Skating with the Stars; 12/20 episode

[Arielflies]

WOW! Stunned is the word. It must have been the two week accumulation of audience votes since no one was voted off last week. Bethenny is a more "known" celebrity than Johnny, but you would think people would take a look at the skating and not vote blindly. Oh, wait...that has been done before, hasn't it?

Rebecca was stunning tonight and the routine was beautiful and so well done...she has all my votes. I hope tomorrow brings it home for her.

[bachelorwatcher]

I won't be watching tomorrow night. I wanted Jonny Moseley to win. I've never seen a housewife show. At least he was eliminated because of votes from viewers, and not because of lack of skating skill.

[n4692u]

WOW, I couldn't believe Jonny and Brooke were sent home over Bettheny. She has to have a HUGE fan base to overcome a 26 point deficit in judges scores. Really, if that woman wins, that's it for me. I really have had a difficult time getting into this show in the first place, so it will be no hardship not watching it again, that is if there is a season 2. After all, this is a far cry from DWTS.

[albean99]

I've been kind of watching the show and thought for sure Jonny would make the finals. He certainly earned his place there. Too bad Bettheny is more "famous" although I've never seen her on anything before and I have watched him ski. I wonder if Brandon had come back last week who would have gone home then and now?

Not sure if I'll bother watching but go Rebecca. I've thought she was the best from the start and it would be a shame if Bettheny won.

[Bearcata]

If nothing else maybe this will motivate viewers to vote for Rebecca just so Bethany does not win. The touble is the contestants placement in shows like SWS and DWTS are 50% based on a popularity vote and this is the result, otherwise Bristol Palin would never have gotten as far as 3rd place on DWTS.

[Tilden]

I think the judging system clearly needs to be changed if someone can overcome a 26 point deficit. I'm not sure if I can entirely blame the show at this point, though. Everyone seemed stunned that that was possible, so I don't think they cast Bethenny thinking that she was so overwhelmingly popular that she had a fanbase that could do that. Like I said, I don't watch the Housewives of Anywhere, because watching people over-spend and over-indulge generally just makes me annoyed, but I was under the impression she wasn't the single most beloved character to ever emerge from that franchise. And Johnny Moseley isn't exactly unknown. Not only is he an Olympic medalist, but he's hosted shows, commentated etc. I think his profile is actually fairly high, especially among people who they might logically think would watch SWTS, since his sport is part of the Winter Olympics, just as figure skating is. On top of that, he wasn't just a bit better than Bethenny. He was clearly better. Honestly, I think even Bethenny looked surprised and like she didn't quite know what happened. That's what made me think that Brooke knew something, because she was looking unhappy even before they announced who was leaving.

All that being said, both DWTS and SWTS need to do something with their scoring systems. With DWTS, I'm not sure I trust the judges so much, but I think the judges on SWTS have been relatively fair, though, to be honest, I thought that they were showing at least a slight preference for Johnny (e.g. Weir complimenting him on his pivot in the death spiral last night, when he clearly had a bit of a wobble at one point in it). But that didn't stop them from putting him in second behind Rebecca. Their comments have also largely been constructive, if a bit daffily worded sometimes. If they got rid of the female choreographer who isn't a skating choreographer, Button and Weir would be okay.

[bevorules]

TRAVESTY!

Johnny did an amazing job. He had a much harder time than the girls who basically got carried around by their partners most of the time. I don't understand the people who voted for that annoying woman Bethenny over Johnny who was clearly the superior skater.

DD out.

I totally agree with you DD. They shouldn't have voted Bethany into the final. She can't skate as well as Johnny and Rebecca who are on another plane altogether. I hate the housewives shows and never watch. Bethany is a bit rough around the edges as a person and very foul mouthed. I wonder if TPTB manipulated the system to try to generate something as this show isn't as good as DWTS and could use the ratings boost of people talking about it like Bristol Palin did for DWTS (yes I am a Bristol fan, but ratings did go up for her being in the final.) I hope the result is the same i.e. Rebecca=Jennifer and Bethany=Bristol and comes in second. I think Johnny was our Brandy for this show. He was a good skater, but came up short in the votes and wouldn't generate large ratings so they wanted Bethany in the final to guarantee that they could pay the bills.

[TiaMaria62]

I also noticed that the host piped up with the infamous "...not necessarily the bottom two..." line. He said it AFTER Jonny was elimated. That didn't make sense to me at that time - there were only 2 left (Bethenny and Rebecca)! What did that mean? Was Jonny let go to increase the drama/ratings?

Wouldn't be the first show to do so....

I'm all for "voting for your favorite" on shows like this - but it becomes a farce when FAR superior dancers or skaters go home before those with much less talent.

Can't say I'd be interested in a second season.

[Bronwyn]

Actually, once Rebecca was announced safe, and Johnny and Bethenney were waiting to see which one would be eliminated, that's when the host said, 'not necessarily the bottom two'. Made me think that Bethenney had more votes than Rebecca, otherwise, why even mention it.

Quickest way to motivate voters is to talk to the contestants like Johnny Weir talked to Bethenney last week. Yes, she started it, but he's the one that is supposed to be the professional and should have been above all that. He has to take part of the blame for her still being there, just for that reason alone, IMO.

[norealityhere]

I'm not the biggest fan of Johnny Weir, but I wouldn't blame him at all in this fiasco.
Bethenny made extremely rude and foul mouthed comments to the judges.That was totally unnecessary. This is a reality skating competition where we have 2 professional skaters (I'm not counting the female judge here, as she's not a skating professional) giving constructive criticism to the contestants. That's what they're being paid to do.