DWTS: Why it’s My Favorite Show

Dancing With The Stars. I started last year. I never looked back.

One night my wife and I saw it on Hulu and decided to try it out just as a joke. I honestly thought it was a stupid show where celebrities do a horrible job of dancing and random people vote for their least hated. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This show immediately sucks you into its own universe. The lore of the show and the dancers goes deep. There is history between judges, pros, contestants, and I mean who doesn’t want to see their favorite personality step out of their comfort zone and either embarrass themselves on national television or possibly impress the world.

This is no gimmick. Each pro (those who work alongside their celebrity partner each week) is encouraged to push their partner as hard as possible in order to win. Truly only the best dancing duo will receive the Mirrorball Trophy. It is not given out for pity or mere effort. Each dance is assigned a category like Samba or Tango, and the performance is always a brilliant combination of music, production, effects, costumes, and choreography. It’s so exciting to see what each pair will come up with next.

Each “star” has their unique reason to be there and motivation to win it all. The chemistry between the pro and the star has the opportunity to make or break their run.

Although it is highly structured, there is just enough chaos to make good TV. Judges will argue with each other, contestants cry, guest judges like Flavor Flav will randomly appear just to make bad scores and then leave.

This is the key of the show to me: it is so human. The contestants are put in such a vulnerable spot with their pro who worked as hard as possible to succeed that there is sure to be some level of drama. It is presented as a polished and rehearsed, dare I say scripted, ABC show but the cracks quickly form and we get to see or hear things that we feel like we shouldn’t. Boos from the crowd at the judge, eliminated contestants storming off, slips and falls, contention between contestants, etc.

The judges each have unique personalities. The boisterous Bruno Tonioli is showmanship, cheeky, and honest. Derek Hough is the older brother, the upperclassmen who is friends with everyone. He’s going to try and judge fairly, but I’d be lying if I said that he didn’t have favorites. Carrie Ann Inaba is often seen as the “villain” of the show and yes, sometimes I have disagreed with her, but every competition show needs the hard-to-please.

It’s only aired once a week which makes it feel special. I started a tradition of getting Wingstop to eat each week while I watch the latest week’s dances. The duos have one week to learn and perfect their next dance which increases the anticipation. Unlike something such as Love Island which airs almost every single night, I truly feel like I cannot miss a week of DWTS. I need to see what the duos worked so hard to come up with. I need to see who is guaranteed to get eliminated.

I am so excited to watch my second season and this time I will be prepared. I plan on keeping a record book of my scores for each week alongside predictions. Stay tuned for possible weekly recaps.

“Thanks Alfonso!”