Does DWTS Reward Popularity Over Dancing? | Back To The Barre

Back to the Barre

Christi and Kelly dive into the latest Yacht Rock Night episode of Dancing With The Stars, analyzing whether the competition truly rewards technical dancing or simply favors contestants

Key takeaways

• Harry Shum Jr. stood out for his extensive choreography and ability to carry the dance while simultaneously filming Grey's Anatomy.
• Amber Glenn earned high scores by seamlessly integrating her ice skating background into her ballroom routine, earning early eights from judges.

Main topics

• Dancing With The Stars episode review
• contestant performance analysis

Notable quotes

Does DWTS really reward the dancing, or does it reward whoever has the biggest fanbase, best partner, strongest social media pull, or most drama after elimination?

Conclusion

The episode offers a sharp critique of modern reality competition mechanics, emphasizing how fan

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Baby, let's just dance, dance Let's just dance, Speaker 1 (0:03) baby I just wanna dance, dance, dance, dance Can you feel it? Speaker 1 (0:22) Um, hello. Happy Friday. Happy Friday. Happy Friday. Oh, well, Friday, we are in Connecticut tonight. Speaker 2 (0:33) Yeah. If Speaker 1 (0:34) you haven't got your tickets and Speaker 2 (0:36) you Speaker 1 (0:37) want to come to Connecticut or New York, you can grab your tickets. The link is in the bio or you can upgrade to VIP if you want to do the Q &A or the what photos. Yeah. And I do believe because. Everybody's been DMing. I don't think they have information on what time to arrive if they are VIP. I think you arrive at 5.45 for your photos at 6, and then we do the Q &A before the show. So, but if you want to come and see us, come and see us. It'll be fun. And also, New Orleans, we're coming on December 4th. Speaker 2 (1:12) That's going to be crazy. Speaker 1 (1:13) I know. And no hurricanes will be thrown. I just need everyone to know. Well, at least not by me. Speaker 1 (1:20) I think we should have one. Oh, well, we can have one. I'm not throwing it on you. Speaker 2 (1:25) Oh, God, you better not. Why do you throw them? Speaker 1 (1:28) Because I threw one on Leslie in New Orleans. Speaker 2 (1:31) Oh, I thought that was like a thing. Speaker 1 (1:33) No, it was just my thing. It's just a Christy thing. It's not like a universal thing. You throw beads, and if you're Christy in New Orleans... Yeah, Speaker 2 (1:40) that's right. I knew you threw beads when you lifted your top or whatever, because Melissa did that. Speaker 1 (1:44) Yeah, but that's not really real. Speaker 2 (1:47) What's real? Speaker 1 (1:48) I don't think it's really real. I mean, yes, every once in a while, like, you'll see a tourist do it, but I've never seen someone lift their top at Mardi Gras for bees. Oh, yeah? No. Not once. And I've been to, what, four Mardi Gras? Like a myth kind of thing. Maybe back in the 70s, but in the 70s, people were doing all kinds of shit, you know? No. I've... Excuse me. I've never seen a nipple at Mardi Gras. Oh, well, that's good. Yeah. It's... No, no, never say my nipple. Now, I saw blurred out nipples on The Real Housewives. Speaker 2 (2:23) We're at Brooke's wedding. Speaker 1 (2:25) Oh, my nipple. Oh, God. I was dead. I know we're not talking about this because we're talking about Dancing with the Stars, but I do have to say, I don't think we ever mentioned it. On The Real Housewives, when they were in Miami at the lingerie party, I don't know The Miami Housewives, but how about the one who had on, like... I think the blue or purple lingerie set, like her nipples were blurred the whole time because I think her nipples were just see-through. Ow. Yeah. Speaker 2 (2:54) I would never go to a lingerie party. Speaker 1 (2:56) Oh, my God. Could you imagine if you showed up with a camera and your nipples are exposed? Yeah, I don't Speaker 2 (3:02) think I would want to do a lingerie party. I might be sick that day. Speaker 1 (3:07) Yeah, I would like crash out of my Speaker 2 (3:08) robe on or something. Like, I think that's acceptable. Speaker 1 (3:13) Yeah. Like, I crashed out if you could see my Spanx. Could you imagine my nipples? Like, no, thank you. No, thank you. Um, well, shall we talk about Dancing With The Stars? Yes. Um, I have a controversial hot take. What? I hate yacht rock. Speaker 1 (3:38) Oh my God, I love Speaker 2 (3:39) it. I hate it. When I'm- I literally hate it. ... and doing shit around the house, like, I turn that on. Speaker 1 (3:48) But that's kind of, in my mind, the era of music that I don't like the most. Like, 70s? That's what I like. Mm-mm. Hate it. I don't. I don't like it. So this was hard for me to watch. I mean, every once in a while, there was a song I'm like, oh, that's not too bad. But for the most part, I hated every song they played. Speaker 1 (4:10) Yeah. Speaker 2 (4:11) You got peanuts and I'm... That's the only Speaker 1 (4:13) song I like. Get gone and... The rest of them, like Toto, Africa, kill me. You're such a bitch. I hate, I don't know why I hate that era of music. It's just not for me. I know. See, told you, controversial hot take. Mm-hmm. Totally. So who did you like the most? So last night, I started off taking like really good notes and then I kind of fell off. Let me look at my other notes. I will say like the most, that's kind of hard. Speaker 1 (4:47) I mean, I like Mara. I do. I like Mara. I wasn't as Speaker 2 (4:52) impressed with her dance last Speaker 1 (4:54) night. I don't know if I'm ever impressed. Was it a quick stop? I don't remember what it was. Speaker 2 (4:59) You had that white on. Speaker 1 (5:01) Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:04) I don't remember what kind of dance they did, but I liked her other two dances better. Mm Speaker 1 (5:09) -hmm. I was just gonna say, like, that's not my favorite style. I think it is a quick step maybe. Or I don't know. I can't keep them straight. Um... Speaker 1 (5:19) I like her. I think she's... What I like about Mara is... Like, she obviously looks very old Hollywood, beautiful glamour, and then she says crazy shit. Yeah. That's why I like her. Yeah. You know, because she's very just like, blah, you know? And so it's like, oh, she's funny. And she's, like, self-deprecating. I just like her, like, as a personality. You know who I really liked? Okay, go ahead. It might be the person I'm going to say. Speaker 2 (5:51) Let me see where he is. Speaker 1 (5:52) Harry. Speaker 1 (5:54) Okay. Harry Shum. I like to dance this week because guys normally don't Speaker 2 (6:00) do much. I mean, they do. We do like kickball change, you know, lift the girls and whatever. In this dance, he really did a lot of stuff. Speaker 1 (6:12) I agree. I do agree. He's also a dancer. Speaker 2 (6:20) Yeah. A back. He's the one that is a. The answer for... Speaker 2 (6:26) Like a bunch of famous people, right? I Speaker 1 (6:28) think so. I do. But he's on Grey's Anatomy now, right? Yeah. And he was in... And he's Speaker 2 (6:32) filming Grey's Anatomy while he's doing this. I Speaker 1 (6:36) did hear them say that. I think they might... Is that on the CBS lot? Speaker 2 (6:40) I... Speaker 1 (6:41) No, I don't think it is. I was going to say, I wonder if it's in the same studio lot. Because, you know, like at the Grove, they're all right there. I actually think it's down... I wonder where they film. Anyway. I Speaker 2 (6:52) have no idea, but I mean, just knowing I've filmed... filming schedule and then knowing how much they have to practice that's true I just I don't know how he's doing Speaker 1 (7:04) it I think. Speaker 1 (7:08) I wonder if Jenna can go to like set with him while he, when he's like downtime in between takes and like work with him. That's not studio. You know what I mean? Cause they obviously have scheduled time where the cameras are going to fill them in rehearsal and they're obviously rehearsing outside of that. So I'm wondering if she just like goes to set. Speaker 2 (7:26) Yeah. That Speaker 1 (7:27) would Speaker 2 (7:27) make sense. Speaker 1 (7:28) I would think, I think she's a good partner, not just with him. I think she's a good partner all around. Like you heard Derek last night and he's like, Oh, you're like a, What did he call her? Like a utility knife. Like you can do everything. I think she's good. Did you, did you watch the thing I sent you of her at playground doing that dance with, I mean, cause she's married to Val. Speaker 1 (7:50) Yeah, I did see that. I'm sorry. I think they're hot together. Like, Jesus. That's it. Speaker 2 (7:58) What's this kid's name? Oh, my God. I can't remember anybody's name. Connor. I wanted to say this last week and