‘Dancing with the Stars 16’ review: Kellie Pickler, Zandaya face off with freestyles, drama

There was not really that much in the way of actual drama on Monday night’s “Dancing with the Stars” episode. Instead, we’re more interested in creating some of it for ourselves after watching this show. We’re starting to really think that the producers want Zendaya to win this whole competition. In a way, we get it: She is extremely talented, and probably the best pure dancer of the bunch. But getting to go last again? It’s starting to feel like overkill, and potentially the show shoving her down our throats as the best thing in the history of mankind.  For those of you who are “American Idol” fans, look up what happened during the finale of season 10 with Lauren Alaina getting the lion’s share of the airtime and still losing.

We’re not going to go so far as to be one of those crazies and say that the fix is in. People still have to vote for their favorites, and while Zendaya did a great job, so did other people. This really is anyone’s game going into the finale.

The performances

4. Jacoby Jones and Karina Smirnoff – We also took by Jacoby going first that the show really does not want a football player to win another season. The guy is admittedly the worst dancer of the bunch left, so making him go first (statistically not a good spot over the years) isn’t so bad of a thing. He’ll still get plenty of votes, and has a shot if the ladies cancel each other out.

3. Aly Raisman and Mark Ballas – The difference between her and the other two ladies is so small, it’s going to come down to fan followings. We do give her the edge when it comes to freestyle, though, mostly because it was just so futuristic and fun.

2. Kellie Pickler and Derek Hough – When it comes to emotion, her freestyle brought it and then some. It was by far the strongest routine of the night in our eyes, mostly because it is so much harder to leave your heart on the floor than it is to do anything else.

1. Zendaya and Val Chmerkovskiy – The freestyle felt somewhat over-scored, but she did deserve to win that cha-cha relay earlier in the night. We don’t know if she has the same support base as any of the other stars (at least in terms of quantity), but the high level in which she performs makes this a very interesting finale tomorrow.

Who was your favorite from the finale, and who do you think should win? If you want to see whether or not a certain winner could make producers more happy than others, just be sure to visit the link here.

Photo: ABC