This is sex Lies and Spray Tands with me Cheryl Burke and iHeartRadio podcast. Hey guys, welcome back to sex Lies and Spray Tans. Your favorite DWTS podcast is back and backstrong with another round of fan questions, Part number four. Keep them coming, guys, where we are not done. It's never too late to ask questions. We're making a series dedicated to you, our loyal listeners, and yeah, you can leave your questions anywhere you're listening to this podcast as you rate and review. You know that makes me smile, along with any of my social platforms and the podcasts Instagram at sex Lies and Spray Tans. Let's get right into it, shall we. Let's start with questions. So if this is an interesting round here because we've got about only three people, I'm going to get through because each person had like ten questions. To be quite honest, I'm going to try and get through them all. But I thought they were all pretty legit questions that you guys obviously want answers to. Okay, So let's start with question number one out of ten from at car dot oh Dot Lena Underscore eight zero zero seven Love the podcast, Cheryl and I miss seeing you on the show. I've put together a variety of questions, Yeah you did, in your opinion, which couple was the most overscored and which was the most underscored during the semifinals. So as I look back into my notes from when I did the recap of the semifinals, I feel like everybody was overscored and no one was underscored. If anyone underscored anybody, it's yours truly. But I think for sure Whitney and Danny's Viennese Walls was way overscored. They had a twenty seven out of thirty. I gave them a seven out of ten due to the fact that the actual meat of what the Viennese waltz is about that he did not necessarily or execute I guess the right technique. He was a little high in his legs. He looked very if Also Riley and Steven they got a twenty five out of thirty for their Chatcha. I'm pretty sure we can remember that dance they danced to Bailar, and I gave them a six out of ten. I remember what I said about the semifinals, which caused so much controversy, but I still stick by it, like I was completely underwhelmed, and yeah, that was that. But for round two, so that was it wasn't necessarily the Latin round, right, because they mixed and matched. But I believe that Jenna and Joey actually were overscored because they danced to Pasa doblay to come together, and the judges gave them nearly a perfect score. And for me, Pasa do blay is very It's a dance that the man needs to own and believe it and make everyone else believe it with him, and for me it just wasn't believable or authentic to the Pasa dooblay is all about, right. So there's that. Let's move on to the other question two out of ten. Question number two out of ten questions from at car dot dot Lena underscore eight zero zero seven. Whose dance score were you most surprised by? Oh my god, these are such specific questions. I guess I kind of answered that right, Like, honestly, what I don't understand in general as far as scores go. I mentioned this in my recap. It's like when the judges don't give constructive criticism, let's say, and then they give them less than a ten when everything sounded like it was perfect, right, So if a judge doesn't give any critiques, then you would assume, oh, they liked it, there was nothing wrong with a dance. But if the judges give critiques and then they still give out nine or ten, so you're like, wait, what, like for me a ten, it has to be perfection if it's a ten. I just think in general, the judges started score so high. Starting the premiere. They started at sevens and eights, like back in the day, you guys, we never saw those types of numbers until towards like the second half, I'm not kidding, like they were handing out fours and fives to be quite honest. And in the Mothership Strictly Come Dancing in England, where this whole format started and this whole show started, or the franchise, they give out twos and threes like it's real and that's where everybody should start, regardless of the level of dancing. Regardless if you just come out and you're just so amazing, you still should not get anything even close to sevens. I think it's way too high and you have nowhere to go but downhill. And same with the judges it's like that it's anti climactic, because if you're going to stick within the seven to ten range, you might as well just get rid of all the other numbers. They're useless. Okay, let's move on to the next question. Who would have been your ideal top three or four dancers into finale night? Let's say top three. My ideal top three would have been alone, Joey and Chandler. Those were my top three for sure. Which performance in the semifinals left you feeling underwhelmed and which one exceeded your expectations. I just so I look at the show as a whole, and I can just kind of elaborate a little bit on that quote of mine. I guess that made headlines. How I just felt like the whole semifinal was underwhelming, and I think it has a lot to do. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that there was no elimination, but that didn't happen until the end of the show. I just think the quality of dancing didn't necessarily grow towards the last few weeks of the competition, and normally in the semifinals everybody is like exhausted, right, we are so exhausted that we are pushing so hard just to get into the finals. Since we've already made it this far, we want to go for the mirror Ball trophy at this point, and everyone ups their Auntie. Your body is a strong, powerful vessel, and even when you think you're tired, you still have more that you can give, and you're basically leaving it all out on the dance floor. And the only person who I felt had that like competitive spirit and also at the same time enjoyed the moment and stayed present was Alona. And Alan, as I had expressed, it's hard to put into words, but she had this sense of like you can see how grateful she was while she was dancing, but also she nailed every step and she really enjoyed that moment with Alan, I would say, even more than the finale. Among the remaining dancers, who would you have liked to partner with if you were still on the show and what would you have done differently with them? Well? I answer that already, I said either Joey or Danny. But what I haven't answered is what would I have done differently? Huh, It's hard for me to say because I don't know I wasn't in the room when Jenna and when Whitney were teaching them, But I for sure you can bet your life that I would never do those crazy lifts, but that necessarily wouldn't do Danny any favors, if you know what I mean. Like, I'm not as much of a dare like my I like both feet on the ground. That's how I was trained in the ballroom industry, So uh, being lifted like that, I probably would have tried a few, but I also would have spread out all those wow moments a little bit, like I will never forget it. Just recently, actually, someone from TikTok said to me, you know, it's better when the lifts don't happen later, like said something along these lines, right. I think it was Alicia shout out to her, but she said, like, lifts shouldn't be done until towards the end of the competition. She goes, I'll never forget when you and Jield did Argentine Tango and he lifted you for the first time, though it wasn't like and I'm saying this at least I didn't say this, but I'm saying like it wasn't such a huge like crazy lift. It was a simple lift, literally, and but she remembers being like, oh my god, that looked so amazing, because it's like, there's nothing like if you've done everything already, you've done all these crazy overhead lifts. And they did that during week four, during Most Memorable Night or whatever it was whatever they titled this theme night. It was a different definitely wasn't Most Memorable anyway. So when you've done that, you've got nowhere to go. You really don't. I would have also, I think with Danny, I would have given him a lot more to work on as far as the foundation of each style of ballroom dancing goes, like he needed. I saw a common denominator with Danny's execution, especially in any of the ballroom dances where he wasn't necessarily gliding as much. It was a rocky It wasn't consistent. I want to see, and I was hoping to see from Danny the execution in a way like he did for the jive. And if you guys remember he did the jive I think the same time or week as Joey did, and they both did backflips. But that's not what I'm talking about. His actual content, like his movement from foot to foot was impressive. Like that that week was what impressed me and was like, oh, Danny is the dark horse, not so much the contemporary. That was when he peeked in my eyes, like and when you peak so soon, it's scary because you either have to really work your butt off, which I know he did. I'm pretty sure he's probably one of the hardest working celebrities that season. You can tell. But it's so important to build the foundation. Now with Joey, I mean, he was pretty amazing. I guess for Joey always, I felt like cared more about the outside world than taking care of his partner. And I like, I have talent in my hands like I had it with Jelle, for example, who has had no dance experience whatsoever, not like Juan Pablo. You can listen to that interview. He admitted he did dance before, but which I had already known without him even telling me, to be quite honest, which I'm sure you guys did too. But with Jille that was not he He reminds me of Joey because Joey too has no dance experience. However, their bodies are not saying I mean they could be similar, but I know Jill was a lot taller, but they have very long and flexible limbs. And I remember like I had to teach Jell everything, like there was nothing natural about Jill as far as movement goes, Like he didn't come in already having like rhythm. I mean, he does have a natural sense of music, but he's never danced before, not like Juan Poplo or even AJ MacLean or Drew Liche no, none of it. And Joey, I think, is the same. And I think that sometimes you have to like choreograph those intimate, hot moments where you don't do a lot of steps or you don't do any steps really and you just really are into each other because sometimes if not choreographed it naturally you want to perform to the cameras, right, And I'm sure they're getting notes from like the producers that watch camera blocking like look into camera seven wink and Jenna is you know she comes from this, so you think you can dance world where I believe they too get asked to like look into whatever camera. But the difference is is that you know this is a strictly or it was, but anyway, you have partnerships on Dancing with the Stars, and it only looks good and it can only you can only make someone feel something when you feel something with your partner or within your dance, and most of the time that's not when you're overacting into the camera. Like if it doesn't come natural with chemistry, there's a way to still put it in the routines to where it's believable. Okay, let's move on to her next question. If you could redesign the scoring system, how would you do it or break down the scores? Interesting, I haven't thought about that, you see. These are good questions. Honestly. I think like American Idol back in the day, they had no limit when it came to votes, and I think that should be the same. And I also believe though I know there's no results show, but we used to do it when I could be wrong, but I remember when there was only one show a week and the results so basically we wouldn't know who went home until the following week because we wanted both East Coast and West Coast to obviously watch the show and vote, or you just have the studio audience vote. But I just think that alienates all of us, right, So that's not the solution. And I've heard so you Think you Can Dance did something like that, and it just it didn't do well last season, so I don't know if that was the sole reason. I also did a show on NBC called I Can Do That where the you know, live audience voted, but that was nearly not as you know, massive of a show as dancing is, especially now, like we want to stay involved and engaged. I don't know how would you guys feel about that, like leaving the votes up to the live audience. I don't think that's the answer. I do believe that what works and what has worked in the past. So basically you go, everyone progresses forward to the next week, right, So, like no one gets eliminated until week two, because you have to do week one's dance the premiere, which is let's say, judges scores and viewer votes, and in order for both East Coast and West Coast to vote, you have to keep the phone lines open, and I say you should keep it open for twenty four hours, and then when we come back the following week, we add in whatever score we got for that night into and still make everything fifty to fifty, right, but into the votes that we got from premiere night, and then eliminate someone based off that, because then they still have a chance to redeem themselves with whatever dance that they have. That's what I believe should happen, because it really you're leaving it up to only the East coast, right, so therefore the rest of the nation is voting based off popularity. Let's move on to the next question. Same person got a few more from her, So thank you so much for your questions. They're really great. What changes or additions would you love to see on the show in the future. Well, I did a sent post on TikTok and on my Instagram page about five things I hope that either Dancing with the Stars ads back into the show next season or just little tweaks here and there. But to I guess continue on with that, I've quickly I can summarize it for you. I said, to one, bring back the authenticity of what ballroom dancing is. Don't allow lifts until the finale. Still have troop, but do not let the troop dance with the couple competing until the finale, because why, there's no difference between the finale and week one, then if everything, if it's going to start out so grand. I also didn't say this in my posts, but I believe in order for that to happen, and I do think the reason why they want to add dancers to these numbers is because the ballroom went from in the beginning of the season, like the beginning of the era back in two thousand and five, the ballroom looked a lot different. There wasn't like huge lighting effects, There was definitely no graphics. It was just a hardwood floor. An orchestra, which I also believe should come back or add to the band like they did for Oscar Night. I'm not saying to replace the band by any means. They're the best in the business. But yeah, anyway, just to the reason why this show is in a ballroom is because it's based off ballroom dancing, and so if you want to change the genre, that's fine, but you should change your set too, because ballroom dancing is made to be a sport, an art form that is performed in an intimate setting. You can't really it's not balanced when you have only two people with all of these effects. We're not at the MTV Music Awards. This is ballroom like, it is intimate. This is why every competition is at a like Airport Marriott in one of their ballrooms, or like our Olympics in Blackpool, England, you know called Blackpool at the Winter Gardens, which is a beautiful opera house and they have a huge orchestra. But even that, like when I see just two people dance on that in that huge opera house, they get swallowed and so do we. We really, I'll never forget aj McLean a knight for the premiere night. We danced first and we danced a jive to the Weekend and we looked like little ants, you know. I also believe if they are really worried about budget, they can tone it down when it comes to all of that. That's not cheap. I think it's only necessary towards the end, at the finale, honestly, or like big pro numbers, but it'll leave for more of a story. It will also make everyone at home feels so much more as far as emotion goes, if you honestly stick to one camera, a steady cam. Though I know that's not gonna be that's not never gonna happen. But if you notice Derek like he only interacts with a steady cam guy. The guy that like is has two He has his friend helping him in the back to guide him because he's carrying this heavy camera. But ballroom and any type of partner dancing, it only looks good when the camera moves with you in like the opposite direction. So let's say returning right the camera guy, the steady cam needs to go the opposite direction in the same type of speed in motion, and it just looks gorgeous. It's like when you put us on a wide shot with all that lighting, we look like we're being swallowed by a big black hole. Just my two cents. I also believe there's no need for theme nights. You know, ballroom dancing is a theme in itself. Each dance got where did chatcha come from? Cuba? You got samba Brazil. You know they used to like embrace all of that. Like I remember shooting packages at this Brazilian restaurant, Fogo to Chow with a bunch of Brazilian dancers coming out in their thongs and their head pieces and shaking their asses off, and it was entertaining. Like that's funny, It's funny, it's fun, and it still ultimately goes back to the essence of the challenge of whatever couple is dancing whatever style. I also believe that they need to stick to two styles per live show. There's no need to do all of the dances in a premiere like a quick step in a fox shot in a slow waltz, in a random jazz, and then a chatcha. It's confusing and also you can't compare. For sure, you cannot compare the couples if they have different styles. You just can't. Also, I don't believe contemporary hip hop or any other type of style outside of the ballroom genre should even be welcomed or talked about until the finale. For example, I said this in my post, but Riley and Steven had just done a contemporary two weeks prior to their contemporary freestyle, except one had a bigger budget than the other. Can you guess you know what I mean? Like there, so there was no element of like, oh, it wasn't like a breath of fresh air in that sense because you're like, oh, you know, he can do it and he's gonna kill it, right, It had like not the same vibe, but it was the same style, though I still think the freestyle was amazing. I'm not taking that away from them, and it's not their fault. But like they, we were missing sambas. I barely saw chachas. I barely saw any salsas. Like I saw lots of jives and a couple of pasito blaze. Only I would have loved to see. Like we used to dance mambo. And there's another style that has not ever once except actually one season, I got assigned to do a bolero, which is one of the five American rhythm style of dances. And you know that whole genre is still within the ballroom, a niche of ballroom dancing, but it's the technique is completely different than the Latin styles. They also need to bring back pro numbers and trios. I don't know about Switch Up Week because I've so this is. I loved Switch Up Week like I had. I think I was just lucky because I had Alfonso for one for one season for Switch Up Week, and it was heaven. We did a flamenco. He killed it, He learned it in two seconds. It was it was a breath of fresh air. But it was also good for me and my partner to actually have some space because you're at that point where during switch Up week it was around halfway through the competition and you need that break, really. But I heard that a lot of people, majority of the pros and celebs, just didn't feel comfortable and it was very emotional supposedly, and I had no idea. Actually, Kristin Burt told me that during our Headlines, one of the Headlines episodes, and I had no idea about that, but I guess I can see how that happens. You know, we all get very territorial around our celebs, especially if we have a good one, and then us pros obviously get nervous, like what if he likes dancing with her better or what if she teaches him better. I didn't care. I was just like, let's do this anyway. Next question, what would your dream semifinal and finale competition format look like? For example, in the semifinals, should couples redo one of their previous routines and a new routine or two routines like they did? How about freestyles? I like the format that they do with the semifinals. They basically did each a Latin and a ballroom dance that they hadn't done yet. However, they didn't prep them well enough, meaning they wasted it with the instant dance, because instead of the instant dance, they could have at least least done trios, like could have continued their momentum of like learning a full dance, because with trios the music is ninety seconds, right, so like they could have started in a way subconsciously training these couples. But instead, you know, with this instant dance, they're never going to have to be in that type of situation again. So how will that help them when they have two full solo dances that are each ninety seconds long, Like it's not normally it's a build up and everything makes sense as far as the pieces of the puzzle fitting, and every week it's like it gets a little harder, a little harder, a little harder to prep them for when they have to do the semifinals. I almost feel like I always use to treat the semis like the finals because you're never gonna have to dance that long again, especially when it comes to two technical ballroom dances like that is the that is like the worst that it could possibly be, except that by the semifinals, your celebrity mode slightly picks on, picks up on things quicker like as far as foundation goes, if you give me a Latin dance, my celebrity should know Okay, no, he'll lead. You give me a freakin' foxtrot, even if we've never done it. They know what a frame is, so you don't have to like reteach any of it, especially if you've built that from the training period prior to the premiere. And that's why I reiterate that those three weeks of training that they're being allotted, you got to take advantage of every single minute because you have to build the foundation. You don't want to have to repeat yourself. You don't want to have to show them what frame is. Show them all types of frame, tango frame, Walt's foxtrot, quick step, Viani's walt, all the same frame. He'll leads. How do you move across the floor? How do you glide? More importantly, though, this is the most important, they have to understand what it feels like to have one hundred percent of their weight onto one leg and then shift their weight back onto the next leg and just have them do that for the first three days and nothing else, and boy, you'll see. Just try it, You'll see. I don't know who I'm talking to, but I'm just saying. And by the way, I only learned this towards the end of my time, because you know, you learn as you go looking back at your own time on the show, is there a routine or moment you wish had been scored or judged differently? Huh, Yes, I would say AJ MacLean and I did a Viennese waltz where we royally messed up or he did and he had such a great dress rehearsal, And I don't know, I wish we got eliminated that night, by the way, or else I think we would have if we didn't mess up on live TV. But this is what I mean. They were a lot stricter back then, Like we got called out for it even though we had an almost perfect dress rehearsal. But I kind of wish that. Well, actually we didn't get eliminated. Yeah, we did get eliminated because this was when they changed the rules when the judges it was the judges pick at the end of the day. This was the season after Juanpablo, when Bobby bones one so they had changed the rules to the last two couples standing. The judges get to choose who goes home versus not, and they chose us. Unfortunately we were up against I think Britt and her partner, who was a nice oh Johnny Weir. Okay, there we go. Here's another question from at car dot oh Dot Lena underscore eight zero zero seven. If I could bring back one element or theme from past seasons, what would it be and why? I would say trios were great, though I know it's not necessarily authentic to ballroom, like there's no thrupples in ballroom, but I do enjoy I enjoy the camaraderie right and to there's like it's like gives the couple an extra boost because it's refreshing just to bring somebody in. I also would love Mambo to come back. I would love even Boalero to come back. And I would love for an orchestra to happen within the existing band members, obviously, like what they did for Oscar Night. Also, confessionals, this is kind of the same question that was asked, but I also literally just posted about this a week ago, so go check that out. Next question, how do you think the show has evolved over the years, And what's one thing you think they should keep doing or stop doing. I feel like these questions are kind of all the same. Ish. I think the show has definitely evolved, Like there was no other styles of dance at all from the beginning. There's also like when it comes to you know, choreography and thinking outside of the box. Definitely that changed and evolved when Derek, Julian and Mark came on board, because they came like when initially I would say the very first season and into season two and three, I would say we were all us pros. We saw each other regularly, but saw each other in the competitive world like we none of us really, I would say, out of all of those og og pros, like we never took any other styles of dance, like as far as classes go, like I can't tell you like Nick Kosovich she was an American smooth champion, yet Charlotta Jorgensen standard like she was Charlotta who danced with John O'Hurley, she was no one. I mean she said she was at the top of her game. She was a world champion and standard Ashley del Gros Okay, Well, I guess Ashley del Grosso was definitely more exposed to other styles of dance. Louis van Amstell straight off the competitive circuit, for sure, also a world champion, but in the Latin genre. Jonathan Roberts was an American smooth Latin. Oh sorry, American smooth champion, my very first dance teacher when I was thirteen. You had Tony Devlani, a freaking champion in the American rhythm, like seventy five time champion American Rhythm style. You had Elena who actually competed with Max, and that's how I know Max, because Max and Elena were dancing together. Max also danced with someone named Ena. I'll never forget it, but she was never on the show. You had Karina Smirnoff, world champion freaking Latin dancer. You had Me, who I was like a rising star Latin champion dancer who had just turned pro with actually Tony Devlani's competitor, Jose de Camps, who was known as also a champion in the American Rhythm style. You had There's so many people, but this is what I mean, Like now, when you look at all the pros, I don't even I couldn't even tell you who have competed and who who has not competed because you have different generations now, like I never saw Riley compete, I know she has. I never competed against Peta or Sharna. The only people I used to compete against or see in these dance competitions all over the world would be Max, Karina, Louis, John Nick Kosovich, Elena, Anna Trebunskaya, like Alec Edita. All of us were strictly ballroom basically, I would say, and Ashley was like I competed directly against Ashley for many years. Same with Alec. I knew Alec before Edita even came to the States or even tried out with Alec. It's crazy because I competed against Alex's little brother Jenya Mazzo. Oh my god, like we go all we go way back, you know. Anyway? Next question is that did I answer your question? I didn't. I added to it, but there we go. If you were to choreograph a group dance for the remaining contestants with style or theme, would you choose Viennese waltz exactly like you see on the competition floor in the competitive world and I've said this a few times now, so I'm sure I'm saying something that people have heard. So if you want to know what that means exactly, you're going to have to listen to a couple of episodes prior to this one. The last question, what is one thing you wish the audience would realize or know about the show? Contestants, dancers, and scoring well, one, the amount of work it is. I know we you've heard us say it's seven days a week. It's exhausting, but it really is. And just know that they don't show it all because as if they did, I don't think the show would be as popular, to be quite honest, And as far as the dancers and contestants go, like, we don't know who our partners are. Honestly, I think they used to brief me because I knew nobody like. I was a very sheltered kid, like it was either dance or homework because without getting good grades, there was no dance for me. So I never watched television. I wasn't allowed except for one hour every Wednesday, nights nine. And oh to all my millennials out there, you know what I'm saying. I kind of also think it's important to note how in a way like we're told as far as like it used to not be like this. We used to have a lot more freedom when it comes to like choosing music. But for the most part we're not able to choose music until our freestyle, So a lot of the music is being handed to ask because they have a whole other music department as well. So there's that, all right, guys, thank you so much. This is so fun. Keep your questions coming again. You can either DM me on my social platforms or just leave your questions honestly wherever you're listening to this podcast as part of your reviews, which you can do so if you scroll all the way to the bottom. If you go to this specific podcast as a whole and you just scroll down, you'll see stars there in that review button. You can do so multiple times, but I do check social regularly, DM me, dm sex lies and spraytnds, or just leave your question in the latest post in the comment section. You can do so for me on TikTok as well as Facebook, and thank you for listening. This has been so fun. I hope I've been able to get to your question, but if not, I promise I will. Since this is a series, so it's never too late to ask your questions. Okay, thing you love. Bye,

This is sex Lies and Spray Tands with me Cheryl Burke and iHeartRadio podcast. Hey guys, welcome back to sex Lies and Spray Tans. Your favorite DWTS podcast is back and backstrong with another round of fan questions, Part number four. Keep them coming, guys, where we are not done. It's never too late to ask questions. We're making a series dedicated to you, our loyal listeners, and yeah, you can leave your questions anywhere you're listening to this podcast as you rate and review. You know that makes me smile, along with any of my social platforms and the podcasts Instagram at sex Lies and Spray Tans. Let's get right into it, shall we. Let's start with questions. So if this is an interesting round here because we've got about only three people, I'm going to get through because each person had like ten questions. To be quite honest, I'm going to try and get through them all. But I thought they were all pretty legit questions that you guys obviously want answers to. Okay, So let's start with question number one out of ten from at car dot oh Dot Lena Underscore eight zero zero seven Love the podcast, Cheryl and I miss seeing you on the show. I've put together a variety of questions, Yeah you did, in your opinion, which couple was the most overscored and which was the most underscored during the semifinals. So as I look back into my notes from when I did the recap of the semifinals, I feel like everybody was overscored and no one was underscored. If anyone underscored anybody, it's yours truly. But I think for sure Whitney and Danny's Viennese Walls was way overscored. They had a twenty seven out of thirty. I gave them a seven out of ten due to the fact that the actual meat of what the Viennese waltz is about that he did not necessarily or execute I guess the right technique. He was a little high in his legs. He looked very if Also Riley and Steven they got a twenty five out of thirty for their Chatcha. I'm pretty sure we can remember that dance they danced to Bailar, and I gave them a six out of ten. I remember what I said about the semifinals, which caused so much controversy, but I still stick by it, like I was completely underwhelmed, and yeah, that was that. But for round two, so that was it wasn't necessarily the Latin round, right, because they mixed and matched. But I believe that Jenna and Joey actually were overscored because they danced to Pasa doblay to come together, and the judges gave them nearly a perfect score. And for me, Pasa do blay is very It's a dance that the man needs to own and believe it and make everyone else believe it with him, and for me it just wasn't believable or authentic to the Pasa dooblay is all about, right. So there's that. Let's move on to the other question two out of ten. Question number two out of ten questions from at car dot dot Lena underscore eight zero zero seven. Whose dance score were you most surprised by? Oh my god, these are such specific questions. I guess I kind of answered that right, Like, honestly, what I don't understand in general as far as scores go. I mentioned this in my recap. It's like when the judges don't give constructive criticism, let's say, and then they give them less than a ten when everything sounded like it was perfect, right, So if a judge doesn't give any critiques, then you would assume, oh, they liked it, there was nothing wrong with a dance. But if the judges give critiques and then they still give out nine or ten, so you're like, wait, what, like for me a ten, it has to be perfection if it's a ten. I just think in general, the judges started score so high. Starting the premiere. They started at sevens and eights, like back in the day, you guys, we never saw those types of numbers until towards like the second half, I'm not kidding, like they were handing out fours and fives to be quite honest. And in the Mothership Strictly Come Dancing in England, where this whole format started and this whole show started, or the franchise, they give out twos and threes like it's real and that's where everybody should start, regardless of the level of dancing. Regardless if you just come out and you're just so amazing, you still should not get anything even close to sevens. I think it's way too high and you have nowhere to go but downhill. And same with the judges it's like that it's anti climactic, because if you're going to stick within the seven to ten range, you might as well just get rid of all the other numbers. They're useless. Okay, let's move on to the next question. Who would have been your ideal top three or four dancers into finale night? Let's say top three. My ideal top three would have been alone, Joey and Chandler. Those were my top three for sure. Which performance in the semifinals left you feeling underwhelmed and which one exceeded your expectations. I just so I look at the show as a whole, and I can just kind of elaborate a little bit on that quote of mine. I guess that made headlines. How I just felt like the whole semifinal was underwhelming, and I think it has a lot to do. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that there was no elimination, but that didn't happen until the end of the show. I just think the quality of dancing didn't necessarily grow towards the last few weeks of the competition, and normally in the semifinals everybody is like exhausted, right, we are so exhausted that we are pushing so hard just to get into the finals. Since we've already made it this far, we want to go for the mirror Ball trophy at this point, and everyone ups their Auntie. Your body is a strong, powerful vessel, and even when you think you're tired, you still have more that you can give, and you're basically leaving it all out on the dance floor. And the only person who I felt had that like competitive spirit and also at the same time enjoyed the moment and stayed present was Alona. And Alan, as I had expressed, it's hard to put into words, but she had this sense of like you can see how grateful she was while she was dancing, but also she nailed every step and she really enjoyed that moment with Alan, I would say, even more than the finale. Among the remaining dancers, who would you have liked to partner with if you were still on the show and what would you have done differently with them? Well? I answer that already, I said either Joey or Danny. But what I haven't answered is what would I have done differently? Huh, It's hard for me to say because I don't know I wasn't in the room when Jenna and when Whitney were teaching them, But I for sure you can bet your life that I would never do those crazy lifts, but that necessarily wouldn't do Danny any favors, if you know what I mean. Like, I'm not as much of a dare like my I like both feet on the ground. That's how I was trained in the ballroom industry, So uh, being lifted like that, I probably would have tried a few, but I also would have spread out all those wow moments a little bit, like I will never forget it. Just recently, actually, someone from TikTok said to me, you know, it's better when the lifts don't happen later, like said something along these lines, right. I think it was Alicia shout out to her, but she said, like, lifts shouldn't be done until towards the end of the competition. She goes, I'll never forget when you and Jield did Argentine Tango and he lifted you for the first time, though it wasn't like and I'm saying this at least I didn't say this, but I'm saying like it wasn't such a huge like crazy lift. It was a simple lift, literally, and but she remembers being like, oh my god, that looked so amazing, because it's like, there's nothing like if you've done everything already, you've done all these crazy overhead lifts. And they did that during week four, during Most Memorable Night or whatever it was whatever they titled this theme night. It was a different definitely wasn't Most Memorable anyway. So when you've done that, you've got nowhere to go. You really don't. I would have also, I think with Danny, I would have given him a lot more to work on as far as the foundation of each style of ballroom dancing goes, like he needed. I saw a common denominator with Danny's execution, especially in any of the ballroom dances where he wasn't necessarily gliding as much. It was a rocky It wasn't consistent. I want to see, and I was hoping to see from Danny the execution in a way like he did for the jive. And if you guys remember he did the jive I think the same time or week as Joey did, and they both did backflips. But that's not what I'm talking about. His actual content, like his movement from foot to foot was impressive. Like that that week was what impressed me and was like, oh, Danny is the dark horse, not so much the contemporary. That was when he peeked in my eyes, like and when you peak so soon, it's scary because you either have to really work your butt off, which I know he did. I'm pretty sure he's probably one of the hardest working celebrities that season. You can tell. But it's so important to build the foundation. Now with Joey, I mean, he was pretty amazing. I guess for Joey always, I felt like cared more about the outside world than taking care of his partner. And I like, I have talent in my hands like I had it with Jelle, for example, who has had no dance experience whatsoever, not like Juan Pablo. You can listen to that interview. He admitted he did dance before, but which I had already known without him even telling me, to be quite honest, which I'm sure you guys did too. But with Jille that was not he He reminds me of Joey because Joey too has no dance experience. However, their bodies are not saying I mean they could be similar, but I know Jill was a lot taller, but they have very long and flexible limbs. And I remember like I had to teach Jell everything, like there was nothing natural about Jill as far as movement goes, Like he didn't come in already having like rhythm. I mean, he does have a natural sense of music, but he's never danced before, not like Juan Poplo or even AJ MacLean or Drew Liche no, none of it. And Joey, I think, is the same. And I think that sometimes you have to like choreograph those intimate, hot moments where you don't do a lot of steps or you don't do any steps really and you just really are into each other because sometimes if not choreographed it naturally you want to perform to the cameras, right, And I'm sure they're getting notes from like the producers that watch camera blocking like look into camera seven wink and Jenna is you know she comes from this, so you think you can dance world where I believe they too get asked to like look into whatever camera. But the difference is is that you know this is a strictly or it was, but anyway, you have partnerships on Dancing with the Stars, and it only looks good and it can only you can only make someone feel something when you feel something with your partner or within your dance, and most of the time that's not when you're overacting into the camera. Like if it doesn't come natural with chemistry, there's a way to still put it in the routines to where it's believable. Okay, let's move on to her next question. If you could redesign the scoring system, how would you do it or break down the scores? Interesting, I haven't thought about that, you see. These are good questions. Honestly. I think like American Idol back in the day, they had no limit when it came to votes, and I think that should be the same. And I also believe though I know there's no results show, but we used to do it when I could be wrong, but I remember when there was only one show a week and the results so basically we wouldn't know who went home until the following week because we wanted both East Coast and West Coast to obviously watch the show and vote, or you just have the studio audience vote. But I just think that alienates all of us, right, So that's not the solution. And I've heard so you Think you Can Dance did something like that, and it just it didn't do well last season, so I don't know if that was the sole reason. I also did a show on NBC called I Can Do That where the you know, live audience voted, but that was nearly not as you know, massive of a show as dancing is, especially now, like we want to stay involved and engaged. I don't know how would you guys feel about that, like leaving the votes up to the live audience. I don't think that's the answer. I do believe that what works and what has worked in the past. So basically you go, everyone progresses forward to the next week, right, So, like no one gets eliminated until week two, because you have to do week one's dance the premiere, which is let's say, judges scores and viewer votes, and in order for both East Coast and West Coast to vote, you have to keep the phone lines open, and I say you should keep it open for twenty four hours, and then when we come back the following week, we add in whatever score we got for that night into and still make everything fifty to fifty, right, but into the votes that we got from premiere night, and then eliminate someone based off that, because then they still have a chance to redeem themselves with whatever dance that they have. That's what I believe should happen, because it really you're leaving it up to only the East coast, right, so therefore the rest of the nation is voting based off popularity. Let's move on to the next question. Same person got a few more from her, So thank you so much for your questions. They're really great. What changes or additions would you love to see on the show in the future. Well, I did a sent post on TikTok and on my Instagram page about five things I hope that either Dancing with the Stars ads back into the show next season or just little tweaks here and there. But to I guess continue on with that, I've quickly I can summarize it for you. I said, to one, bring back the authenticity of what ballroom dancing is. Don't allow lifts until the finale. Still have troop, but do not let the troop dance with the couple competing until the finale, because why, there's no difference between the finale and week one, then if everything, if it's going to start out so grand. I also didn't say this in my posts, but I believe in order for that to happen, and I do think the reason why they want to add dancers to these numbers is because the ballroom went from in the beginning of the season, like the beginning of the era back in two thousand and five, the ballroom looked a lot different. There wasn't like huge lighting effects, There was definitely no graphics. It was just a hardwood floor. An orchestra, which I also believe should come back or add to the band like they did for Oscar Night. I'm not saying to replace the band by any means. They're the best in the business. But yeah, anyway, just to the reason why this show is in a ballroom is because it's based off ballroom dancing, and so if you want to change the genre, that's fine, but you should change your set too, because ballroom dancing is made to be a sport, an art form that is performed in an intimate setting. You can't really it's not balanced when you have only two people with all of these effects. We're not at the MTV Music Awards. This is ballroom like, it is intimate. This is why every competition is at a like Airport Marriott in one of their ballrooms, or like our Olympics in Blackpool, England, you know called Blackpool at the Winter Gardens, which is a beautiful opera house and they have a huge orchestra. But even that, like when I see just two people dance on that in that huge opera house, they get swallowed and so do we. We really, I'll never forget aj McLean a knight for the premiere night. We danced first and we danced a jive to the Weekend and we looked like little ants, you know. I also believe if they are really worried about budget, they can tone it down when it comes to all of that. That's not cheap. I think it's only necessary towards the end, at the finale, honestly, or like big pro numbers, but it'll leave for more of a story. It will also make everyone at home feels so much more as far as emotion goes, if you honestly stick to one camera, a steady cam. Though I know that's not gonna be that's not never gonna happen. But if you notice Derek like he only interacts with a steady cam guy. The guy that like is has two He has his friend helping him in the back to guide him because he's carrying this heavy camera. But ballroom and any type of partner dancing, it only looks good when the camera moves with you in like the opposite direction. So let's say returning right the camera guy, the steady cam needs to go the opposite direction in the same type of speed in motion, and it just looks gorgeous. It's like when you put us on a wide shot with all that lighting, we look like we're being swallowed by a big black hole. Just my two cents. I also believe there's no need for theme nights. You know, ballroom dancing is a theme in itself. Each dance got where did chatcha come from? Cuba? You got samba Brazil. You know they used to like embrace all of that. Like I remember shooting packages at this Brazilian restaurant, Fogo to Chow with a bunch of Brazilian dancers coming out in their thongs and their head pieces and shaking their asses off, and it was entertaining. Like that's funny, It's funny, it's fun, and it still ultimately goes back to the essence of the challenge of whatever couple is dancing whatever style. I also believe that they need to stick to two styles per live show. There's no need to do all of the dances in a premiere like a quick step in a fox shot in a slow waltz, in a random jazz, and then a chatcha. It's confusing and also you can't compare. For sure, you cannot compare the couples if they have different styles. You just can't. Also, I don't believe contemporary hip hop or any other type of style outside of the ballroom genre should even be welcomed or talked about until the finale. For example, I said this in my post, but Riley and Steven had just done a contemporary two weeks prior to their contemporary freestyle, except one had a bigger budget than the other. Can you guess you know what I mean? Like there, so there was no element of like, oh, it wasn't like a breath of fresh air in that sense because you're like, oh, you know, he can do it and he's gonna kill it, right, It had like not the same vibe, but it was the same style, though I still think the freestyle was amazing. I'm not taking that away from them, and it's not their fault. But like they, we were missing sambas. I barely saw chachas. I barely saw any salsas. Like I saw lots of jives and a couple of pasito blaze. Only I would have loved to see. Like we used to dance mambo. And there's another style that has not ever once except actually one season, I got assigned to do a bolero, which is one of the five American rhythm style of dances. And you know that whole genre is still within the ballroom, a niche of ballroom dancing, but it's the technique is completely different than the Latin styles. They also need to bring back pro numbers and trios. I don't know about Switch Up Week because I've so this is. I loved Switch Up Week like I had. I think I was just lucky because I had Alfonso for one for one season for Switch Up Week, and it was heaven. We did a flamenco. He killed it, He learned it in two seconds. It was it was a breath of fresh air. But it was also good for me and my partner to actually have some space because you're at that point where during switch Up week it was around halfway through the competition and you need that break, really. But I heard that a lot of people, majority of the pros and celebs, just didn't feel comfortable and it was very emotional supposedly, and I had no idea. Actually, Kristin Burt told me that during our Headlines, one of the Headlines episodes, and I had no idea about that, but I guess I can see how that happens. You know, we all get very territorial around our celebs, especially if we have a good one, and then us pros obviously get nervous, like what if he likes dancing with her better or what if she teaches him better. I didn't care. I was just like, let's do this anyway. Next question, what would your dream semifinal and finale competition format look like? For example, in the semifinals, should couples redo one of their previous routines and a new routine or two routines like they did? How about freestyles? I like the format that they do with the semifinals. They basically did each a Latin and a ballroom dance that they hadn't done yet. However, they didn't prep them well enough, meaning they wasted it with the instant dance, because instead of the instant dance, they could have at least least done trios, like could have continued their momentum of like learning a full dance, because with trios the music is ninety seconds, right, so like they could have started in a way subconsciously training these couples. But instead, you know, with this instant dance, they're never going to have to be in that type of situation again. So how will that help them when they have two full solo dances that are each ninety seconds long, Like it's not normally it's a build up and everything makes sense as far as the pieces of the puzzle fitting, and every week it's like it gets a little harder, a little harder, a little harder to prep them for when they have to do the semifinals. I almost feel like I always use to treat the semis like the finals because you're never gonna have to dance that long again, especially when it comes to two technical ballroom dances like that is the that is like the worst that it could possibly be, except that by the semifinals, your celebrity mode slightly picks on, picks up on things quicker like as far as foundation goes, if you give me a Latin dance, my celebrity should know Okay, no, he'll lead. You give me a freakin' foxtrot, even if we've never done it. They know what a frame is, so you don't have to like reteach any of it, especially if you've built that from the training period prior to the premiere. And that's why I reiterate that those three weeks of training that they're being allotted, you got to take advantage of every single minute because you have to build the foundation. You don't want to have to repeat yourself. You don't want to have to show them what frame is. Show them all types of frame, tango frame, Walt's foxtrot, quick step, Viani's walt, all the same frame. He'll leads. How do you move across the floor? How do you glide? More importantly, though, this is the most important, they have to understand what it feels like to have one hundred percent of their weight onto one leg and then shift their weight back onto the next leg and just have them do that for the first three days and nothing else, and boy, you'll see. Just try it, You'll see. I don't know who I'm talking to, but I'm just saying. And by the way, I only learned this towards the end of my time, because you know, you learn as you go looking back at your own time on the show, is there a routine or moment you wish had been scored or judged differently? Huh, Yes, I would say AJ MacLean and I did a Viennese waltz where we royally messed up or he did and he had such a great dress rehearsal, And I don't know, I wish we got eliminated that night, by the way, or else I think we would have if we didn't mess up on live TV. But this is what I mean. They were a lot stricter back then, Like we got called out for it even though we had an almost perfect dress rehearsal. But I kind of wish that. Well, actually we didn't get eliminated. Yeah, we did get eliminated because this was when they changed the rules when the judges it was the judges pick at the end of the day. This was the season after Juanpablo, when Bobby bones one so they had changed the rules to the last two couples standing. The judges get to choose who goes home versus not, and they chose us. Unfortunately we were up against I think Britt and her partner, who was a nice oh Johnny Weir. Okay, there we go. Here's another question from at car dot oh Dot Lena underscore eight zero zero seven. If I could bring back one element or theme from past seasons, what would it be and why? I would say trios were great, though I know it's not necessarily authentic to ballroom, like there's no thrupples in ballroom, but I do enjoy I enjoy the camaraderie right and to there's like it's like gives the couple an extra boost because it's refreshing just to bring somebody in. I also would love Mambo to come back. I would love even Boalero to come back. And I would love for an orchestra to happen within the existing band members, obviously, like what they did for Oscar Night. Also, confessionals, this is kind of the same question that was asked, but I also literally just posted about this a week ago, so go check that out. Next question, how do you think the show has evolved over the years, And what's one thing you think they should keep doing or stop doing. I feel like these questions are kind of all the same. Ish. I think the show has definitely evolved, Like there was no other styles of dance at all from the beginning. There's also like when it comes to you know, choreography and thinking outside of the box. Definitely that changed and evolved when Derek, Julian and Mark came on board, because they came like when initially I would say the very first season and into season two and three, I would say we were all us pros. We saw each other regularly, but saw each other in the competitive world like we none of us really, I would say, out of all of those og og pros, like we never took any other styles of dance, like as far as classes go, like I can't tell you like Nick Kosovich she was an American smooth champion, yet Charlotta Jorgensen standard like she was Charlotta who danced with John O'Hurley, she was no one. I mean she said she was at the top of her game. She was a world champion and standard Ashley del Gros Okay, Well, I guess Ashley del Grosso was definitely more exposed to other styles of dance. Louis van Amstell straight off the competitive circuit, for sure, also a world champion, but in the Latin genre. Jonathan Roberts was an American smooth Latin. Oh sorry, American smooth champion, my very first dance teacher when I was thirteen. You had Tony Devlani, a freaking champion in the American rhythm, like seventy five time champion American Rhythm style. You had Elena who actually competed with Max, and that's how I know Max, because Max and Elena were dancing together. Max also danced with someone named Ena. I'll never forget it, but she was never on the show. You had Karina Smirnoff, world champion freaking Latin dancer. You had Me, who I was like a rising star Latin champion dancer who had just turned pro with actually Tony Devlani's competitor, Jose de Camps, who was known as also a champion in the American Rhythm style. You had There's so many people, but this is what I mean, Like now, when you look at all the pros, I don't even I couldn't even tell you who have competed and who who has not competed because you have different generations now, like I never saw Riley compete, I know she has. I never competed against Peta or Sharna. The only people I used to compete against or see in these dance competitions all over the world would be Max, Karina, Louis, John Nick Kosovich, Elena, Anna Trebunskaya, like Alec Edita. All of us were strictly ballroom basically, I would say, and Ashley was like I competed directly against Ashley for many years. Same with Alec. I knew Alec before Edita even came to the States or even tried out with Alec. It's crazy because I competed against Alex's little brother Jenya Mazzo. Oh my god, like we go all we go way back, you know. Anyway? Next question is that did I answer your question? I didn't. I added to it, but there we go. If you were to choreograph a group dance for the remaining contestants with style or theme, would you choose Viennese waltz exactly like you see on the competition floor in the competitive world and I've said this a few times now, so I'm sure I'm saying something that people have heard. So if you want to know what that means exactly, you're going to have to listen to a couple of episodes prior to this one. The last question, what is one thing you wish the audience would realize or know about the show? Contestants, dancers, and scoring well, one, the amount of work it is. I know we you've heard us say it's seven days a week. It's exhausting, but it really is. And just know that they don't show it all because as if they did, I don't think the show would be as popular, to be quite honest, And as far as the dancers and contestants go, like, we don't know who our partners are. Honestly, I think they used to brief me because I knew nobody like. I was a very sheltered kid, like it was either dance or homework because without getting good grades, there was no dance for me. So I never watched television. I wasn't allowed except for one hour every Wednesday, nights nine. And oh to all my millennials out there, you know what I'm saying. I kind of also think it's important to note how in a way like we're told as far as like it used to not be like this. We used to have a lot more freedom when it comes to like choosing music. But for the most part we're not able to choose music until our freestyle, So a lot of the music is being handed to ask because they have a whole other music department as well. So there's that, all right, guys, thank you so much. This is so fun. Keep your questions coming again. You can either DM me on my social platforms or just leave your questions honestly wherever you're listening to this podcast as part of your reviews, which you can do so if you scroll all the way to the bottom. If you go to this specific podcast as a whole and you just scroll down, you'll see stars there in that review button. You can do so multiple times, but I do check social regularly, DM me, dm sex lies and spraytnds, or just leave your question in the latest post in the comment section. You can do so for me on TikTok as well as Facebook, and thank you for listening. This has been so fun. I hope I've been able to get to your question, but if not, I promise I will. Since this is a series, so it's never too late to ask your questions. Okay, thing you love. Bye,