Season 22 Week 10 - Finals

Here is the ABC Press Release for The Finals:


Three Couples Remain in the Closest Race Ever on the Two-Part Season Finale of ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ May 23 & 24 (UPDATE: Fifth Harmony to Perform)






“Episodes 2210 & 2210A” – After weeks of stunning competitive dancing, the final three couples advance to the finals of “Dancing with the Stars,” live, MONDAY, MAY 23 (8:00-9:01 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. It’s the closest race ever with some of the best dancing celebrities have ever pulled off. Ginger Zee and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, Nyle DiMarco and Peta Murgatroyd, and Paige VanZant and Mark Ballas have one last night of competitive dancing, vying to win the judges’ and America’s votes to be crowned the “Dancing with the Stars” champion, culminating an incredible season, which will be announced live on TUESDAY, MAY 24 (9:00-11:00 p.m. EDT).

On Monday, May 23 (8:00-9:01 p.m. EDT), the three finalists will each perform two dances – a redemption style dance (jazz, quickstep or salsa), and a freestyle. And singer/songwriter BC Jean will perform “Over the Rainbow” during Paige and Mark’s freestyle dance.

The couples will dance to the following songs (in alphabetical order):

Ginger Zee & Valentin Chmerkovskiy
Redemption Style: Jazz – “Adventure of a Lifetime” by Coldplay
Freestyle – “Orange Colored Sky” by Nat King Cole

Nyle DiMarco & Peta Murgatroyd
Redemption Style: Quickstep – “S.O.B.” by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Freestyle – “The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed

Paige VanZant & Mark Ballas
Redemption Style: Salsa – “Fireball” by Pitbull
Freestyle – “Over the Rainbow” performed by BC Jean

In the two-hour season finale on Tuesday, May 24 (9:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), the three finalists advance to the final stage of the competition. There will be live dancing and show-stopping performances as the night kicks off with a high-energy opening number, featuring a reunion of all 12 of this season’s couples.

The finale will be filled with performances from Pitbull, who will perform “Messin’ Around,” Aloe Blacc, performing “Let the Games Begin,” and Fifth Harmony, performing “Flex.” Fleur East will perform “Sax” as Kim Fields and Sasha Farber dance with the “Dancing with the Stars” female pro dancers. Additionally, brothers Maksim and Valentin Chmerkovskiy will give the fans a sneak peek of the sensational dance show they will be performing across America over the summer: Maks & Val Live On Tour: Our Way.

In the last element of competition, the couples will perform a new routine as part of a “24-Hour Fusion Challenge.” The remaining couples will fuse two contrasting dance styles, and they’ll have less than 24 hours to prepare that dance for judges’ points. The votes from May 16 and May 23 will be combined along with the judges’ points from both weeks and the “24-Hour Fusion Challenge” to determine the winner. At the end of the night, a champion will be named, and the winner will be presented with the coveted Mirrorball trophy.

Hosted by two-time Emmy-winning host Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews (sports host and “Dancing with the Stars” season 10 finalist), “Dancing with the Stars” is the hit series in which celebrities perform choreographed dance routines which are judged by a panel of renowned ballroom experts, including head judge, Len Goodman, dancers/choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.

For week 10, viewers may cast their votes for their favorite couples via phone on Monday night during and up to 60 minutes after the end of the “Dancing with the Stars” broadcast in each time zone. Online voting at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] on Facebook at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] open for 24 hours, beginning from the start of the episode on the East Coast at 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT and closing at 8:00 p.m. EDT/5:00 p.m. PDT on Tuesday evening.

“Dancing with the Stars” is produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. Rob Wade and Ashley Edens-Shaffer are executive producers. Alex Rudzinski directs. “Dancing with the Stars” is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC’s selected HDTV format, with 5.1 channel surround sound. This program carries a TV-PG, L parental guideline.

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If that's the version of "Sounds of Silence" I'm thinking of, it's pretty amazing.  Hopefully they'll use the original recording instead of the band, though.  That band definitely couldn't pull it off.

I'm looking forward to what I hope will be some terrific freestyles.  Personally I think I'd like to see Paige take it, but I'm expecting that Nyle will unless Peta really bombs the freestyle.  I'm okay with that, even though he is, imho, the weakest of the three dancers left.  But he can move, and he's entertaining, and it's amazing what he can learn. 

All in all, it's been a real good season. 

I thought it was interesting that all of the freestyles were more like what I expect a regular week dance to be - just the couples with very little in the way of props, and I don't think any of them had extra dancers.  It was just the couples.  I guess it makes sense - the regular weekly dances are such extravaganzas now that these stood out.  < lol >

I thought the scoring was appropriate.  The judges ranked them as I did - Paige, Ginger and Nyle.  I liked all of the redemption dances, but I thought the quickstep suffered a bit from the Western theme. But Nyle's posture seemed better, as did his footwork.  I agreed with Len that it was still a bit 'frantic' in places, but I blame Peta for that.  I thought Ginger did very well in her contemporary, even though it's not my favorite style.  But at least it was a more light-hearted contemporary, which I generally do enjoy much more than the angsty, overly-dramatic ones.  Paige's salsa was very good as well, but both the dh and I thought it was a bit 'off.'  I think Mark would have done better to dial it back just a notch.  I think maybe there was too much going on.

Nyle's freestyle was my least favorite because it was that overly-dramatic, angst-ridden type of contemporary that I really dislike.  And I have no idea why there was a burning piano on the floor??  They danced it well, and Nyle has gotten quite good at lifts, but I really wasn't moved by it.  DH thought it was great, though.    I loved Ginger and Val's homage to the old-time movie musicals.  A little bit awkward in a couple of places, but overall I loved it.  And I really enjoyed Paige and Mark's contemporary.  It was lighter than Nyle's and less angsty and dramatic, so naturally more to my liking.  And Paige didn't do any "bicycle" feet, which Peta did.  I hate that move.  Don't know why - it just uber bugs.  < lol >

I knew the judges would give everyone 30s on the freestyles unless they seriously messed up something.  That's become pretty much par for the course.  Occasionally they surprise me - if I remember correctly, I don't think Alek got a 30 on his last season - but I'm okay with the way they do it. 

I am still expecting that Nyle will end up taking it all, and I'm okay with that.  But at this point it won't surprise me if one of the others takes it.  I have come to believe they are all deserving, and I have so enjoyed this season. 

 To Nyle and Peta for winning the MBT tonight.  IMO they deserved the win and I couldn't be happier.  There were a lot of tears for me tonight but at least they were happy tears. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I'm still smiling.

Congratulations to Nyle and Peta on their win.  I just wish Peta had worked more on technique with him.  She said something last night that made me believe I was correct in thinking she had figured out early on that he was going to make the finals and decided to go for gimmicks instead of trying to correct things like posture.  That's unfortunate, but clearly she knows how to play the game.  < lol >

I actually liked Ginger and Val's fusion dance the best - too bad she had the flub in the middle.  It flowed really smoothly and beautifully.  Nyle did well with his as well, but the only one I would have given a 30 to was Paige. 

Congratulations to Paige as well on her upcoming movie role.  Best of luck to her. 

Over all, I loved last night's show.  I'm really do adore the trips down memory lane, the extra dances, the contestants coming back, the looks at rehearsals and all the rest of it.  The Kenny Mayne interview was silly, and the game show with Witney and Lindsey was funny - they were good sports.    It was a nice ending to a nice season. 

I've seen a lot of folks on line complaining because there wasn't anyone they could really get behind.  They felt there were a lot of good dancers but no one was really memorable.  I get where they're coming from, but I think I'll take a season like this one - where I basically liked all the contestants and only Geraldo was a total trainwreck - over one where there's some real polarizing and distasteful contestant on.  I have to be honest and say I didn't miss Derek at all. Nor did I miss Allison at all.  They can stay away.  Does anyone know if Len will be out for the fall season again and if so, will Julianne be back to take his place?  Obviously, they're looking for some guest judges. 

See you in September!!

I have no idea about Len.  And I agree with you about not missing Derek.  As for Allison, I hope she stays home with the baby.  I always viewed her as a showboat who did no favors for her partners.

I can't agree about Peta.  Just the idea of working around the deafness would seem an insurmountable obstacle.  She figured out the little tricks to signal his movements.  Of course, they did play up his lack of hearing, but it seemed Nyle wanted it to be a focal point.  When you consider he had to memorize all the steps with no musical cues, it's astounding.

singlyme wrote:I have no idea about Len.  And I agree with you about not missing Derek.  As for Allison, I hope she stays home with the baby.  I always viewed her as a showboat who did no favors for her partners.

I can't agree about Peta.  Just the idea of working around the deafness would seem an insurmountable obstacle.  She figured out the little tricks to signal his movements.  Of course, they did play up his lack of hearing, but it seemed Nyle wanted it to be a focal point.  When you consider he had to memorize all the steps with no musical cues, it's astounding.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I did not care for Len this season but have heard nothing about whether he will come back or not and did not miss Derek or Allison and thought the show was better without Derek there.  In fact I thought this show was the best one yet.


I also do not agree about Peta and thought she did a remarkable job with Nyle whom I think is an absolutely amazing man.  His letter to Disturbed (on Nyle's face book) really states how much he wanted to bring out how deaf people have been underrated human beings and shows he had put a lot of thought into how he hoped what he was doing on DWTS could/would benefit the deaf community.  I have nothing but admiration for Nyle.


The link to Nyle's facebook is posted up above.

I maybe didn't explain myself well enough?  I give all the props in the world to Peta.  That she was able to quickly figure out how to communicate with Nyle to get what she needed was nothing short of amazing.  But it is also undeniable that Nyle already possessed a natural sense of rhythm and ease of movement.  Possibly a result of his modeling?  I don't know.  But no one comes out and dances like that on week one without it.  You can't teach that.  That doesn't mean her job was any easier really, but she had good material to work with.  So what disappointed me was that she did not seem to make any attempt to refine what he did.  How many times did Len point out that Nyle's bum sticks out?  Not nearly enough because he could have said it after pretty much every dance.  Or that his posture was terrible?  Same thing.  He was almost always hunched over.  We've seen the pros bring out that posture bar numerous times over past seasons, and we've seen that it can really work.  But it doesn't appear she ever tried to use it with Nyle.  We've seen other celebs be trained to tuck their bum under when they dance but again it didn't appear she worked with him at all on that.

So for me I would have preferred to see her do without some of the gimmicks like the blindfold in favor of making him a better dancer.  I also thought some of her choreography could have been simplified a bit to make him look better.  So in that respect I'm disappointed, but I recognize that what he did was quite remarkable.  I doubt I would have had the guts to try that in the same circumstances.