‘Dancing with the Stars’ 20 rankings: Nastia Liukin, Willow Shields, Rumer Willis lead week 3
We’re not entirely sure what it is about “Dancing with the Stars” these days, but the female celebrities are consistently becoming more dominant than the men. Granted, we had Alfonso Ribeiro as the winner last season, but other than him the rest of the top four consistented of strong female performers. The same thing could happen this season, and probably should when you look at the scores. Maybe it is a casting thing at the moment, since even pre-season Riker Lynch was the only person we felt could really be a strong dancer in a variety of styles.
Of course, we have to consider scoring the most important factor in our weekly rankings, but it’s far from the only one! We also examine history, perceived fan following, and the popularity of your pro.
11. Charlotte McKinney and Keo Motsepe – Hooray for Keo getting another week! We still suspect that Charlotte was that one dancer who almost went home over Redfoo last week. She did show some improvement during the last show, but the problem here is that the definitive worst dancer of the night may have a better fan following as a whole.
10. Chris Soules and Witney Carson – Remember when we thought briefly that Chris had potential at this? The “Bachelor” alum really stunk up the place last week. We do still think that he can move, but he needs to let go! Don’t worry Chris; none of your farming buddies are going to mock you for getting your groove on.
9. Patti LaBelle and Artem Chigvintsev – Yes, watching Patti break it down to 50 Cent was bizarrely enthralling, but she’s the oldest person on the season and she’s already injured. It is going to be beyond tough for her to keep the positive trajectory going against people who are able to work more hours and sacrifice their bodies more.
8. Suzanne Somers and Tony Dovolani – We don’t necessarily believe Suzanne was in the bottom two, but the fact still remains that her last point of relevance before this show was more than a decade ago. How many fans are desperately voting to keep her?
7. Michael Sam and Peta Murgratroyd – We could see Sam going Monday night; however, we could also see him lasting until the top five. He’s not going to win, but since his fan base is so nebulous, he’s a hard contestant to pin down. A decent dancer, though.
6. Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson – Robert has found the perfect cure for nobody wanting to really support the uber-rich guy: Being so happy and positive that if you dislike him, we question your sanity. He’s impressed as a dancer, as well!
5. Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess – Noah’s in a similar position to Michael Sam, except that he may have a week or two longer in the competition. He’s not the best dancer, but he has that inspirational / curiosity factor where you want to see how he challenges himself in different routines.
4. Riker Lynch and Allison Holker – While he improved week to week and proved that he does in fact have a forehead under all that hair, Riker faces a challenge in that the three ladies topping our leaderboard all improved even more than he did.
3. Willow Shields and Mark Ballas – Was the Willow we saw the first week the real one, or was it the one we just saw? Was it her dancing, or Mark’s stellar choreography, that really sold us on her as a contender? So many questions, but we think she will still find a way to make it far in the competition.
2. Rumer Willis and Val Chmerkovskiy – Two weeks in, Rumer has sold us enough on the fact that her dancing skill is so good that we need not worry incessantly anymore on whether or not she is going to be able to get the votes behind her. She’s not immune from a shock boot, but it seems unlikely.
1. Nastia Liukin and Derek Hough – We told you it was coming, and after getting the first 9s of the competition Nastia is now sitting at the top position. Unless she starts throwing out duds, we cannot see her moving anytime soon. People love Derek, and people also love Olympians. This is the combination that should leave the other contestants crying in their sleep.
Who do you have atop your own personal leaderboard? Now is the time to share in the comments and head over to the link here if you want even more “Dancing With The Stars” scoop. Also head over here to get some other TV news worth dancing about, and courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)