DWTS: The Result of Having so Many Competitors

There is a problem with having more competitors at this late stage than the show has ever had before. Namely, there aren't more viewers or vewiers with more of an attention span to go along with the larger cast. As a result, some celebrities simply get ignored by both the viewers and those who comment on and cover the show. This is part of why Natalie Coughlin went off WAYYY too soon on last night's show.

Here's my theories on the bottom four, Natalie, Aaron Carter, Joanna Krupa, and Melissa Joan Hart. Aaron is still suffering from his unpopularity of the last few weeks, but survives through a devoted following. Joanna, despite her dancing abilities, is something of a bitch (boy, did she looked pissed while waiting for the results!). And, if there's something the female audeince doesn't want to see, it's a woman who's both much prettier than they are, and has a horrible attitude. However, she no doubt recieved sympathy as a result of her partner Derek Hough's illness keeping him off the dancefloor this week. So, she gets at least one more try to get people to like her for reasons other her looks.

Then there's Melissa and Natalie. Melissa started off OK, and then got better. Meanwhile, Natalie has been good throughout. The female voters probably have a lot of love for Melissa as a mother and an older woman than others on the show. But Natalie, despite being graceful, expessive, naturally talented, and a great dancer, didn't have any drama, and thus no attention.

See, while Louie Vito and Michael Irvin have had rollercoaster performances (good one week, bad the next), their efforts to come back endear them to the audience, and makes them memorable, as do their personalities. Natalie is nice and comes across as a determined competitor, but, lacking the drama and outgoing personalities of her co-athletes, she's just not as memorable. And, when there are this many more dancers to follow and vote for, being noticed and remembered becomes even more important than in previous seasons.

So Natalie, Carrie Anne's favorite and a very talented dancer, goes out while neither Michael nor Louie are even in the bottom four, and these two were by far the worst dancers left! I'm saying that and I honestly like these guys, which raises another point.

Yes, this show is, at its most basic, a dancing competition. However, it is also a program people watch for the sake of entertainment. So, people naturally vote for those they find the most entertaining. It's how Cloris Leachman lasted so long despite the fact that she could barely move; viewers (including me) were getting an odd kind of joy watching an older woman be led around and molested by a younger dancer who also looked like he was having a lot of fun. This is the double-edged sword of this type of show: as a talent competition, the judges want the best ones to advance, while the viewers and voters (who are the only reason the show stays on the air) just want the ones they like to keep going, to hell with how good or bad they are!

The "dance-offs" of the coming weeks will help clear this up a little, but, it could very well happen that, fearing their loss in a dance-off, Michael and Louie's fans will vote in massive numbers to keep them out of the bottom four as they did this week.

Oh, well. As long as Mya wins in the end, the best dancer will prevail, it's just who else will be with her in the finals that might be questionable.