potential dancers this season, but there are also a lot of potential flubs as well. This cast has some great personalities, and I don't hate anyone who was casted (yet. . . just kidding)! Once when the expected couples to be eliminated are out, there will be some serious competition between all of the pairs. Who will come out on top? I say Jodie, which seems to be the obvious answer, but I truly think that this is Keo's (as well as Jodie's) season to shine!
Remember to follow me, Bentley, on Twitter on the DWTS 2016 Community Blog page at @DWTS2016 for more about Dancing With the Stars!
I already gave a big breakdown on everyone in a previous post so I'll keep this short. I have Antonio on top because I think the producers really want to get Sharna a Mirrorball Trophy and after they failed to do so last season I think they might manipulate things more this time. Antonio seems to be a good dancer and we know this couple already have Steeler Nation behind them. If they can get a decent number of additional voters on their side it might not be too hard for them to win.
I have Jodie in second right now but she and Ginger could easily swap places if Ginger gets a lot of focus put onto her on the show (and she just so happens to be the only person dancing a style no one else has on premiere night, while everyone else shares their style with at least one other couples).And we all know the producers are not above giving people bad edits, so if Jodie turns out to be a threat to Ginger I wouldn't be surprised to see her be the next victim of that if the producers want to keep her out of the semi-finals and or the freestyle round.
Wanya seems like he'll be the dark horse of the season if there is one so I have him in third, and since people with big physical/health challenges have tended to go far on this show in recent seasons, I think Nyle has a good chance of going far so I have in in fourth. These two could also be swapped. Same with Von and Paige, honestly.
I feel like everyone else will take up the #12 through #8 places but not sure in which order yet, so I ranked them based on how well I think they'll dance and how likeable they'll be to the audience.
* * * *
Bentley here! Julia did an amazing job analyzing this season with her predictions and rankings! I agree with a lot of what she said, but not completely. Here are my two cents.
Although Keo has not necessarily arguably gotten the most famous or most rootable partners on the show (i.e. Lolo Jones, the woman who ate her own words after a complete blackout; Charlotte McKinney, the burger girl that was portrayed as unintelligent: and Chaka Khan, the thirteenth place singer who went on to bash DWTS), but I think because Keo gets the "worst" (in the best meaning of the word "worst") partners for a year and a half now, fans are going to feel bad for him and give him sympathy votes. But once when Jodie proves to be a dance machine, those original sympathy votes are going to turn into This-Couple-Is-Amazing-So-I-Want-Them-To-Win votes. Jodie has a "full house" (pun intended) of people wanting to vote for her, so I do not think that Keo can drag her down in any way, even if he was disliked by the people, even though he is not.
I know there are so many people out there tired of hearing about this, but I have a different view on Marla Maples than most. People are saying that she will be eliminated early, which I do think is very probable, but I don't think she will be out as early as the media says she will be. There is a high number of Republican viewers of the show, which proven by the not-so-natural dancer Bristol Palin, daughter of Republican politician Sarah Palin, reaching third on season eleven of DWTS as well as returning for All-Stars to come in ninth place. There are also a lot of celebrities that make it further than expected because of the strong amount of hate they get, just like Kate Gosselin, who made it to week five despite criticism from all over media. I'm not saying that people will hate Marla, but I can already see people not liking her because of her outdated connection with Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. I do think she will get a lot hate, but I think all of the Trump supporters' votes will cancel that out. Trump is a lot more popular than many individuals think, and even though I doubt the Trump connection will not overall help Marla on the show, I do think that she will not be hurt by any hate thrown towards her way.
I see so many people saying that Wanya will be in the finals, but personally, I honestly do not think that is the case. Because this season had such potential in terms of both good dancing and votes for the couples, I think that Wanya will fall in the middle of the pack. He seems like a great personality for the show, but I think it appears a bit quixotic for him to make it all the way to week ten. I'm making a snap judgement here, but from common Dancing With the Stars knowledge, DWTS historians know that those over the age of forty tend to only win when they are phenomenal dancers. Will Wanya be able to compete will the other contestants' dances? I'm not too sure about that. I probably come off as a bit truculent, but I have an unpopular opinion about this. Hopefully I am wrong!
I'm just going to be laconic about Geraldo Rivera. It does not look like many people like him at all, and it also looks like Edyta has lost support since last being on the show. Ultimately, I do not see this couple going further than week four unless Geraldo turns into the fun and "older" personality of the season, such as Paula Deen, Gary Busey, Tommy Chong, Bill Engvall, etc. Similar thing goes to Mischa. Many fans, myself included, do not see any type of personality from her yet. In order for her to get past the first couple of weeks, she needs to show her fun and wild side. Unfortunately for her, she has the Tango for week one, so it looks like that if her fun side will be shown, it will be later rather than sooner.
Kim will probably get some votes to get by at first, but in all honesty, I don't think that will be enough for her to make it past week seven. I'm not too sure whether I think she will be out first or sixth, but I have come to the conclusion that she will not make it too far just because of the fact that she is from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. She doesn't seem as eccentric as housewife NeNe Leakes to me, so I feel as though she will out before the tight competition comes into play. I think Kim will be more like housewife Kim Zolciak-Biermann, who only made it to week three of the show. Granted, she did have to drop out due to a medical emergency, but I doubt she would have made it much further anyway. So, Kim's dancing life on the show looks to be quite short. Of course, I could be wrong. Crazier things such as Chris Soules making it to the quarter finals in season twenty has happened!
The hardest thing I have predicting for this season is the placement between the football players, Doug, Von, and Antonio. From the video clips and interviews I have seen, it seems like both Von and Antonio are both technical powerhouses when it comes to dancing, so it seems as though their eliminations will come all down to the votes. And as we have seen in the past, having people with the same fan base on the show in the same season cause for a supposed "shocking" elimination. It might be evident that Doug will be eliminated relatively early in the competition, leaving the NFL votes between Antonio and Von. The hardest thing to predict now is who will be the sacrificial lamb between the two. One day I think one thing will happen, and the next day, I will suspect a different thing to happen. After long contemplation, I feel as though Antonio's personality will beat out Von's, but Von's current popularity will cancel that out. So my prediction is that there will be a "shocking" elimination of a football player midway through the season, with Von and Antonio in the so-called bottom two, and one of them will be booted with a very close vote. From the looks of it now, I think that shocking elimination could be Von. . . But then again, I am always changing my mind about this!
With all the other contestants, I think they are going to do outstanding. Nyle's journey with being deaf and trying to feel the rhythm will melt hearts, Paige will be a fierce and feminine character that has never been seen on the show before, and Ginger will make it far with her apparent natural dancing skills and promotions from ABC.
With that being said, I can make an "educated" guess on who I think will make it far, and who I think will be out right away.
Bentley's Elmination Predictions (Twelfth Place to First Place)
12. Geraldo and Edyta
11. Kim and Sasha
10. Mischa and Artem
9. Doug and Karina
8. Wanya and Lindsay
7. Marla and Tony
6. Von and Witney
5. Paige and Mark
4. Antonio and Sharna
3. Nyle and Peta
2. Ginger and Val
1. Jodie and Keo
There a lot of good potential dancers this season, but there are also a lot of potential flubs as well. This cast has some great personalities, and I don't hate anyone who was casted (yet. . . just kidding)! Once when the expected couples to be eliminated are out, there will be some serious competition between all of the pairs. Who will come out on top? I say Jodie, which seems to be the obvious answer, but I truly think that this is Keo's (as well as Jodie's) season to shine!
Remember to follow me, Bentley, on Twitter on the DWTS 2016 Community Blog page at @DWTS2016 for more about Dancing With the Stars!
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