When Dancing With the Stars announced that Shirley Ballas was going to be a guest judge for Horror Movie Night, I knew that she would be a nightmare for the contestants, especially those who have only incrementally gotten better this season.
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who → announce → contestants
That’s criminal.
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That → ’ → ?
Things were looking rough from the very beginning of the night as Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa hit the dance floor to perform an Argentine tango inspired by The Exorcist.
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Stiles → look → Exorcist
Watching it in the actual ballroom, I couldn’t see all the steps (and missteps) along the way, but I knew it was going to be a pretty low score from Shirley, who has earned a reputation for her harsh critiques on Strictly Come Dancing.
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who → watch → Dancing
Cut ahead to the reveal that she had opted to give Julia and Ezra a “4” and I honestly wasn’t as shocked as the rest of the audience.
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I → cut → audience
Watching it back now, it feels even more apt to give a failing score, as the dance felt clumsy, dull, and choppy from start to finish.
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dance → watch → finish
In fact, there were several moments where it looked like Ezra was dragging his partner — who scored a whopping 36/40 last week for her Dedication Night dance — into and out of moves.
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who → be → moves
Counter that with Jenna Dewan and Val Chmerkovskiy’s near-perfect (one minor incident with her dress cost them a 40/40) Argentine tango and anyone can see where a “4” might come from.
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4 → counter → where
Now compare that to Tatyana and Jan, who were the only dancers to have the paso doble on the night where Ballas, a Latin dance expert, was in the ballroom.
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Ballas → compare → ballroom
Much of her complaints about the dance to “I Lied To You” actually stemmed from the choreography of the dance, rather than the execution itself, and I think that only serves to prove that a “4” was uncalled for.
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4 → lie → dance
Was it the best paso the Dancing With the Stars audience has ever seen?
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audience → see → Stars
But Tatyana did exactly what she needed to do, i.e. show a command of the steps and channel the dance’s energy, for her to have at least received a “5” or a “6.”
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her → do → 5
I think if there was even one other couple who had danced a paso doble on Tuesday night, it might have helped Shirley Ballas’ case for a score so low, but it’s hard to look at a dance that looked well executed and on theme and not scratch your head at a score like that.
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that → think → that
It’s especially tough to justify when you put it up against Julia Stiles’ “4,” as one dance looked like it could have happened in Week 1 of the competition and the other dance was worlds ahead.
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dance → ’ → competition
It goes right back into the argument that has been made for years now about scoring inconsistency, which remains to be solved.
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which → go → inconsistency
At the end of the day, Shirley Ballas is who she is for a reason; the woman knows what she’s talking about and only she can explain the rationale behind a score like that, but perhaps it just underscores (pun intended) how important it is for the judges to have more time to explain how and why they came to the number that is revealed on their paddle.
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that → know → paddle
It’s just hard to watch someone like Tatyana — who I would argue has been relatively under-scored all season — receive the same score as Julia and Ezra, who I think struggled their way through Horror Movie Night.
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I → ’ → Night
One thing I do agree with, though?
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I → agree → thing
Shirley Ballas is right: judges should not be afraid to whip out a paddle that they think accurately reflects the dance.
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they → whip → dance
It’s frankly tiring to see the judges get locked in the score range of six to 10 in the middle of the competition when some dances simply do not deserve anything resembling a “7” or an “8.”
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dances → ’ → 7
Hopefully, Derek Hough, Carrie Ann Inaba, and Bruno Tonioli take a page out of her book and move back into the realm of any score being on the table.
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Hough → take → table
It only helps the contestants.
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It → help → contestants
Dancing With the Stars is streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
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Dancing → stream → Hulu
New episodes air Tuesdays on ABC at 8 p.m. local and stream the next day.
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episodes → air → p.m.
If you’re new to Hulu, the basic (with ads) price is $11.99/month.
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price → ’re → ads
If you want to upgrade to Hulu ad-free, it costs $18.99/month.
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it → want → 18.99
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the Disney+ Bundles, all of which include Hulu.
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all → want → Hulu
These bundles start at $12.99/month for ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu and goes up to $32.99/month for Disney+, Hulu, and Max, all ad-free.
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all → start → Disney+
The Aporia
