Maria Menounos & Derek Hough - Season 14

[Bloomers]

I should have posted in this thread a long time ago, but only did in the main show thread. I love Maria. From the moment I saw her I could just tell that she had natural ability. It did not hurt one bit that she had Derek as her partner. I have always been more about the celeb and less about the pros. This is my first time being on a site that covers all these reality shows that I only watched on my TV. When I came here I discovered that the pro is more important to some people. I have no problem with that as everyone has their right to view the show as they enjoy it. As a dancer of many years, until I no longer could do it, dancing is what is most important to me. Maria has never disappointed me. She had one week that I would call her off week, but I have loved all of her performances. I loved the Bollywood performance. It was different because it has never been done before on this show and the one thing it did do was showcase Maria. I just had a feeling from the beginning that Maria would go far. She made it this far and I would love to see her make F2 with Donald. I don't know if that will happen and I think this upcoming week will show whether or not she goes further. If I were able to tell her I would say to be proud of herself as she has been a joy to watch each and every week. She has brought so much natural emotion to all of her dances. For me each dance tells a story of sorts. Maria has played her part extremely well. JMO

The pro is the consistent factor in the equation here. The celebs are here today and gone tomorrow, so to speak, but the pros are here to stay, also so to speak - or at least some of them.
People tend to naturally gyrate toward what is familiar, and also I have noticed that on message boards there seems to be a rather strong tendency to lean toward "camps" as in Derek's fan camp and/or Maks's fan camp.
Sometimes, there is even a dilemma when the poster likes the pro but doesn't particularly care for the celeb, or the opposite occurs, and the poster immensely likes the celeb but doesn't care for the pro.
I also think that in some way that may be hard to quite nail down, pulling for the pro make this whole experience more enjoyable. It adds a little something.

All of this, of course, really has nothing to do with dance in and of itself - that's incidental to the discussion!

[Living]

Maria seems like a very nice woman and I like her but I'm not that impressed with her dancing. Let's face it....if she didn't have Derek Hough for a partner she probably would have been eliminated a few weeks ago. I must admit Derek is an outstanding dancer and he never runs out of unique ideas. He should be applauded for that. Amazing! That said, does he have a huge ego?? Well, yeah but I totally understand why.

Derek confirmed my opinion of him on Monday. During rehearsals he was not quite happy because he felt he was not doing Maria justice by showcasing her like he should in the routine he had and we could see him torturing himself to find the the right cheorography to showcase Maria. That is how Derek takes care of his partners and usually keeps them dancing for more weeks than if they had been with other partners. Derek is a cosumate professional and I respect him alot for that.

I knew he will not take home the mirrored ball trophy even if he was the best. Maybe next season but not this. People would have been too jealous of him they might have start bad speaking the show etc. Anyway we know how good he is in what he does.

He has his job, the producers have theirs, the judges have theirs. He just gets on with his to the best of his ability and does not worry or consume himself with the others positions and jobs which rightly is not his business. He plays well in the team and becomes a star in his space. Impressive

[Fanny Mare]

Derek confirmed my opinion of him on Monday. During rehearsals he was not quite happy because he felt he was not doing Maria justice by showcasing her like he should in the routine he had and we could see him torturing himself to find the the right choreography to showcase Maria. That is how Derek takes care of his partners and usually keeps them dancing for more weeks than if they had been with other partners. Derek is a cosumate professional and I respect him alot for that.

I knew he will not take home the mirrored ball trophy even if he was the best. Maybe next season but not this. People would have been too jealous of him they might have start bad speaking the show etc. Anyway we know how good he is in what he does.

He has his job, the producers have theirs, the judges have theirs. He just gets on with his to the best of his ability and does not worry or consume himself with the others positions and jobs which rightly is not his business. He plays well in the team and becomes a star in his space. Impressive

Very well said Living. I wish I could give this a dozen Likes! If others are jealous of talent, that's too bad. I know talent when I see it, and as I have said before, he has a god given talent to dance and let us see wonderful choreography. Maria said without Derek she would have gone home weeks ago.

[maude~flanders]

I was so sad to see them go last night! Maria deserved to get to the finals! But, she handled her exit with beauty and grace. What a great lady!

[karalott]

Anytime Derek gets a partner I like and wouldn't mind even seeing him win with, they lose Maria has been on my wish list to do this show for years (or to take over as co-host). I was hoping it would be Katherine or William going home, but I knew it was coming down to Maria and Donald. They both seemed to know it was them by the looks on their faces, but I still thought there was a chance she would make it. Now I'm hoping Donald wins it all. Maria gets my vote if they ever decide to get rid of Brooke, since we can't have Mel B.

[Fanny Mare]

I was so sad to see them go last night! Maria deserved to get to the finals! But, she handled her exit with beauty and grace. What a great lady!

I will be so happy to see her again. I think she was hurting more than she let on, especially when they did their last jive. Something was just a little off. But I loved their A/T

[Miss Scarlet]

I enjoy watching Derek dance & his choreography is great, but every time I look at him I can't get past the fact that he looks like a resident of Whoville.

[Fanny Mare]

I enjoy watching Derek dance & his choreography is great, but every time I look at him I can't get past the fact that he looks like a resident of Whoville.

I always think the same about Maks

[ilja]

I enjoy watching Derek dance & his choreography is great, but every time I look at him I can't get past the fact that he looks like a resident of Whoville.

Well no wonder he seems like family to me. grinch2.gif

[MHcarrollton]

I do not know about most of the anti Derek groups, but for me it has nothing to do with his talent. He is a wonderful dancer, and an amazing choreographer. My problem is the partners he gets. Why could Maks not have gotten Katherine and Tony Maria, and Derek Martina and Mark Melissa? They consistently pair him with the dancers, or the younger girls and than they flirt and carry on and it distracts from the dancing for me.

If he got paired with Martina and took her to the semis, than I would be impressed.