Now introducing Hannah MacFarlane dancing the opinions section
Like many other Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) fans, I have been tuning in each week to watch the stars hit the ballroom with their respective pros. Over the course of this season, I’ve developed some very strong opinions, considering I do not know a lot about dance. But, as the season wraps up (and Andy Richter finally went home), I would like to share my opinions on who is going to take the Mirrorball home!
As the people’s princess, I wanted to hear what fellow Mt.A students had to say on who the champion would be. In an Instagram poll, a whopping 31 users voted Robert Irwin and Witney Carson would be the Season 34 winners, with Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy being the runners-up with 23 votes. Only three people voted for the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, Whitney Leavitt and her partner Mark Ballas. Finishing up the votes, two users voted for Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa, and there was one vote for Dylan Efron and Daniella Karagach. Unfortunately, there were no votes for Elaine Hendrix and Alan Bersten.
The people have spoken, and they believe Robert and Witney will be the winners of DWTS Season 34. Robert is definitely in the top three, but I disagree with the majority of Instagram voters. Robert is consistently putting out strong dances each week, but I think other dancers are stronger. That being said, DWTS understands the importance of a strong fan base. Voting for DWTS works by combining audience votes with judges’ scores to determine which couple is eliminated each week. Robert has a strong fan base and a DWTS connection with his sister, Bindi Irwin, being crowned Season 21 Mirrorball winner in 2015 with her partner Derek Hough..
The runners-up in the polls were Alix and Val. As a #Valgal myself, this is the duo who I think and hope will take the Mirrorball home. In week one, viewers were not blown away by Earle’s Cha-Cha to “Circus” by Britney Spears, but everyone saw her potential. Additionally, viewers can see how she is putting in the work and growing each week through her social media posts. Her improvement and skills, fan base, and Val will carry her through to the finals.
Whitney is by far the best technical dancer on the show. The judges consistently place her and Mark at the top of the leaderboard week after week. As I said, I don’t know a lot about dance, but I was incredibly impressed by her Argentine Tango to “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago: The Musical. If DWTS were solely based on who was the best dancer (as many people say it should be), she would be the winner. However, we know people at home voting play a significant factor, and they do not really like Whitney. Coming into the competition with a dance background, many fans believed that she had an unfair advantage. Additionally, she was deemed a “villain” on Secret Lives of Mormon Wives by some viewers on social media, and many people refuse to vote for her for this reason.
I want to give an honourable mention to the troupe this year. For those who may not be up with the DWTS lingo, the troupe is a group of professional dancers who perform in group numbers and as background dancers, but are not paired with celebrity contestants. Many troupe members go on to become pros paired with the celebrities, such as Witney Carson and Brandon Armstrong. The current troupe is composed of Hailey Bills, Onye Stevenson, Carter Williams, Jaxon Willard, and they have graced our screens every Tuesday, and I hope they continue in the future of DWTS!
So, there you have it, folks! My opinions on who is going to win it all. My money is on Alix and Val (this is my version of sports betting), and I hope the Mirrorball stays in the Johnson/Chmerkovskiy household. That being said, the trophy could be headed to Australia or Utah, all I know is that thank God it is not Andy.