DWTS INTERACT: From the Skybox (Season 25, Week 5)- Mid-Season Game Updates

This week was Disney Night on Dancing With the Stars, and we saw the most magical night of the season, fourth elimination of the season, and of course, the first perfect score of the season! And, with further discussion and game updates for week 5, here are Paul Bentley and Julia Delbel with another From the Skybox post!

Week 5 Stats

Dancing With the Stars Week 5 Leaderboard				Bloggers’ Scores
Couple	Dance Style	Judges’ Scores	Overall Score	Bloggers’ Scores
Victoria and Val	Jazz	9, 9, 9	27/30	9, 8, 8 (25/30)
Vanessa and Maks	Waltz	8, 8, 8	24/30	7, 7, 8 (22/30)
Lindsey and Mark	Foxtrot	9, 10, 9	38/30	10, 10, 10 (30/30)
Nick and Peta	Quickstep	7, 8, 7	22/30	7, 7, 7 (21/30)
Drew and Emma	Viennese Waltz	9, 8, 8	25/30	9, 8, 9 (26/30)
Sasha and Gleb	Rumba	8, 8, 8	24/30	7, 7, 8 (22/30)
Terrell and Cheryl	Quickstep	9, 8, 8	25/30	8, 7, 7 (22/30)
Frankie and Witney	Argentine Tango	10, 9, 10	29/30	9, 8, 9 (26/30)
Jordan and Lindsay	Foxtrot	10, 10, 10	30/30	10, 10, 10 (30/30)
Nikki and Artem	Jazz	9, 9, 9	27/30	10, 9, 10 (29/30)

Game Updates

Pre-Season Bootlist Game

Bentley

13. Frankie Muniz & Witney Carson 3 Strikes (Barbara)

12. Debbie Gibson & Alan Bersten 0 Strikes (Debbie)

11. Derek Fisher & Sharna Burgess 0 Strikes (Derek)

10. Barbara Corcoran & Keo Motsepe 1 Strike (Sasha)

9. Sasha Pieterse & Gleb Savchenko

8. Vanessa Lachey & Maks Chmerkovskiy

7. Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd

6. Terrell Owens & Cheryl Burke

5. Lindsey Stirling & Mark Ballas

4. Jordan Fisher & Lindsay Arnold

3. Drew Scott & Emma Slater

2. Nikki Bella & Artem Chigvintsev

1. Victoria Arlen & Val Chmerkovskiy

TOTAL: 4 STRIKES

Dwtsdreams

13. Terrell Owens & Cheryl Burke 2 Strikes (Barbara)

12. Derek Fisher & Sharna Burgess 3 Strikes (Debbie)

11. Barbara Corcoran & Keo Motsepe 1 Strike (Derek)

10. Frankie Muniz & Witney Carson 6 Strikes (Sasha)

9. Debbie Gibson & Alan Bersten

8. Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd

7. Vanessa Lachey & Maks Chmerkovskiy

6. Drew Scott & Emma Slater

5. Nikki Bella & Artem Chigvintsev

4. Sasha Pieterse & Gleb Savchenko

3. Lindsey Stirling & Mark Ballas

2. Victoria Arlen & Val Chmerkovskiy

1. Jordan Fisher & Lindsay Arnold

TOTAL: 12 STRIKES

Julia

13. Frankie Muniz & Witney Carson 1 Strike (Barbara)

12. Barbara Corcoran & Keo Motsepe 6 Strikes (Debbie)

11. Terrell Owens & Cheryl Burke 8 Strikes (Derek)

10. Nikki Bella & Artem Chigvintsev 2 Strikes (Sasha)

9. Drew Scott & Emma Slater

8. Sasha Pieterse & Gleb Savchenko

7. Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd

6. Debbie Gibson & Alan Bersten

5. Lindsey Stirling & Mark Ballas

4. Vanessa Lachey & Maksim Chmerkovskiy

3. Derek Fisher & Sharna Burgess

2. Jordan Fisher & Lindsay Arnold
1. Victoria Arlen & Val Chmerkovskiy

TOTAL: 17 STRIKES

FANTASY DRAFT

TEAM JULIA
Lindsey & Mark: 28 score points + 15 safety points = 43 points
Victoria & Val: 27 score points + 15 safety points = 42 points

Vanessa & Maks: 24 score points + 15 safety points = 39 points
Nick & Peta: 22 score points + 15 safety points = 37 points

WEEK 5 TOTAL: 161 POINTS

OVERALL TOTAL: 787 POINTS

TEAM DREAMS

Jordan & Lindsay: 30 score points + 15 safety points = 45 points
Frankie & Witney: 29 score points + 15 safety points = 44 points

Sasha & Gleb: 24 score points + 0 safety points = 24 points

WEEK 5 TOTAL: 113 POINTS

OVERALL TOTAL: 663 POINTS

TEAM BENTLEY
Nikki & Artem: 27 score points + 15 safety points = 42 points
Drew & Emma: 25 score points + 15 safety points = 40 points

Terrell & Cheryl: 25 score points + 15 safety points = 40 points

WEEK 5 TOTAL: 122 POINTS

OVERALL TOTAL: 643 POINTS

Hot Topics

Questions and answers about what we think of the show!

Just like Christy (@sharnapetafan92): Peta Disney night routine please spotlight them!

Bentley To be quite honest, as much as I like Peta and her choreography, I actually had to stop and think, “wait, what Disney dances did she do again?” That’s not necessarily a bad thing since each season has over a hundred scored performances each season, but usually Disney dances are the ones that stick out to me. For this case, though, I think the reason why I don’t remember some is because of either the theme or not being able to stand out. The one that does stand out to me is her Frozen Contemporary with James Maslow in Season 18, and then secondary would be her Pinocchio Jazz in Season 24. Both of them had cool concepts and were each cool to watch for different reasons, but besides that, they don’t stand out to me as much as some other pros’ Disney dances, such as Mark’s and Val’s.

Julia I think Peta is actually right up there with Mark and Val as Disney Night royalty! I’ve enjoyed every dance she’s created for this particular theme night, even the ones for weaker dance partners. My favorite was actually one Bentley didn’t mention, which was Nyle’s Samba. It was so much fun and probably his best routine of that season! But of course all of Peta’s other Disney dances have been great as well and have proven her ability to showcase partners of different skill levels and abilities.

Pat Harlford (@pahgah): Yes pls - the 1/2pt paddle

just kidding

Bentley This one is just a joke, but we’re answering anyway. XD I’ve always thought that half point paddles would be a good idea to make a return, especially because the scores are sometimes so close together, but at the same time, I am already so use to the regular 10-point natural number system that I feel like half point paddles would make the judging a little bit odd for a season that isn’t all-stars since there is a bigger range of dance abilities. There are, however, those specific dances that make me wish that there were half points again so it can be easier to distinguish which dances are better, even if it’s just by a small amount.

Julia I think I would like to see the half point paddles return. With only 10 numbers to use the judges are sometimes inevitably forced to use the same paddle for dances that aren’t quite equal, which can be frustrating. I do think that a lot of viewers would end up annoyed with the half points when certain dances would start getting 9.5’s instead of 10’s which would mean less perfect scores given out, but as someone who dislikes when 10’s are handed out like candy towards the end of the season I probably wouldn’t mind that scenario as much.

Bentley Okay, it’s time for my question! XD Do you think that Disney Night is as “special” as it used to be? It used to be the most anticipated night of the season because of all of the Disney hype and everything, but since the theme was introduced, the production value of the show has gone up a lot, which makes pretty much every night all about big productions, which is what Disney is known for. And because big productions aren’t as special they used to be, it turns out that some of the “simpler” dances are making a comeback for being special during nights like this. Sure, the night is still really fun, but it doesn’t seem to be any more popular than a few other nights, like Eras Night and Team Dances Night.

Julia What makes Disney Night different from the other themes you mentioned is that it’s a draw for non-regular viewers to tune in. Ratings for DWTS usually get a boost that week, so it makes sense for them to keep it around. I thought it was good they were initially only doing it every other season so it wouldn’t get too stale, but I assume it’s going to be as constant as “Most Memorable Year” now that the show is only going to air one season per year. (Heck, they might even do two per year if you count DWTSJ, because Disney is an age-appropriate theme for kids.) I still enjoy Disney Night but my issue is they keep using certain songs over and over while there are still so many that haven’t been done on the show yet. I realize some of it is rights issues, but there are a lot we haven’t seen that I’m sure they could get cleared.

New topic: I’ve noticed male contestants seem to have a certain advantage over female ones of this show, that being they’re more likely to get away with not being a good dancer (as in, go far despite being weaker). There is usually a contestant who makes it to the end who has “heart” or is a good “performer” despite not being a good dancer and beats out a strong dancer in the process and that person (the weaker dancer) is usually a male. They’ve “pimped” a woman into that spot once or twice (ie. Ginger Zee LOL) but I’m talking about the “people’s champion” of sorts, like David Ross, Bill Engvall, and Alek Skarlatos. The only woman I can think of who filled that niche was Kirstie Alley.

I don’t want to focus on who specifically has fit this description in the past, but the general sense that men who aren’t particularly strong dancers can get by on personality, charm, and improvement, while women who aren’t among the top dancers of their season are pretty much written off - or worse, berated for not being “good enough” - no matter how hard they work. If men get emotional over their hard work it’s “cute” while women are seen as “whiny” for doing the exact same thing. I’ve seen this attitude over the past few weeks in the way the audience seems to view people like Frankie, Drew, and Terrell vs. Nikki, Vanessa, and Victoria. I realize sexism runs rampant in this world in a lot of other ways, many of them much more serious than what I’m talking about here, but it is very hard to see female contestants on DWTS be devalued for qualities people seem to adore in the men. Any thoughts?

Bentley That’s an interesting point, and I’ve also noticed how oftentimes (especially with male celebrities) that the weaker ones get further in the competition than others, and I guess that just has to do with what the voters expect from the celebrities. Like you said, a large part of it probably has to do with what is expected from a male celebrity as opposed to a female celebrity, but I don’t think there’s much the show itself can do with that except maybe edit the packages in certain ways, which are constantly disputed over. Some of them, however, I would have to say are outliers, such as Tommy Chong and Bill Engvall who practically stole the show and just stole everyone’s hearts, but besides them, I’d imagine that it mostly has to do with the demographic. I can only imagine that the main demographic of DWTS leans more towards female viewers with a good range of ages, and even though each viewer has their own motives for how they vote, I feel as though that the main demographic (and even the lesser main demographic) generally votes for personality over dance ability, whether that quality of personality is disputable or not. And to be completely honest, I think that much of the audience (both male and female) sometimes just throws a vote here or there to people that they find attractive, whether personality-wise, appearance-wise, movement-wise, etc. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, it just goes to show just how much of this show is a popularity contest over a dance contest. Plus, for the people who score lower on the show, the audience knows that they need more votes, so they might vote overwhelmingly for a worse dancer over someone who they they think is automatically is safe.

But yeah, I think that expectations are different for both sexes, and while they both have their pros and cons, it does seem like the women tend to get the short end of the stick. But again, I don’t necessarily think that that’s the show’s fault, unless it’s with a case of some people getting worse edits than others, which has happened before. I think that it’s more or less an effect from the audience’s view of the contestants, which likely has higher expectations for the women of the show.

Julia I agree people tend to vote with their hearts first and their minds second. :P I’ve just noticed it’s more difficult for women to win people over if their dancing isn’t great than it is for men. Though I have been keeping up with Strictly Come Dancing and there is currently a female contestant on that show (Susan Calman) who embodies all the qualities of a “people’s champion”-type and it makes me so happy to see the amount of support she has been getting!

Week 5 MVP Picks

Most Valuable Pro

Bentley It’s usually hard for me to pick just one pro as my MVP for the week, but this season feels especially difficult! For this week, though, for the second week in a row, I am picking Artem Chigvintsev! That Jazz number with Nikki was the whole nine yards and then some. It was a unique dance for the show that hasn’t really been done before, and the only dance that I can even think of that I could compare it to is Victor Espinoza and Karina Smirnoff’s Jive from Season 21, but that doesn’t even hold a candle to the authenticity and fun in Nikki and Artem’s Coco dance!

Julia My Disney Night MVP pick is also Artem Chigvintsev, for the same reasons as Bentley. I really appreciated the dedication he and Nikki showed to ensuring the dance was respectful and authentic in relation to Mexican culture, as well as being fun and capturing the spirit of the movie! (Even though I haven’t seen it yet and can’t say how they did with that, I could tell that was important to them so I’m guessing they managed to do it pretty well.)

Week 6 Predictions

Bentley I think a lot of things started to shift this week because of the generally high level of dance quality we had from the couples this week, which is arguably the first time this season we had that good of performances. And for those who didn’t quite make the mark by getting sevens and eights are in the most trouble. Specifically, of those who didn’t score that well, I think the ones in danger are Vanessa and Nick. And between the two of them, by the looks of how these past few weeks have been going, I think Vanessa might be the next one going home, especially after her lackluster Waltz. As for Nick, I always throw his name around for my predictions, so he’s always sort of a back-up prediction for me. :P

Julia I’ve seen so many hateful comments spewed towards Vanessa, and not a lot of love to counteract them, so I think she’s in serious trouble. The point spread between she and Nick might be just enough to keep her around for another week, but this is “surprise” elimination territory and Nick has seemed to gain a bit of support. Terrell is another possibility to go, but again, I think the point spread might save him. This week is pretty much a toss-up but I’m gonna guess one or both Lacheys (we know there’s going to be another double boot at some point and I wouldn’t be surprised if they sprung it on us tonight).

Next Week...

For the last week before we get into more than one performance per couple each week, Week 6 will be A Night at the Movies, which will challenge the remaining nine couples to perform different dances to certain movie genre themes. Plus, singer/songwriter Shania Twain will be a guest judge alongside Carrie Ann, Len, and Bruno! Then, at the end of the night, there will be an elimination! So, according to the DWTS press release, here is what to expect from the show on Monday!

Drew Scott and Emma Slater will dance an Action Paso Doble to Legend by The Score
Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson will dance an Animation Jazz to Holly Rock by Sheila E.
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold will dance a Drama Rumba to Supermarket Flowers by Ed Sheeran
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas will dance a Sci-Fi Argentine Tango to Human by Sevdaliza
Nick Lachey and Peta Murgatroyd will dance a Western Samba to Wild Wild West by Dru Hill, Will Smith, & Kool Mo Dee
Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev will dance a Foreign Argentine Tango to Dernière Danse by Indila
Terrell Owens and Cheryl Burke will dance a Spy Jive to Feel it Still by Portugal. The Man
Vanessa Lachey and Maks Chmerkovskiy will dance a Musical Quickstep to Let’s Be Bad from Smash
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy will dance a Sports Paso Doble to We Will Rock You by Queen