Celebrities only get one chance at the Mirror Ball, but the professionals can always come back for more. With many of season 11’s professional dancers having participated in past competitions, the possibility for repeat wins is always there. This season, three of the professionals even have a chance at an unprecedented third Dancing with the Stars victory.
Three professional dancers this season — Mark Ballas, Cheryl Burke and Derek Hough — have each won two previous DWTS competitions. Cheryl won both the second and third seasons, dancing with Drew Lachey and Emmitt Smith, respectively. Mark got his victories next, in the sixth (with Kristi Yamaguchi) and eighth (with Shawn Johnson) seasons. Derek won last season’s Dancing with the Stars competition with Nicole Scherzinger and also managed a win in season 7 with current DWTS host, Brooke Burke. Only one other professional dancer, Julianne Hough, has won two seasons of competition, but she is not participating in season 11.
What are the chances of a three-time professional winner this season? Pretty good actually.
Derek Hough is dancing with early-season frontrunner Jennifer Grey. The pair has managed to earn first-place scores from the judges in three out of the four completed dances. With Jennifer showing no signs of slowing her rise to ballroom glory, Derek has to be a favorite among the professionals to win the Mirror Ball.
Is Derek the only professional with much of a chance? Not necessarily — we should not count out Cheryl Burke at this point. Granted, she and partner Rick Fox have held a solid central position over most of the past four weeks. There have been some good dances, but Rick and Cheryl always find themselves running a few points behind the leaders. That small difference could mean the world when competition grows fiercer.
Still, Cheryl has more overall past success than any professional dancer in DWTS history. In addition to her two wins, Cheryl has placed second (in season 8 with Gilles Marini) and third (in season 6 with Christian de la Fuente). Partner Rick has also shown himself to be one of the strongest male dancers of the current season’s competition. These two might just have the endurance to power through to the finale.
Mark Ballas seems to have the lowest chance of a third win this season. While he and Bristol Palin did manage a stronger start than expected, Bristol’s dancing has earned harsh criticism during the past few weeks. The couple currently has the lowest average judges’ score of those dancers remaining in season 11.
Could they pull out of this slump? Certainly. If nothing else, Mark has shown that he can get great performances out of unlikely sources. But he will have to work fast for such performances from Bristol, if he wants to avoid an elimination in the near future.
What do you think? Is anyone going to get a third win this season?
(Images courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
