Season 13 of "Dancing With The Stars" has quickly become one of the most controversial to date. Week after week, the results are shocking. As Week 3 last place finisher, Kristin Cavallari said, the show is not really a dancing competition. While there have been questions in the past, this season has proven "Dancing With The Stars" has lost the balance between reality show for stars and dance competition. Now, it's simply a confusing popularity contest.
During Week 5, most fans expected the extremely talented J.R. Martinez to head home. After all, when other contestants have done well, they've went home. For once, one of the more mediocre talents said goodbye. The only problem with that was Carson Kressley at least offered some entertainment to go with his less than coordinated dances. However, it was finally nice to see someone near the bottom of the leader board be the one sent home.
As expected, any partner of fan favorite Derek Hough is doing well. Even when other dancers perform far better than Ricki Lake, her scores are typically higher. Week 5 was one of the first to see Lake receive more technically correct scores. As far as Derek is concerned, the judges and even fans seem to be on his side, regardless of his partner's ability.
Every week, many fans wait to hear Chaz Bono or Nancy Grace are leaving the competition. While they have improved, they have never been at the same talent level as some of the other stars who went home far too early. Now that Chaz's mother, Cher, visited the show, most expected him to head home the next week. Instead, fans and judges both seem to love the two underdogs.
More than ever, fans are voting not on talent, but on their favorites. What's surprising is who the favorites are. While J.R. Martinez is clearly the front runner, he's likely to find himself going home before the finals. One can only compare "Dancing With The Stars" with pre-Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez "American Idol." While it started out strong, judges and fans choosing the wrong people caused ratings to drop.
If fans want to see an actual dancing competition, it's time they vote for who is actually best. No voting to prove a point or support a cause. Sadly, if fans are upset over Season 13, they only have themselves to blame. Judges' scores only count for half the vote and with scores being fairly close, it's up to fans to make the final decision, right or wrong.
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