DWTS INTERACT: From the Skybox (Season 25, Week 1)- Warming Up to the Cast

We are back with our weekly From the Skybox posts this season to accompany our Wednesday dance overview posts! In these posts, we keep track of the DWTS Interact fantasy draft/bootlist games, ask and answer discussion questions, make predictions for next week, etc.

So, here are Julia Delbel and Paul Bentley for the week 1 Friday post!

Week 1 Stats

Dancing With the Stars Week One Leaderboard				The Bloggers’ Scores
Couple	Dance Style	The Judges’ Scores	Overall Scores	The Bloggers’ Scores
Terrell and Cheryl	Cha-Cha-Cha	5, 5, 5	15/30	5, 5, 6 (15/30)
Debbie and Alan	Foxtrot	6, 5, 6	17/30	6, 5, 6 (17/30)
Sasha and Gleb	Cha-Cha-Cha	8, 6, 6	18/30	5, 5, 5 (15/30)
Drew and Emma	Foxtrot	6, 5, 5	16/30	6, 5, 6 (17/30)
Barbara and Keo	Salsa	5, 4, 5	14/30	5, 4, 5 (14/30)
Jordan and Lindsay	Tango	8, 7, 7	22/30	8, 8, 8 (24/30)
Nick and Peta	Cha-Cha-Cha	6, 6, 6	18/30	6, 5, 6 (17/30)
Vanessa and Maks	Tango	7, 7, 7	21/30	7, 7, 7 (21/30)
Frankie and Witney	Foxtrot	7, 6, 6	19/30	7, 7, 7 (21/30)
Nikki and Artem	Tango	7, 7, 6	20/30	7, 7, 7 (21/30)
Derek and Sharna	Salsa	6, 6, 6	18/30	6, 5, 6 (17/30)
Victoria and Val	Cha-Cha-Cha	7, 6, 6	19/30	6, 6, 6 (18/30)
Lindsey and Mark	Cha-Cha-Cha	7, 8, 7	22/30	8, 7, 8 (23/30)

Game Updates

Nothing to report on the Bootlist front since no one has been eliminated yet, but we do have some Fantasy Draft point to give out!

TEAM JULIA
Lindsey & Mark: 22 score points = 22 points
Vanessa & Maks: 21 score points = 21 points
Victoria & Val: 19 score points = 19 points
Nick & Peta: 18 score points = 18 points

OVERALL TOTAL: 80 POINTS

TEAM DREAMS

Jordan & Lindsay: 22 score points = 22 points

Frankie & Witney: 19 score points = 19 points
Sasha & Gleb: 18 score points = 18 points

Debbie & Alan: 17 score points = 17 points

OVERALL TOTAL: 76 POINTS

TEAM BENTLEY

Nikki & Artem: 20 score points = 20 points
Drew & Emma: 16 score points = 16 points

Terrell & Cheryl: 15 score points = 15 points
Barbara & Keo: 14 score points = 14 points

OVERALL TOTAL: 65 POINTS

Hot Topics

This season, we are going to answer your questions about the show!

Rebekah #FranneyPack (@RebekahCarter): Who do you think will go home first, Nick or Vanessa?

Bentley Based off of Monday night, despite what I originally thought before the season started, I’m actually starting to think that Vanessa is going beat Nick this season. While both of the Lacheys have a certain level of charisma to them, at least in my opinion, Vanessa stands out more. Both her package and her dance ended up being favored to me over Nick’s.

Julia I have a feeling Nick only agreed to do the show because Vanessa was so gung-ho about the idea and is the one who is more into this, so I’m not surprised she fared better on Monday. I also think she’ll outlast him in the competition.

Bentley Here’s my question: What did you think of Mark’s choreography this week? Usually I love Mark’s dances, but this week, it was kind of same old, same old. It wasn’t bad, but I feel like I’ve seen that choreography before, and it didn’t seem to branch out too much out of his “comfortable” style.

Julia Mark usually keeps things pretty chill the first week, then comes out swinging with something
mind-blowing the second or third episode and continues the momentum from there. I think this is probably a good strategy; letting his partners get a feel for dancing itself for the first show, then introducing other elements a little later on.

Week 1 MVP Picks

Just like the last two season, we are going to pick our MVP (Most Valuable Pro) picks each week, choosing which professional dancers we thought did the best for their partners!

Bentley I was really blown away this week with how captivating Witney Carson’s Foxtrot choreography was this week. She used the music to her advantage, allowing the subtly epic moments of the song to be filled with a contrast of both powerful and light lines. All of it flowed together nicely, and it came all together for a powerfully delightful dynamic.

Julia I have also chosen Witney Carson as my MVP for the season premiere! The choreo for the Foxtrot was my favorite of the night and I love how she’s tailoring her teaching and support methods for Frankie.

Bentley I just realized that this is the first time for both of us to choose Witney as our MVP! She definitely started this season strong!

Week 2 Predictions

Bentley As far as the eliminations go for Monday’s and Tuesday’s evictions, I think the ones that are currently in the most trouble are Barbara, Terrell, and Sasha. While Barbara had the lowest score of the night, she was a whole lot more entertaining that the other two, especially Sasha. Even as the first dance of the season, I found myself forgetting about Terrell’s Cha-Cha-Cha. And as for Sasha, I don’t believe that she didn’t really jump out to the audience, plus her dancing was sub-par. However, I am seeing a lot of people absolutely loving Sasha’s Cha-Cha, so maybe she has a bigger voting base than I thought. I’m also thinking that Debbie could be in trouble, but I think that that’s a little more unlikely. But, overall, if I had to take a shot in the dark (even without seeing Monday’s dances yet), I would say that Terrell will be eliminated on Monday, and Barbara will be eliminated on Tuesday (or the other way around). But the more that I think of it, Terrell could possibly manage his way further through the weeks if he has a bigger fanbase than I am aware of… I can never tell with the athletes.

Julia I’m running the Facebook data again this season like I did back in the spring and based on that it’s Barbara leaving on Monday...but it would have been Sasha if she hadn’t gotten a significantly higher score (significant for Week 1, anyway). I can’t say much about Tuesday since we haven’t seen Monday’s performances and scores yet but right now Terrell and Sasha seem to be the most in trouble after Barbara. Maybe Debbie too. I’m also worried about how Drew is going to fare with the Quickstep since it’s pretty much entirely in frame but if his voting base is as strong as the data indicates and he’s not too far behind the rest, he might be okay on Tuesday.

Bentley This might be more of a hope than a prediction, but that nerves should be settling a little more, I think that the couples will hopefully be better at dancing next week because… that was one weak premiere.

Julia I’m thinking most of the good stuff won’t really kick off until Week 3 or 4, when they’re back to one routine per week for a bit. With two dances per couple, next week is probably going to be even more stressful for everyone than premiere night. :/

Bentley True. The last time they did the two-night week 2 dances back in season 21, it seemed as though nearly everyone struggled. But at least the practice is really going to get drilled into them this week, especially going between Latin and Ballroom.

Next Week...

Next week on Dancing With the Stars is a two-night event! On Monday, the thirteen couples compete in more traditional dances with Ballroom Night, followed the first elimination of the season. Then, on Tuesday, the remaining twelve couples will change the tempo by competing in Latin Night, followed by the second elimination of the season.

According to the DWTS week 2 press release, this is what the couples will be be dancing on Monday for Ballroom Night:

Barbara Corcoran and Keo Motsepe will dance a Tango to Whatever Lola Wants by Sarah Vaughan
Debbie Gibson and Alan Bersten will dance a Quickstep to This is My Time by Amy Stroup
Derek Fisher and Sharna Burgess will dance a Foxtrot to Hallelujah, I Love Her So by Ray Charles
Drew Scott and Emma Slater will dance a Quickstep to Sing, Sing, Sing by Louis Prima
Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson will dance a Tango to Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold will dance a Viennese Waltz to Count on Me by Judah Kelly
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas will dance a Quickstep to Swing Set by Jurassic 5
Nick Lachey and Peta Murgatroyd will dance a Foxtrot to Mandy by Barry Manilow
Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev will dance a Waltz to Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
Sasha Pieterse and Gleb Savchenko will dance a Viennese Waltz to I’m Going Down by Rose Royce
Terrell Owens and Cheryl Burke will dance a Foxtrot to Pillow Talk by ZAYN
Vanessa Lachey and Maks Chmerkovskiy will dance a Foxtrot to Hit Me with a Hot Note by Tami Tappan Damiano
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy will dance a Tango to Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift

And, minus the couple that will be eliminated on Monday, these are the routines that will be performed by the couples on Tuesday for Latin Night:

Barbara Corcoran and Keo Motsepe will dance a Cha-Cha-Cha to Bongolia by Incredible Bongo Band
Debbie Gibson and Alan Bersten will dance an Argentine Tango to Havana by Camila Cabello, featuring Young Thug
Derek Fisher and Sharna Burgess will dance a Paso Doble to Diablo Rojo by Rodrigo y Gabriela
Drew Scott and Emma Slater will dance a Rumba to Lights Down Low by Max, featuring gnash
Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson will dance a Cha-Cha-Cha to Perm by Bruno Mars
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold will dance a Samba to Mi Gente by J. Balvin & Willy William
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas will dance a Salsa to Mani Picao by Ricky Campanelli
Nick Lachey and Peta Murgatroyd will dance an Argentine Tango to She’s a Lady by Lion Babe
Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev will dance a Samba to Despacito by Luis Fonsi, featuring Daddy Yankee
Sasha Pieterse and Gleb Savchenko will dance a Samba to Most Girls to Hailee Steinfeld
Terrell Owens and Cheryl Burke will dance a Samba to Hot in Herre by Nelly
Vanessa Lachey and Maks Chmerkovskiy will dance a Salsa to Instruction by Jax Jones, featuring Demi Lovato & Stefflon Don
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy will dance a Rumba to Easy by Sky Ferreira