It’s the scariest day of the year on Dancing with the Stars, and while Halloween-themed individual routines and the team dances may be frightening, what’s worse is that one couple will be eliminated.
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Thus far season 21 has been remarkable in that the five worst dancers were also the first five to be eliminated, leaving us with eight relatively strong couples. Four have already earned perfect scores and another two have been just one point away from perfection. Even the worst couple left has averaged 23 out of 30 from the judges after seven dances.
THE LEADERBOARD
40: Bindi Irwin, Andy Grammer, Tamar Braxton
39: Nick Carter
38: Carlos PenaVega
32: Hayes Grier
30: Alexa PenaVega, Alek Skarlatos
DEFINITELY SAFE
If you don’t think Bindi Irwin is the frontrunner, you’re not paying attention. She has a magical smile, the best scores from the judges and she’s partnered with five-time Mirror Ball winner Derek Hough, who has made it to the Top 4 in all of his past 11 seasons. And with a perfect score last week, they’re guaranteed safety yet again.
PROBABLY SAFE
When the equivalent of 3.5 percent of the vote separates first and last place, there’s always potential for a shocking result. However, perfect scores from Andy Grammer and Tamar Braxton, plus near-perfect scores from Nick Carter and Carlos PenaVega, should keep all of them safe. There’s a sizable gap between those five and the other three stars on the leaderboard, but anything is possible.
IN JEOPARDY
Being in the Bottom 2 on the leaderboard has been an indicator for every elimination so far this season, so there’s a good chance that Alek Skarlatos, Alexa PenaVega or Hayes Grier will be eliminated. The train hero came into the competition with the smallest fan base, but perhaps he’ll continue to survive based on goodwill. And Hayes has to hope that his legions of young, online fans will vote for him, even though last season’s youngest contestant got an early elimination in seventh place.
Alexa has been hit-or-miss, going from three 7s three weeks ago to a perfect score the week after to 30 out of 40 last week. I predicted her and Mark Ballas to win the season, but that could end. Mark has a habit of either going far or getting eliminated too early. Every season he’s either made it to the Top 4 or he’s been eliminated between 7th and 11th place.
MY PREDICTION
I predict that Hayes and Emma will be eliminated. I don’t trust that his very young fan base will vote for him, similar to the fates of Willow Shields and Cody Simpson. He also suffered from performing first last week with a Grease routine that was upstaged by guest judge Olivia Newton-John. If I’m being honest with myself, I’d probably predict Alexa since she’s splitting votes with her husband, but I still have hope that she and Mark can pull off a comeback victory.
Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8pm on ABC.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
