Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas - Season 11

I try very hard to come to the program each year with no pre-judgements of the contestants. I try to judge them solely on how much effort they put into their dancing and much they learn, grow and entertain me. It does not matter to me that some of their claims to fame are very flimsy, as to me the stars in "Dancing with the Stars" are the pro dancers. If Bristol does a good job I will root for her and if not I will hope that she leaves early. I feel sorry for her that she is being painted as a "fame##ore". Every young girl has dreamed of being "famous" someday so if life has given this "unremarkable" girl just the slightest chance to be remarkable for just a few moments in her life...why not? That she is a young girl who has obviosly made some bad decisions, does not matter to me. I am not here to judge her decisions I am here to judge her dancing. I hope she does well.

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Originally Posted by ironcat;4064810;

As of right this minute, Bristol is unremarkable, untalented and uneducated; perhaps in the future, she will change that. But other than getting pregnant at 17, what else "remarkable" has she accomplished? She has her GED; haven't heard that she was an honors student in HS, or accepted at a top university, so as of now, she is relatively uneducated for 19. And if she has any talents, dancing or otherwise, we also have yet to hear of them. If she wasn't the daughter of a famous woman, she would be viewed, along with many other teenagers, as very unexceptional indeed.

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Everything that you say about her education is true; however, it is also true that very few 19 year-olds have made any kind of speaking circuits promoting anything let alone positive messages in an attempt to help others avoid making similar mistakes. That said, at this point she still remains uneducated and untalented in a performance sense, but perhaps she comes out of the "unremarkable" category. :)

I am NOT a Palin fan in any way, but I am appalled that DWTS would allow the song selection for Bristol for this week! She will be crucified in the media!

I heard last week that she was dancing to "Mama Told Not to Come" -- and fully believed that it was a joke!! As the host said after making the joke, "perhaps someone should have told LEVI not to come! Then there would never have been a baby."

My heart is already bleeding for the outcome -- what a crass song choice!

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Originally Posted by Bloomers;4064854;

That said, at this point she still remains uneducated and untalented in a performance sense, but perhaps she comes out of the "unremarkable" category. :)

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Not at all. The only reason she was on the lecture circuit (and there are any number of boobs out there spouting all manner of nonsense on that same circuit) was because her mother thrust her into the spotlight. There is absolutely nothing remarkable about her. Though I suppose, technically, people are making remarks about her.

I had to look up the lyrics... I guess they are in sync with her abstinence message... Or maybe her mom told her not to do the show! :lol

I have to say just looking at Bristol she doesn't look like a great dancer...very stiff body posture...but maybe it's the awful situations I've seen her in (for her)--posed at conventions for example. Well, the exercise will be good for her, help her lose the last baby weight.

I wish I thought she'd put the money towards college, but so far as I know she's not even trying community college. Ah, well, the point is, can she dance....? I look forward to reading the commentary here... It's not a show I watch, in part because I really don't know how to judge the performances... they have to be incredibly bad before I can see they are bad.

Now Levi would have reveled in it... And if they have The Situation on I'm not sure they'd draw the line at him. Maybe just not the same season as Bristol.

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Originally Posted by Bloomers;4064854;

Everything that you say about her education is true; however, it is also true that very few 19 year-olds have made any kind of speaking circuits promoting anything let alone positive messages in an attempt to help others avoid making similar mistakes.

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I doubt many have had the opportunity to do so.

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Originally Posted by cherryyou

I'd say 'good for her' for "taking the opportunities presented to her to make some money while there's still some interest in her" which, I say, is pretty smart making her quite remarkable. She'll stumble many times but we sometimes have to go through painful and embarrassing situations to better and educate ourselves.

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I say good for her too. There's no way she could make the kind of money she'll be making from DWTS on her limited education alone and without her now famous family name. It doesn't make her particularly smart to take those oppportunities to me, it's a no-brainer. Being "pretty smart" does not make her or anyone else "quite remarkable" to me. :shrug

With regard to the song choice, I thought it was a joke when I heard it too.
"Crass" is the perfect word, imo.

I am definitely not a Palin fan but I want to give this kid a break. She's just making lemonade out of lemons. I look at the world as a whole. She's just grabbing her 15 minutes of fame, just as John McCain's daughter is doing. No one will remember her 20 years from now.

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Originally Posted by law638;4065619;

I am definitely not a Palin fan but I want to give this kid a break. She's just making lemonade out of lemons. I look at the world as a whole. She's just grabbing her 15 minutes of fame, just as John McCain's daughter is doing. No one will remember her 20 years from now.

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I'm not a huge fan of Megan McCain, but even I'm insulted for her to be equated to Bristol. And I would have much preferred to see Megan on this show, and bet she can dance better too.

As for Bristol's dancing, the biggest differences between her and Kate are that she at least doesn't seem angry to be there, and she remembered all her steps. But she has very little musicality (doubt she's spent much time "out at the clubs"), and did a lot of stomping around and awkward posing, as somebody said. At least the judges are treating her with kid gloves (unlike coat hanger Kate) with their comments, because beating up on a teenager, no matter what your politics are, would be distasteful IMO.

I don't think the judges should go easy on her because of her age.
There was a lot of stomping and posing last night and minimal dancing, if the judges either feel they have to, or worse, are required to go easy on her because of her age then the show should not cast teens, imo.
I don't think Kyle Massey is that much older than Bristol, but I suspect the judges wouldn't go easy on him if he turned in bad performances.

I suspect she'll be around for a while so I hope she improves. Hard to tell after just one dance, but I don't see a lot of potential. She seems nice enough though and is enthusiastic and willing to work hard. She's out of her comfort zone and probably lacks confidence. If she gets a dance really suited to her and does well her confidence will likely improve.

Going on strictly dancing ability and/or entertainment value, I think Bristol should at least stay longer than Michal Bolton, and Margaret Cho if she doesn't stop the intentional missteps. "The Hoff" is a worse dancer but redeems himself with entertainment value. So, to me, Bristol should stay at least one more week, and maybe more, if she can loosen up some. As in seasons past, I can't blame 'stands around to pose' on the contestant, since the pro choreographs the routines. If that's a necessity, it can be hidden better;i've seen it done.