Pre-Season Spotlight On Charo and Keoikantse Motsepe

Every weekday leading up to the big premiere we’ll be putting the spotlight on one of the Season 24 couples by introducing the celebrity to readers who may not be familiar with their work and sharing our personal thoughts on the pairing!

Today’s spotlight is shining on musician and actor Charo!

While the Spanish-born singer’s birthday is unclear (there have been conflicting reports over the years) I think it can be safely assumed that she is the oldest contestant of Dancing With the Stars Season 24, and has had the longest career out of anyone on this season! Let’s take a look at some of the highlights….

Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s, Charo performed on various variety and talk shows.

She was also a frequent guest on the hit comedy series, The Love Boat.

And of course, she is best known as a musician, so she’s had her share of music videos...

...and concerts.

Oh, and fun fact, she has actually appeared on DWTS before!

Charo’s dance partner is Keoikantse Motsepe. Keo originally started dancing in South Africa before joining the cast of the live dance show Burn the Floor in North America. He later joined the cast of DWTS and spent four seasons as a pro before becoming part of the troupe in Season 23. Some of highlights from Keo’s time as part of the DWTS family include:

@TheBentleyNinja: I already love Charo! She is so outgoing and funny that it’s contagious! She seems to be in very good shape for her age, and she is clearly very used to wearing very high heels, so dancing a Rumba in Cuban heels should be easier to her than some others. I can see her doing really well in the Latin styles because of outgoing she is with everything, but the ballroom technique might be a different story. However, if anyone is out there to surprise us, it’s Charo.

I know that Dancing With the Stars fans all over have been complaining about how Keo never really gets clear contenders as his partners, which is true, but I am going to love watching him have a blast with her like he had with some of his other partners. Keo has a really positive attitude with things, and I think that is just what is needed to mash with Charo’s character for everything to work. If he is able to bring out her party-like traits onto the dance floor but in a more contained and graceful way, these two might actually have something really good going on with them!

But, as we all know, older people tend to not do as well on this show as most others. But there are exceptions, and I’m hoping that Charo is one of them because not only is she on my DWTS fantasy team, but she is also a contestant who I know I am going to miss when she leaves, especially because she will be able to liven up any dance like we’ve never seen before!

I don’t think Charo and Keo are necessarily going to get the best scores, but as any seasoned fan of Dancing With the Stars knows, the scores can mean nothing if there is a fan base big enough out there to help them move along every week. With this cast, though, that might be a bit of a concern for Charo. Let’s just hope she makes some good impressions!

@dwtsdreams: At first I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about Charo being on the show, but she is so entertaining. She has so much energy and she seems to be having a blast. She is also affectionate and I have a blast watching her and Keo’s funny snapchats.

Latin styles and Charo seem to mix well. She has great energy which will probably translate into “better scores” for Latin. Like Bentley said, she seems to dance great in high heels and seems very comfortable doing Latin movements. She has some experience in Latin which will help her. I am worried about her and ballroom. She is very outgoing and I am worried that she will try to “overdo” ballroom and not grasp the technique.

Keo and Charo have a great connection where both people are content with each other. Most of Keo’s past partners have seem a little shy and not willing to fully commit and Charo is the opposite. I was hoping for Keo to have a capable partner, and I am not saying Charo is not capable but every other female celeb has a ton of dance experience and is younger. Keo is a great sport, but I would just love to seem him with someone more capable in future seasons.

How far will Charo go? I don't think very far because she is competing against a gymnast, an ice skater, former dancer, two singers who are constantly dancing etc.

My excitement level isn't super high for this team but it will be interesting to see what Keo does with her.

@juliadelbel: When I first heard Charo was going to be on the show I did a quick overview of her personality and career and immediately predicted her to be the first boot. But after seeing her on Good Morning America last week and finding out more about her dance skills I think she may last a few weeks. I’m noticing that a lot of people are very excited for her, which I found kind of surprising, but it makes me optimistic that she’ll fare okay in the ballroom.

At first I was surprised they put Charo with Keo (mostly due to the height difference but also because I was getting the sense he got a ringer based on his hints) but after seeing how casting for this season shook out I think this was probably a good choice. I’m happy to see that Keo has someone who isn’t a ringer but is actually enthusiastic about the competition and excited to learn the dances. I think it will be very different from any partnership that he’s had up to this point and I’m quite excited to see these two in action!

TOMORROW: What in Sharnation is going on? (stolen from Mike on twitter :P)

Pre-Season Spotlight On Mr. T & Kym Johnson-Herjavec

Every weekday leading up to the big premiere we’ll be putting the spotlight on one of the Season 24 couples by introducing the celebrity to readers who may not be familiar with their work and sharing our personal thoughts on the pairing!

Today our spotlight is on actor and former pro wrestler Mr. T!



Mr. T, then more commonly known as Lawrence Tureaud, got his start on NBC's Games People Play competing for the title of "America's Toughest Bouncer". Filmmaker Sylvester Stallone spotted him on the show and soon cast him as the character of Clubber Lang in the movie Rocky III. (This movie was also where his famous catchphrase-"I pity the fool"-originated!)

Mr. T is perhaps best known for his role of B.A. Barcus in the hit television series, The A-Team.

While starring on The A-Team, Mr. T took up professional wrestling. A major highlight of this venture was serving as Hulk Hogan's tag-team partner at the very first WrestleMania event.

He also starred in several public service announcements and other videos to promote good morals for children and youth.

In more recent years, Mr. T has made various television appearances and even had his own reality show, I Pity The Fool, for a little bit.

Mr. T's professional partner on Dancing With the Stars will be Kym Johnson-Herjavec, who last competed back in Season 20 with now-husband Robert Herjavec. Before appearing on the American version of DWTS she competed on the Australian version of the show, winning Season 2 with celebrity partner Tom Williams. After three seasons in her homeland, Kym began regularly appearing on the American edition and went on to win Season 9 with Donny Osmond and Season 12 with Hines Ward. She eventually went back to the Australian version of the show, this time as a judge!

Some highlights of Kym's time on DWTS include...

@TheBentleyNinja: Mr. T, in a way, has some secret weapons for Dancing With the Stars. Sometimes it’s said that actors will do well on the show because they can really perform, athletes will do well because they are athletic, and musicians will do well since they know rhythm. Well, Mr. T is all of those things and more! He even has the unique charismatic personality that can sway voters into falling in love with his progression on the show. And besides, he is a popular old school icon that a large part of the DWTS demographic is sure to love!

I didn’t actually expect Kym Johnson-Herjavec (yup, I just typed Herjavec… best DWTS couple ever!) to come back to the show as a pro dancer any time soon, especially since she has been more into the Australian version with her judging (Julia's note: Yeah that got cancelled, or I guess is technically "on hiatus" right now.) and doing other things with herself. Kym is a busy woman, and I’m surprised she was able to fit this into her schedule! I am really looking forward to how Kym works with Mr. T because I just know that they are going to have a blast in rehearsals!

I’m going to predict that Mr. T is going to get some okay scores and maybe make it about halfway through the competition. If this were a different season, I would say that he would possibly be eliminated earlier, but Season 24 has some tough competition!

@juliadelbel: I'm very excited for Mr. T to be on Dancing With the Stars and for Kym to be back as a pro! I think these two are such a great match and will be a lot of fun to watch. Like Bentley, I didn't expect Kym to return right now, and I think this is probably a one-season deal, but since she left after Season 16 and came back two years later for Season 20 and is now back for Season 24 two years after that maybe if Dancing With the Stars is still on the air two years from now she'll come back for Season 28! :P

I think this couple's scores ware very likely to be closer to the bottom of the leaderboard than the top (Mr. T seemed pretty stiff in that dance video, and that was over a decade ago) but their personalities and fun dynamic while working together will probably get them a good amount of votes from viewers, and I can see them possibly sticking around longer than some stronger dancers because of that.

MONDAY: Another Spotlight post is cuchi-cuchi-coming your way!

Pre-Season Spotlight On Heather Morris & Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Every weekday leading up to the big premiere we’ll be putting the spotlight on one of the Season 24 couples by introducing the celebrity to readers who may not be familiar with their work and sharing our personal thoughts on the pairing!

We’re getting things started with dancer and actor Heather Morris!

Heather is most famous for her role as Brittany Pierce on FOX’s hit musical comedy TV show Glee! Before she got her big break on the show. Heather trained as a professional dancer, which led to an audition for the show So You Think You Can Dance, and later toured with superstar Beyonce.

In fact, the whole reason she was brought onto Glee in the first place was not to act, but to teach the famous “Single Ladies” dance to the cast. Showrunner Ryan Murphy thought she would be a good fit for the show, so he wrote the role of Brittany S. Pierce just for her!

Glee gave Heather plenty of opportunities to show off her moves to the word…

...and her comedic chops (oh hi, Amber!)…

...and of course, she got to sing a lot as well!

Her most iconic moment on the show was probably when she paid homage to another famous Britney.

Since Glee ended two years ago, Heather has stayed out of the spotlight for the most part. She always said her biggest dream was to marry her husband, Taylor, and have children with him. Well, now she is married to him and they have two children, and I guess she sees this as the time for a return to the spotlight!

Heather’s dance partner will be Maksim Chmerkovskiy, returning for his 16th season in the DWTS ballroom. He won a Mirrorball Trophy back in 2014 with Olympic ice dancer Meryl Davis, and since then has gotten engaged to fellow DWTS pro Peta Murgatroyd, gone on tour with brother Val, and welcomed son Shai earlier this year!

Some of Maks’ greatest dances in seasons' past include…

@TheBentleyNinja (Paul Bentley): So one of the biggest and most arguments regarding Heather is her experience as a dancer and whether or not she has an unfair advantage in the competition. But here’s my take on it. We’ve had celebrities such as Charlie White, Meryl Davis, and now Nancy Kerrigan compete on the show as professional figure skaters, and since this isn’t the first time a professional dancer has competed for the Mirror Ball Trophy as a contestant, there really isn’t much of a shock that she was casted. Sure, you can argue that figure skaters don’t have as much of an advantage because they have ice skates strapped to their feet, but is it really that big of a difference when you have years of performing experience? But back to Heather.

I’m not too sure what my stance exactly is on professional dancers who do not have ballroom experience competing on the show, but I do know that it has been done before, and since there are a lot of people with dance experience this season, I’m not really all that mad about it. But now that I think of it, isn’t being a backup dancer for Beyoncé kind of the equivalent to casual club dancing, except with a little more choreography and on a stage with millions of people watching? I’m not too sure. But I do think that this hot topic might die down soon if something else major happens on the show. . . maybe another Lochte protestor moment?

I don’t really have a talent for reading people well, and I sure as well don’t want to judge too early, but right now Heather just does not stand out to me like Mr. T and Chris do. She might be a wonderful person- I don’t know. But as it stands now, I don’t have too strong of an opinion about her either way. I hope that changes when the show starts.

So Mr. Maks has Miss Morris this season, huh? That can be pretty interesting, but then again, it might not. In all honesty, sometimes I expect a big thing to come out of a Maks partnership (whether it be good or bad), and I really just end up expecting more than what is really brought to the show. It all just depends on the dynamic between the two. I don’t think there is going to be much drama between the two, especially because Maks has become a teddy bear since his child was born, and Heather doesn’t really have a history of having drama as far as I know. So really, overall, this couple is just a big question mark to me. I don’t know what to expect, which it is sometimes fun to be surprised to see what comes out of this, but I just have this tiny feeling that there really isn’t too much to be excited for. But as always, I hope that I’m proven wrong.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people saying that Heather is probably going to go far in the competition with her dance abilities but then get a surprising elimination toward the end because that’s what usually happens with those people that seem like a clear fit for the final three. But now that people are expecting her to lack votes, is that going to trigger voters into wanting to vote for her to protect her? I think so. Heather isn’t my prediction to win the season at this point, but I feel like she has a strong chance of making it to the finale. But maybe the shocking elimination thing is right...but since so many people are suggesting it, would it really be a shocking elimination?

@dwtsdreams: Heather’s choice to be on the show has been one of the most controversial choices in DWTS history. Many bloggers and inside sources argue that it is not fair for Heather to be on the show or that she will just be handed the win. I disagree with these statements for many reasons.

One, just because heather is a professional jazz/contemporary dancer doesn't mean she call pull out a perfect 40 Argentine Tango. Yes ballroom and Latin is similar to jazz and contemporary but by no means is it the same thing. As a jazz/contemporary dancer myself who later started ballroom, it is very different. The way you carry yourself to to structure and posture of some moves are very different.

We have had so many gymnasts, ice skaters, singers with dance experience, etc on the show and I don't think Heather is any different. I mean every single female celebs has some sort of dance experience or flexibility from ice skating or gymnastics. Simone Biles is a gymnast, Nancy Kerrigan is an ice skater, Erika Jayne dances in her music videos, Normani had dance experience, Charo has some dance experience. In there each individual way every female contestant has some dance experience so I think Heather has just an equal chance than the other contestants.

Heather has many strengths but I think one of her disadvantages will be judging her self. As a dancer in the industry prior to having children, she is under scrutiny from the fans and herself. If sh delivers bad performances the media will say she is a bad dancer and overrated, but if she delivers good performance they will say she is a ringer. I think if she judges herself too hard it will get in her head.

Maks and Heather at first seemed like an unlikely partnership but I am starting to enjoy it. Maks has become an absolute teddy bear/mush ball since Shai has been born. He is so much more energetic than before and I think his new found love for life will fuel his creative juices. Maks will need to produce some killer routines for Heather and I think he will prove how amazing he is. I love Maks so much and I finally think this is the season he can prove he is a great choreographer. The only thing I am worried about with Maks is be preoccupied with the baby. He has stated in interviews that Shai will be with him and Peta and I just hope that he will get enough time with his son and Peta and Heather. Having a newborn is super hard and with both parents working 40 hour jobs sleep deprivation is definitely going to be in their cards.

I am so excited for Heather and Maks’ partnership and I think they will go far!

@juliadelbel: So as I said in the fantasy team draft post, I was an avid fan of Glee during its run and so I’ve been following Heather’s career for years. However, even though I’m part of that fandom I am going to separate my feelings about it from my feelings on Heather doing Dancing With the Stars, just like I did a couple years ago with Riker Lynch, who competed in ballroom as a child. I still maintain that Riker was probably the biggest ringer ever, and that his participation in this competition was kind of unfair. Now, Heather is not specialized in ballroom dance, and based on what little I saw in her So You Think You Can Dance audition, it is not her strong suit. However, ballroom isn’t the only style featured on DWTS anymore and Heather is trained in jazz and contemporary, two styles which have become a regular part of the show. Even without that, the fact that her main profession is dancing makes me uncomfortable with her participation on the show. (For comparison, I was sort of okay with Zendaya doing it because while she did hip-hop dancing, her main profession was acting.)

But let’s be real, no matter how I feel about Heather being part of this competition, the fact of the matter is that she is, so I’ll focus on what that will be like. To start off, from what I know about her personality, I don’t see Maks as a good match for her. Heather seems like a quiet and kind of closed-off person to me, and I don’t think that will gel with Maks’ big, outspoken one. I do think it’s nice that they put parents of young children together, so they’ll bond and understand each other on that front, but I feel like it might take awhile for them to find their groove in a personality sense.

I see Heather and Maks getting good scores, which should be enough to keep them around for at least awhile. They may be a shock elimination, or they may make it to the end, but so far I really don’t see them winning. I am very interested to see what they pull out this season, and also the audience’s reception to them. Has Dancing Withe the Stars finally gone too far off the deep end in ringer casting? I don't know, but I guess we’re going to find out.

TOMORROW: You better, dance, fools!

DWTS Interact Season 24 Blogger Fantasy Draft

Hey everyone! The Dancing With the Stars 24 pre-season has officially started, and we’re kicking it off with a brand new game! You ever hear of a fantasy football league? Well, this is our fantasy DWTS league!

Each of us bloggers (@dwtsdreams, Bentley, and myself) will have a team of four couples, who will earn us points for their dance scores and escaping elimination each week (more on that below!). We chose our couples using the “snake” method, AKA each of us choosing one couple, then doing so again in the opposite order, and so on until everyone had four couples. We thought this was a fairer way of choosing than going in the same order every time because the person going first would have a bigger advantage. The snake method ensures that the person who gets first pick also gets whoever is left over at the end!

Here are our picks in the order we chose them:

ROUND #1

@dwtsdreams: Normani Kordei & Valentin Chmerkovskiy

I choose Normani and Val for my first pick because of their partnership and passion for the show. Believe it or not I dislike fifth harmony and at first I was a little apprehensive to her at first. At watching their sound bites, Normani seems very  hardworking and hungry to win. She seems respectful to Val and very articulate. Normani has dance experience so I think she knows how to take criticism and apply corrections. She is always very aware with her body from dancing which is a key factor. Normani was also on the X Factor which allows her to have an edge over the other contestants because she is use to live performance and the pressure of competitions. She also has an active fan base which will get her and Val lots of votes. Val seems eager to teach her and I think this is overall going to be a great partnership. The only thing I think twill hurt her is her schedule. It worries me that she is doing a WORLD tour in ASIA while training for the show. It is going to be very hard for her to get training time which is a disadvantage. I think she does have a chance to win.

Julia: Simone Biles & Sasha Farber

We’ve been hearing about this team since last summer and it’s so weird to think that it’s finally real! I think Simone and Sasha are a great match for each other and I like their attitude towards the competition. There is obviously going to be a lot of pressure on Simone since previous gymnast contestants have done very well on Dancing With the Stars, and even moreso this season since her Olympic teammate Laurie Hernandez is currently the show’s reigning champion. This also seems to have caused a bit of an anti-gymnast mindset among some viewers. However, I think Simone and Sasha will have a great partnership and will still more than likely get the scores and votes to stick around for awhile (though I do think the judges might end up being harder on them than some of the other couples). While I don’t think they’ll win-and at this point envision them being this season’s Charlie & Sharna/Nastia & Derek/Wanya & Lindsay-I think we’re going to have a lot of fun watching this couple and I just couldn’t not pick them for my team!

P. Bentley: Rashad Jennings & Emma Slater

I chose Rashad as my first choice for my fantasy team because he shows some true promise in terms of dance rhythm and technique. I mean, did you see his warm-up routine on Good Morning America?! Besides the fact that football players more often than not reach relatively far in the competition, he has already shown that he is able to move like the Mirror Ball Trophy is already his! That practically speaks for itself! And now that Emma has probably the best partner she has ever had on the show, I think she is going to pull out the big guns that she has waiting to pull out for years now! I have a strong feeling that Rashad can win it all in the end, and I would be surprised, even looking from such an early standpoint, if he didn’t make it to at least week seven!

ROUND #2

P. Bentley: Nancy Kerrigan & Artem Chigvintsev

Having an Olympic bronze medal figure skater on my fantasy team is awesome! Clearly, this woman can dance...at least on ice! There is no doubt in my mind that she will be able to pull off some amazing routines. Maybe her feet will need some fine tuning, but I’m sure she will be able to adjust quickly to dancing on a more solid surface. I think this can be a really big opportunity for Artem to show us everything that Nancy is capable of, and for the sake of my fantasy team, I hope he takes advantage of it!

Julia: Heather Morris & Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Okay, I’ll get this part out of the way first: There is obviously already a lot of controversy surrounding this team, since Heather has danced professionally for years and Dancing With the Stars is generally supposed to be a show about people learning to dance. Some people don’t mind this, while others believe her level of experience to be unfair. Having been a huge Glee fan I’ve gotten to see a lot of what Heather can do over the years and I think she has fantastic moves and stage presence. Heather has said she doesn’t see her experience as an advantage since she doesn’t know ballroom, but in the past people with all kinds of dance training have gone on to do well on this show. While I do think Heather and Maks might suffer in votes to a degree because of this, they may end up forming a great connection to make for a fun partnerships which could help them in that department. Even if this isn’t the case, I think their scores will be pretty high and we’ll hopefully see some great routines from them. So while this couple may be facing some backlash right now, the scores they get from the judges will probably be enough to keep them around for awhile, so that’s why they’re my next choice for my fantasy team.

@dwtsdreams: David Ross & Lindsay Arnold

I am so excited about David Ross. I have been waiting for the moment when a MLB player is on the show ever since I started watching it. I am a huge baseball fan and there was no way I was not going to put him on my team. Since he is fresh off the won from the World Series I definitely think he has the drive to be a competitor. As a result of so many female celebs with dance ability I don't think he will make it to the finals but you never know. Lindsay made Alek into a finalist so…. He also seems super eager to learn and ready for this journey. I am such a big fan of this team and can't wait to watch.

ROUND #3

@dwtsdreams: Bonner Bolton & Sharna Burgess

Bonner Bolton and Sharna Burgess is a match made in dancing heaven according to some dwts super fans. I think they have good chemistry but I don't think it is very strong yet. I love Sharna to death and I believe that she is very hungry to win. I choose them because Bonner seems super pumped to dance with Sharna and is eager to learn. I think Sharna will do everything in her power to get Bonner to the finals and I think that is a capable plan. Bonner is athletic, has a great story, cowboy personality, and GQ called him “ America’s Favorite Cowboy.” Bonner has the whole package and with Sharna’s help I think they can be a kick- ass team. Bonner does seem a tad bit shy but I think he will open up with Sharna as his partner. I am very excited to see where this partnership goes.

Julia: Mr. T and Kym Johnson-Herjavec

When the news first came out that Mr. T was going to be on this season of Dancing With the Stars I was immediately hyped. My dad was a big fan of The A Team and I’d seen a lot of him in other projects over the years (some of which you’ll see in the upcoming blog post dedicated to this couple). It made me sad to see so many people on Twitter get disappointed that one of our female pros was going to get “stuck” with him but I knew they’d come around once they’d gotten to know him a little better, and lo and behold they have! Mr. T is already so likeable and I love that he is doing this show to raise money for a children’s organization! What’s also cool is that the whole reason Kym came back is because they asked if she wanted to dance with Mr. T and she was so excited she couldn’t turn the opportunity down! While I do think Mr. T might have struggle keeping up with some of the more agile movers, I know he has a lot of heart which I’m sure will win over a lot of people! I’m proud to have these two on my team and I can’t wait to watch them on the show!

P. Bentley: Nick Viall & Peta Murgatroyd

I have been seeing a lot of things on Twitter from DWTS fans who are not huge fans of Nick, but what I have realized is that people with a lot of haters also have a whole lot of passionate followers. This guy can get a lot of votes, especially since he’s been part of the Bachelor franchise unteen times! And we all know how former members of The Bachelor tend to get massive votes sent in their way, even when they are not necessarily the best dancers. Plus, with Peta returning from maternity leave, her fans (and there are many of them) are ready to vote now more than ever. Can this Nick guy actually dance, though? I’m not sure. But maybe his supporters’ votes will be the driving force of his progression on the show.

ROUND #4

P. Bentley: Charo & Keoikantse Motsepe

Charo is such a unique character, and that is exactly what makes a person stand out on this show. I mostly picked Charo to be on my team as a wildcard, but if she can impress the audience this season with her whacky and outgoing personality, she can last longer than some might think. Tommy Chong made it to the Semifinals of Season 19 when nearly everyone thought he would be eliminated early, and that was all thanks to his unique character. I’m wondering how her personality is going to match with Keo, though, considering that this is partner like he has never had before. I believe in him, though, especially since he is fresh from the troupe and ready to get the Mirror Ball that always seemed so far away to him.

Julia: Erika Jayne & Gleb Savchenko

I don’t really know much about Erika, even from watching her on GMA and the press soundbites. She just seems very closed off so far, which could be a problem when trying to attract voters. I’ve heard she has some dance experience, though I don’t know how much or what style(s), so that may help her on this show. Gleb seems like a good match for her because he is always very caring and understanding of all his partners. I don’t think she’ll last very long but I she may get some decent scores compared to a few others so I’m hoping she can get my fantasy team some points!

@dwtsdreams: Chris Kattan & Witney Carson

I feel so bad saying this but I definitely think Chris is the weakest link on my team and will go first. I got handed the last person so I have nothing to say about him. Witney is a great dancer and Chris seems funny but that is all I have to say. I really have no words.

POINT SYSTEM

Throughout the season, points will be added each week for the following achievements:

+the number of points (out of a possible 40) all remaining couples on a team earn for each dance

+20 points for any couple who survives an elimination (if it is a double elimination without exact placements revealed, 40 points will be added instead of 20)

+20 points for the team including the couple who comes in second place

+40 points for the team including the Mirrorball champions

+any additional points added to couples throughout the competition will be counted towards their team (for example, immunity, dance-offs, etc.)