This is the first of a series of 10 weekly Dancing with the Stars superfan blogs, as authored by contest winner Sarah Palonis, of Jessup.
After patiently, and sometimes not so patiently waiting for the season 15 premier of Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars I can honestly say the wait was very well worth it! The show this year brings us 11 finalists, and two fan favorites; Sabrina Bryan who was voted onto the show by viewers and Pamela Anderson both placing sixth in their previous seasons.
While we have our same judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli the scoring system for the show has changed. Adding to the excitement of season fifteen is the ability for judges to now award half points. This new system allows for a more intense judging system and can make or break the all-stars. Also new this year is the ability for fans to vote on Facebook allowing for voting to be even more accessible.
Also returning this year is host Tom Bergeron with co-host Brooke Burke with Tom reminding us even the host has unexpected moments on the show receiving a very intense kiss from Kirstie Allie for his Emmy win.
The night started off with former NSYNC singer Joey Fatone and his partner Kym Johnson who also was his partner in season four where he placed second to another all-star Apolo Anton Ohno who is dancing this season with new partner Karina Smirnoff. Judges scored Joey at 20.5 while Apolo and Karina earned a 22 for their steamy Cha-Cha-Cha. If Joey hopes to claim the mirrorball trophy as his own against Apolo and other all-stars this season he will need to kick it up a notch!
The best part of the night for me was watching Emmitt Smith and Cheryl Burke return to the dance floor reminding us just why they took first in season three. Not only was their rendition of the Cha-Cha-Cha flawless Len who had been critical of every performance thus far noted their performance as best of the night, reaffirming the nickname “twinkle toes” Emmitt earned for his season three performances.
The celebrity I had placed high hopes on for this first episode was Sabrina Bryan who was shockingly eliminated in season five after being the first in the shows history to earn 26 out of 30 for the first week. This time around Sabrina danced with a new partner Louis Van Amstel earning a 22.5 with judges noting that she tends to overdo her dancing though Len had marked her Cha-Cha-Cha his favorite dance before seeing Emmitt and Cheryl perform.
While tonight proved why every single contestant was brought back as an all-star there was one performance I was a little disappointed with. The Cha-Cha-Cha performed by Pamela Anderson with partner Tristan Macmanus earned a score of 17 which was the lowest of the night. All three judges told Pamela she had great dramatics, but needed to put the work into her dancing which I agree was lacking.
The second lowest scoring performance of the night much to the dismay of the audience and I was the Foxtrot performed by Kirstie Allie and Maksim Chmerkovskiy who were also paired during the 12th season in which Kirstie placed second. The judges felt the routine was lacking performance giving them a score of 19.
My prediction for the results show tomorrow night is that we will be seeing Pamela Anderson as our first all-star to go home based on tonight’s performance which while sultry was not what was expected for an all-star performance. In the mean time for those of you unfamiliar with our all-stars, judges, or hosts for season fifteen you can go to http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/stars for their biographies. I hope all of you are anticipating tomorrow’s results show, as well as the next nine weeks as much as I am!
“ I am writing this blog as the winner of WNEP-TV’s Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars Super Blogger Contest.The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of WNEP-TV, ABC,Dancing with the Stars or any their related persons.”
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