‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 17 predictions: Amber Riley will win over Christina Milian
We’ve went through and spotlighted every single contestant on this season of “Dancing with the Stars,” and it is time for us to get bold in picking how some of these people are going to fare this season. What’s interesting about this group to us is that there really are three separate groupings: The final three (which we feel very good about), the possible contenders (which is #4-8), and then the people below who really have no chance of making it to the finale.
If you want to read more about any of these contestants, just click on their names to pull up our spotlight article for them.
12. Bill Nye and Tyne Stecklein – We tried to convince our mind that this would not happen, mostly because we love “The Science Guy,” but in the end, you are looking at the oldest man this season, a guy with no dance experience or really even acting, and a new professional dancer with no following. This is probably going to be a combustible situation.
11. Elizabeth Berkley and Val Chmerkovskiy – We’re either going to be a genius at calling this one, or horribly wrong and be mocked forever for it. We know that she has some “Saved by the Bell” fans, but we look at the rest of the roster this season (especially the women) and cannot think of anyone she would beat. Valerie has a better story, and the others either have larger fanbases in the present or have potential to be better dancers. Someone has to go early in a surprise.
10, Bill Engvall and Emma Slater – While some people may call him to be the first person out, we think that some out there are forgetting that the Blue Collar Comedy Tour has a mountain of fans in the midwest. He could be this season’s D.L. Hughley, and last a couple of weeks despite pretty atrocious dancing.
9. Valerie Harper and Tristan MacManus – We don’t necessarily think that Valerie is going to be a better dancer than some of the other people that are gone before her, but she has such a powerful, emotional story that this should keep her around for a few weeks.
8. Jack Osbourne and Cheryl Burke – Jack is not the performer that Kelly was, and we thus don’t think that he’s going to be someone who draws huge scores. But, his name (and his partner) should keep him around a while.
7. Leah Remini and Tony Dovolani – We’re giving Leah a little bit of a chance here since she has some fans from “The King of Queens,” but she needs to come out with a decent first or second performance. She strikes us as the sort of person who could go home in a stunning decision.
6. Brant Daugherty and Peta Murgatroyd – Brant may get a new following courtesy of this season, but since nobody knows who he is and he is an actor more so than a dancer, we’re not willing to sit here and say that he has the tools to be anything better than around how Sean Lowe performed in the spring.
5. Snooki and Sasha Farber – You may love or hate Snooki, but the truth here is that we expect her to be a pretty good dancer. She’s got the background to do pretty well on the show, and with that the issue is going to be likability. Can she get anyone who hates her to suddenly turn it around? If so, she may be able to make it further in the competition.
4. Keyshawn Johnson and Sharna Burgess – NFL players traditionally do very well on this show, but we’ve noticed that the ones that make it into the final are ones that have fans of a specific team supporting them. Keyshawn doesn’t really have that, since he bounced around for most of his career.
3. Corbin Bleu and Karina Smirnoff – Disney darlings don’t have a history of winning this show, and we’re sorry to say that Corbin’s not going to have a Mirrorball Trophy in the future. However, we do think he will at least get the opportunity to be in every episode.
2. Christina Milian and Mark Ballas – Christina’s new show is probably not going to beat “The Voice” in ratings, but she should at least be in every episode. We can’t see her getting an enormous amount of new fans, but her dancing will be so good that it helps to compensate for it.
1. Amber Riley and Derek Hough – Given Derek’s track record of competing up into the finale, there is no reason that he will not manage to get there with a contestant like Amber. She’s got one of the biggest fanbases already of anyone out there, and while she may not have the same sort of dance experience as Christina, she is going to win more support over the course of the year.
Each one of these groups is going to be pretty competitive, but we think that given the history of certain contestants and pro dancers on the show, we’re pretty confident with who we have chosen to be the winner of season 17. Do you agree? Disagree? We want to hear from you.
Photo: ABC