‘Dancing with the Stars’ season 17 finale review: Amber Riley, Corbin Bleu face off; who won?
Sometimes, “Dancing with the Stars” can be a blast to watch. It was for a good bit of this season, when you had so many great contestants that were diverse, memorable, and brought differing levels of ability and humor to the ballroom. However, at the same time, you also like to have a little bit of unpredictability thrown in there … or at least this is what we like to think.
As it turns out, though, the show does not always breed unpredictable finishes at all. We said from day one that Amber Riley and Derek Hough were winning this season, and from every contestant ranking on, we had them at #1. There was never a reason to doubt that they would be anything other than champions. Amber has the “Glee” voting block, a fun story, and she has the most-popular and prolific male partner on the show. The man has won five seasons of it already!
You cannot argue against whether or not Amber deserved to win, even if runner-up Corbin Bleu and Jack Osbourne in third place (the same as his sister Kelly) each managed to also do a very good job this year. But, this win does make us wonder whether or not you start to change things up with the way that certain pro dancers are paired off. For whatever reason, Derek is always given someone who has a certain level of dance ability. Even when it was an older contestant like Jennifer Grey, she had a history of performing and even did “Dirty Dancing.” It’s always felt from the start of each one of his seasons that he has been handed someone who has the tools to go very far in the competition and win. It’d be great to see a future season where someone like Tristan McManus is given a serious threat to win the competition, and he really has to try to make something work with someone who is not already a performer in some way.
All in all, this was a good ending to a great season. The finale of course dragged on and on, but at least the right person won in the end. Grade: B.
Are you happy with the “Dancing with the Stars” finale, and do you think that there is anything that the show should do about its Derek dilemma right now? Be sure to share your thoughts below.
Photo: ABC