‘Dancing with the Stars 22’ spotlight: Paige VanSant, Mark Ballas fight to be champions
Is Paige VanSant the current favorite to win “Dancing with the Stars” this season? You’d have to say so after you find out a little bit more about her. As a matter of fact, she may be the closest thing that the show has to a ringer. She has a popular partner, is a part of a sport that is extremely popular right now, and to go along with all of this, she also has at least a little bit of dance experience.
We’re going to break all of this down further in the latest edition of our show spotlight below. At the very end, be sure to chime in with some of your own thoughts.
Claim to fame – MMA fighter, who competes in the strawweight division of the UFC. She has a total of six wins and two losses to her name at present, and she is appearing on the show at a time when people like Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm have really allowed her sport to become headline news.
Partner – Mark Ballas. One of the most-popular male pros on the show, and by our estimation also one of the better choreographers. Mark is really great at catering many of his routines to his celebrity partner, and given Paige’s profession, we certainly have to think that there are going to be some routines that show off some of her intensity.
Strengths – The biggest advantage that she has is that she has actually been around dancing for almost the entirety of her life. Her parents owned a dance studio, and she grew up doing a variety of different styles. While we don’t know specifically how much experience that she has in ballroom, she at least understands the sort of discipline that is needed to do extremely well at the show. Also, she’s in tremendous shape.
Weaknesses – We’re admittedly not a huge UFC guy, but we had never heard of Paige before she was announced asa part of this show and given the target audience for the series, she is probably not one of the more well-known stars. She is really going to have to rely on her ability and personality in the early going if she wants to have a great shot at winning.
Prediction – Her lack of notoriety outside of the UFC is the one reason that we’re cautious on saying that she is 100% the winner. With that being said, there are a million or so pieces of evidence right now that make us think that she will make it very far. With her level of perceived skill, how can she not?
As mentioned, vote on your personal projection of Paige this season below! You can also sign up over here if you are interested in securing some more TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)