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Bristol Palin: Still Last With DWTS Judges, but What About Fans?

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Bristol Palin redeemed herself from her ill-fated monkey-suited jive, but still finished last in the judges' voting in Monday's "Dancing With the Stars."

But will voters -- and her mom's fans -- help her win the Mirrorball Trophy on Tuesday?

Sarah Palin -- the former Alaska governor, 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, star of TLC's "Sarah Palin's Alaska," and potential 2012 presidential candidate -- managed to stop in for her daughter's finalist performance on the eve of the tour for her next book, "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag."

Twitter buzzed Monday with complaints that phone lines were tied up and ABC's website was also busy, though online voting is extended through 11 a.m. Eastern Tuesday. (Having never voted before, I tried to create a login at ABC shortly after the show began and was still in an endless loop of "processing please wait" when the show ended. Some 45 minutes after I finished watching, I'd managed to make three out of five possible votes and gave up. Logging on via Facebook and Twitter didn't work.)

Bristol's presence on the reality show -- and her ascension to the finals -- is a hot controversy, with accusations of a tea party conspiracy and voting fraud. ABC officials say their voting procedures prevent stacking the ballot box. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed in a Washington Post/ABC poll said they believed Bristol is in the finals because of voting by her mother's supporters.

Monday's show focused on "redemption" dances assigned by judges and a freestyle performance. Tuesday's show will feature two more dances from each dancer with judges scores mixed in with those of fans.

Judge Bruno Tonioli assigned Bristol the jive, which she performed earlier this season while wearing, well, a monkey suit. This time, Bristol and partner Mark Ballas performed to a different tune with more conventional clothing.

"I want you to go wild with me," Tonioli told Bristol during rehearsal.

Wearing a short, sequined baby-blue dress, Bristol's jive drew raves from Bruno and the rest of the judge, as well as 27 of 30 points, tied for her top score.

But the freestyle presented a challenge. Ballas selected "Cell Block Tango" from Bob Fosse's "Chicago" only to learn....

"I've never seen Chicago," Bristol said in rehearsal. "I've never been to a Broadway show."

A sexy black dress, a long red scarf and a cage spiced up the number.

"Did I just see Bristol Palin dancing in a cage?" asked judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

Still, judges were underwhelmed, awarding her 25 of 30 points, scores that drew boos from the audience.

"I'm not a sexy girl, so it's hard for me to try to translate that," Bristol said.

And it was tough to compete with Jennifer Grey's sexy outfit, twirls and splits, or Kyle Massey's out-and-out boogaloo to "Tootsie Roll" in the freestyle. Grey finished with a perfect 60 points, Massey with 56 and Bristol with 52.

Still, mom's staff rallied the troops via Twitter.

"Hey, guess what, you hater freaks: this is my personal twitter account & I personally want Bristol Palin to win. Deal with it, you nutjob," tweeted Rebecca Mansour, a key adviser to Sarah Palin, following minutes later with "You Palin-hating losers who sent this young woman death threats & 'white substances' in the mail, you're pathetic. You disgust me."
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tms36

If IM not mistaken dwts asked Bristol to be on the show,you ask why? for the ratings she would bring in stupid, and from the responses they got it right, the network must be estatic that she is still in the competition. And if you don't like to watch then turn on Family Guy. Now, the national polls show 60% or so of Americans do not like Sarah Palin , so let them vote Bristol off the show... As for next year, wouldn't be great if Sarah was on the show?...You Betcha!

November 23 2010 at 10:49 AM +1
kriya123

To me the most annoying thing about DWTS this season especially, is that the judges haven't been scoring the contestants equally. If they had given Bristol the scores she deserved for her performance, the fans vote may not have made as much as a difference. For them to give Kyle the same individual scores as Bristol, in ANY dance is just plain ridiculous. This kind of thing was going on as far back as when the Situation was competing. I believe that was the frustration Maxim was addressing Carrie Ann about a few weeks ago. Fans may vote for any number of personal or political reasons, but the judges should consistenly vote on dancing ability. That's the reason the show has gone off the rails this season.

November 23 2010 at 10:46 AM +1
Robin

i feel bad for you people with all this political talk and putting Bristol down lets see you do better dancing and while you are at it do more with your life than Sarah did. buy the way I did not vote for either of them!

November 23 2010 at 10:45 AM
foghornpwf

It seems voting should have been simple. Just vote for the best dancer. That's not what happened so, of course, there are speculations about tea party voters casting votes for Bristol because they love her Mother. Brandy should still be dancing and Audrina and Bristol should have come in 4th and 5th (either one in either position) because they aren't very dynamic. And, yes, I voted so I have the right to grumble a bit.

November 23 2010 at 10:44 AM +1
Joe and Marti

I watched DWTS because of the wonderful theatrical dancing and seeing the dancers improve each week. I still like the excitement of the production, but since it has been made political, even your heading today is political! I now will choose it as you have made it--political. Palin started with no experience and has improved greatly--all the while competing with some very experienced dancers. Political--vote for Palin. Excelled from no expericence--vote for Palin. You made it political--I didn't. Now it is, but also give Crystal her credit--judges vote how they may, but talk down to her instead of to her--make it a bit too obvious how they feel. She is a person with feelings too. Yes, Jennifer is great, but she started great and started with a great partner too. Who picks the costumes? Don't expect and aswer, just think about it.

November 23 2010 at 10:43 AM
JBD

Yeah... I watched two college basketball games last night. That's not as "educational" as reading a book, but light years above a fixed DWTS. BTW, I do not hate Bristol Palin - but what has she ever done in her short life to be called a "star"(except being born to Sarah)? And, oh yeah, Bristol has a lot of guts to be doing this for her Mom - I hope she wins!!

November 23 2010 at 10:30 AM
Elbyn

I think Bristol looks like a nice girl and she's doing fine i wish her all the luck

November 23 2010 at 10:14 AM
LINDA

I have read some very hateful posts about Bristol.This is only a show with professional singers,dancers,football players,etc wanting to win that cheesy disco ball.Here is a young woman with no kind of professional experience whatsoever,and she improves week by week.Instead of using professional actors,etc why don't they start using people with no experience.Heck I wouldn't mind trying to get out there and dance.

November 23 2010 at 9:38 AM +1
jreoux1

Isn't America great? Bristol, untalented as she is, just like her mother, has been embraced by the right wing nut factory. She will probably win this competion going away.Doesn't matter that she can't dance, they want her to win because she believes in freedom, no taxes, and all Americans working. Doesn't matter that Bristol's only job to this point was being Sarah's daughter, and getting pregnant.!!!

November 23 2010 at 9:35 AM -1
1 reply to jreoux1's comment
Gaynell Spink

Stop! maybe she just doing it for fun. What her personal life is none of your business sweep at your front door berfore making remark about hers

November 23 2010 at 10:01 AM
fireball12763

Wow...Ummm, it's just a show and not a very compelling one at that. Put down the remote and walk away. Now pick up a BOOK and all those bad feelings, engendered by a lifetime of social conditioning about someone not being fair, will fade away as you engage your mind.

November 23 2010 at 9:32 AM +20

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