‘Dancing with the Stars 16’ rankings: Kellie Pickler, Sean Lowe among contenders

What a difference a week makes when it comes to our “Dancing with the Stars” rankings. We’ve now had an opportunity to approximate voting blocks for some of the contestants competing for the Mirrorball Trophy. Based on the results the first night (which somehow saw D.L. Hughley being declared safe despite being pretty dreadful), it looks like we are in for a pretty interesting season.

So who’s at the top this time around? The answer may not surprise you too much based on past performances; after all, this, momentum, personality, and perceived fan base are factored into the equation. Disagree with our rankings? We want to hear some of your thoughts below!

11. Lisa Vanderpump & Glev Savchenko (last week: 7) – What we learned last week from Lisa was simply that her fans are all too busy watching “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” to vote. She was in the bottom two despite okay scores, and that doesn’t bode well at all for her future on the show.

10. Victor Ortiz & Lindsay Arnold (2) – Let this be a lesson: being trending on Twitter is not an indication that you are actually getting voted. We overly based Victor’s popularity on a small voting demographic, and we won’t do that again. We honestly think that he may have gone home had Dorothy Hamill not been hurt, but his upside is that he is young and will get better.

9. D.L. Hughley & Cheryl Burke (12)  – How many of D.L.’s votes were from Cheryl fans? While his abysmal scores are there, his voting block does make it feel as though he could last for a few mores weeks even if he is not the best.

8. Ingo Rademacher & Kym Johnson (10) – Ingo remains the biggest mystery of the competition, mostly because we don’t know who, save for “General Hospital” fans, will vote for him. His scores are okay, but he needs to make a move moving forward to capture some new fans.

7. Andy Dick & Sharna Burgess (11) – Our biggest concern last week was that no one was going to vote for this guy, but he did a pretty amazing job of trying to rehab his image while at the same time being a decent and entertaining performer. He’s not going to be a finalist, but he could make it to the middle of the pack so long as he and Sharna bring the fun.

6. Wynonna Judd & Tony Dovolani (4) – In some ways, we see Wynonna as a country music version of Kirstie Alley. She is entertaining to a group of fans, but she also does need to expand beyond that if she wants a chance in the long-term. Luckily, she has a coach in Tony who knows how to make non-dancers shine.

5. Jacoby Jones & Karina Smirnoff (1) – Jacoby got off to a great start last week, but we’re almost starting to feel that the backlash towards football players always winning could come back to bite him. He needs to be more than good in order to have a shot at winning; he needs to be brilliant.

4. Zendaya & Val Chmerkovskiy (8) – The fact that she is the season’s best dancer certainly helps her overcome the fact that there are few people other than parents over the age of 18 who have any idea who she is. She is a little bit of a ringer, though, and that could hurt her.

3. Aly Raisman & Mark Ballas (9) – Aly has yet to really fulfill the peak of her potential, but you can really see here that there is something special if she gets everything together. She’s got the gymnastics voting block behind her, and it certainly helps that she has a popular partner, to boot.

2. Sean Lowe & Peta Murgatroyd (3) – Sean is probably not in the top four this season when it comes to actual dancing talent, but he has to have the biggest support base out of anyone here. You know that so long as he isn’t terrible week after week, you can punch a ticket for him for at least the top 6.

1. Kellie Pickler & Derek Hough (6) – How can anyone other than Derek be ranked at the very top here? There’s just no way after their sensational light show last week! Kellie knows how to perform, she’s got a great personality, and you know that Derek is one of the best choreographers in the entire competition.

Who do you think is primed to win “Dancing with the Stars” right now? If you want to read some more news when it comes to how Lisa is preparing you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: ABC