‘Dancing with the Stars’ 20 spotlight: Can Willow Shields become youngest winner ever?
Willow Shields has already accomplished one feat on “Dancing with the Stars“: At 14 years old, she is the youngest contestant in the history of the show. Can she become the youngest winner ever to go along with that? She’s going to have her work cut out for her for a number of different reasons, but anything is possible.
What we know going into this competition is that Willow has the advantage of speaking to a young generation, one who loves “The Hunger Games” and also uses social media with frequency. We also know that younger people are at times able to adapt to dancing quicker. Whether or not either one of these things truly help her make it far in this competition remains to be seen.
Name – Willow Shields
Age – 14
Claim to fame – Playing Primrose Everdeen in “The Hunger Games” movie franchise. She has a few other assorted credits, but nothing else even comes close to the level of fame that she has for these films.
Partner – Mark Ballas. Mark is a former winner, and he knows how to get the best out of some of his partners. Also, he is used to worker with younger competitors on the show, given that he partnered with Sadie Robertson just this past season, and has also worked with Shawn Johnson and Bristol Palin. We know there are conspiracies out there that certain pros are favored, but we also wonder if certain pros also make clear that they have certain teaching strengths. Maybe Mark’s style works well for younger dancers, while Tony Dovolani excels with older celebrities on the show.
Strengths – She’s going to have plenty of energy and over 200,000 Twitter followers on her side. She also has influential friends, including Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence. She may be able to attract votes from people who are not superfans of the show, and we feel like she’s probably going to be at least a pretty good dancer in the process.
Weaknesses – One of the disadvantages to being a teenager is that there are more rules and regulations for how long you can “work,” and in between that and her studies, Willow may have less time she is able to rehearse than some of her older competitors. Also, she may have to court the devoted “Dancing with the Stars” fan in addition to her own followers. Most viewers for this show are above the 18-49 demographic, and they may not be that familiar as to who she is.
Prediction – Willow could be a shock boot six or seven weeks into this, since we’re not sure all of her voters will actually watch the show and remember to vote. Still, she has a reasonably good shot at lasting a little while, mostly because we feel the odds are in her favor that she’ll be a pretty good dancer.
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