Dancing with the Stars Finale 1: Amazing Performances and the Surprise Final Elimination

All contestants gave the amazing performances despite injuries and some prop errors. The last couple to be eliminated was announced after President Obama’s announcements about Ferguson-Brown case update.

It was the final day of performances on the Dancing with the Stars and all the teams put up the performances of their lives. The scores were evidence of that. All the teams were assigned a dance style to each team and the couples mostly performed freestyle performances.

Mark Ballas has been criticized for creativity but this time he scored all the right points for his creative punch. He dressed Sadie Robertson in the distinctive performance among the pro dancers. The video game themed performance blew everyone away as Sadie and Mark scored a perfect 40 for their freestyle performance. Their Samba was incredible. That was after she threw up while Mark held the bucket for her. Talk about getting raw and emotional. The Samba was great though and the Judges enjoyed their performances.

Janel Parrish wasn’t in the best shape this week as the Pretty Little Liars schedule didn’t allow her to rehearse for the whole week. No matter, Janel didn’t let her and her injury be a problem in her Samba performance which Julianne Hough chose for them. Other than the tape on her left side, Janel didn’t look much in pain and as the judges noted lost her balance but kept it together on the whole.

The second performance was more raw and emotional. The couple danced out their journey on the show to a slow version of 500 Miles. It was a contemporary performance with a lot of emotion and lifts with the added bonus of the couple kissing at the end. It received a score of 40 and it is the performance that might appeal the audience to vote for them to win.

Alfonso Ribiero was supported by Will Smith on his Facebook account giving the actor all his love and support. Alfonso stepped out on the floor with a freestyle routine incorporating a tap dance bit. He was in a Michael Jackson video once so that was cool to watch. Alfonso and Witney kicked it off with the free dancers and the hoofers really made Alfonso shine.

What Alfonso did better was the jive Inaba chose for him. She gave him a back massage before he stepped out and killed it. Inaba said that jive was what had made him shine when he did it for the first time. She wanted the audience to remember what a great dancer Alfonso was and the performance proved her point. The performance facilitated his back injury so it was a win win with 40/40 score.

Bethany Mota and Derek Hough couldn’t really pull it off with the props. The crew got exposed while moving the scenery and it threw their timing off in their jive performance. The judges gave the performance a nine score each making for a total of 36. It wasn’t the perfect performance but mistakes can be expected even at this level.

Their group performance wasn’t so well but considering the score of 40, they struck a chord with the judges. The performance became dull because Bethany was dressed in the same outfits as the pros and it didn’t help her stand out. That and the dance put off her performance. 

Maybe that’s the list of reasons that contributed to their elimination tonight. The audience hung on in anticipation when the transmission got interrupted by President Obama’s announcement regarding the Ferguson case of Michael Brown’s murder and as soon as we were back, everyone found out that it was Bethany and Derek leaving the show.

Derek said it was better to come forth as it would allow them to not sweat anymore for the trophy. It was surprising though and sad that Bethany’s fan didn’t vote enough to save her. Anticipation rises though as stakes get hire for the three remaining teams who put up great performances and perfect scores. Inaba said it the best, it is going to come down to what the people think is the best performance. 

Source: EW