‘Dancing with the Stars 16’ finale review: Did Zendaya, Kellie Picker emerge as winner?
The “Dancing with the Stars” finale, as so many of you know this many years in, is much more of a marathon than it is a sprint. You are literally spending the length of a summer movie watching filler segments, judges’ comments about how amazing everyone is, and seeing memories from people who failed to make it all the way to the end. For those of you who wanted real competition, you were better off finishing off “So You Think You Can Dance,” and then switching over to ABC at the end.
If you did that, there was one event that you missed this time: The elimination of Aly Raisman and Mark Ballas. We were moderately surprised to see an Olympian not in the final two, but for whatever reason she just has not received the same sort of hype or buzz as the other two ladies. She was probably a better dancer overall than Jacoby Jones, but voters love NFL players. Heck, just look at how many of them have won.
Now, something random: Why would you have Jessica Sanchez sing a song popularized by Christina Aguilera and Pitbull, and then turn it into something slow and sappy? Let Zendaya’s fellow teenager have a good time! (Of course, we could be here all day ranting about all of these segments that have nothing to do with anything.)
In shifting back to results, the third-place finisher was Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff, proof that playing in the NFL does not guarantee a Mirrorball trophy. The guy had a great time, but more importantly than that, he really used this show well to land himself a job after his career in the league is over. This is what matters more than just a trophy, since one injury could keep him from ever playing again.
Now, we turn to the winner. It was a foregone conclusion based on Twitter alone that Kellie Picker / Derek Hough and Zendaya / Val Chmerkovskiy were going to be the finalists, and the reaction will probably be mixed regardless of what the end result is. They are both deserving, so either way, it’s a win.
But, it’s even more of a win for Kellie. We’ve called her victory since day one of the early weeks in the competition, with the biggest reason being that her fans are probably a little older than Zendaya’s, and probably outnumbered her by a larger margin away from social media. Fans of the Disney star cannot really complain about any conspiracy, though, as she was given the last dance spot numerous times all season and also has perfect scores.
In the end, do you think “Dancing with the Stars” crowned the right champion, or were you hoping for someone else to take the title? We have more news about the performance show from Monday, at least so long as you head on over to the link here.
Photo: ABC