“Dancing with the Stars” is a live TV show that has been running since 2005. In its 19 years, the show has gained a lot of fans and popularity. The premise is pretty simple to understand: a group of famous people (the stars) is paired up with a professional dancer (the pros) and they compete against the other pairings for the coveted Mirrorball Trophy. This season, season 33, the cast of Stars was filled with dynamic people to garner a large audience. There were Olympic athletes, famous actors and “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” contestants all being added to the show. There was even a con artist in the lineup, but I’m not here to talk about Anna Delvey and that whole scandal.
I am here for the dancing. I have been a dancer since I was young and because of that I know a lot about how duets are supposed to go. It is not supposed to be completely full of lifts and standing/walking for one partner, while the other dances around like their life depends on it (looking at you, Danny). It is based off of teamwork, trust and a good skill set.
This is not meant to downplay any of the hard work the stars put into their numbers. Having to learn a new skill and then perform it on live television is no easy feat and they all did it very well. Be that as it may, the stars were given dances with completely different difficulty levels but then scored based upon the same rubric. There would be one dance that was completely filled with lifts and other tricks and the next dance that had a lot of “actual dancing.” It was confusing to see the dances back-to-back and then to see the scores that would be ridiculously close to each other. It felt like giving a little second grader the same test as a senior and then grading on a curve. It didn’t make much sense.
Overall, the top 5 pairings did not truly surprise me:
5th- Danny Amendola and Witney Carson
4th- Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold
3rd- Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong
2nd- Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten
1st- Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson
These pairings were pretty consistently scoring the highest or having the most entertaining numbers. However, I disagree with the placements of the top 5, so I will be reranking the pairings based on a few specific categories.
My personal rubric is:
- Dance Abilities (how well they learned new styles, execution of the styles and overall skill)
- Teamwork (how good of a team I think the duo was)
- Personal Preference (how much I enjoyed the performances)
Once again, just my personal opinion, no hate to any of these performers.
5th- Danny Amendola and Witney Carson
Danny and Witney had a pretty popular run this season with one of their lifts going viral on various social media platforms. The “leg lift” as I have seen it nicknamed is a good example of how their dancing seemed to me. Cool and viral but not much substance. There were a lot of lifts and other tricks thrown into the choreography but Danny never did much else. In the dance world, specifically the competition atmosphere, there are so many people who rely on tricks and lifts instead of dancing. It is a personal pet peeve of mine because it is unfortunate to see good dancers lose to a good lifter. I had to dock points for that. Overall, I thought they were a good pair but I wish they had danced more.
Dance Abilities: 2/5
Teamwork: 3/5
Personal Preference: 1/5
Total: 6/15
4th- Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson
I know, I know, I can hear the gasps now. “He was the actual winner of the season, why is he fourth?” Because he was not as entertaining and I personally believe he won based on his popularity. DWTS scoring has always been a bit weird to me. Someone could be a weaker dancer than others in the season but would be hugely popular and would stay on because of audience votes. I think Joey’s time on “The Bachelor” definitely helped secure him a spot in the finals, if not his victory. He has a dedicated fan base that voted for him. His dancing was fine. Nothing about it ever truly blew me away unlike my top 3. He seemed to work really well with Jenna, his pro partner, but even she couldn’t make me like his performances as much as the others.
Dance Abilities: 2/5
Teamwork: 4/5
Personal Preference: 2/5
Total: 8/15
3rd- Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten
Ilona and Alan really shocked me this season with a pairing I wasn’t sure was going to pan out. Luckily, they had great energy together and seemed like such a sweet and fun duo. I would say Ilona was the most improved dancer by a long shot. She worked on her timing and technique and I really appreciate her taking the corrections she received and running with them. It showed me that she was serious about the show and about winning the Mirrorball trophy. I enjoyed almost everything she was in, her energy was consistently high and she always seemed to be having fun for herself. My only critique, and the reason she is in third, is because her numbers were rarely my favorite of the night and for a show based on dance, I want to pick the best dances.
Dance Abilities: 3/5
Teamwork: 4/5
Personal Preference: 3/5
Total: 10/15
2nd- Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong
Now this duo really had it all: energy, performance, skills and teamwork. Chandler was the youngest star on this season at 24 and had a little bit of dance background from when she was a child. Her partner, Brandon, tied this partnership together with a bow. They consistently had the highest judge scores of the episodes and was a fan-favorite to win the season. I didn’t see as much friendship as I would have liked to but the connection showed through the dances. Chandler worked so hard on cleaning up her dancing because she wanted to prove that she deserved the win, and I respect that so much. Unfortunately, she came in second in my book but I still respect her so much for taking on this challenge and doing so well in a new environment.
Dance Abilities: 5/5
Teamwork: 4/5
Personal Preference: 4/5
Total: 13/15
1st- Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold
Stephen and Rylee truly should have been the winners. They were so entertaining and fun to watch and every dance felt like it got better and better. They were such a good pairing that I don’t think anyone could come close to their teamwork. The Instagram posts that I saw, almost daily, show a friendship that is full of trust and fun. That is what makes a good duet, having a connection both on and offstage. Stephen took his corrections so well and for someone who had never danced before, he picked up on the dances extremely quickly which is super, given that even some dancers struggle with that. I especially enjoyed how he mixed in his gymnastics passion into the dances, like when he would bring his passion for pommel horse out and add it to their number. If you did not love Stephen and Rylee’s freestyle in the finale, you are either a hater or a liar. That was the best dance of the episode and honestly the best of the entire season. These two seem like such a sweet duo and personally, I wish they would have won the Mirrorball this season.
Dance Abilities: 4/5
Teamwork: 5/5
Personal Preference: 5/5
Total: 14/15
All in all, I really enjoyed this season. Out of all the seasons of the show, this one felt the most fun to me and had the best energy as a whole. Despite me disagreeing with the placement, I think all of the top 5 were all deserving of the trophy and it genuinely came down to who had the largest fanbase. Hopefully, none of the competitors are super discouraged by the outcome of the season finale since I thought they all did amazing. I hope that all of the competitors had a good time performing and maybe even keep dancing when they aren’t busy being Olympic athletes or famous actors.
