Dancing with the Stars

 Let me start by saying there will be spoilers in this post.  If you have not watched last night's episode and have managed to avoid hearing who was eliminated last night, you might not want to read further.  You've been warned.

Okay, let's start with, I've watched DWTS from the very first episode back in 2005.  It's part dancing competition, part popularity contest.  That was evident from the first season.  Kelly Monaco won even though John O'Hurley was the better dancer.  Not that Kelly was a bad dancer but she should've been out several weeks before the finale, which as I said, she won.

Now, years later I figure I know how some of the votes are going to go.  If you have a favored professional, the star may get more votes.  It seems to me that the male professionals can pull in more votes than the female professionals, in most instances.  A star with a broad fan base can do well as well.  A few years ago the winner (I think his name is Bobby Bones) couldn't dance but he had a big fan base and so he won.  They changed the format after that so that the judges get to determine who goes home from the bottom two dancers at the end of the night.  They also went to having one season per year after that as well.

Now, let me say this, the voting rule for the judges sucks with having four judges because two of the judges can vote to eliminate one couple and the other two for the other couple.  In that instance head judge, Len Goodman, decides who stays with his vote.  It's my personal opinion that in the event of a tie like that, the couple with the overall lowest score from the judges' scores and the viewers' votes should be who goes home.  No one asked me my opinion but I think that would be more fair than how it has been playing out recently.  I keep reading that people are upset with how they're voting so in a tie, so let it play out how it used to in that situation.  Just a suggestion.

Anyway, back to last night and now I'm really getting to the spoilers here (you've been warned, again!).

I haven't voted on that show in a long time.  I used to vote every single episode and voted based on who did the best dance, in my opinion.  Now, if I vote, I vote for who I want to stay.  You can vote ten times, per couple, per voting method.  I only send texts though and I voted last night.

I voted for three different couples - Amanda Kloots, Jimmie Allen and Melora Hardin, in that order  (when they showed Iman I thought I should vote for him but I was behind watching the show and voting was already cut off at that point).

Amanda and Melora both had perfect scores and both got the two bonus points in the dance off.  Jimmie scored 32 points and was at the bottom of the leader board at the end of the night.  I thought Jimmie's score was lower than it should've been because he did a good, fun and entertaining dance, in my opinion.

Iman was in next to last place on the leader board with 34 points but was saved by fan votes.  

There was a double elimination last night so the bottom three were on stage after the others were saved.  (last warning about spoilers!)  The bottom three were Jimmie Allen, Olivia Jade and Melora Hardin.  

Melora was tied with the top score of the night, yet she was in the bottom three!  Jimmie was at the bottom of the leader board so that was less of a surprise.  Olivia Jade was third from the bottom with a score of 36 - a good score!

Now, here's the whole point of the post.  Jimmie and Olivia Jade looked frightened about possibly leaving, given they were in the bottom three.  Melora just looked pissed.  Like someone is going to die over her being in the bottom three pissed.

Me, I was upset that two of the three people I voted for were in the bottom three.  Olivia Jade is a good dancer but I feel like she was only on the show because of the scandal she was linked to because of what her parents did.  Personally I didn't think she should've been on the show and thought she should be voted off immediately but she wasn't.  She was in the bottom two once before but was saved by the judges.

When they do the double elimination like last night, the person with the overall lowest score goes home - no potential saving for them.  I thought, because of his scores, it would be Jimmie and then I was concerned they would save Olivia Jade, which I didn't want.

Turns out Olivia Jade had the overall lowest score and went home immediately.

Meanwhile, Melora still looks pissed.  I didn't want Melora or Jimmie to go home but the fact that Melora seemed more pissed at the situation than worried whether she would stay or not, I kind of hoped they saved Jimmie at that point, even though Melora was the more consistent dancer.

I don't remember the order of the judges saying who they wanted to save but Len is always the last one.  The first one said Melora.  Her partner seemed happy.  She still seemed pissed.

The next judge said Melora.  Her partner tried to be encouraging about it.  She could not muster relief, she was still plotting the murder of whoever put her in the bottom three!

The third judge said Melora, meaning it didn't matter what Len said (although he did confirm he would've voted to save her too), she was staying and Jimmie was leaving.  Did she look happy?  Relieved?  NO!  She was so pissed she probably didn't realize until later that she had been saved.

And my takeaway from that is, Melora got the last votes she will get from me in this competition.  I don't care how good she does against how bad anyone else does - she will NOT get any more of my votes!  She came across as a poor sport and poor sports don't get my votes!

So, that's how it played out.  That's how my thinking on things went over the night.  And, that's how what played out affected how I will approach things going forward, based on how they played out last night.

For better or worse.

Book Review Club - November 2021

This month I will be reviewing The Husbands by Chandler Baker.  As I was reading it I just kept thinking what my elevator pitch for this book would be.  Think The Stepford Wives (for husbands) meets Get Out and you'll have a pretty good idea what this book is like.

Nora Spangler is an attorney on the partner track at her firm.  You know how people say you should dress for the job you want rather than the job you have?  Well Nora seems to be wanting to live the life she wants versus the one she can afford.  She finds a house she wants in Dynasty Ranch, an exclusive suburban neighborhood, but she's having difficulty convincing her husband to even look at the house, much less move there.

The women in the neighborhood are all successful women, top of their fields, and have kind and considerate husbands.  When Nora finally gets her husband to meet some of the people, she witnesses a noticeable change in him - he helps out more around the house and is more accommodating to her needs and desires.  She's excited about the positive impact the husbands in Dynasty Ranch seem to be having on her husband.

It was interesting to see how this played out but I will say this, Nora is NOT someone I would want representing me in a legal situation.  It was hard to believe she would be on a partnership track at a law firm.  And for me, that was the least believable thing in this book, in my opinion.

But otherwise, I thought it was an interesting book and would recommend it.

For more book reviews, go to https://barriesummy.blogspot.com/index.html