The latest season of Dancing with The Stars has premiered on ABC. Even though I didn’t intend to, I got sucked in all over again.
It doesn’t just end with DWTS. As a population, we are obsessed with reality-competition TV; as humans, we have a natural spirit of wanting to be better than the person next to us. Even if we aren’t in the competition, we enjoy watching one person rise to the top.
What makes Dancing with The Stars so compelling is the idea of a triumphant journey. The celebrity contestants start off with no experience and work hard every week to get better. It’s so funny seeing people completely out of their element and having to dance to win and for someone reason they want to win really badly. They want to win this trophy with no other associated prize more than anything to prove that for no reason other than their own will they can make it to the top and nail a new hobby.
As of now, after the first few episodes the remaining contestants include:
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NBA player Derek Fisher with Sharna Burgess
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Property Brothers star Drew Scott with Emma Slater
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Actor Frankie Muniz with Witney Carson
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Singer/actor Jordan Fisher with Lindsay Arnold
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YouTube star Lindsey Stirling with Mark Ballas
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Singer Nick Lachey with Peta Murgatroyd
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WWE wrestler Nikki Bella with Artem Chigvintsev
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Pretty Little Liars star Sasha Pieterse with Gleb Savchenko
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NFL player Terrell Owens with Cheryl Burke
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TV personality Vanessa Lachey with Maksim Chmerkovskiy
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Paralympic swimmer Victoria Arlen with Val Chmerkovskiy
What makes a mirror ball champion? Who will come out on top? Let’s break it all down.
Celebrity status
First, celebrities with previous dance experience or ability almost never win because the audience doesn’t vote for them. (In terms of this season, this leads me to believe that Jordan Fisher and Lindsey Stirling will make it to the finals, or close to it, but neither will win in the end.)
Compelling story
What usually engages the audience is if the contestant has a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, heart-warming or enjoyable life story to connect to. (Victoria Arlen has a huge story that gets everyone on her team which I think will definitely get her to the end of the show.)
Memorable work
Even if they have no story that grabs the emotion of the audience, if the work they have done in the past (or currently do) has a wide enough fan-base, it can really gain votes. (Nikki Bella is a surprising choice as a top contender but I think she could go really far in this competition. She has fans from the wrestling world, two different reality television shows, and a growing YouTube channel.)
Dedication
There is one thing that will always gain the appreciation of fans, even if they don’t know you, and that’s dedication to the practice and the show. The best example of that is season 23 runner-up James Hinchcliffe. Compelling story aside, no one knew anything about James because he was an Indy car driver, but his passion for the show and dedication to practice made viewers fall in love and vote for him. (This section screams Vanessa Lachey, Drew Scott and Derek Fisher. Both have a reasonable fan-base, but have openly expressed how dedicated they are to the process. That will take them farther than their dancing in this competition.)
Overall, my top pick for who is taking the mirror ball this season is Derek Fisher or Victoria Arlen. Victoria has that compelling story of being paralyzed for years and can now walk and dance with decent ability. She has a fun attitude that people will buy into and a great reason to watch. Derek Fisher is my other selection because as a former basketball player, he already has the legacy of past basketball and football contestants winner. I think it’s the sports mentality as well as good personalities that make Derek and the previous sports winners such well-rounded contestants.
Who do you have as the final two this season? Is there any other competition show you’re addicted to?