Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino & Karina Smirnoff - Season 11

[ChelsieFan]

I did find Karina more likeable this season. She seemed more free and happier. Maybe she was happy to be back or maybe she knew she had somewhat of a loose cannon that really wouldn't win so it took the pressure off. It was his time to go. He should be proud of his hard work and stay classy in interviews.

[karalott]

Flexing his pecs was a "thumbing his nose" gesture at the show and the judges. I am in no way at all condoning his poor social behavior and bad attitude, but I recognized immediately what he was doing and why.

This guy knew he was about to get the ax, so he stole Tom's thunder from him in a rude but riveting manner.
(Come to think of it, diverting the attention from Tom in itself is pretty hard to do!)

In a way I am surprised that we have not seen more poor behavior from the celebrities than we have seen.
These are people that we have made to be little idols. In their respective fields and in their hay days, they were ( or sometimes still are) almost worshipped. Almost on top of that they are rich. They have been made to think that what they do is close to perfect.
In their worlds, they get relatively little criticism.

Then they come to Dancing With the Stars.....

A few like Emmett Smith, Apollo, and Kristi fall right into dancing naturally just like they did with their sports. For the most part, though, the other celebrities are not natural dancers, and for first time, or for the first time in a very long time they face some (often harsh) criticism.
Temperamentally, performance artists can be naturally sensitive anyway, but then you add the fact that they are used to hearing tremendous praise, and when they get a continuum of criticism, there is a chance that there is going to be an outburst like we saw from the Situation and heard from Michael Bolton and the comedienne a couple of seasons back.

I have to think for those that come to DWTS from the bubble of reality TV, where basically they are treated like Gods, were made stars by America, and become a new sensation, when they really don't have to deal with rejection and can ignore the critics, it has to be even harder to get in front of 20+ million people each week and be scored and judged and put your fate in the hands of viewers. CA had mentioned about Kate being so un-self aware about what people really thought of her, why she was getting the criticism (when they finally gave it to her), and that she can understand why Kate feels like a "victim". JS became a huge hit, maybe due to all the controversy, maybe it would have anyway. To me, it's a more R-rated version of Big Brother. No difference otherwise, except for the minor ones. I don't think giving Mike a pass the first 3 weeks, and an encore, made this week easy on his ego. It probably did take him a little by surprise. I love the AT, but I do think sometimes the pros go a little lift crazy and don't focus as much on the actual dancing part of it.

I think why athletes are successful if what you and others have touched on, they know how to train, they know how to listen, they know how to work as a team, and they may come with natural ability. I'm wondering if that sometimes is the downfall of solo singers and people who were the breakout stars of a movie or TV show; they're used to being in control and think people would rather have them do their thing than listen to their pro.

I'm still not a Karina fan, but as I put in the episode thread, she knew she had no chance and was probably happy just to be back and a part of the show. When she finally got over being frustrated with Billy Ray they made a fairly fun duo (considering he practically scalped her week 1 during their cha cha ) I most enjoyed Karina during her relationship peroid with Maks. The girl was on cloud 9. I do enjoy her choreography, so despite not wanting her to stick around, I do wish she'd get a decent partner every now and then. I felt sorry for her last night, and would for any pro when they're celeb acts like a jerk.

[prhoshay]

Just watched Sitch and Karina dance on The View....they always have the most recently ousted couple on. His "dancing" reminded me of a 5th grader in a grade school talent show! And they did a dip at the end of the dance, and he almost dropped her there!!! They went stumbling across the stage. Fortunately, there were no lifts in the program, and he danced in his stocking-feet because Jimmy Kimmel had burned his dancing shoes. This was just b-a-d.

His body may be toned but, strengthwise, he is seriously lacking, as was evident in his final, fateful dance on the show.

[karalott]

Re-watching their AT, while the lifts were impressive, they weren't clean. In some cases Karina's legs looked awkward, and in a couple of instances, I thought he was going to drop her. Since the stage was so small maybe she was afraid if he did any actual dancing he might end up hoofing right off into the audience (although better him than her). Of course, I'm no expert, so what do I know. Karina looked about ready to cry this week. JK asked her what she thought about finding out Mike was her partner. She didn't know what she was going to do, but joked she was glad she didn't trade him for David Hasselhoff.

[TonyDovolaniFan]

I liked Mike a lot better than I thought I would. Just from hearing the rumors about him, I thought he'd be annoying and arrogant. I didn't find him that way at all. I'm such a softie, I always feel sorry for the eliminated pair.