Last season, Dwtsdreams, Julia Delbel, and Paul Bentley each chose four couples from season 24 of Dancing With the Stars for the first ever DWTS Interact fantasy draft. After 10 weeks of collecting points from our couples, Dwtsdreams ended victorious! And now, the bloggers are doing another fantasy draft for season 25! Here are our picks for our teams!
THE RULES
Choosing snake-style (going down the list one round and back up it the next) each blogger will choose a couple from the season when it is their turn. No couple can be chosen more than once.
Since there are 13 competitors this season instead of 12, there will be one couple not selected after four rounds. If they make it past the first elimination, they will join whichever team ends up having the first boot, and that person will earn half the number of points they would get from that couple if they were drafted normally (ex. if this team gets a 30 for one of their dances, 15 points will be given to their draft team).
POINT SYSTEM
Throughout the season, points will be added each week for the following achievements:
+the number of points out of a possible 30 all remaining couples on a team earn for each dance (if a round is worth up to 40 points or any other number besides 30 we will do the math to figure out how many if would have received out of 30)
+15 points for any couple who survives an elimination (if it is a double elimination without exact placements revealed, 30 points will be added instead of 15)
+15 points for the team including the couple who comes in second place
+30 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.)
ROUND ONE
Dwtsdreams: Jordan Fisher & Lindsay Arnold I picked Jordan and Lindsay because it is highly likely that they will win. Jordan has dance experience himself and has worked in projects with some of the biggest choreographers and dancers such as WILDABEAST and Phil Wright. Jordan has been a fan of dance for a long time and he understands what it takes to be dancer. This understanding of dancing will play a key role in his success. He for sure will make it to the finals without a doubt because he is so talented and he has so many fandoms rooting for him because he has done so many projects! He has WILDABEAST’s family IMMABEAST rooting for him which consists of over 300 dancers who religiously take class or are part of their company. He also has the Disney fandom, the Hamilton Fandom, and just his fandom too! I am so excited to watch this team kill it!
Bentley: Drew Scott & Emma Slater I might have taken a slight gamble choosing Drew and Emma as my first team, but I don’t regret it. I’m getting sort of a James Hinchcliffe vibe from him because of how he doesn’t necessarily have a dance background, but he seems as though he will be able to compete against even the toughest competitors. And unlike James Hinchcliffe, who came in second in season 23, Drew Scott is going to be able to have his Canadian fans vote for him since voting in Canada has finally been brought back after a two-season suppression of their votes. And of course, it always helps to be dancing with a Mirrorball champion pro!
Julia: Victoria Arlen & Val Chmerkovskiy Can you guys believe the media is saying Victoria is going to be eliminated Week 5 or 6? Are they really still that dumb 25 seasons into this show? With her personality and inspiring backstory, Victoria is probably the only true lock for the Finals right now, even if she turns out to be a terrible dancer. I ended up with no one on my teams in the Finals last season (I put too much stock in points instead of advancement when selecting couples) but I’m not making THAT mistake again!
ROUND TWO
Julia: Lindsey Stirling & Mark Ballas While not Finals-guaranteed, Lindsey and Mark seem likely to go far in the competition. Lindsey is quirky, friendly, and openly Christian/Mormon, so I think she’ll stand out and appeal to the GP. Also, Mark’s choreography always stands out so I have no fears about these two fading into the background!
Bentley: Nikki Bella & Artem Chigvintsev I picked Nikki and Artem for a few different reasons. First of all, Nikki reminds me a lot of Season 22’s Paige VanZant (which, by the way, Paige might just be my favorite celebrity to dance on the show ever), who ended up being that season’s runner-up. And if Nikki really is as energetic and as fun as Paige was, she could get herself a finale position, too. I also chose Nikki for my team because we don’t see women like her win the show too often. I like contestants who are able to be fun and energetic, but who are also able to be fierce and tough when the time calls for it. And being that Nikki is a WWE wrestler, she fits that description perfectly. So basically, not only is Nikki a couple that I am already considering rooting for, but I think that a lot of voters will agree with me, too.
Dwtsdreams: Sasha Pieterse & Gleb Savchenko I picked Sasha and Gleb because although I don't know a ton about her because I have never watched PLL, she has a huge dedicated fandom, and the DWTS fandom seems to love her! I am so excited to have this couple on my team. She seems hardworking, sweet, and dedicated to this competition. I have seen some little videos of her and practice and her frame is looking great! Sasha is a different type of partner that Gleb normally works with because she doesn't seem like she likes to be really sexy, so hopefully we will get to see a new side of Gleb’s choreography.
ROUND THREE AND ROUND FOUR
Dwtsdreams: Debbie Gibson & Alan Bersten I picked Debbie and Alan because I think they are the dark horses in this competition. Alan, being a first time pro, has so much excitement another being a pro that really translates to the dance floor. Alan also had the chance to sub for Mark and Maks these last few seasons, which will help him by him taking the skills he learned from those seasons and applying it to Debbie’s season! Debbie has such a heartwarming story and I really connect with her. I am so proud of her that she is doing his competition even when she has such a chronic illness. It is proof that she can do anything that she sets her mind to! So, so proud of this team!
Bentley: Barbara Corcoran & Keo Motsepe Looking back, I’m wondering why I chose Barbara and Keo for an earlier pick than Terrell and Cheryl, but that’s okay because I still ended up with both of them on my team anyway. Barbara is by far the biggest stand-out personality to me this season, and even though I don’t think she is going to be the best dancer, I think she has a good chance of sticking around on the show for a while. But who knows? Barbara could amaze us with some pretty good dancing like her Shark Tank co-star Robert Herjavec showed us early on in Season 20 with his ballroom dancing!
Julia: Vanessa Lachey & Maks Chmerkovskiy (last pick of Round 3)
AND
Nick Lachey & Peta Murgatroyd (first pick of Round 4) I’m putting these two together because I chose them for the same reasons. This married couple competitive mash-up has been all over the media and seems to have the Facebook crowd excited. We’ve had a married couple go head-to-head on DWTS in the past, but this time the stakes have been raised with newly-married pros Maks and Peta partnering them! I go back and forth on which team will go further, but I see the show giving this gimmick a lot of attention and pimping one or both of these teams at some point. They are both very likely to last at least a few weeks, and at least one of them should make it pretty deep into the competition.
Bentley: Terrell Owens & Cheryl Burke I’ve been seeing some mixed stuff said about where people think Terrell and Cheryl with place on the elimination chart, but I’m one of the people who think that he’s going to go far, and possibly even the finals. I was actually kind of surprised that it took so long for Terrell to be chosen since it does seem like he has a lot of potential to work with. And being that he is dancing with one of the most seasoned pros to ever be on the show, I know that Cheryl can bring all of Terrell’s potential out of him to turn him into a dancer.
Dwtsdreams: Frankie Muniz & Witney Carson Frankie is my nostalgic pick for my team! Agent Cody Banks was a huge part of my childhood and it is so refreshing to see someone who stepped out of the Hollywood industry limelight and decided to devote himself to other projects such as The PGA golf Am. Tour, race car driving and gen managing a band. Frankie seems to have some natural rhythm so I am excited to see that this team can do.
NOT CHOSEN
Derek Fisher & Sharna Burgess
Bentley I know there’s a lot of scandal going on with Derek right now, but that’s not why I didn’t pick him. Honestly, I just didn’t pick him because hasn’t become very memorable to me yet. And if the audience agrees with me on that, Derek is for sure not going to last very long.
Julia I didn’t choose Derek for the same reasons as Bentley. But keep in mind, we did this draft about a week before the publishing of this post, and since then I’ve gained confidence in Derek and Sharna’s ability to go far, and possible even win the season!
Dwtsdreams I didn't choose Derek because he was the only name besides Terrell (did I spell his name right???) that I really didn't know a lot about. He does seem to have some natural rhythm, I guess, but I am not sure about this team yet.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Bentley I’m feeling pretty good about my team. My team might not necessarily get the most points starting out, but I think that they will manage to build up a nice amount of points as the weeks go by.
Julia All I have to say is I’m SO happy to not be coming in last this time! ;)
Dwtsdreams Last season my team consisted of one mirrorball team and the rest were misfits in some way. I was convinced that I was going to be last compared to what Julia’s and Bentley’s team and I were. Up until about Week 7 I was about 100-200 points down and maybe even more. Suddenly people who I thought were leaving kept staying and I kept getting more and more points. Last year, I won the competition with teams I didn't think would make it so far. I learned from that experience that you never know what is going to happen! I am so excited to hopefully win this season again!!!
Which fantasy draft team do you think will win this season?!
