Dancing With the Stars features a potent mix of talent, skill and emotion. All three were powerfully evident last week as the field was narrowed to three couples in one of the most stirring episodes in the show’s history. For emotion, little could match uniquely-abled military veteran Noah Galloway proposing to his girlfriend on live TV, unless it was the final moments of Nastia Liukin and Derek Hough’s routine tugging heart strings with an elegant cameo by 71-year-old judge Len Goodman. Surprisingly voters sent Nastia and Derek home. Unfortunately this was preceded by a careless comment–seen as a passive-aggressive jab–by Rumer Willis’ partner Val Chmerkovskiy. Val said that Derek and Nastia were “so perfect that it makes them a bit uninteresting.”
No doubt Nastia is a more able dancer than Noah, who may have avoided elimination mostly due to his heroic appeal and universally inspirational story. As the two remaining competitors, Riker Lynch and Rumer Willis will have to compete with Noah’s inspiration, too. Let’s hope Rumer doesn’t suffer too much backlash from Derek and Nastia fans after Val’s comments. She’s already known enough bullying. Val has apologized and clarified, but not to every fan’s satisfaction. The voting is always close…
