‘Dancing with the Stars 23’ week 2 rankings: Laurie Hernandez, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Lochte lead

Going into this season of “Dancing with the Stars,” we were ready to go ahead and give the Mirrorball Trophy to Laurie Hernandez. The Olympian not only has the athleticism to dominate the competition, and coming off of her gold-medal run with the Final Five, she’s also got an enormous following.

While we do still think that Hernandez has the inside track to winning this season, we’re glad that there were at least some worthy competitors who rose to the surface during the premiere. If you look below, you can see our latest rankings. We have a criteria that includes many factors, but performance quality, fan-base size, and voting history of similar Stars top the criteria.

13. Rick Perry and Emma Slater – Do we think Rick could survive the first elimination? Absolutely, since conservative voters have backed other Stars before who are weak in dance ability. We just think it’s pretty obvious at this point that he’s the worst performer of the group, and it’s really not even close.

12. Maureen McCormick and Artem Chigvintsev – Maureen was one of the lower-scoring Stars after the first week, and in between that and also having being a Star from a long-ago series, we’re worried about her in the long-term. Her superfan status and enthusiasm should at least for now keep her around.

11. Babyface and Allison Holker – Soul singers for one reason or another don’t have a great track record on the series, and as a result of that, we do think he could be in trouble earlier than you’d think this season — even if he is a decent dancer.

10. Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko – We will say that the singer / “One Tree Hill” alum was better than we expected. However, we’re worried about a pair of things. First of all, she’s a lesser-known Star this season working with a lesser-known pro. Also, she’s injured, and that could impact her ability to stay in the competition long-term.

9. Jake T. Austin and Jenna Johnson – Jake wasn’t as good as we thought he would be entering the season, but it’s only one episode. He just needs to worry a little more about his dancing and a little less about his image; if he does that, he’ll be just fine.

8. Amber Rose and Maksim Chmerkovskiy – Amber remains a complete wildcard to us going into the coming weeks. She’s got a well-known pro, but both Maks and her are known as controversial figures. We’re not sure what the audience will be for them this season, even if they are good on the dance floor.

7. Vanilla Ice and Witney Carson – We said entering the premiere that we thought Mr. Ice could be the first Star to leave the season. We didn’t anticipate him being as popular with the crowd as he was, and performing to “Ice Ice Baby” first was probably a smart move to build his following.

6. Terra Jole and Sasha Farber – We don’t think her first dance was particularly amazing, but she is likable and a good story and that will help her go far. We know that she wants to be known as a great dancer more than anything else, and there is time for that to still happen.

5. Marilu Henner and Derek Hough – She was solid in her first outing, and we do think she’s got a tremendous asset at the moment courtesy of having Derek as a partner. He’ll do a great job of finding ways for her to shine and showcase her strong suits.

4. Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold – This is where similar Stars’ history becomes a factor. While Calvin wasn’t perfect week one, he was very likable and the history of Antonio Brown, Jerry Rice, and other wide receivers suggests he will go far.

3. Ryan Lochte and Cheryl Burke – Do we think that Lochte is the third-best dancer on the season right now? Not necessarily, and we also think that there are some who will never forgive his actions in Rio. Yet, we’d be out of our mind to not at least consider the possibility of an epic sympathy vote coming his way after what happened after his most-recent performance. This could help carry him until he is a force to be reckoned with in the ballroom.

2. James Hinchcliffe and Sharna Burgess – While we had no idea who he was really before the season, he did everything in week 1 that you would want — he delivered a great routine, but also showed that he had a really fun personality that will attract voters similar to how Helio Castroneves did many years ago.

1. Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy – It will probably take a heck of a lot of convincing for us to rank Laurie any lower than this for at least the next couple of months. Unless she just crashes out of exhaustion, she just has so many more tools to succeed this season than anyone else.

Who do you think is in the best position at present on “Dancing with the Stars”? Vote below, and be sure to head over to the link here right now to see what the Stars will be performing entering Monday’s show.

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