Kim Fields is best known for her roles on sitcoms The Facts of Life and Living Single, and more recently appearing on The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I never mentioned it on this blog, but before this season I'd been waiting for someone from The Facts of Life to compete on DWTS for a few years now, I know Cloris Leachman was on a few years back, but she was only on for a couple of seasons, and interestingly enough I had Molly Ringwald on my casting wish list for Season 22, who is best known for starring in 80's teen movies but was also a regular cast member on the show's first season, but what I meant by "FOL cast member" was one of the four main girls on the show! I didn't particularly care which one because they all grew up to be seemingly great people to this day, but I was expecting Lisa Whelchel, who seemed most likely to appeal to the main DWTS demographic and had been the runner-up on Survivor back in 2012.
Anyway, I'd sort of put my FOL on DWTS dreams on the back-burner for this season because I already (correctly) assumed Jodie Sweetin from Full House would be part of the cast and the show doesn't usually cast multiple retro sitcom stars in the same season (though oddly enough the last time they did so another Full House star was one of them). But then a report surfaced that Kim Fields would be on the show! I didn't want to get my hopes up too high just in case it was fake, but when multiple sources started confirming it I was over the moon. I was already thrilled about Jodie joining the cast, and now Kim was on the roster too!
I was so happy, I didn't realize thing were about to get even better until I saw...
I'll spare you the details of my "Sasha for pro" crusade until later. Basically I thought he did fabulous with Nicole Polizzi in Season 17, was disappointed he went back to troupe, thought he did spectacularly subbing in for Derek with Nastia Liukin in Season 20, was even more disappointed he wasn't a pro in Season 21, and then this happened. Not only was Sasha finally coming back as a pro, he was doing so with one of my dream contestants as his partner. The hype was strong in this one.
So how do I think they did as a pair? AMAZING! I loved how Kim just came out with no fear every week, especially when she had to open the first episode of the season! I never noticed any nerves in her performances like I did with other contestants. Even though she didn't develop some of the technique until later in the competition (particularly in the Latin dances) she always sold the dances because she put her all into them and was very expressive! I think Sasha was a good partner for Kim even ignoring the height match because he seems to be one of the pros who focuses on ensuring his partner has a positive experience on the show. I loved that he got some of the artists they were dancing to in chats with Kim and tried to keep things light and fun during rehearsals. (During Switch-Up week he was even teaching Paige some sort of performance thing by having her throw tennis balls at him!) I am so happy this was the case because I think Kim may have cracked under the pressure of having a partner mainly focused on "drilling things in" and having a stricter rehearsal environment.
The one thing I was disappointed by in Kim and Sasha's Dancing With the Stars journey was the lack of variety in their dances. They did the best they could to rectify this, but there was only so much that could be done with the lineup they were given (Cha-Cha, Salsa, Foxtrot, Quickstep, Jive, and Samba). They had pretty much all the "happy" and upbeat dances. Switch Week was the one time they each got to do something that strayed from that tone, and I wish they could have done something like that together because I loved Kim's performance in her "Viennese Waltz" with Keo (yes those quotation marks were put in on purpose). The only dance that Kim and Sasha did together that could have been something different than that was the Foxtrot, but the whole point was to pay tribute to The Facts of Life so it needed to be kept light and fun. It was great, and definitely my favorite routine they did all season!
I never expected Kim and Sasha to get to the end of the game, because I mean look at the cast this season, so I wasn't totally devastated when they were eliminated or anything. I think they might have gotten to maybe the Top 4 in most other seasons but with the crazy casting of lineup Season 22 I knew they'd almost certainly be a middle-of-the-road boot. However, I found it surprising that Kim wasn't prepared for it at all. I was expecting tears when it happened, but she just seemed stunned. She handled it with grace, of course, but I just felt so bad for her. However, I know their friendship is going to continue for a long, long time. Basically, I think this team probably had the strongest bond of all the Season 22 couples and I know that's a huge claim to make but I'm sticking with it. I am so happy to report that despite not winning the competition, I consider Team Kimsha a huge success!
Also, yeah I've said it before but I'm saying it again here: Sasha needs to stay as a pro. Like, the producers will have proven themselves to be actual idiots if they cut him after this. We know he can dance with someone as tall as Paige, so height isn't really an excuse anymore. We desperately need pros like him around to balance out the strict and/or egotistical mentality some of the other guys have.
See you later for my Von & Witney post and in a few days with the big Week 8 recap!
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