"Dancing" ends seventh season with win by Brooke Burke
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Brooke Burke
The inevitable finally became reality last night: Brooke Burke won the seventh season of " Dancing With the Stars," confirming the judges' opinions, if not necessarily the fans'.
Dialidol.com, a scarily accurate Web site that predicts winners for TV's mega-reality shows based on phone calls, actually had Warren Sapp well ahead yesterday. But that failed to take into account the slyly clever way "Dancing With the Stars" appoints winners - a combination of judge votes and fan votes. And guess what? The opinions of the three judges - who have heavily favored Burke all season - are essentially equal to the opinions of millions of viewers. That makes "DWTS" more of a talent contest than a popularity one (and come on! Let's admit that Burke was arguably the better dancer this season.)
But it also hardly helps this show overcome what some believe to be a basic flaw in ABC's single most important cash cow: That viewers tend to vote for men, but not women. Thus, the judges are the equalizers who trump viewers (who vote for their favorite - typically men.)
Did Burke deserve to win? Not according to fans of Lance Bass, who got better and better as the season progressed. Not according to fans of Sapp, who was one of the most charismatic performers in the history of "DWTS." But the onetime E! host and pro partner Derek Hough scored a perfect 30 judge score last night - enough to overcome a less robust turnout from viewers.
And so it goes. The winners of this show don't necessarily enhance their career prospects, but they do enhance their bottom lines and - because they've worked their butts off for the past three months or so - their own sense of self-esteem and personal accomplishment. At the end of the day, that's maybe the single best thing about this show.
Oh, yes, the season? Honestly, a strange one. Ratings were down - that's been widely reported - but there were numerous injuries, while pros came and went - hurt, or simply ill. Misty May-Treanor got hurt, badly, and had to pull out as well. Cheryl Burke didn't get along with Maurice Greene (and vice versa). Cloris Leachman ... well, you know all about that. Season eight next: I wonder - does Gene Wilder have any plans next spring?
