‘Dancing with the Stars’ 20 rankings: Nastia Liukin, Riker Lynch, Noah Galloway battle before week 4
It is starting to feel almost like there is one fatal flaw with this season of “Dancing with the Stars,” and it is an issue as simple as predictability. We feel like we already know who the top five are going to be, so why not just flash-forward the competition a few weeks until we get to the finale? It’s possible that one of them is a shock boot before then, but we don’t get the feeling that there is going to be a Tommy Chong this season who makes it much further than anyone predicts that they will going into it.
If you’re new to the rankings, then know that we are basing these mostly on overall performance quality alongside popularity, personality, and voting history so far this season. It’s a complicated cauldron of factors, but we feel like we have a decent handle now on how the season is going to fare.
10. Suzanne Somers and Tony Dovolani – Given that Somers hasn’t really been that relevant in the past fifteen years before this season, she needed to get better scores than what she’s getting now to be effective.
9. Patti LaBelle and Artem Chigvintsev – She is probably the most limited performer left in terms of ability, but she has a strong personality vote behind her still. Also, she’s the most well-known celebrity, and that has to be good for something … at least for another week.
8. Michael Sam and Peta Murgatroyd – These two took a major step back this past week, and in the absence of a huge voting block, Michael needs to be a better, more artistic dancer than he is proving to be at the moment.
7. Chris Soules and Witney Carson – Chris took a huge step in the right direction this week. Had he thrown up another dud, the Bachelor would’ve left the show Monday without a rose. Now, we could see him having a few more weeks of life.
6. Robert Herjavec and Kym Johnson – We’re not sure it is possible for Robert or anyone in the bottom half of the top ten to make it further than sixth. The only reason he gets the edge over Michael and Chris is consistency. We feel like he is less likely to give a dud performance, even if he doesn’t have a breakout one, either.
5. Rumer Willis and Val Chmerkovskiy – She’s probably a better dancer than this ranking shows, but this is turning out to be a competitive season! At the moment, we have less confidence in her fan base than anyone ahead of her.
4. Willow Shields and Mark Ballas – Willow could finish better this if Mark continues his string of great choreography on the show. The only reason she’s missing the top three is because of her overall scores.
3. Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess – It may be hypocritical to say this given that Noah’s scores are lower than Willow’s, but he has an outpouring of love from America like nobody’s business. It may eventually seem less amazing what he is doing, but we’re not there just yet.
2. Riker Lynch and Allison Halker – While we don’t quite know if there are huge contingents of adult R5 fans voting for Riker (his audience seems younger), it doesn’t matter if he continues to perform so well! Getting great scores goes a long way in this competition, and it seems like he’ll be at least near the top every week.
1. Nastia Liukin and Derek Hough – Our rankings here already remind us of the season where Amber Riley won, mostly in that we can envision ourselves putting Nastia at the top every week until someone convinces us otherwise. Even with limited rehearsal time, she is still blowing other contestants out of the water.
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