DWTS INTERACT: From the Skybox (Season 25, Week 7)- Pros Rolling With the Punches

This week was Halloween Night, and with this week’s From the Skybox post, here are Julia Delbel, Dwtsdreams, and Paul Bentley!

Week 7 Stats

Dancing With the Stars Week 7 Leaderboard				Bloggers’ Scores
Couple	Dance Style	Judges’ Scores	Overall Scores	Bloggers’ Scores
Victoria & Val	Viennese Waltz	9, 9, 9 (27/30)	57/60	9, 9, 9 (27/30)
Victoria & Val	Team Freestyle	10, 10, 10 (30/30)	57/60	9, 9, 9 (27/30)
Jordan & Lindsay	Paso Doble	10, 10, 10 (30/30)	54/60	10, 10, 10 (30/30)
Jordan & Lindsay	Team Freestyle	8, 8, 8 (24/30)	54/60	8, 8, 9 (25/30)
Nikki & Artem	Jive	8, 8, 8 (24/30)	48/60	8, 8, 8 (24/30)
Nikki & Artem	Team Freestyle	8, 8, 8 (24/30)	48/60	8, 8, 9 (25/30)
Vanessa & Maks	Paso Doble	8, 8, 8 (24/30)	54/60	8, 8, 8 (24/30)
Vanessa & Maks	Team Freestyle	10, 10, 10 (30/30)	54/60	9, 9, 9 (27/30)
Terrell & Cheryl	Tango	8, 8, 9 (25/30)	49/60	8, 8, 7 (23/30)
Terrell & Cheryl	Team Freestyle	8, 8, 8 (24/30)	49/60	8, 8, 9 (25/30)
Lindsey & Mark	Paso Doble	9, 9, 9 (27/30)	51/60	9, 8, 9 (26/30)
Lindsey & Mark	Team Freestyle	8, 8, 8 (24/30)	51/60	8, 8, 9 (25/30)
Frankie & Witney	Contemporary	10, 10, 10 (30/30)	60/60	9, 9, 9 (27/30)
Frankie & Witney	Team Freestyle	10, 10, 10 (30/30)	60/60	9, 9, 9 (27/30)
Drew & Emma	Jive	9, 9, 9 (27/30)	57/60	9, 8, 8 (25/30)
Drew & Emma	Team Freestyle	10, 10, 10 (30/30)	57/60	9, 9, 9 (27/30)

Game Updates

Pre-Season Bootlist Game (For the purposes of this game we assume Vanessa and Nikki tied so we awarded the best-case scenario for each player.)

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 2 Strikes (Nick)

8. Vanessa Lachey & Maks Chmerkovskiy 0 Strikes

7. Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd 5 Strikes (Nikki)

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: 11 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 1 Strike (Nick)

8. Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd 3 Strikes (Nikki)

7. Vanessa Lachey & Maks Chmerkovskiy 0 Strikes

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: 15 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 2 Strikes (Nick)

8. Sasha Pieterse & Gleb Savchenko 2 Strikes (Nikki)

7. Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd 3 Strikes (Vanessa)

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: 22 STRIKES

Fantasy Draft (Safe couples earn 30 points this week due to the double elimination, which is also how it was supposed to work last season but we forgot to do it then. :P)

TEAM JULIA

Victoria & Val: 27 individual score points + 30 team score points + 30 safety points = 87 points

Lindsey & Mark: 27 individual score points + 24 team score points + 30 safety points = 81 points

Vanessa & Maks: 24 individual score points + 30 team score points + 0 safety points = 54 points

WEEK 7 TOTAL: 207 POINTS

OVERALL TOTAL: 1139.25 POINTS

TEAM BENTLEY

Drew & Emma: 27 individual score points + 30 team score points + 30 safety points = 87 points

Terrell & Cheryl: 25 individual score points + 24 team score points + 30 safety points = 79 points

Nikki & Artem: 24 individual score points + 24 team score points + 0 safety points = 48 points

WEEK 7 TOTAL: 214 POINTS

OVERALL TOTAL: 979.25 POINTS

TEAM DREAMS

Frankie & Witney: 30 individual score points + 30 team score points + 30 safety points = 90 points

Jordan & Lindsay: 30 individual score points + 24 team score points + 30 safety points = 84 points

WEEK 7 TOTAL: 174 POINTS

OVERALL TOTAL: 919.5 POINTS

Hot Topics

B (@GrumpySquid1001): Should @DancingABC have judges save during elimination like they do on @bbcstrictly?

Bentley I don’t know how I feel about this. Sure, voting seems to have more of an impact than judging on this show (even though it is balanced half and half), but I think that would lead to some favoritism beyond the scores, and that would just give the audience more of a reason to be angry at them. XD

Dream That is a very interesting question! So You Think You Can Dance has had something like that in the past and it worked very well. I don't think it would work well on dwts though. Every judge has it's on favorite and eliminations are different on SYTYCD than DWTS so I'm not sure how that would work. Another question I have is would every judge have a save or just the head judge?

Julia If the asker is referring to the dance-off done by the bottom two couples each week followed by the judges choosing who to save and who to eliminate my answer is I generally like that format on Strictly but DWTS has so much over-the-top manipulation as is I wouldn’t want to watch them bend over backwards trying to justify some possibly questionable decisions. :P (I know they did it one season and it worked out alright, but I don’t trust the current producers to handle it well.)

Bentley How do you guys feel about past celebrities coming in to join the couples for the trio dances next week? I know it is always cool to see the troupe showcased for them, but this new twist is interesting enough to try it out for a season, as long as the previous celebrities are able to do justice for their assigned couples!

Julia I think they did a good job at selecting capable alumni to work with the current contestants. If anything they might do too well, resulting in the competing celebrities looking worse by comparison. I think the most obviously imbalanced trio on paper is Victoria and Val dancing a Jive with Laurie. Victoria’s legwork is her biggest weakness, and I’m not sure Laurie will be able to “dance down” to her level.

Week 7 MVP Picks

Most Valuable Pro

Bentley Emma Slater had some spot-on choreography this week. The Charleston she crafted with Drew was made perfectly for him, even though his strength seems to be in ballroom. Even when Drew fell, she just went along with it to make it look like it was just part of the dance! And when it came to the team dance, I noticed some Emma elements that I know and love that really fit in with the theme and style!

Dream Lindsay Arnold is my MVP during the seventh week of competition. Lindsay has been killing the game with Jordan and producing professional level pieces. During Jazz and Contemporary most pros take it as an excuse to do whatever they want and not “real” Jazz or Contemporary but Lindsay doesn't! She creates industry level routines - obviously with some tweaks to make it easier for Jordan - but she is doing an incredible job!

Julia For the second week in a row, my MVP is Mark Ballas! Lindsey’s injury was scary and I’m sure dealing with her sudden limitations (and the possibility of having to forfeit) was difficult for Mark, but I loved that he supported her and made her needs the top priority, even letting her sit on his leg after their Paso!

Week 8 Elimination Predictions

Bentley Looking back on Halloween Night, the only person who doesn’t really jump out to me who is still left in the competition is Victoria. I have the strongest feeling about her being eliminated, but if it’s not her leaving next, I think Terrell might be the next one to leave.

Julia I think Victoria would be in serious trouble if not for her high scores, but since she is so far ahead of Terrell and I don’t think he’s beating anyone else about him in votes (except maybe Drew, but I’m pretty sure he’s getting more votes than Victoria which would make him safe either way since their scores are tied this week) I’m going to guess she’s probably got a place in the Semi-Finals and Terrell will be eliminated next week.

Dream I am so surprised that Terrell made it this far but that proves that you don't need to be the best dancer to have a large voting base. Votes can only carry you so far as the competition gets harder so Terrell might be leaving next week.

Next Week…

Next week starts the double individual dances for the couples, and as the DWTS press release confirms, they will perform an individual dance like always, and then they will perform a trio with a previous DWTS contestant!

Here is what the couples will perform for the first round:

Drew Scott and Emma Slater will dance a Waltz to Both Sides Now (Torch Songs) by Years & Years
Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson will dance a Viennese Waltz to Perfect by Ed Sheeran
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold will dance a Quickstep to Chuck Berry by Pharrell Williams
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas will dance a Samba to Morning Drums by Gregor Salto
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy will dance an Argentine Tango to Down by Marian Hill

And, with the help of an additional dancer from a contestant from a previous season, these are the dances for the trios round:

Drew Scott and Emma Slater will dance a Cha-Cha-Cha with season 24 winner Rashad Jennings to Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown
Frankie Muniz and Witney Carson will dance a Jive with season 19 winner Alfonso Ribeiro to Good Place by Leo Soul
Jordan Fisher and Lindsay Arnold will dance a Salsa with season 17 runner-up Corbin Bleu to Que Viva La Vida by Wisin
Lindsey Stirling and Mark Ballas will dance Jazz with season 6 winner Kristi Yamaguchi to Let’s Face the Music and Dance by Seth MacFarlane
Terrell Owens and Cheryl Burke will dance a Rumba with season 1 winner Kelly Monaco to Slow Hands by Niall Horan
Victoria Arlen and Val Chmerkovskiy will dance a Jive with season 23 winner Laurie Hernandez to Magic by B.o.B featuring Rivers Cuomo