‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 17 review: Amber Riley shines, Bill Nye in trouble
Tonight marks the return of “Dancing with the Stars” season 17 and we have to admit that we are actually excited about the cast this year. Not only do we recognize practically every name on the list, but we have more then one person we are rooting for, so without further delay, let’s see how our stars did for their first time out on the dance floor.
1. Brant Daugherty and Peta Murgatroyd – (cha cha) They had the challenge of kicking off the show to our favorite summer hit “Blurred Lines” and the dance showed us that Brant has got the moves and the potential to stick around. Score: 22 (We should also mention that they are both single and made that known to each other… could there be a romance here?)
2. Leah Remini and Tony Dovolani – (fox trot) The dance was boring, and safe but she did a good job. Leah is such a funny, big personality that we hope she sticks around. Score: 21.
3. Corbin Bleu and Karina Smirnoff -(contemporary) This is Karina’s first time doing contemporary, so we were a little worried, but after seeing the dance we are crazy excited about these two. It was sexy, emotional and gorgeous – they will be tough to beat. Score: 24
4. Jack Osbourne and Cheryl Burke – (fox trot) Besides winning the show, Jack wants to bring awareness to multiple sclerosis (which he has been diagnosed with). His sister Kelly has been on the show before and she finished in third place, and after seeing Jack dance it’s clear that there is some real dancing talent in this family. It was smooth and the foot work was fantastic. Score: 23
5. Amber Riley and Derek Hough – (cha cha) She has some experience from working on “Glee”, so we were pretty confident that she would do well and we weren’t disappointed. She’s incredible and the judges loved it as much as we did. Score: 27
6. Elizabeth Berkley and Val Chmerkovskiy – (contemporary) She’s admitted that she has some experience with dance in her life and it definitely showed in this performance. Her performance in “Showgirls” is now forgiven. Score: 24
7. Bill Nye and Tyne Stecklein – (cha cha) We are a little worried about him. We loved that they danced to “Weird Science” and even though he’s adorable, he’s not that great of a dancer, leaving Tyne doing most of the dancing and him acting geeky. WE hope his fans come out to keep him. Score: 14
8. Keyshawn Johnson and Sharna Burgess – (cha cha) This dance was just okay. Like Bill Nye it seemed that Sharna was doing most of the dancing around him and he was mostly perfecting the body roll. Score:17
9. Christina Milian and Mark Ballas – (contemporary) People have high expectations of her, but she’s never danced with a partner before. She does have Mark as a partner though so it wasn’t much of a surprise that the dance was beautiful. Contemporary seems to be the big winning dance tonight. Score: 22
10. Bill Engvall and Emma Slater – (fox trot) Bill really put in an effort and we give Emma a lot of credit for not just having him stand there while she dances around him. The dance wasn’t that great, but we commend them for actually putting everything they had into it. Score: 18
11. Valerie Harper and Tristan MacManus – (fox trot) Given everything that she has been through this year with her battle with cancer we have been very excited to see her on the dance floor. As a teenager she used to dance professionally and it showed in her dance. Score: 21
12. Snooki and Sasha Farber – (cha cha) We were a little surprised to hear Snooki distance herself from the name that she is famous for and say that she’s going by Nicole now. Snooki is trying to show America that she is no longer a “hot mess” now that she’s a mom and that’s probably good for this show since the viewers usually skew older. The former “Jersey Shore” star closed out the show and her cheer-leading/gymnastics background came in handy. She was miles better then when her former co-star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino was on the show and is easily at the top of the pack this season. Score: 23
How do you think everyone did tonight on the premiere of “Dancing with the Stars” season 17? If you want to learn more about the star and their professional dance partner, just click on their names above and check out how we think they’ll do this season.
Photo: ABC