‘Dancing with the Stars 21’ week 7 rankings: Tamar Braxton challenges Bindi Irwin, Nick Carter

Monday night’s “Dancing with the Stars” episode is just about upon us, and the field is getting a whole lot more interesting. With the exit of Paula Deen from the competition, every person remaining is more than capable of getting big scores. They are all talented, and at this point we think it is going to come down to more than just what the judges think. It’ll probably be a battle of fan bases from here on out, since we could see the finale later this season being a chorus of perfect scores.

As always, we’re ranking based on performance quality, perceived fan following, and history so far this season.

8. Alek Skarlatos and Lindsay Arnold (7) – It pains us to put Alek in last place, but the reality here is that he is not particularly famous, and he is also coming off lower scores. At this point in the competition, how much can he really do in order to save himself?

7. Hayes Grier and Emma Slater (5) – Is now a great time to be Hayes? We’d say that our reaction to that is somewhat mixed. He has the social-media buzz like nobody else, but with lower scores right now and less name-recognition among older viewers, there’s a chance there couple be trouble ahead.

6. Alexa PenaVega and Mark Ballas (3) – Once again, this is further proof of the parity among this group. One week removed from a perfect score, Alexa struggled and scored a 30 out of 40. This puts her in danger of being a shock boot, at least to a certain extent. The reality is that almost any booth at this point would be a shock boot.

5. Carlos PenaVega and Witney Carson (6) – Given that the people ahead of Carlos all scored perfect scores last week, someone had to be fifth. That may sound a little strange, but that is precisely our reasoning for this particular ranking this time around. Also, we’re still not sure about his fan following.

4. Andy Grammer and Alison Holker (8) – The power of a perfect score! Andy has finally cemented himself as someone capable of being more than just at the middle of the pack, though he will have to do it a little more consistently if he hopes to break into our top three.

3. Tamar Braxton and Val Chmerkovskiy (4) – A perfect score brings Tamar back to where she belongs, as one of the strongest and most daring celebrities this season. It’s certainly possible that she could beat either of the top two, but we figure she’d need a near-perfect run the rest of the way to do it.

2. Bindi Irwin and Derek Hough (2) – There may be a slight gap between Bindi, Nick, and the rest of the Stars at this point. We’re trying to think of this not only in terms of their scores, but what we think their audience size to be.

1. Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess (1) – Is there really any competition still for the top spot on the list? We have a hard time thinking so, given that Nick has been here the entirety of the season and we have no plans of swapping him out. There are only two things to us that could cause him to lose: An injury, or some near-meltdown that leads to a decline in scores.

Who do you think is in the right position to win? Vote in the comments, and click here to see some of the teams for Monday’s group dances! Also, be sure to sign up here to get some further TV news worth dancing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)