Who Was the Harshest Judge This Season Out of Bentley, Julia, and Angelina? [DWTS 22]

Hey, dancing people! Paul Bentley here!

Okay, the title's a bit misleading, but not really. I am comparing the scores that Julia, Angelina, and I gave to the season 22 contestants of Dancing With the Stars to see what our overall thoughts on the dancing quality was.

The results I found were actually quite interesting. Keeping in mind that Angelina did not given scores on the blog every week (weeks 1-3, where the scores are typically the lowest, and week 6), I found that there was not an actual Len-type character among us, meaning one that gave significantly lower scores across the board. And, for the most part, none of were like Bruno, giving generally higher scores across the board. We had a lot of disagreements for certain celebrities over other, and I think that is because of what we each individually look for in a dance.

Out of finalists, I found out that we all had mixed and inconsistent views on Ginger, almost a complete agreement on Paige, and large disagreement between Julia against Angelina and I on Nyle. Take a look.

It's very interesting how that all played out, actually. This just shows how we all see dance differently, and how it can be interpreted in so many different ways. Julia generally gave the lower scores when it came to Nyle and Ginger, and I gave a slightly less average score to Paige. Angelina stayed pretty consistent on her part, giving the higher scores out of the three of us. But remember, her averages were expected to be higher than mine and Julia's because lower scores are almost always given in the earlier weeks, so those outliers did not have an effect on her.

When it comes to the rest of the cast, though, things play out a little different. We all became a little more harsh (that's not the right word because these are unbiased scores based on our personal interpretations, but that's the best word to use) when it came to some contestants, and a little more lenient (once again, not the right word) for other contestants. Look at this major contrast for our scores on Antonio, Wanyá, Jodie, Kim, and Von alone.

It's so interesting to see how maybe one dancer's quality might not be one of our cups of tea, and another dancer might just blow one of us out of the park. What also comes into play is how we judge, and what we look for along the way. I know that I usually took off more points for what I view as a lack of content, while Julia, on the other hand, usually takes off points for mistakes that I sometimes purposely overlook. That's why there are three of us, and not just one.

And when it came down to the ones who were out earlier, well, we all pretty much agreed. There weren't too many numbers to put into effect anyway.

Looking at every score we gave last season on DWTS, the averages does give a somewhat inaccurate reading of who the Len was this season. Once again, I'm not saying that this person was wrong in their scoring, or was too harsh or biased in any way. I am just looking to see who gave the lowest scores overall. Nobody's opinion on these dances can actually be considered correct.

I digress.

The averages show that for each particular contestant, Julia gave the lowest scores out of all of us for 7 of the contestants. I, Bentley, gave the lowest score for 4 of the contestants. And Angelina, likewise, gave the lowest scores for 1 contestant (she did not give any scores to Geraldo or Mischa).

Conversely, Julia gave the highest scores out of all of us to 2 of the contestants, I, Bentley, gave the highest scores to 3 of the contestants as well, and Angelina gave the highest scores to 7 of the contestants.

So there you go. Julia is Len. Here is a picture of her below.

Just kidding! Both Julia and Len are amazing, though.

Thanks for reading, guys! And remember to watch season 23 of Dancing With the Stars on ABC, premiering September 12! Weekly blog posts will come back in September for that!

Also, make sure to follow the DWTS 2016 blog on Twitter at @DWTS2016, and follow this season's bloggers (Paul Bentley, Angelina Mikheeva, and Julia Delbel) on Twitter at @TheBentleyNinja, @angelinarose42, and @juliadelbel for more! And, if you're a Big Brother fan, follow @BigBroBentley for blog posts about the show starting tomorrow!

I can't wait for next season!

Julia's Thoughts on Paige and Mark

Paige VanZant and Mark Ballas were the Season 22 runners-up of Dancing With the Stars!



I hadn't heard of Paige at all before speculation that she would be a DWTS contestant began, but I immediately loved the idea of her on the show because we hadn't had a female fighter on the show for quite some time and I thought she'd be the perfect partner for Mark, who is an avid UFC and MMA fan. It turned out Mark was the one who suggested her for the show in the first place and she'd requested him as a partner, which didn't surprise me in the slightest. I knew they'd get along great and would give stellar performances-given that Paige was young, fit, and had previous dance experience when she was a child I was pretty sure she would be the most skilled of all the women and probably the men too-but I had a bad feeling that they would be the "shock" elimination of the season given who else was in the cast. So despite how much I liked both Paige and Mark form the get-go (well I already liked Mark but you know what I mean) I tried not to get too attached to them because I didn't want to be too disappointed when they were eliminated.

I think Paige was the only contestant to truly be consistently strong throughout the entire season. I can't think of a single time when she messed up a dance, and that can't be said for anyone else in the Season 22 cast. I know she had the most dance experience of any of this season's celebrities, but seeing as it wasn't in ballroom she still had a lot to learn so I didn't have a problem with it. In addition to this, she was very good at "acting" her dances and always conveyed the appropriate emotions in her performances. I also liked that she was open to pretty much anything; even when she was afraid of being lifted by her partner, she was willing to try it and actually managed to trust her last-minute substitute partner to pick her up during a dance.

Paige brought a lot to Season 22 of DWTS and I was disappointed she lost in the end. I was very happy that she managed to gain enough support to make the finale, but it was still disappointing that she had to lose to someone who wasn't as consistent or as strong a dancer in general. I think the only person who I would have been just as happy to see win as I would have been with Paige was Wanyá, but I digress. I loved how she and Mark brought something new to the table every week and brought back my enthusiasm for certain styles of dance. For example, I had been getting kind of bored of Argentine Tangos because there seemed to be a very limited number of ways they were being presented (ie. a dark and/or "mysterious tone) but this couple actually managed to do one with a storyline and everything!

Thank you for reading this and the next post will be up soon! Also it was announced this week that Season 23 of Dancing With the Stars will premiere on September 12th! I'm going to be out of town then so not sure whether I'll be watching live or not but I'm sure I'll still be able to share my thoughts here. Any guesses as to who might be in the cast? Maybe we'll do a post about who we think the celebrities might be sometime this summer!

Julia's Thoughts On Nyle and Peta

Hey everyone! I know it's been awhile but it's time to get back to business. I also have an announcement at the end of this post so there's that.

Anyway...a couple of weeks ago, Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd were crowned as our Season 22 Champions!



I didn't know who Nyle was before he was revealed as a Dancing With the Stars contestant (in fact, this was the first season in several years that I wasn't familiar with any of the finalists before the cast was announced) but he seemed like a good fit for the show. The fact that he was deaf seemed a bit of an odd quality for a contestant on a dance show, but I had faith that the producers knew what they were doing (I mean, a lot of the time I don't, but for the most part I trust them when it comes to casting under-age contestants and those with disabilities). I also was excited that his partner was Peta, since she has done a great job working with all different types of contestants.

I initially predicted Nyle and Peta to be one of the last few couples standing but not as the winners, which is what happened with other "inspirational" contestants in the recent past. However, after their Week 1 performance I had them as a lock for the Final 2. Nyle already had the charisma, story, and chemistry with his partner a winner needed, and once he proved the dance ability factor was there too I knew there was no way the public wouldn't get them to the end.

Nyle was pretty consistent throughout the season, delivering some nice performances pretty much every week. However, I sort of think he was a bit too consistent, since he didn't seem to improve much after the first week like others did. The level of his performances was pretty high from the get-go so it's not like he was terrible at the end or anything, but I never saw much improvement in certain areas and I'm baffled as to why Peta never fixed them. I know he had some disadvantages being deaf and all, but issues like his frame didn't have anything to do with whether or not he could hear. I still think he deserved to make the finals based on the quality of his dances (even if I think he was overscored quite a bit this season) but I can't say I was totally supporting him for the win when he'd plateaued while others improved throughout the season.

There was also the whole "sympathy vote" controversy that comes up every time we have a contestant with some sort of disability. I'm guessing if Nyle was dancing at the level we saw and could hear he would not have won. The dance skills he did have along with his likeability and "eye candy" appeal probably would have taken him decently far into the competition, but I think it's pretty clear Nyle's story was a big factor in why so many people voted for him. However, the majority of his voters didn't seem to be voting for him because they felt sorry for him. His story wasn't portrayed as sad and depressing, but unusual and inspiring. Nyle was actually born deaf, so the "loss" factor isn't there like with Noah Galloway, Amy Purdy who both became disabled later in life. I got the sense most of Nyle's supporters were voting for him because they were amazed by his ability to dance so well despite not being able to hear the music. So I'm going to call it the "inspiration vote" because his journey seemed to evoke more feelings of amazement in the audience than pity.

I think it was great to see Nyle on DWTS because his participation was one of the things that has brought the Deaf community to the forefront in the media lately. I also thought it was nice for Peta to win before taking a break/leaving the show to have her baby later this year (yes I'm pretty sure that rumor is true). To be honest, there was going to be backlash no matter which of the finalists won, but I think Nyle and Peta's victory resulted in significantly less compared to what it probably would have been like had Paige or Ginger won. So I guess as I've seen others say, this wasn't the ending I wanted but it's one I suppose I can get behind. Anyway, here is my favorite dance from Nyle and Peta.

Just so everyone knows: I'm trying to post a decent amount of content here but I'm now balancing this blog between work and my new position on Pure TV Network this summer. I'm mostly writing for their America's Got Talent site but once we get into the thick of the So You Think You Can Dance season I'll be over on that blog sometimes as well. With that said, I'll still be writing here but posts may be a bit more space dout during the hiatus. See you in the comments and on my next post!