Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars premiered last week, and we have thoughts. A two-episode premiere, a double elimination, and a “record amount of votes” (which they seem to say every episode nowadays) all made for 48 hours of epic reality TV. Before week 2 airs tomorrow night, here is our DWTS week one recap!
Leavitt Fatigue is Real
By Maddy Naughton
“Love it or leave-it?” This was the question I asked last March when I saw Whitney Leavitt star as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway. And at the time, I loved it. Season 4 of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives had just dropped, Whitney was smashing box office records, and had a loving husband by her side. Redemption arc? A success.
So as she sat behind the camera on the Season Premiere of Dancing With the Stars last Tuesday, aggressively mouthing for me to vote for her husband Conner L (not to be confused with fellow contestant Connor W), I wondered how she could fall from grace so quickly. Or maybe I was in my head? Truth be told, I was annoyed when Conner was announced as a contestant; a nepo-sister and a nepo-husband in the same season seemed like way too much reality TV drama for me. But who knows, the Leavitt’s obviously had a fan base? Right?
Well, even if the fanbase exists, they did not act fast enough, as Conner was the first contestant sent home on this season of the show. And as a fan of the show, his dance was not great. His partner Adele, was the winner of Dancing with the Stars : The Next Pro, and new to the show herself, but the blame cannot entirely be on her, as the show’s elimination relies on the votes of its viewers. Votes that went to Guillermo of Jimmy Kimmel fame (who is on track to become the Andy Richter of this season and I hate it), Harry Shum Jr. from Glee (or Grey’s Anatomy but mostly Glee), Connor W (he has purse), and their other competitors.
Simply put : the Internet is tired of the Leavitt’s. Just this week it was announced that Whitney would be on the new season of The Traitors (along side Kristen Chenoweth, and the theatre kid in me is screaming). They have been everywhere. And while I am sure they are having a great time, I do not quite understand why they are jumping from thing to thing so quickly. Entertainment companies have this funny thing that they do, where they push a piece of media that is beloved into the ground until I hate it. Why do you think in one decade Disney has released 3 Moana movies? Or how we all went crazy over pink and green mac-and-cheese, just for Wicked : For Good to not even receive one Oscar nomination? The Leavitt’s had a good thing going, and maybe if they waited a year or two Conner would have had great dancing success. Let us not forget how the winner of last season, Robert Irwin’s sister Bindi, won the show years before he did. But now, I need the Leavitt’s to take a sip of some dirty soda, and stay off of my TV for a while.
Same-Sex ≭ Queer, The Chmerkovskiy Propoganda, and Julianne Hough, Oh My!
By Meghan Martin
Same-Sex ≭ Queer
As a long time fan of DWTS, when the season 35 cast-list dropped it left a lot to be desired. From stand-out stars like Julia Stiles, and Taylor Hanson, to gold-medalists like Amber Glenn and, and Ezra French, everyone else is kind of meh. Oh, and not to forget, the nepo stars.
Brooks Nadar was on season 33 of DWTS, paired with Gleb Savchenko. Their time on DWTS was controversial. From the first 10 (that was taken away) on heavy metal night to the extremely messy showmance and break-up, Brooks was eliminated quite early. Her time on Dancing with the Stars was met with nothing but negativity, which is why I was surprised to see her sister on the season 35 cast-list.
Dancing with the Stars is not a dance competition, it is a popularity contest; marketing matters. Stars like Brooks, Halaria Baldwin (season 34), and Sean Spicer (season 28) all failed in this department, getting sent home very early in the competition. Other stars like Andy Richter (season 34), and Bobby Bones (season 27) had great marketing, making it way farther into the competition than they ought to have. In any case, marketing can save a star’s booty.
Now that marketability is out of the way, this is where Sarah-Jane Nadar comes into play. I found it interesting that the same season Gleb Savchenko was not asked back was the season the Nadar’s decided to return. Regardless, with the negativity surrounding her sister on season 33 and the bad-reviews of their show Love Thy Nadar, she was bound to be poorly received.
Upon the cast announcement, we found out that Sarah Jane was to be paired with new pro: Hailey Bills. Same-sex pairings have been done before, as seen with JoJo Siwa and Jenna Johnson Chmerkovskiy, as well as Shangela (Chantaize Darius Jeremy Pierce) and Gleb Savchenko (season 31) (he is just the topic of conversation today, isn’t he), so this is not a new thing. What is new is that they claim to be a queer couple. Unfortunately, this is where Sarah-Jane failed in her marketing. This was not a queer couple as Hailey Bills is a straight woman. A queer couple would be something like Ezra Sosa and Carl Nassib or Jason Collins. Do I think Sarah-Jane is an excellent form of representation on this season? Yes, but in that statement, Amber Glenn must also be recognized. The whole “queer couple” market feels disingenuous. Same-sex does not equate to queer.
I was not surprised to see her eliminated on night 2 of premiere, as many others have expressed the same thoughts I have just laid out. In that same vein, I am sad to see Hailey Bills eliminated so early on in her first season. Unfortunately, Hailey played into this marketing scheme. It appeared, to others as well as myself, that Hailey and Sarah-Jane were starting a show-mance. Hanging on each other in interviews aided in this view. I found myself wondering why Sarah-Jane would start a showmance rumor when her sister got eliminated for the exact same thing.
All in all, Sarah Jane was set up for elimination, though I did not think it was going to be that quick. From sheer nepotism, to queer bainting, and showmance rumors already, Sarah-Jane’s marketing team could have helped her out a little bit in my opinion.
The Chmerkovskiy Propoganda
I have loved Val since the first season I started watching (the season with Zendaya of course), and my love and admiration of him have grown with seasons. Naturally, when Jenna entered the Chmerkovskiy clan upon her marriage to Val (something I am still mourning), she subsequently earned my love and admiration courtesy of her husband. It also appears she gained the Chmerkovskiy finale promise.
Out of 21 seasons, Val has been in the finale nine times, just barely missed the finale four times, and has won the mirrorball four times (tieing him with Mark Ballas for the second most successful pro of all time following Derek Hough). Approx. 62% of Val’s partners have been finale/mirrorball contenders. Out of nine seasons, Jenna has been in the finale four times, just barely missed the finale once, and has won the mirrorball twice. Approx. 56% of her partners have been finale/mirrorball contenders. To put that weight of these numbers into perspective, out of 18 seasons, Emma Slater has had two finale appearances, just barely missed the finale twice, and won the mirrorball once (approx. 22%). Out of 12 seasons, Sasha Farber has made the finale twice, barely missed the finale three times, and won the mirrorball zero times (approx. 41%). The list goes on and on with pros who have never really had a shot, like Britt Stewart and Pasha Pashkov. Needless to say, the celebrity-couple pairings seem to favor the Chmerkovskiy’s.
I feel it necessary to leave Mark Ballas out of this conversation (approx. 50%) because his attendance on the show has been spotty. On his original run (season 5-22), his success was spotty. Upon his return every few years he has been given very successful pairings. The difference between Mark and Val is consistency. Val has not missed a season in his 21, Mark has missed quite a few.
Why is this conversation relevant? Because of the advantage this couple seems to have over the rest of the competition. With professional dancers as partners (Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Dewan), the Chmerkovskiy’s are bound to see a finale, and potentially make history as the first couple to compete in the finale against each other. I do not know about you, but I would much rather see Daniella and Pasha go head to head with their Olympian partners.
Despite these negative thoughts, the premiere was an overall success. My front runners are Maura and Mark, Taylor and Britt, Ezra and Dani, Amber and Pasha, and Conner W and Rylee. In a perfect world these would be the final five; although I would love to see them bring back the three-couple finale. The five-person finale in recent years has been too chaotic. I thought the judges provided beneficial feedback to all the couples, including Carrie Ann.
My one last critique for the premiere night is Julianne. Please girl, get it together; acting like a hot mess out there. I personally found it distasteful, rushing the entire night one of the premiere so she could perform a dance advertisement (and let’s be honest, it was not that great). In a perfect universe Tom and Erin are our hosts, Len is still at the judges table, Derek is a pro, and Bobby Bones never won the mirrorball.