5/16 Show Discussion Thread **Spoilers**

[northernviewer]

I wasn't shocked that Mark (why even bother mentioning Chelsea's name, as it's not about her anyway) got the 15 points...... I was really ticked but not shocked. This show is soooo blatantly fixed but they get away with it year after year with the majority none the wiser. Boooooooooooo

[Dahlia97]

Do you all think the level of difficulty in the choreography is equal among the dancers? I don't notice the judges taking that into consideration.

[Valancy]

ABC needs to sell out anything adult and go straight for the tweens period. They are making huge judgement errors all over the place. First, they cancelled All My Children after years of garbage the fans hated with underwear models taking over, and all their little pets getting airtime despite the fans outrage. Now, DWTS is losing it.

Agreed, I feel like ABC has no idea how to make fans happy. Fans of all ages want to watch a fair competition on DWTS. I was so happy early this season that there was no competitor with an unfair advantage...but now that judges ruined that.

ABC's cancellations of All My Children and One Life to Live for cheap TV make me so angry. There's going to be a fan rally for the soaps (along with other cancelled ABC shows) at the ABC upfronts tomorrow and I hope it's huge: ABC Upfront Meeting and Fan Rally - Lincoln Center - Soap Fans United

I hope ABC starts valuing its viewers soon.

Sigh...at least Brooke's idiocy with the coin toss gave me a laugh tonight.

[moflan]

The judging manipulation worked on me. Like Ralph and Karina, I, too, felt defeated and don't believe Ralph and Karina could possibly come up with enough fan votes to overtake the point differential between them and Chelsea and Mark and I didn't want to risk Hines/Kim and Kirstie/Maks being elminated because others felt they were safe and sent all their votes R/K's way.

From the music choice for the dances to the judge's feedback, it seemed obvious that the Producers wanted to put the screws to Ralph and Karina in favor of spat-boy getting to push his "partner" out of the way to hoist the mirror ball high above his shoulders and gloat over a third win. Ralph has improved from week to week and incorporated the judge's feedback into his routines. I have really tried to focus on Chelsea and block out Mark and she appears to have used the same moves over and over again and her fish mouth faces are distracting. I'm glad, at least, that they didn't completely gush over the AT, although the scores were way higher than the feedback led me to believe it would be. It made me long for Cheryl and Gilles AT to that same music. Now THAT was an incredible dance.

While Ralph and Karina's pimp and whore outfits for their Samba weren't my cup of tea, I thought Ralph got into the spirit of the dance more than other couples have this season.

The "winner-takes-all" is BS. There could have been a sliding scale of points awarded, as there has been in the past. This was so blatantly obvious that Chelsea doesn't have the fan votes to get her there herself. Ralph was definitely the sacrificial lamb.

[moflan]

I cried after Hines and Kym danced their AT. It was beautiful and passionate and a believable story. To see the relief on Hines' face and to see his tears was truly moving. They deserved their perfect score and I'm so glad that they were the first couple to receive a 30 on the show. It's too bad the winner-takes-all Cha Cha was fixed for Chelsea and Mark because it undercut the two perfect scores that Hines and Kym got. Brooke's goof-up at the coin toss was funny. Why bother with a coin toss at all. Why not let Hines and Kym choose which order they want to dance rather than just giving them first dibs at choosing heads or tails?

[mushybrain]

Hines' huge fanbase will cover him. It's really down to Kirstie or Ralph in terms of votes that will actually make a difference, because it's going to be one of them.

PLEASE, everyone, don't NOT vote for Hines because we assume that his fan base will see him through. Any of us who has voted for him in the past is part of that base. If huge numbers of people don't vote for him because they THINK he is safe, it could be disastrous!

[karalott]

I hope they get Mark into the finals and let him have that much, because I'm confident (hopefully) that Hines at least has a fan base to take him. I know I'll be voting into overdrive next week for him. Kirstie could potentially also have a large enough fan base to make Mark settle for third. I could totally live with a Kirstie/Hines final 2. If only Ralph was there in the finals.

Ralph may not be the best dancer, but I don't think he's any worse than Kirstie. I'm surprised he's managed to make it this far. He's such a pleasant man, so respectful and kind, so I don't see why the judges give him such a hard time. They don't like him or his dancing fine, but it seems like the nicer a person is, the meaner the judges are. I thought Romeo was like Mario 2.0, and now I think it's Ralph. He's definitely been getting picked apart and dinged, and tonight I think the producers did the only thing they could to stop his fanbase. Hopefully it backfires, though it'll probably come at the expense of Kirstie I've enjoyed having him on the show. He turned me into a fan of Karina, and I never thought that would happen. They deserved better. Karina's got a lot of talent as a dancer and choreographer, and typically makes it fun. I hope she gets another fantastic partner next season, though I'm thinking she'll be back to her usual duds.

My neck hurt when I saw Kym go down. I have to imagine that doesn't do much for morale while watching that right before your dance. But what a performance. Those scores were well earned. That was a perfect come back from a really tragic rehearsal package. I'm glad Kym was okay. I adore her as a pro. I am so hoping these two win. They deserve it, and would be a wonderful outcome than the other alternative (sort of like picking between good and evil). I liked their AT better than their salsa, but I thought Hines did a pretty good job with the salsa, better than some previous latin dances.

Kirstie is another one I didn't expect to still be here, and figured she wouldn't be doing anywhere near as good as she is. I think she's wore out, but hanging tough. Her VW was fabulous. Ballroom, I feel, is much better suited for her. Didn't care as much for the paso. I do think she's being overscored, however. I admire her for still giving it her all, and I think that's where she's going to get extra votes.

Bruno is an egotistical pig. His sexual rants have crossed the line this season, between Kendra and now Karina. He's disgusting and unfunny. And of course, like Mark, believes he's done nothing wrong. It's even more disgusting this is considered good for ratings

So like I figured, the leaderboard wound up how I expected. No one looked overly thrilled tonight. Why have the result show, we know what's going to happen. And next week, it'll probably be Kirstie 3rd, Hines 2nd, and Mark 1st. On a side note, I missed Romeo/Chelsie this week

[JunkieGirl]

Karina's outfit reminds of the one Julianne wore in a dance with Apollo.

Oh yes, that is spot on. Right down to the crazy wig Karina wore. Except Julianne pulled that look off much better.

It's got to be a crappy feeling knowing that the judges had to pad your scores to keep you in the competition. What a joke.

I still used all my votes for Hines because he is my favorite and who I feel is the best dancer. His first dance was awesome and glad they received the first perfect score of the season. I have so much respect for the two of them, Hines for being there for Kym and to Kym for continuing on in the competition. I don't know why they had to show that clip of her fall, I certainly don't like seeing stuff like that. How she managed to not be more injured, I'll never know, that could have been a career ending injury. Seeing Hines so emotional, made me weep along with him. Props to the judges for giving them a standing ovation. I think it was more for Kym and a show of respect.

Hines/Kym for the win! Gooooo Hines!

[LuvThisStuf!]

Bruno IS an egotistical pig. I couldn't stand him when he went overboard with his criticism of Michael Bolton last season, and now his piggish remarks about the female dancer's body parts (I'm going back to his comments about ALL of the women this season). I really think ABC should make him apologize. He's totally inappropriate. Then, when he apologizes, they should replace him. Their axe is out (cutting shows left and right), so why not use it on this judge?

[Tilden]

I'm starting to wonder why Disney, which prides itself on being family friendly, has let so much stuff slide this season on DWTS. We've had TMI moments with Kendra, Mark appearing to flash obscene signs and being bleeped while whining about the judging, and now Bruno making really inappropriate comments about Karina/Ralph. Karina doesn't strike me as a delicate overly modest flower (she couldn't be and wear some of those outfits), and even she was visibly embarrassed tonight.

What does it take for Disney to dash off a memo suggesting that they need to remember they're on ABC, not MTV? I remember Robin Williams saying that when he was ad-libbing lines for his character in Aladdin, he was frequently stopped and reminded that "the Mouse doesn't work blue." Someone needs to remind Bruno of that.