Well, last night two of the dancers on Dances with the Stars were the first competitors to be eliminated. All of the contestants this year are fun, talented and very likeable. It is always sad to see people leave the show in throughout the process.
You always think that those who leave the contest in the beginning…probably have the least experience in dance; at the same time once they leave, you truly wonder just how much farther they could have gone in the competition if they could have only had another couple of weeks to develop their skills.
This time the two eliminated are magician Penn Jillette and the tennis player Monica Seles. Both people are very accomplished in their own fields. Both of these contestants for me connected to viewers on an emotional level.
Monica because she missed out in her youth with things such as school dances and proms…as she called it the girly girl aspect of life. It was nice (and a little awkward at first) watching her discover this side of her person-hood. It was a bit like watching your preteen daughter as she enters into the world of self-discovery. So, yeah, it would have been nice to see her have another week or two…but, unfortunately…the other competitors were more capable.
Now, Penn Jillette was also a person who let his disovery of the joy of dance shine through. He is a very tall man. He showed his vulnerability to me by cracking jokes…but, i do think that he truly loved every minute. He will probably never be a truly smooth, gifted dancer…but, his ability to wring joy out of the experience touched me. So again, because he so obviously was having a perfectly wonderful experience…it was sort of sad to see him go! Or is he? He vowed for this not to be the end of his dance career; faceticiously saying…that Dances With The Stars wasn’t the only opportunity for a dance career :)! Gotta love that.
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