Dancing with the Stars Season 33 is nearly finished, with only the finale yet to air. Like Season 32, the finale this season will consist of five couples, as opposed to the traditional four. The first couples announced for the finale were Joey Graziadei and Jenna Johnson, Chandler Kinney and Brandon Armstrong, and Danny Amendola and Witney Carson. In a shocking twist, it was later announced that Stephen Nedoroscik and Rylee Arnold along with Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten would be joining them as well.
While it’s great to see these couples in the finale, the eliminations have seemed slightly off this season. On more than one occasion, it’s become clear that fan votes are deciding this season more than the judge’s scores. Understandably, votes from fans do count, but at this point, the unfair eliminations are becoming annoying. Several celebrities who have been sent home should’ve stayed longer, and some still in the competition should’ve arguably been eliminated sooner.
Some celebs were voted out too soon on DWTS Season 33
One of the most frustrating aspects of Season 33 has been the elimination order. The celebrity who was noticeably sent home before her time was Jenn Tran. Since week one, Jenn had improved at a rapid rate and her scores from the judges reflected that as well. On Halloween Nightmares Night, Jenn scored a 28, which was her best yet. In addition, she also won her salsa dance-off against Stephen. Despite her efforts, Jenn was eliminated that night which earned her seventh place.
It’s understandable that people vote for their favorites but it’s also unfair for improved celebs like Jenn to be eliminated as a result. Jenn scored higher than Ilona during her last episode, with the latter also losing her dance-off. However, due to the viewer votes, Ilona stayed over Jenn. Dwight Howard also lasted longer than Jenn, despite consistently getting lower scores than her for a few weeks. Another celeb who should’ve lasted longer than Dwight is Phaedra Parks. Phaedra placed eighth, despite scoring higher than Dwight multiple times.
Season 33 seemed to change the finale to five couples solely due to their popularity
While it may look like Season 33 is only including five couples in the finale to mimic Season 32, it isn’t that simple. The bottom two contestants during the semi-finals were Stephen and Ilona. Both of these Olympians have been fan favorites from the jump, despite not always having the best scores. While Stephen has improved over the season, Ilona has consistently landed at the bottom of the leaderboard. It seems like production only allowed both Stephen and Ilona to join the finale due to their fan-favorite status. This is frustrating for more than one reason.
If another set of couples were in the bottom two, it would be interesting to see if the result was the same. Stephen and Ilona have had the lowest scores throughout the season of everyone in the final five. As a result, they were saved due to their popularity. Both Stephen and Ilona have been a joy to watch this season, but at a point dancing and scores should be considered above popularity. DWTS finales have traditionally been four couples and should stay that way unless all five of the final couples are tied in terms of skill. This season, however, that just wasn’t the case.
Throughout Season 33, strong couples seemed to lack votes
Another annoying aspect of Season 33 was the couples who repeatedly seemed to be in the “bottom three”. While the last three couples standing during elimination aren’t always the bottom three, it seems the order they are announced has a reason behind it. Producers seem to put safe couples in the bottom three to encourage viewers to vote for them, which means they are likely at the bottom of the voting leaderboard.
One couple that noticeably dealt with this problem all season were Chandler and Brandon. Chandler and Brandon were in the “bottom three” on three occasions. This was shocking as they topped the leaderboard all season. On the other hand, Joey and Jenna were only in it once, while Danny and Witney never were. This suggests that Chandler struggled with votes as opposed to Joey and Danny. This is also pretty annoying since Chandler has topped the leaderboard all season. While Chandler and Joey were often neck and neck, she has consistently scored much higher than Danny.
DWTS Season 33 has fallen victim to popular votes, even more so than in past seasons. Of course, it’s ok to vote for your favorites. However, as a dancing show, there should be more weight given to the actual dancing scores.
Dancing with the Stars continues Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.
TELL US – DID YOU ENJOY DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 33? DO YOU THINK IT’S FOCUSED MORE ON POPULARITY THAN SKILL?
