Dancing With The Stars: Discussion Thread

[PhoenixRising05]

Wow Kanewomen you have it the wrong way. If you are going to use the popularity argument, then Mario shouldn't win because he has been the most hyped since day one. Mario is the better dancer but you have to entertain too and it is up to the fans. Who do they enjoy/like more? Honestly, all these types of shows are is popularity contest. That is obvious. You can make the case for either Mario or Emmit but I just felt Emmit was better. He took risks on that last dance where Mario didn't. He played it like Stacy last year and we all know how that ended up and I hope it ends up like that again.

Emmit is popular but you can't use the poularity contest angle on him. Not when Mario was hyped from day one as the person to beat. Emmit's lines were also busy and let's remember there are online votes too.

[EricaKane70]

I think I can use the popularity thing, because joey was a better dancer than Emmit. But Emmit was more popular so he was the one that stayed. Just like last year with jerry staying over stacey, who was clearly better than jerry. An mario is popular too, thats a given but he's also been the best dancer since day one. I'm sure if mario sucked at dancing he would of been gone a long time ago popular or not. In this competition its about who can dance and from seasons 1 and 2 that best dancer always prevails. I liked stacey, but I felt drew became the better dancer in the second half of the show, and thats why he won.

An I wasn't saying that only mario's lines were busy, I was saying that I couldn't get through. Of course both lines were busy.lol An I eventually did vote online, I was just being lazy because I didn't want to go through the hassle of turning my slow-azz laptop on just to vote.lol

[PhoenixRising05]

Joey was but he performed stiff most of the time. I would've preferred a Joey/Emmit final only because Mario was a given since day one. Emmit and Joey surprised me and worked their butts off. This competition is about celebrities learning how to dance over the course of 2 months or so. Mario knew from day one and it's kind of like Stacy-too easy. I would rather see someone who worked at it and had to work to impress rather then someone who was the hyped person to beat since day one.

Again, both can be argued as deserving but I just thought Emmit was more entertaining and better. I mean Mario played it really safe tonight and that seems to be the feeling by many. None of the freestyles were close to last year with Drew/Cheryl. That one rocked but at least Emmit and Cheryl took risks and actually did a really good job. Mario breakdanced and did nothing fantastic to make things memorable. I have heard some tonight say it was surprising because they expected Mario to do the difficult moves and Emmit did them while Mario was just good but nothing great.

We'll see tomarrow. Your are right about Joey and Mario being better dancers but it isn't just about that. You need to entertain and Emmit does that far more. That much is obvious. Like Karrie Ann said, it's not all about technique.

[ArizonaDaze]

I am with you Phoenix, there is just something about Emmitt. I think Mario is the best latin dancer by far, but overall I'm for Emmit. Of course, being partnered with Cheryl doesn't hurt. She is the best. Love her. Hope she is back next season.

[applcin]

Just out of curiosity I was reading an article online last night from last season's finale where they talked about how the ranking points are allotted, mentioning how Jerry beat Stacy and could have beaten Drew, even though the judges had him in 3rd place. It really all comes down to the popular vote in a large sense. If there are 3 teams and they get scores of, let's say, 30, 25 and 20, they get points of 3, 2, 1, respectively. Likewise, they assign the points based on who gets the most votes, so if the last place team is the most popular and the first place team is the least popular, you'd get a 3+1 and a 1+3, a tie. Then it said if there's a tie, the popular vote rules, which means the 3rd place team would win.

The judges last night and last week literally left it up to the viewers. I won't believe it was a coincidence that the teams were tied both weeks. Len even made a criticism of one dance, I think it was one of Mario's, and then gave him a 10 anyway. They gave the guys equal footing, pardon the pun, and totally left it up to the audience. If Emmitt's daughter is right and he has more fans (or rather, more people calling in for him), he'll win. That's the way the competition is set up...the best (and worst) of both worlds, I guess. Mario and Joey tanked with the judges several times and would have been gone were it not for the votes saving them. Willa and Vivica would have stayed longer and Jerry out sooner if the show were based on either/or...were it not for the gap between their skill vs. fanbase/viewer appeal. And, I mean, the approach of the show is working, judging by 20 million people watching and how many millions voting. The judges are doing their jobs when they critique steps done incorrectly, holds broken, etc. The audience doesn't necessarily care about what's proper if it looks good to them...and good to the audience even includes the hotness and likeability quotients, judged by some of those embarassing things they say. But, hey, football fans are gonna likely vote for a football player regardless, same as any fans Mario had before would vote for him. Whoever wins tonight, regardless of who's more skilled or more appealing, it'll be the one that most people voted for, whatever their reasons. Since the competition is set up that way to give the audience 1/2 voting power and everybody knows it from the getgo, whoever wins tonight is who the majority of people voting wanted to win. If Emmitt wins and people argue that he wasn't as skilled as Mario, the other side of that is that it's not just a competition of skill and people know this so it's not like anybody's getting faked out or lied to in that sense. The same popular votes that kept these guys in kept basically everybody in at some point who might have gotten not so good reviews from the judges...Emmitt, Mario, Joey, Jerry, Monique...same conditions benefit or hurt them all.

[PhoenixRising05]

Your exactly right applcin-that is how it works. The only thing I hate about the tie scores the last two weeks is they come off as really fake. I mean the scoring for the whole season is tough and then for the final 3 they just intentially give out 10's and such to leave it the fans for ratings purposes and everyone knows that is what it is. It takes suspense away really. I knew last night they would end up tied before the show even started and I just hate that.

From what I have been reading around the net, Emmit will win. Dialidol has him winning and so do several polls and it appears he will win by a landslide. Not a gurantee but usually these things are accurate.

The problem with Mario was: 1.) No one likes Karina or her attitude

2.) Many feel they should not even be here because they broke the rules twice.

3.) Mario has had experience dancing priot (and many beleive more then he is

letting on and many don't like that as you are supposed to see someone learn

to dance and not already know-same argument used against Stacy last year)

4.) Emmit is more entertaining and natural while Mario was very cocky early on

and is the better dancer but the other factors step in the way. Mario also uses

the same moves for almost every latin dance and that doesn't help either.

It seems many did not like his free style last night. They felt, like me, that Mario was too safe and that Karina seemed out of place. He took over the dance and used her as a prop and her outfit didn't even match the dance. Now Emmit's was not awesome but there were risks there whereas Mario had some touch moves but nothing risky like difficult lifts or anything. Drew and Cheryl last year had a much better freestyle then either of these but of the two last night Emmit offered more and entertained more. He entertained all night whereas the only dance Mario really entertained me was his second dance, which seemed to get the most attention from the audience in regards to him. It also seems that Mario and Emmit switched places in many people's eyes since Emmit came out taking risks on the freestyle and Mario did some of the thingshe got in trouble for and that the judges hated when he did them early on.

Bottom line: If you want fun and charm, you go with Emmit. If you want the better technical dancer, you go with Mario. My prediction based on everything I have heard or seen is that Emmit has it. We'll see though.

[David_Vickers]

I like both Mario & Karina and Emmitt & Cheryl. I voted for Mario. I think Mario has been the best all along.

[ilovesteveandkayla]

Count me in on hoping for an Emmitt win! He's so much more entertaining than Mario. What was with Mario's freestyle? Blahhh and yet he recieved a perfect score?

[applcin]

Interesting. GMA did a little thing this morning where they had a little vote with, I guess, the people they dragged out from the street and into the building, lol, and had them hold up signs for one or the other, who they wanted to win. Most of the signs said Emmitt. They also showed brief clips of Mario about to dance on "Saved By The Bell" and Emmitt during one of his games. They said Emmitt had the hip action then, because he would trick you into thinking he was going one way and then he'd dart another way. Both couples are supposed to be on tomorrow. I know they're on Oprah today. It's taping at my house as I type, lol.

Loved Len's "MVP" comment about Cheryl. She is definitely a standout among the pros. She seems similar to Emmitt in the sense that they are both driven to be the best at what they do, they have joy in what they do and they come across as great people. It's like what that one guy in the audience said a few weeks ago about how both women and men like Emmitt. I think both women and men like Cheryl, too.

[DruRocks]

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!

YES! YES! YES!

Cheryl is a back to back all star!

[anita30]

YAY EMMIT AND CHERYL WON. DOING THE HAPPY DANCE

[Cheap21]

congrats to Emmit but I wish Mario had won

[applcin]

WTG, Big Bull and Little Bull!!!!

[ilovesteveandkayla]

Yay for Emmitt and Cheryl!

[KMan101]

YAY!!!!!!

Goooooo Emmitt and Cheryl! I was totally rooting for them to win it all! I felt bad for Mario and Karina (who was near tears). But yay!!!!

And congrats to Cheryl! Back to BACK champion!