‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 17 spotlight: Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi and Sasha Farber

If this was 2011, then the presence of Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi on the “Dancing with the Stars” cast would have been huge news. She was the star of “Jersey Shore” more so than even another former competitor on this show in Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, and she also was all over the headlines for her partying ways.

But, times have changed significantly since then. After hilariously saying during a “Wendy Williams” interview years ago that she would only do the show when her career was on the way down (a very awkward statement since Wendy was on the show previously), she’s here now at a time when her name is not in the news much anymore. The only real news around the Jersey Shore right now are the awful fires that have ravaged an area previously hit by hurricane Sandy. We’ve given “Jersey Shore” a lot of grief (even though we secretly love it), but they helped to turn the region into a major tourist destination for people all over the world. Hopefully they’ll be able to help there once again like they did with Sandy.

But now, onto the dancing.

Professional partner – Sasha Farber. This is Snooki’s biggest disadvantage, given that Sasha’s main experience with the show comes as a member of the troupe that performed during the results show and some other events. He’s not going to carry the voting audience of a Derek Hough or Mark Ballas.

Strengths – Snooki is going to be a much better dancer than The Situation was, given that she did have experience as a cheerleader and a gymnast growing up. She at least understands rhythm, and that, coupled with already being in very good shape a year removed from giving birth to her son Lorenzo, makes her a possible contender.

Weaknesses – There are a couple when it comes to Snooki. First of all, she has a fair share of haters out there, and we don’t think that her following is what it once was. She also is not a particular strong dancer, and we see her struggling when it comes to some of the softer, more lyrical ballroom routines.

Prediction – The placement we envision for Snooki right now is somewhere between fifth and seventh. She still probably has enough of a fanbase to keep her around that long, and she’s probably going to do very well doing some of the Latin routines. We just hope that for entertainment’s sake, she keeps some of that wild child personality versus just trying to prove to everyone that she’s a good person and a good mom. Her caring what others think about her is probably one of the biggest reasons we have trouble watching “Snooki & JWoww.”

As always, we want to hear your prediction on these two below!