On Monday’s episode of Dancing with the Stars, Ryan Lochte and his partner Cheryl Burke performed well enough to advance to the next round. Although Lochte’s first dances did not draw high praise, this week the judges commented that he looked much more relaxed and awarded the pair their highest score on the show thus far.
However, their time on stage was not without drama. As the Olympic swimmer and his partner Cheryl Burke listened to the judges’ comments on their Waltz, two female audience members yelled “Go gators!” from the third level balcony. Judge Bruno Tonioli, who was giving his thoughts on the dance at the time, thought that the women were yelling negative comments at Lochte and said, “Just forget about that. Listen to me.”
It’s not surprising that Tonioli would have assumed the comments were negative. On the season 23 premiere of DWTS, two male protesters stormed the stage while Lochte and Burke listened to the judges’ commentary. Both men, who were wearing anti-Lochte T-shirts, were escorted off the ballroom floor and arrested.
Thankfully this week’s incident was a much more positive one. As Lochte and Burke move on to week 5 of DWTS, let’s hope for a little less drama and even better dancing.
I hadn’t ever watched the show so it’s interesting to see how it works. I see that Rowdy and Marsh are promoting him on it but haven’t seen any of the other swimmers even mention it on twitter, etc. Kind of sad but I guess expected considering everything.
Ricky Berens, Camille Adams and some other Ryan’s Team elite mates where tweeting or retweeting supportive stuff
*Cammille
I agree with u ok
I think he’s a terrible dancer. Flat footed & looks so out of place on the dance floor. He is lucky to be paired with Cheryl as she is very popular on the show. Still can’t believe he has made it 5 wks without being voted off!!
That’s kinda how they do the casting. They make pairs with the stars/pros that will drive ratings for the longest. They put the least popular stars with the least popular/talented dancers, knowing viewers will keep watching the rest. DWTS viewers like Cheryl Burke, and less would keep watching if she had been paired with someone like Rick Perry and eliminated early in the season. Lochte has been higher profile than most of the other “stars”, especially with the robbery allegations. He and the gymnast will keep younger viewers attention, Marilu Henner keeps the boomers watching. That’s why they got the best pros, who’ve won the show in previous seasons.