Dancing With the Stars 22 – The Final Power List

So, the Semi-Finals turned out to be both a great and horrendous night. It was great for dancing fans wanting to enjoy some awesome routines, choreographed in stellar fashion and danced wonderfully. It was a horrendous night when you consider we lost someone who should have made the finale. The show did give Wanya’s fans a chance though- he was in jeopardy twice. If that didn’t result in rallying in votes, nothing will. I guess not enough people felt scared for him to vote or his fan base wasn’t nearly as large as I had previously thought all season. When you look back at the first five or so weeks of the competition, it seemed like Wanya was that sure bet to make the finals. A few performances that didn’t quite live up to the standard he set and things began to crumble. I will miss him in the finale. And I will miss Lindsay’s choreography. That girl deserves a win one of these seasons.

Dancing with the Stars Spoilers: Finale Dances, Songs and Guest Stars

As for Antonio- a guy who started really shaky in his dancing and how he came across but slowly started to shine. It came a tad late though, and he was never really able to put the dancing into second gear from being a student-dancer to looking like an actual dancer. I do hope he is proud of himself though because he probably made it deeper in the competition than he thought he would judging by those earlier weeks.

It all comes down to three. Two women. One man. All with pros who have previously won the show. And all with a fighting chance. It could very well come down to who pulls off an amazing and memorable freestyle. They say it sometimes wins the show for a couple. While I tend to think that is a bit of hyperbole, I do think this season’s finale will be extremely close and because of that, the dancing will really matter. This will be my last rankings of the season. After Monday’s final competitive show, I will include my final thoughts in Tuesday’s live finale blog. So, for the final time…

3rd – Nyle & Peta

The dancing was a hit and a minor miss. The hit came with his argentine tango, danced beautifully with an added twist thanks to the blindfold. I see some back and forth on line with people who either thought it was a cool idea and those who thought it wasn’t necessary. I fall with the former and enjoyed it. I also thought it was a genuinely solid routine. Unfortunately, the trio jive was not so solid. A cute idea, fun choreography, and some good moments. But some sync issues and a few mistakes kept it from being stellar. So why do I have Nyle in 3rd? Well, I think Paige has now elevated herself past the point of just being a really strong dancer to being the strongest dancer left. And Ginger just has so much momentum right now. Nyle needs to do something amazing in his freestyle (Peta needs to really dig deep as a choreographer) to really stand out against these two strong women. Perhaps an emotional contemporary piece? If the routine is forgettable and/or Nyle fails to meet expectations, a 3rd place finish is what I potentially see happening.

2nd – Paige & Mark

The line between 2nd and 1st in these rankings is next to nothing. You can pretty much call it a tie but since I won’t cheat, I have to label someone as 2nd place. So Paige gets it. And that’s only because she was in jeopardy once (Ginger never has been) and because she doesn’t have nearly the amount of outside exposure as Ginger does. But look, she is a fabulous dancer. She has been since week one. Some routines were better than others and it took her a few weeks to really have the confidence she needed but once she hit her stride, there was no stopping her. Mark pulled out all the big guns creatively this season which I believe helped Paige secure safety as the weeks went on. She needed those big memorable routines and she needed to nail them. She did. A killer freestyle (which I know Mark has in him) could very well make her this season’s champion. It should also be worth noting that Mark and Derek Hough share a very loyal fan base and I have seen many of Derek’s fans saying they want to get Mark another trophy. In addition, many of Wanya’s fans are saying they are opting for Paige now that he is gone. If both those hold true, you can bet that the votes will come in strong.

1st – Ginger & Val

Again, so close to Paige in these rankings. She had two nice routines in the semi-finals but neither one were really “stop the show and shut the front door” amazing. That’s pretty much been the story with Ginger all season. Good routines, good dancing, but nothing that puts it over the top. I can only remember two routines max where I could honestly say I would watch them over again because of how good they were. But this woman has so much going for her. She is so charming and root able. I have to believe the demographic who mainly watch this show love her to bits. Having Val as her partner in the finale is interesting because you have fans of his brother Maks are pretty torn on whether to vote for her or Nyle because Peta is Maks’ fiance. That’s another plus in Paige’s column. But I just can’t deny the momentum I am seeing. Where Nyle has always impressed because of what he is able to do and Paige has always been a good dancer, Ginger has that growth arc that just seems to connect with reality-competition viewers. She needs to hit it out of the park with her freestyle, as they all do. If she does, this is going to be one super close vote.

ETA: I wrote this rankings up on Wednesday night and received a text from a friend alerting me to check Bing. Bing, for those unaware, is a search engine that tries to predict the eliminations of various shows. As I understand it, they have been right more than wrong this season and actually predicted Antonio/Wanya as last week’s boots. Now, they have Nyle listed in 3rd, Ginger as runner-up, and Paige as the winner. Granted, we have another whole night of voting to go on Monday and I try to take any online predictions with a grain of salt, but I thought it was worth at least mentioning to you guys.

I know- many of you have been harping on me about ranking Ginger so high for about a month now. But she has continuously earned high scores and avoided being in jeopardy so I really don’t think I am overestimating her chances. On the opposite end of the spectrum, many have said that I have been ranking Nyle too low. You might be right. I don’t know how strong a fan base he has nor how many casual fans he has picked up as the season has gone on. I only know that these two other couples in the finals with him have surged in the last month while he has remained on relatively, the same path. There’s nothing wrong with being consistent but at the end of the day, is that enough?

I think all three of these finalists are talented. And I think they each bring something different to the ballroom. I applaud Ginger for her work ethic and attitude, Nyle for his tenacity and strength, and Paige for her quality of dance. While I can freely admit two out of these three would make better overall winners in my mind, it would be difficult for me to be mad at any of them winning. And unless someone royally messes up come Monday, I don’t see that opinion changing. They should all be very proud of how far they have come, regardless of placement. We will see how it shakes out.

I turn it over to you guys for the last time this season. My usual flow of questions… is the competition really between Ginger and Paige? Does Nyle still have a chance or is he destined for 3rd or at the very best, 2nd? Do you think it will all come down to the freestyles? Feel free to answer these and/or talk about anything you want in the comments.

I look forward to reading them, as I always do. And remember the schedule for this season’s conclusion- Monday night @8 is the final performance show (voting as well) and Tuesday @9 is the grand finale where everyone returns to dance, special guests perform, and the winner is announced. I really hope you guys join me on both nights as we send season twenty-two out in style.