‘Dancing with the Stars 21’ spotlight: Will Paula Deen, Louis van Amstel cook up a win?
When you are thinking about controversial entries into this season of “Dancing with the Stars,” there’s not one who is going to raise eyebrows more than Paula Deen. Her inclusion this season is extremely controversial, and then to go along with that, we could see there being some sort of public headlines in the event that she lasts several weeks in the competition. While we know that not every viewer will like this, the producers are going to eat up every bit of attention this brings to them just like it is some of Paula’s signature southern food.
We’re going to do our best to analyze her odds in this competition below, but to us we still see her as someone who could very well end up being one of the biggest wild card contestants of the entire season.
Name – Paula Deen
Age – 68
Claim to fame – Former Food Network personality and noteworthy celebrity chef / restaurant owner, known mostly for her Southern cooking. She has faced several controversies over the course of her career, starting with one over the healthiness of her recipes years ago. More recently, she faced backlash after admitting to making racially offensive comments, and was dropped by the Food Network at that time.
Partner – Louis van Amstel. If there was someone who could try to lighten some of her reputation, it’s Louis! He is back after many years away from the show, and he will more than likely help to get Paula to see some of the fun in ballroom dancing. He’s a noteworthy choreographer, having done work also for “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Strengths – The biggest one that Paula could have this season is sort of a stealthy fan base, similar to some other controversial contestants in the past. She still has many fans and is very well-known, and there could be a sort of natural curiosity around what she does in the ballroom.
Weaknesses – We just cannot see her being a particularly good dancer. She’s one of the oldest stars, and we’re not sure she has ever done anything that required any of these sort of skills before. This will be a huge challenge for her to keep up with the choreography. Also, she’s going to have a hard time convincing people who would never vote for her to cast one her way.
Prediction – We don’t think Paula will be the first person out, but she could be the second or third. As we suggested earlier, the show’s best-case scenario is probably that she lasts longer than many think she should, and there are a ton of headlines about it.
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