It was one heck of a Fall with season 27 of Dancing With the Stars airing simultaneously with the first ever season of Dancing With the Stars: Juniors. There was just so much to blog about that I’m surprised I was able to keep up! XD Anyway, I just wanted to post one final blog about DWTS this Fall before we go into a hiatus period before season 28 in the Fall. DWTS: Juniors was a delight, and season 27 was… interesting. I still liked season 27, but it definitely had its quirks, which I explain in this blog post.
To sum up season 27, I am giving my week-by-week analysis of my honest thoughts about what I liked and what I didn’t like this time around. Plus, I reveal my favorite dances from each couple on season 27 as well as Juniors, and I added in charts for the scores that both the readers and I gave the couples throughout both seasons. It’s cool to reflect on what we thought of each of the dances and how our opinions differ from each other.
So here are my final thoughts.
Week by Week Analysis of Season 27
WEEK 1, NIGHT 1 - The Premiere (Pt. 1)
The premiere was pretty good. Everybody had some strengths in their dancing, and nobody was inherently “bad.” This looked to be a pretty promising season, despite its shortened length. DeMarcus was the stand-out performer in my eyes.
WEEK 1, NIGHT 2 - The Premiere (Pt. 2)
I think the whole thing about the bottom five being the only ones performing caught almost everybody off guard. I get why they did it so they could fit in the announcement of the Juniors cast, but I hate that we missed out on seven dances. I think they could have gotten away with just having everybody perform their second routine while skipping the pre-dance rehearsal packages and the judges scores, especially since we saw the same styles from them the night before. But it was, indeed, interesting to see who was in jeopardy. The most surprising thing that came from it was that Joe managed to not only escape elimination with the lowest score of the night, but he managed to not even be in the bottom six when votes were accounted for. That made me realized that he was probably here to say. And as for Nikki’s elimination, I wasn’t surprised at all. I was just a bit disappointed because I love comedians and I truly wanted her to make it far!
WEEK 2, NIGHT 1 - New York City Night
The New York City theme wasn’t all that great for twelve separate dances. Everything just seemed to be about skylines and any songs that managed to fit the words “New York” in its title. It was all a bit repetitive, despite some stand-out dancers like Tinashe, Alexis, Evanna, and Milo.
WEEK 2, NIGHT 2 - Las Vegas Night
Las Vegas was definitely a better style than New York. There just seemed to be more to work with theme-wise. The couples must have been absolutely exhausted with two weeks of rehearsing for two nights of dancing in a row. Props to them. I was beyond disappointed with Danelle’s elimination. I thought she was terribly underrated, and I would have loved to see more from she and Artem!
WEEK 3 - Most Memorable Year Night
Most Memorable Year Night isn’t necessarily my favorite themed night, but this one just seemed to be a little more dull than usual. I don’t know, maybe it was just because everyone seemed a bit worn out from how much they had to rehearse the past few weeks. But the theme of the night in general makes it very easy for things to get lost in the shuffle. Nancy was eliminated, and I can’t say I was all that surprised about it.
WEEK 4 - Trio Night
I actually sort of liked how Trio Night was so early this season. I am always a fan of the trio dances, and this meant that we got to see more of them with more people in the competition! Bringing in past celebrities from the show was cool to see, but bringing in randoms like Evanna’s friend and Joe’s costar seemed a bit… odd. At least Evanna’s friend actually matched her pretty well. As for Joe’s trio… let’s just not talk about that. Side note: I have tickets for the DWTS tour on a day where Joe will be the special guest, so I know I’m going to be seeing that dance again. :P Anyway, Tinashe was eliminated this week, and even though I figured she would be out early, I didn’t think she would be eliminated this early. It was such a shame to lose her from the competition.... There was so much disappointment so early on in the season!
WEEK 5 - Disney Night
I remember when Disney Night used to be a lot bigger of a deal than it is now. Before it was sort of like a “treat.” Now it’s expected. The night was okay. It’s just that when there are so few performances in two hours of a show, it can a dip a bit at a certain point. I lived Juan Pablo and Alexis the most, and I thought Evanna was terribly underscored. I kind of wished there would be an elimination so we could move on to the team dances, but I guess having Halloween team dances yet again would be a bit “meh.”
WEEK 6 - Halloween Night
I like suspenseful and scary themes, and Milo and Bobby’s dances really portrayed that. Evanna really stood out, too, and Juan Pablo ended the night with a pretty solid routine. Alexis got screwed over by the mistake in the music. That was probably the worst mistake I have ever heard the live band make. Yikes. Other than that, this night turned out to be pretty forgettable, unfortunately. Mary Lou was eliminated, which made for six men and only two women to remain in the competition. Yeesh.
WEEK 7 - Country Night
I know country music is universally disliked by a lot of people, but I like a little bit of country sometimes. The problem with Country Night, though, is that having an entire night all about one particular style of music gets old really fast, especially when that style of music is as niche as country music is. Oh well. At least there was a lot of improvements in the dancing this week. I also ended up loving both team dances and how both utilized the stage really well. Both of those team dance songs keep getting stuck in my head to this day. XD This was sort of another shocking elimination night, where we saw DeMarcus and John leave the competition. I wanted to see them both in the competition for at least another week, even though I felt like John was sort of on borrowed time by this point.
WEEK 8 - The Semifinals
I didn’t like the laziness of production in which everyone just performed the dance they would have performed during the second night of the premiere. That felt very cheap to me. Nonetheless, this was probably my favorite night of the season, with Juan Pablo absolutely being the star of the show for both rounds of dancing to me. To continue the theme of surprising eliminations this season, Juan Pablo was eliminated, which lead to outrage by the public. And he was eliminated with Joe, who honestly could have reasonably been eliminated in week one.
WEEK 9 - The Finale
The finale was one night instead of the typical two, which I actually kind of liked because it kept the pace up without leaving anything out that seemed to be necessary. I guess I would have liked to have seen some more performances from the eliminated couples, though. Oh well. The fact that the couples had to do repeat dances a week after already doing repeat styles the week before was a bit odd. I would have liked to have seen them do a new style or fusion dances or whatever, but it is what it is. Milo absolutely crushed the Freestyle round. Bobby winning was an absolute shock, and this is coming from a person who had never been shocked by a win on the show before. Good job, Bobby fans. You did what many would consider to be impossible.
The Readers’ Scores From Season 27
The Readers
| |||||||||||||
BB
|
MM
|
EL
|
AR
|
JA
|
JPD
|
DW
|
JS
|
MLR
|
T
|
NM
|
DU
|
NG
| |
W1-1
|
5
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
6
|
6
|
8
|
6
|
7
|
5
|
W1-2
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
6
|
6
| ||||||||
W2-1
|
6
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
6
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
9
|
6
|
6
| |
W2-2
|
7
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
5
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
9
|
7
|
7
| |
W3
|
7
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
10
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
7
| ||
W4
|
6
|
10
|
8
|
10
|
1
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
9
| |||
W5
|
7
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
5
|
10
|
8
|
8
|
8
| ||||
W6
|
8
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
7
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
8
| ||||
W7-1
|
7
|
10
|
10
|
9
|
6
|
9
|
8
|
8
| |||||
W7-2
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
10
| |||||
W8-1
|
7
|
10
|
10
|
9
|
7
|
10
| |||||||
W8-2
|
8
|
10
|
10
|
9
|
7
|
10
| |||||||
W9-1
|
8
|
10
|
10
|
9
| |||||||||
W9-2
|
8
|
10
|
10
|
10
| |||||||||
Avg.
|
7.2
|
9.5
|
9.1
|
8.0
|
6.0
|
9.0
|
8.1
|
7.4
|
7.4
|
8.8
|
6.4
|
6.5
|
5.5
|
Paul Bentley’s Scores From Season 27
Paul Bentley
| |||||||||||||
BB
|
MM
|
EL
|
AR
|
JA
|
JPD
|
DW
|
JS
|
MLR
|
T
|
NM
|
DU
|
NG
| |
W1-1
|
6
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
5
|
7
|
8
|
6
|
6
|
8
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
W1-2
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
6
| ||||||||
W2-1
|
6
|
8
|
8
|
9
|
6
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
9
|
6
|
6
| |
W2-2
|
6
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
5
|
8
|
8
|
6
|
8
|
9
|
7
|
7
| |
W3
|
8
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
6
|
10
|
10
|
7
|
9
|
9
|
7
| ||
W4
|
6
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
5
|
9
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
9
| |||
W5
|
7
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
6
|
10
|
9
|
8
|
9
| ||||
W6
|
7
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
7
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
8
| ||||
W7-1
|
7
|
9
|
8
|
9
|
6
|
8
|
10
|
7
| |||||
W7-2
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
| |||||
W8-1
|
7
|
9
|
10
|
10
|
7
|
10
| |||||||
W8-2
|
7
|
9
|
10
|
10
|
8
|
9
| |||||||
W9-1
|
7
|
10
|
10
|
9
| |||||||||
W9-2
|
9
|
10
|
10
|
10
| |||||||||
Avg.
|
7.1
|
8.5
|
9.0
|
9.0
|
6.4
|
8.8
|
8.6
|
7.2
|
7.9
|
8.8
|
6.6
|
6.3
|
6.0
|
Paul Bentley’s Favorite Dances From Each Couple on Season 27
Paul Bentley’s Favorite Performance From Each Couple
Bobby Bones and Sharna Burgess: Week 3 Contemporary
Milo Manheim and Witney Carson: Week 9 Freestyle
Evanna Lynch and Keo Motsepe: Week 8 Contemporary
Alexis Ren and Alan Bersten: Week 5 Foxtrot
Joe Amabile and Jenna Johnson: Week 8 Quickstep
Juan Pablo Di Pace and Cheryl Burke: Week 8 Argentine Tango
DeMarcus Ware and Lindsay Arnold: Week 3 Argentine Tango
John Schneider and Emma Slater: Week 2, Night 1 Charleston
Mary Lou Retton and Sasha Farber: Week 4 Charleston
Tinashe and Brandon Armstrong: Week 2, Night 1 Argentine Tango
Tinashe and Brandon Armstrong: Week 2, Night 1 Argentine Tango
Nancy McKeon and Val Chmerkovskiy: Week 2, Night 1 Cha-Cha-Cha
Danelle Umstead and Artem Chigvintsev: Week 2, Night 1 Cha-Cha-Cha
Nikki Glaser and Gleb Savchenko: Week 1, Night 1 Salsa
The Readers’ Scores From Juniors
The Readers
| ||||||||||||
SB
|
AG
|
MB
|
MZ
|
MM
|
AV
|
JM
|
AT
|
SP
|
HW
|
AOS
|
TP
| |
W1
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
6
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
6
|
W2
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
7
|
8
| ||
W3
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
7
| |||
W4
|
9
|
8
|
10
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
7
| ||||
W5
|
8
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
7
|
8
| |||||
W6
|
10
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
8
| ||||||
W7
|
10
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
8
| |||||||
W8-1
|
10
|
9
|
10
|
10
| ||||||||
W8-2
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
| ||||||||
W9-1
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
| ||||||||
W9-2
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
| ||||||||
Avg.
|
9.4
|
9.1
|
9.4
|
9.2
|
8.1
|
7.5
|
7.2
|
6.8
|
7.0
|
7.5
|
6.0
|
6.0
|
Paul Bentley’s Scores From Juniors
Paul Bentley
| ||||||||||||
SB
|
AG
|
MB
|
MZ
|
MM
|
AV
|
JM
|
AT
|
SP
|
HW
|
AOS
|
TP
| |
W1
|
7
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
8
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
W2
|
8
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
5
|
6
|
8
| ||
W3
|
9
|
8
|
10
|
9
|
8
|
6
|
7
|
6
|
6
| |||
W4
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
9
|
7
| ||||
W5
|
8
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
7
|
8
| |||||
W6
|
10
|
8
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
8
| ||||||
W7
|
10
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
8
| |||||||
W8-1
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
10
| ||||||||
W8-2
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
10
| ||||||||
W9-1
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
9
| ||||||||
W9-2
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
| ||||||||
Avg.
|
9.0
|
9.0
|
9.3
|
8.9
|
8.1
|
7.0
|
7.2
|
5.8
|
6.3
|
7.5
|
6.0
|
5.0
|
Paul Bentley’s Favorite Dances From Each Couple on Juniors
Paul Bentley’s Favorite Performance From Each Team
Team Alan Bersten- Sky Brown and JT Church: Week 8 Argentine Tango: Week 6 Foxtrot
Team Brandon Armstrong- Ariana Greenblatt and Artyon Celestine: Week 9 Jazz
Team Lindsay Arnold- Miles Brown and Rylee Arnold: Week 7 Jive
Team Gleb Savchenko- Mackenzie Ziegler and Sage Rosen: Week 9 Freestyle
Team Cheryl Burke- Mandla Morris and Brightyn Brems: Week 6 Foxtrot
Team Witney Carson- Akash Vukoti and Kamri Peterson: Week 6 Jazz
Team Emma Slater- Jason Maybaum and Elliana Walmsley: Week 4 Argentine Tango
Team Artem Chigvintsev- Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and Tristan Ianiero: Week 4 Jazz
Team Sasha Farber- Sophia Pippen and Jake Monreal: Week 1 Jive
Team Hayley Erbert- Hudson West and Kameron Couch: Week 1 Cha-Cha-Cha
Team Keo Motsepe- Addison Osta Smith and Lev Khmelev: Week 1 Cha-Cha-Cha
Team Jenna Johnson- Tripp Palin and Hailey Bills: Week 1 Foxtrot
Final Comments
Paul Bentley: Season 27 just seemed a bit “off” to me, and despite some iconic performances from couples like Milo & Witney and Evanna & Keo, I think that unfortunately this season is going to end up pretty forgettable to me. Although I sure as hell won’t forget about the crazy eliminations and shocking win at the end! One thing is for sure about season 27… it was very unexpected. As for Juniors, I liked it from beginning to start. I loved seeing the kids grow as dancers, and I really hope we get to see more of this show in the future!
As for now, I’m going to be taking a bit of a break blogging on here, especially since there will not be a spring season in 2019. But don’t worry, I will be back blogging for season 28 in the Fall and whatever else ABC might throw at us! XD In the meantime, you can follow DWTS Interact on Twitter at @DWTSInteract, and follow my personal account on Twitter at @ThePJBentley. You can also read more from me on The Bentley Blog (@bentley_blog on Twitter), which is about a variety of different things.
Thank you so much for sticking around with me! See you on the flip side! Keep interacting with me on social media!
