[huldah1776]

I was pondering the votes being generated here. Is this like voting for someone because of who they are, not what they can do? Like...2008 Presidential election?

[libbylu]

She is a young kid who has been through a lot and having made the finals is going to have a pretty good pay check!

[conservativegranny]

It’s not about just voting for the best dancer. That’s not what the show is about. Even the judges will say it is about the “journey”. Voting for just the best dancer would be kind of a joke since they are putting people with dancing and performing experience against people with none.

Some of it has to do with who has worked the hardest, who has improved the most, who has been the best ‘sport’ about it all etc. It’s subjective that is why they allow the audience to vote for “who they want to see dance again next week” and their “favorite”. It’s a popularity contest as well.

People who continue to think that you have to vote for the best dancer do not understand the show. And on the show website they tell you that they give the same weight to the judges’s scoring as they do the public scoring and that sometimes brings “unexpected” results.

If this was just about who is the best dancer we all would know that Jennifer Grey should be and is the best dancer. Big deal. She should be with her background. Why would anyone want to watch that?

[JaguarXKE]

No, this is like what it is - a popularity contest in which the winner isn't going to influence the destruction of our country. People who think this is a serious competition don't understand the nature of the show. It is 50/50 between judged votes and "fans" it's just that simple. And in this case Bristol deserve it for the fact that she started with NO experience and, according to the shows producer, has shown more improvement than any other similar armature in 11 seasons. If it were strictly about dancing ability, then it would have been completely unfair to pit someone like Brandy or Jennifer who both have loads of dance and performance experience against someone like Bristol for whom the closet thing to dance experience she has was when she was running the tires in high school FOOTBALL practice. The only chance a total amateur has is if they have a strong enough fan base to overcome lower judge's scores. Kyle was also not as good a dancer as Brandy, yet he also beat her to make the finals, but we don't hear any complaints about him!

Truth be told, I think the producers of this show picked Bristol for the show because I honestly think they thought she would stink and be an embarrassment to her mom.

She has busted her ass on this and was able to improve enough to score solid 9s! I feel bad for Brandy, but this isn't the first time nor will it be the last that a better dancer got the hook because they did not have enough viewer votes. Brandy is no amateur - she's a professional and will get over this loss with her next Emmy!