5/25 Finale Pt 2 - Show Discussion Thread **Spoilers**

[northernviewer]

That is exactly why I do not vote. Over the years I've noticed all talent contests ( viewer votes) are manipulated by the judges. Either the majority of viewers are very dumb easy to control type people or viewer votes are never counted. I would like to see proof of the viewer vote count instead of just taking the TV network's word for it. I hate to think everyone watching these shows are not independent thinkers but followers that are told how to think and do as they are told. I prefer to believe the shows are fixed. It's too scary to believe people are so easily controlled. I watch talent shows because I enjoy them, especially DWTS. I do not get overly involved with who wins nor do I vote knowing it probably has already been decided. All the professional dancers are amazing but so are the celebrities that have the guts to try.

The judges showed everybody last night that the votes mean nothing in the finale... they control wins and they did it in a very, very obvious way last night, from the ranking...by a 4 point margin at that 26 28 30, at least give a 28 29 39, to keep the gap closer and then Evan getting 2 9's ... give me a break, the show is fixed right from the start, they choose a winner, invite them to the show, and the entire season is just a matter of who goes home in what order until they receive their desired results. Erin and Maks were used until the end as they were good tv, otherwise they'd have been gone sooner.

If they want to make the show better, get some new judges, they are all obnoxious anyway, anybody that can insult an 80+ man for his dance technique deserves a slap along side the head....

[anders332]

I actually probably wouldn't have minded the outcome so much if they had not replayed that scene where Nicole is talking about herself as being on a different level from everyone else.
I'm glad I missed the last hour of tonight's show and just switched from the Good Wife at the very last minute only to see Nicole's overly dramatic and fake thanking of the viewers.
Sorry but that was a total cr*pfest

First off – as soon as they announced the winner I turned the tv off, I couldn’t stand to watch these two receive the trophy.

Secondly – The comments and her entitled attitude is what really really turned me off about her. I wanted to like her, I wanted to like that she won, but it only irritated me. But as soon as the judges ranked them on the AT, it was abundantly clear how the chips were going to fall.

This is my second and last season watching this show.

[nanarama]

I thought CA's charging Nicole and Derek with a lift last night was ridiculous. They had finished their dance, held the position. then due to the way that Nicole was wrapped around Derek's leg (cool btw) he had to lift her out of the attachment. Whatever! I think the other judges thought she was wrong as well.

That brings me to ask.. what is a "lift" because CA would call people on it... but there are a number of times when the guy would say pick up the girl and twirl her around... she would not be touching the floor... those were never commented on or deducted. Why is a lift not always a lift?

There was an interview w/Tony and they asked him about that "lift." He basically called Derek out on it - said they all knew the rule where they cannot lift their partner while the music is still playing and Derek clearly did. Derek acted as though he thought the music had stopped. I replayed it several times and it hadn't, plus wouldn't you think a dancer would be keeping count in his mind and be cautious of that? Oh yeah, unless you're Derek who gets still gets away with great scores for doing a freestyle in place of a quickstep.

[sbrightharp28]

as it should be the two best dancer in the fnale! Go Nicole!

I so agree! I have loved her from the beginning, and my votes have went to Nicole!! I am so glad she won!! The best dancer actually won this year!!!

[jadewarlock]

I have seen the Pussycat Dolls perform and nothing they do compares to ballroom dancing. I like Evan but his Ice skating is closer to Ballroom dancing then the Hip Hop that Nicole does on stage.

We see what we see I guess. YMMV but Imo Nicole won this thing through hard work and an excellent pro in Derek. When I want a dance Champion I want someone who can actually dance. I would have had no problems with Evan either he is a good dancer also.

A lot of people who dance for a living - and Nicole did while she was a "PCD," take all sorts of steps. And, there is ballroom in hip-hop if you look at it closely.

Evan's skating is NOT closer to ballroom dancing by a long shot - the footwork is different, he must keep his hips stiff most of the time, and when he does skate competitively (and even for fun) he does more jumps than actual "dance." I've never seen him do any dance step on the ice rink. I WOULD agree with you if it were say Todd Sands (a ice dance half) but won't here.

The comment here of "When I want a dance Champion I want someone who can actually dance" is exactly why people are upset. Derek has for the most part gotten dancers who can really dance or those who will get him close to the finals if not in them.

To our knowledge he's had NO weak dancers wise competitors, and for sure no clunkers (those with no experience), whereas everyone I believe has. He hasn't had to struggle with his dancers to do well.

To me - that a. takes out the fun of this show and b. shows that he is an arrogant cocky son of a gun who ABC seems to be pandering to because they think he's America's Beau (I can't say sweetheart - he's not a girl ).

It just felt so rigged this season - can you sincerely tell me where and why Evan and Anna should've gotten two NINES in that final dance or that Len should've automatically declared Nicole the winner before E&A danced?

[figuresitout]

I just hope they do something to stop the disparity of Derek getting all the hot young women and good dancers and these other poor people getting Kate Gosselin ("it looked like you were pushing a shopping cart around the floor") or the heftier contestants who cannot bend themselves into a pretzel like Nicole. It just seems grossly unfair to continually favor one pro over the others. And the judges . . . what a mess. I've lost all respect for Carrie Ann and Bruno, and I think it was completely inappropriate for Len to announce that Nicole should win. If you want the format of audience input (which other programs like Survivor eschew), then let the input mean something and don't have the judges playing games to manipulate points at the end.

[anders332]

I thought Len never gave 10s for a jive

[ironcat]

I have never seen the judges so blatantly manipulate the results as they have this season. They really did want Nicole to win and if it hadn't been for their purposefully marking Evan down and over the top glorification of Nicole she would not have won JIMO. There really is no other explanation for why they would give Evan such low marks, harsh critique, bad edit this late in the show. It really tarnished her win for me. I think they were just not going to let Anna and Evan win for some reason. It was almost like a vendetta in the way they handled it. She was the best, but I do not believe she was the fan favorite at all. CA and ABC must have plans for her and needed her to win. She was the best, but I do not believe she would have won had the judges not manipulated the scores the last two nights. When Len and Bruno held up their 9 paddles for the last dance and made those faces it was like someone had told them to not give a 10 especially when Bruno was giving out 10's to Pam just because....during the season. Anyway, congrats to Nicole, but Evan was robbed by the judges manipulation. I believe that Evan was the fan favorite and they were just not going to let that happen. It's unsettling...

If one wants to be a conspiracy theorist, it's pretty easy to find possible manipulation by the producers and judges for a Nicole win. Announcing in the semifinals that each pair had led in fan voting at one time was a way to imply that Nicole's fanbase was probably not significantly smaller than Evan's, contrary to what many had suspected. The extra dance in the finale, not only gave the judges 2 opportunities to "correct" voting after the fact if needed, but additionally played to Nicole's strength, in that Evan's time to learn a third new dance was more limited than hers due to his touring, as well as Erin's lack of experience learning choreo as quickly as the others would put her at an even greater disadvantage. Also, one could interpret the seeming propping up of Erin's scores (and I am an Erin fan, but felt her scores were generous) as a way to deflect from the seeming marking down of Evan's. All the while, the gap between Nicole and Evan widened to 7 points, which (if we are to believe that the fan bases were as close in size as they claimed), would be too much to overcome (over 3%, according to my calculations).

Bottom line, the show has been loudly promoting Nicole as the best celebrity dancer ever to appear on DWTS, and I suspect they felt if she didn't win, they would lose too much credibility. I'd love to know how the final voting really broke down.

[jadewarlock]

I thought Len never gave 10s for a jive

I think he's done it once or twice - but it's been a very good jive. I think he gave one to Kristi Yamaguchi when she was on, but that jive was probably one of the best they've ever had.

[nanarama]

Interestingly, the headline on Yahoo about last night's show announces that KHate returned to DWTS. It only mentions Nicole's win off to the side in small print!