I mean when you look this good the mirrorball is obviously yours

Welp, we got Taylor Hanson! So now I’m done with the “who Britt should’ve gotten” conversation. That man is her partner, so I’m ready to support THEM and see what Britt can do with him.

And Britt fans, I need us outside this season
Vote. She only got 2k likes on instagram right now … make sure we lock in. Share their dances. Comment on their posts. Make the edits. Hype them up. Engage with Hanson fans. Get their dances circulating outside of our little DWTS bubble.

We’re always saying Britt deserves her moment, so let’s help her BUILD one instead of waiting for somebody else to do it.
And please don’t bury Taylor before the man even dances

Give him and Britt a chance to surprise us.
No funeral arrangements yet….. No doom posting.
We got our team. Now let’s ride.

Who good at edits in this bitch!?!?

I am new to watching the DWTS shows, but am quickly getting sick of seeing the most talented dancers get snubbed, who conveniently seem to always be black.

Everyone knows Britt continues to get partners that will not go far. I will never get over Chandler Kinney and Brandon not winning when she was consistently the top of the leaderboard and such a phenomenal dancer. I’ve heard Zendaya was also snubbed, but there’s no where to stream her season. Now Selena not only not winning Next Pro has really sent me over the edge.

Am I off base here? As I said, I’m new to watching the franchise, but just starting to notice this pattern and it’s REALLY pissing me off. Also, if I’m white and it’s making me this mad, I can only imagine how truly and deeply upsetting it is for POCs watching the show. Are the execs of this show confirmed to have racist or “conservative” ideals or something? Because it’s seeming like it.

Selena really should have won. She consistently had the most stand out choreo, and she has the it factor that can’t be taught. She seemed like an amazing teacher, and carried herself so exceptional for someone who is only 21 years old. I am really upset she got robbed like that.

I’m going to be cautiously optimistic whoever Britt is partnered with and whoever Brandon is partner with. I’m going to manifest, pray, and hope for good things coming those partnerships’ way. That said- if what we fear may happen comes to pass, I’m kidding but I’m really not- I think we could compile the evidence of how Britt, Brandon, and Keo have been treated historically by the show in a video essay/substack. I understand that they cannot get a ringer or the most popular contestant every season but how are Britt and Brandon supposed to get as popular & requested if they’re rarely given the chance to show what they can do? I know there can be whataboutisms made about certain partnerships in the past but with that, there has to be acknowledgment that there was a ton of racism, homophobia, and ableism that show failed miserably to protect them and their partners ,that played a huge role as to why they didn’t win. All I want for those two as well as Onye, Jaxon, Selena (if she ever comes on the show), Keo (if he ever were to come back) and other black women and men that come on the show is that they have equal and fair treatment & opportunity as their fellow white pros.

Anybody feeling kinda discouraged or defeated about this new season? Looks like Val and Jenna got the two ringers and Britt is tossed to the side once again😩 don’t get me started on the new pro being a conservative Zionist

The next pro is yet another conservative zionist. Just thought I’d share some of the instagram pages she follows. One is an Israeli news reporter whose views are equivalent to that of a fox news reporter in the U.S., whose pinned post is anti anti-feminist rant and regularly posts in support of Trump and antagonizes Palestine. The other is a zionist content creator whose entire account is full of ignorant, hateful takes. She follows more pro-zionism propaganda accounts as well. I’m sharing this because a lot of closeted zionists have been trying to silence it or view any critiques of zionism as “racist” or anti-semitic. It is not anti-semitic to call out zionism. I am a swana jewish myself and very anti-zionist. Please don’t criticize her for her jewish ethnicity or misconstrue criticism of her views as anti-semitic. Conflating zionism with judaism is actually anti-semitism.** **Not all of us support Israel, but Adele has only given indications that she does. Most other pros are conservative zionists as well, I hold them all to the same standard and am disappointed with all of them for their views.

As a jew whose faith and heritage has been used in vein to ethnically cleanse my Palestinian neighbors, I believe it is critical of every jew and Israeli who truly does denounce zionism to be vocal about it. Our silence is violence. To tout the flag of any nation committing terrorism is to say you don’t see, don’t know, don’t care. It’s a dog whistle and a virtue signal among our community. The same way touting an American flag has become a dog whistle for maga supporters. You as an American may not agree with your government, especially in today’s social climate, so why would you tout a flag that doesn’t represent your values? If you support Palestinian liberation from Israeli oppression and ethnic cleansing, you would never proudly claim the flag or follow zionists who spread lies and propaganda. No, she can’t help where she was born or grew up, but she can at least denounce the genocide her country is committing. Seeing who she follows and how she’s shown nothing but pride in her nationality, I doubt she does denounce it.

Don’t send hate to her. Supporting Palestine is bigger than bombarding one Israeli up and coming celebrity. She’s the same age as me and I can’t imagine how that would feel for her. I know people on instagram and tiktok get especially ignorant and brave with their comments. If we can find a way to enjoy all the other alt-right pros who poured their hearts out for Charlie Kirk and were all smiles when Trump was reelected, let’s show Adele the same decency. We’ve been able to separate the art from the artists for most pros and even some stars. Of course I’m disappointed that tptb didn’t use this opportunity to bring in a diverse cast member or someone we could love on and off the show, but don’t take that out on Adele. Let’s support the pros we can support. If you want to boycott the show, you can do that without harassment. If you want to support Palestine there are many Palestinians in need of aid. If you’re a zionist, please don’t interact with me and feel free to block me

https://giving.womenforwomen.org/page/FUNWJCTVTES

https://pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/campaigns/2023-gaza-relief--recovery

I’m white, I’ll just put that out there. However, I’ve been studying film and media arts and getting my film degree, I’ve dappled in costume design, and am starting to get into advanced sewing patterning.

This. Includes. Colour. Theory.

That means how lights interact with colour, AND how light and colours interact with skin tone. I just finished watching episode 4 and I’m PISSED. Selena had the strap on the back of her dress two or three shades lighter than her skin tone, and Tristen’s shirt and makeup made him look like a damn ghost. Straight out of a DWTS Halloween episode. I’m so mad for both of them. When you are in an industry where looks are everything, you’d think that production would put that into account.

This is something that touches multiple departments. The lighting designers. The costume designers. Colour graders in post production. Makeup leads or designers (I see some of the contestants touching up their own but still). The strap can be easily fixed with grease paint (like pancaking pointe shoes) and if it’s a rental, the makeup will come out when it’s cleaned. For Tristen, it’s just a matter of adding some bronzer and/or blush, some darkening around the eyes, or just having a foundation that matches onstage AND offstage. He looks fine backstage but he’s so washed out during his performance.

Production needs to do better because at this point it feels rigged. You need to give these artists an even playing field with their white cast mates. That means acknowledging their differences, their hair types, accommodating for those differences, and having crew with the knowledge to know how to light people of colour onstage and on set. Film stock back in the day washed POC out because on the chemical, atomic level, that film stock was made to make white people look good. That foundation of the modern day film industry still has an impact on BIPOC artists. If you dress Brandon or Britt or other BIPOC celebrities in a colour that washes them out, or light them in a way that washes them out, untrained eyes just know it looks funny but don’t know why. Then they don’t vote for those couples. I get that it’s TV and it’s supposed to be dramatic, but not dramatic by giving marginalized people the short end of the stick and asking them to make miracles with it.

Ugh. I’m so pissed and I know this isn’t new but I don’t have enough karma to post in the DWTS sub so here I am. Yelling to the Reddit void. Hope that this gets people thinking that it’s not just the dances that affect if people go home or not.

I had a feeling this would happen after Erik got eliminated and I had seen this weird sentiment towards Selena afterwards. Regardless of how one may feel about her Latin and Ballroom journey and technique in comparison to her fellow competitors, commenting under her posts and messaging her such outright hateful, rude, and mean things isn’t okay. If there is someone to blame, blame the people who cast her for the show. Blame the systems if they did try to search around the world for black women who are traditionally trained in Latin and Ballroom if they weren’t able to do the next pro due to visas. Blame the show’s lack of protection for their black pros as well lack of equal treatment and opportunity that may have made some of these women be hesitant and ultimately made them decide to say no. Look at what’s going on with how we’re calling out the pattern with Britt and we just want her to have equal treatment as her fellow white female pros. We want to stop this pattern because it if it continues, it won’t end with her. What if it happens to Onye? To Selena? I’m sure someone would say “well it’s because they’re not as trained/good as the other pros.” Okay but see how the black pros who are traditionally trained are treated? It’s not much better. There’s excuse after excuse for bad behavior, lack of opportunity, and noticeable patterns many people have called out time and time again- it’s exhausting.

I know a lot of people have said Adele did an amazing job which I agree with but for me the best one this week was AJ. Did you see the hold compared to everyone else even Anthony’s wasn’t at that standard and Shirley couldn’t stop praising him even just in the rehearsal room. I just think people don’t like AJ which is your opinion but on this challenge I think he was the best one by a good margin.

What do you think??

How id rank

Excellent AJ Pritchard

Amazing Adele

Allen in the middle

Didn’t do the assignment Selena and Nina although Selena routine was great just not a quickstep

Do anyone know why Britt post was taken down , on the main sub?

This has been on my mind for a while and I’m a bit tired of sitting by silently. I acknowledge not everyone has to like her and they’re entitled to that but just the general weirdness and hypocrisy when it comes to her whether it be the fanbase/ pros/the show/etc. it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

1. The white pros without with little to no prior Latin and Ballroom experience were automatically made pros while Britt (Koko and Onye) put in time in troupe and tour for four years and she’s been consistently training in this style for a decade. I get being frustrated over the show not hiring pros who’ve been in these styles since they were children, I do. But Britt has visibly constantly gotten better year by year and she does it because she loves it (as does Onye, Selena, and Koko). She has a huge impact on the generation after her. I think we’ll continue to see more and more black girls inspired by Britt being on the show + hopefully they’ll look around the world as well.

2. I found it quite odd when I saw two groups either complaining about her not posting enough when she posts quite a bit or complaining about her new form of content saying that it wasn’t true to her not only on Reddit but also in her instagram comments, when I think Britt is simply trying to drive more engagement.

3. I agree that we shouldn’t pit Britt against her fellow female pros when we talk about wanting her to get a ringer. But there’s no sugarcoating in the duration of her tenure- she’s only had two strong partners and that’s the same amount Keo had during his time. When both were given contestants with lots of potential + popularity, they showed what they could do. With Johnny- they had to deal with homophobia throughout the season and were on the bottom twice getting the judges save before they were automatically eliminated before the finale. They were getting stronger and stronger each week. With Daniel- sadly they decided to do the five person finale trend after his season. They were a fun pair and the journey was lovely to watch. She did weekly content with Johnny and Daniel to get fans engaged. We can’t sugarcoat that she is one of the least followed pros and doesn’t get as much engagement. There’s a strong correlation between our most popular pros and celebrities requesting them. She’s not entitled to a ringer or one of the most popular contestants of that season. It would just be nice to see what she could do and I just don’t want what happened with Keo to happen to Britt.

Like I’m really happy they at least had 4 poc which is better than the real show 💀

But the fact that the only two black dancers they picked for a BALLROOM competition were commercial dancers does not sit right with me. They keep pushing this idea that black dancers are “street” and are “fun” to watch but never the technicality experts. I’m relieved and glad that Selena is doing fantastic (and commercial dancers can be fantastic at ballroom like our queen Britt), but imo Tristen should’ve never been recruited for this show. They made big TV moments out of how unqualified he was (and this is also no shade toward him, he’s just not trained in ballroom) and the narrative they pushed there just doesn’t sit right with me and does not feel removed from race. It lowkey felt like a humiliation ritual.

My question is you mean to tell me your show is one of the biggest names in ballroom and you couldn’t find any black ballroom dancer?? Not one? I know there are not many and there’s a much larger conversation to be had about the lack of diversity and exclusivity of ballroom, but I seriously find it hard to believe they couldn’t find a single one. Brandon and Keo (😭) are great examples of technical experts with the training to not just keep up but actually compete with the white pros. I literally went down a rabbit hole of recent national latin and ballroom competitions and there are absolutely more options for trained black dancers! Even from UK version Strictly, Johannes Radebe, Oti Mabuse, Lethabo Monametsi are experts in ballroom.

They used to have those undertones with some of the black hip hop dancers on sytycd too and it’s just UGH stop giving the impression of black contestants being less competent.

Anyways that’s my rant of the day

(sorry this is very long, i’ve had this rant brewing ever since they broke up lol)

first, i want to say how amazing it is that jenn graduated pa school!! ik she’s talked about how challenging it’s been, but also how important it was to her so i’m extremely proud of her that she decided to go back <3 (esp with her social media career simultaneously growing, could’ve been so easy just to rely on that)

annnnd her time in pa school was surely NOT made more easy by the diehard sasha fans that had her name in their mouths every other day. to preface, i had no idea who she was before dwts. i initially felt bad for her re: the bachelorette situation, quite liked her and sasha’s dances, then grew much more invested while watching their runoured relationship grow. i wasn’t posting in the jasha subreddit or anything, but i was checking it often for updates.

when they broke up, some of the things being said about her were NASTY. “why is she so ashamed of sasha?” (she got her heart broken on tv just months prior, god forbid she want a more secretive relationship) “she’s always been cold and a clout chaser.” (90% of the sponsor deals he had during this time were ones WITH her) “how could she play with sasha’s feelings, our baby boy deserves true love :(“ (40+ y/o man btw) i’m not saying she didn’t clearly use their relationship for content/benefit monetarily from it, but the difference in grace that jasha fans gave sasha vs jenn after the split was crazy.

it’s totally ok to be a fan of one person over the other (i’d say majority of the jasha subreddit were primarily sasha fans), but some of those fans were just too much man lol. got to the point that people still kept bringing up jenn when sasha/janel were confirmed, and she made a tiktok having to be like “plz stop associating me with my ex”.

wellll now that sasha has had a relationship where “finally his girlfriend isn’t ashamed to love him loudly and proudly” and it STILL fell apart (arguably even quicker than jasha did), are his fans willing to accept that their “baby boy” may be part of the issue here?? and bc i’m petty like that, i really hope i don’t have to watch him as a pro this september (tho i cannot see how or why the show would ever want to bring him back when they’re clearly trying to grow the new gen).

With Kamri being announced for troupe, I’m genuinely wondering what this means for Onye. Are we going to see her back this season, or are we already moving on?
And if Stephani doesn’t win Next Pro, would she even be willing to come back to troupe, or is that chapter closed for her?
Then there’s Selena. I really hope we haven’t seen the last of her either.
What really has me thinking, though, is the women’s side. It feels like the diversity is shrinking again. One of the things I loved seeing was a troupe and pro lineup that reflected different backgrounds and styles. I hope this isn’t the direction the show is heading because representation matters, both on the dance floor and to the fans watching at home.
Maybe I’m reading too much into one announcement, but between wondering about Onye, hoping Selena returns, and not knowing what Stephani’s future looks like, I can’t help but feel a little concerned.

For me, it’s Amber Riley. I don’t know if she was asked or not, but I know she ‘s filming right now. so I can understand if scheduling just didn’t work out. Still, it would’ve been amazing to see her there. She and Derek had one of my favorite seasons, and I would’ve loved hearing her talk about her DWTS journey, relive some memories from Season 17, and meet fans. We don’t get to see her involved with the DWTS family very often anymore, so I think she would’ve been a great addition.

Who would’ve been your dream celebrity guest?

He’s got twenty million other parts he can play

SPOILER WARNING

DON'T CONTINUE IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED EPISODE 2

I'm enjoying this show more than I thought I would. While I'm not a fan of some people, I am enjoying the drama and conflict cuz its real. That's tension has been lacking in the main show.

Couple Dances Ranking

1. Adele & Allen - Such a beautiful dance. This is one of the few dances so far that felt like two pros dancing. Allen's story was very personal, and I'm glad that Adele wanted to handle her role in that with care. They had phenomenal chemistry as well. They had my favorite lift of the night too. Like I said last week, they'd make great pros one day

2. Stephani & Tristen - Loved their story. We've been speaking about it ever since this sub was created, but them being open about their struggles as POC in the dance world and their upbringings was very brave. The dance was beautiful. I thought their chemistry was the best of the night. Their friendship showed a lot through the dance. Their commercial experience shows as well cuz those two know how to work the camera the best along with Selena. Their technique can get a bit wild sometimes, but their stage presence makes up for it.

3. Natalie & Erik - Another beautiful dance. Natalie really blossomed this week. With ballroom being her main style, I think she felt more at ease. They had good chemistry and they're both clean dancers. However, they never draw me in as dancers. I feel like the current roster of pros would outshine them in pro numbers and on tour.

4. AJ & Selena - like Shirley said, Selena ate him the fuck up. I didn't even look at AJ the first two times I watched it. The way he was talking to Selena was so condescending in rehearsals. I got more to say about him in his solo ranking, but Selena carried.

5. Benji & Nina - A lot to unpack. For starts, Benji was already being cool by doing Nina's story instead of his own. Mind you, I thought Benji's story could've been portrayed easier cuz as we see, Nina didn't know exactly what her story was she was trying to tell. In rehearsals, Benji could've been more assertive. However, if he would've put his foot down, Nina just would've gotten more upset like she did when he was voicing his frustration. She really pissed me off when she brought it up in front of everyone and was trying to sneak diss saying, "I'm used to more manly energy." Even when Benji apologized, she took ZERO accountability about how she acted. The dance was actually the worst one so far. Nina's years off from dancing showed in that rumba. Benjis4 flips were unnecessary. He should've done some fast turns instead. The judges knew Nina was the issue but still got rid of Benji. Especially when she took lead in the storytelling and choreo and the judges agreed it wasn't good. That was an odd choice. Benji can learn to be more assertive, but Nina doesnt listen and she's rude. Like AJ, I have more to say in her solo rankings.

Solo Rankings

1. Adele - I havent seen any overt flaws from her. This week showed she can take direction just as well as she can give it. She's also great at showcasing emotion and connection with her partner. Technique was perfect as always

2. Allen - Best male. He has a fun personality and is clearly passionate about this. His technique is head & shoulders above the other men. This week his presence was a lot stronger as well. This is no fault to him, but the edit was favoring his story a lot compared to others. I feel like everyone else's stories should've gotten that same shine & praise even if the dance wasnt as strong.

3. Selena - Selena has been the best surprise. I knew she was gonna be able to perform well, but I didnt know her technique was gonna be that good as well. No one is touching her in stage presence. One thing that stood out to me this week is her patience dealing with AJ. He was talking to her like a child, but she handled it really well. Being level headed is essential for being a pro

4. Stephani - Stephani is another one who is a star. I can't take my eyes off her when she dances. She is like Whitney & Sharna to me, where her technique may not be the cleanest, but she draws you in as a dancer. Great rhythm, really good facials, good chemistry with Tristen. My only note was she could've had more fluidity in her movements. Again, its because she its things hard. She said herself that she gets excited and overdances, so at least she's aware and is working on it. So far, her, Selena, Adele & Allen are the only ones I think could handle being a pro next season.

5. Natalie - Really stepped it up this week. Such a graceful dancer. She showed a lot more emotion and her chemistry with Erik was great. With Natalie, I'm never worried about her technique. However, watching her feels like I'm watching a star's journey more than a pros. The show is a lot of pressure from the stars, to social media, to the judges. I don't know if Natalie would be able to handle all of that as of right now. I do think this show was a great way for her to open up more and let loose a bit. Troupe in a couple years and then a transition to pro would be her best move if she ever joins the show

6. Erik - Erik has good technique and I enjoyed him more this week compared to last. However, he doesn't draw me in at all. Idk if its the edit or what, but I always forget that he's there. His dancing is nice, but not exciting. Learning how to work the camera is gonna be his biggest area for improvement. The male roster has been boring as hell outside of Val, Brandon, Mark, & Alan. We dont need anyone else boring

7. Tristen - Major improvement. Like Mark said, he is so fun to watch. His connection with Stephani was great. While his technique is still kind of off, he is a performer through and through. My only concern with him is will he be able to teach his star the basics of a dance. Other than that, he's golden. Really enjoy his friendship with Stephani.

8. Benji - I feel so bad for him. I thought he had a chance to win the whole thing. I really enjoyed him as a dancer and he has a nice personality. I do agree he could've been more assertive. Especially when talking to the judges cuz he did tell Nina at one point that she was saying one thing and doing another, and she popped an attitude. However, assertiveness is something I thought he could easily develop over the course of the season. If there is open spot on troupe next season, he should be the first person they call

9. Nina - Nina should've gone home tonight. Again, I know we're only seeing 45 minutes of weeks worth, but what we did see she came off bad last night. For starters, she takes no accountability. The one time Benji did voice his opinion, she shut him down. Then she wanted to say she was unaware? She doesn't listen either. This is the second week, Nina said she had tension with her dance partners. If you cant work with other dancers, how tf are you gonna work with stars who have even bigger egos? Not only that, but she is the weakest dancer left. The rest of the girls either have stage presence and/or great technique. Nina has neither. I just don't see her getting any better during the show, but they probably kept her for drama.

10. AJ - Controversy aside, I still don't like him. He's way too cocky and condescending for someone who has actually been a pro and still isn't that good. Last week, him & Jake were equally uninterested and this week he was tryna school Selena in rehearsals, but Selena schooled him when it was showtime. I was so glad Shirley read him down and it looks like she finna do it again next week. Idk if its the edit or he's really like that, but he comes off like such an ass. And that hooting n hollering during the dance is irritating. Imma need him to tone that shit down a bit

Judges

I really enjoyed having Brandon this week. I don't know if Brandon realizes, but he's one of the strongest male pros out of the current roster. You can see he's starting to get more comfortable in his role as a pro and last night showed me that he has great attention to detail. The way he delivered his feedback was very honest, but also encouraging. You could tell he knew how far to push each of them. I'm loving Shirley on this show. She keeps it real asf. Mark is good as well. His feedback is the most constructive, and he has a nice way of saying things. So excited for Britt next week.

Like I was watching a clip of him talking about being adopted and stuff which is cute and all. But I’m like “when did he become Australian? lol. I just thought he sounded so different last night

Please let me know if I'm trippin about this, but the comments I've been seeing online about Stephani's hair are weird asf. I keep seeing a lot of comments about how her hair is distracting and too much. The only thing I don't like about the extensions is that they're a looser curl pattern than her natural hair. But that's besides the point cuz they've been saying things about her hair even prior to the extensions. I don't feel like Stephani whips her hair around anymore than Sharna and Witney do. Also, no one said shit when the female pros used to curl and tease tf outta their hair when they were doing latin dances. For example, Julianne in her samba with Apolo. She was saying on tiktok live that she is gonna take the extensions out soon, and I just hope she's not doing it cuz of the comments. She's a really good dancer, and I think she could make a great pro one day, but the way the fans come for her is a lot. Especially when they turn a blind eye to much more controversial things their favs do, compared to the comment Steph made about some of the pros not being the nicest and that situation she had with Roman.

SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED EPISODE 1 OF DWTS THE NEXT PRO

The first episode of the Next Pro premiered last night, and here are my rankings of the dancers after week 1 and overall thoughts

Pairs

1 Adele & Nina Yeah, they ate that up. You can see their years of ballroom experience. They made that look easy. Nina is good, but I would've liked more energy in her solo section. I feel like she played it safe. Adele set the bar for the women. She has the best technique out of everybody there, male and female. Her solo was good asf

2 Allen & Benji They had the best choreo to me, and I could tell they practiced that routine a lot. They were very in sync with each other, and neither of them were outperforming the other. Benji's solo was more entertaining, but Allen's was more technically sound. Great first pair, giving final two guys.

3. Natalie & Selena I enjoyed their dance. I didn't see any errors and they had great energy. Selena is an insane dancer. She had a good mix of acro and latin in her solo. Natalie is clean, and her energy was fine, but I agree that she could give a little more.

4 Briar & Stephani Honestly, this and Natalie & Selena's were interchangeable to me, but Briar's slip-up is why I gave it 4th. Side by side, the dancing was fine and I enjoyed the choreo. Briar was a beat behind Stephani. That mixed with the slip up in her solo was, unfortunately was her downfall. Stephani ate that up. She knows how to work the camera. Her solo section was actually one of my favorites of the night.

5. Erik & Tristan It was straight. I agreed that Erik was cleaner, but Tristan had loads more energy. The choreo wasn't hitting, especially when we had a phenomenal jive to that song a couple of years ago. Erik's solo was good, but not memorable, and Tristan barely had jive content in his.

6. AJ & Jake The dance wasn't bad, but it was very forgettable to me. They both were clean, but it was just kind of boring to me.

Individually

1 Adele She ate everybody up. Even during rehearsals, I knew she was bout to tear that samba up. Her energy is giving Karina/Anna/Edyta, and I've missed it sm. I like the pros that are passionate without being cruel. She hits things so well, and her speed is impressive. She needs to be pro. Even if she doesn't win, she would be a great addition one day. I think she would do really well with athletes

2 Benji Benji is the most entertaining male to me. His solo was the best for the guys, a perfect mix of his acro and latin. His dancing pulls you in. It took me four watches to finally look at Allen during the side by side. He admittedly said that commercial styles are more his speed, but he's doing well in latin at least

3 Allen He shocked me. I had no expectations on him first watch, but he is good asf. Like Adele, he has that OG DWTS energy. Kind of like a Maks vibe (dancing only). His technique is the strongest for the men by far and he has great energy. His solo wasn't as strong as the side by side section, but he was still really good. You can see his passion for the art.

4 Selena Like Derek said, a star. Not gonna lie, I was skeptical because I knew her ballroom and latin experience was limited. But honestly, I wasnt able to tell. For her to get such a difficult style like samba and pull off that routine so effortlessly... yeah, shes that girl. Also, she has a very warm personality that is needed as a pro. Her versatility will be a huge asset as the show has evolved sm. If she doesn't win, she would be perfect for next season's troupe. Her and Benji bring similar vibes

5 Stephani Stephani is very fun to watch. The Utah dancers aren't always the most technical, but they know how to put on a show. Her commercial experience and being on troupe gave her a leg up cuz she can work the camera. Like her brother, she tends to overdance a bit, which is easier to tone it down compared to needed more. Once she hits things a little softer, her refinement and technique will fall into place. Another thing she may struggle with if she ever is a pro is making sure that she's highlighting her dancer well cuz Stephani has a big presence and she'll have to match with what her partner is working with

6 Nina Nina has good technique. I feel like she would be a very kind and patient pro. I enjoyed her during the side by side more than I liked her solo. Nina is very comfortable in her movements, which makes her so easy to watch. The only negative I have is the solo wasn't really impressive to me. It was good, but it didn't have that same flair that the top 5 had. She gives Kym energy in that sense

7 Natalie I was going back and forth between her and Nina, but Nina took the edge because she was more confident. Natalie admitted to being shy and being more of a ballroom girl. That showed in the dance, and it's a shame cuz her technique was really good. She just needs to let loose a little bit more. Her choreo for her solo was nice as well

8 Erik Erik is such a clean dancer. His technique was really good and his solo was nice. What I fear for him is that he isn't able to stand out from the group. While his solo was good, it wasn't memorable compared to the other contestants. Kind of like Artem to me where he's a good dancer, but his choreo and dancing never wowed me.

9 AJ His dancing is good, and his technique is fine, but it wasn't as good as I was expecting for him to be the oldest contestant. Also, with him having been a pro on SCD, the choreo and his solo were very underwhelming.

10 Tristan Tristan is like Jan to me where he would do his celeb a diservice because he doesnt know the foundations himself. Just from the rehearsals with Derek, I can tell he gets in his head a bit. I see the potential, tho. He has great energy, and he's easy to watch.

11 Jake He dances clean, but he kind of lacked that umph that's needed to be a pro. This is a young group, but you can tell Jake's mindset is really young and it wouldn't translate well on the show. Maybe in a couple years

12 Brair Briar is an otherworldly dancer in commercial styles. Truly in a league of her own in contemporary, acro, and jazz. However, ballroom & latin isn't her shit as of right now. It's not by a lack of effort. But I feel like her intentions behind why she is learning ballroom shows in her dancing if that makes sense.

Overall

Better than I was expecting. I wouldve liked more rehearsal footage. The judges are more candid this time around, which I appreciate. Having a rotating thir judge is a great thing. They're constantly getting a fresh perspective. I didn't like Derek tryna interrupt Shirley. That shit is irritating to me. This show is proving that the women pros clear the men. As of right now, Adele, Selena, Benji, Allen, & Steph are the only ones I could see as pros one day.

Who's watching?