As I had mentioned before, I don’t really watch “Dancing with the Stars,” but did know the finals were last night. Well, as I had thought from the beginning, Kristi Yamaguchi wins the competition, as reported in The San Jose Mercury News article, “Local hero Kristi Yamaguchi emerges as ‘Dancing’ champ:”
“All those years twirling and dancing on ice apparently paid off for Fremont’s own Kristi Yamaguchi on Tuesday night’s season finale of “Dancing With the Stars.” From the outset it was obvious she was a contender, and she nailed it in the finale, scoring a perfect 60 and taking home the mirror ball (mirror ball?) trophy. But Yamaguchi was clearly the most talented dancer on this season’s show, even though it’s been hard for women to take the “Dancing” crown. With a viewership that’s 75 percent women - a fact not lost on Taylor and de la Fuente, who never missed an opportunity to show some skin - the show still had plenty of suspense for the final episode.”
I don’t really know who the other “star” competitors were, but come on, Yamaguchi had an unfair advantage from the beginning - that being a former Olympic gold medalist for figure skating! I don’t know how easily figure skating skills can be translated into ballroom dancing, but just practicing routines in both, I have to imagine there is a lot of advantage. An MSNBC Commentary also brings up this point in, “Did anyone really stand a chance vs. Kristi?”
But I guess the audience usually votes not only based on dancing skill, but personality and hot bodies - male bodies that is, given the show’s demographics (the past 4 winners have been men). Though, to be honest, I don’t know if there is audience voting or not (I’m guessing there is). In any case, congratulations to Kristi! Although I think being known as an Olympian is a much greater honor 
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Yvespaul wrote:
I agree with MSNBC, nobody else stood a chance. Skaters are practically professional dancers. But screw fairness, I say. Let’s have Michelle Kwan next seasons and take another title for us Asians! lol.
Posted on 21-May-08 at 11:47 am | Permalink
John wrote:
I love Michelle Kwan - saw her skate at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics short program! Too bad she didn’t win the gold.
Posted on 21-May-08 at 12:44 pm | Permalink
Jen wrote:
john, if you watched the show regularly, you would know that the female competitors were almost always better than the male competitors who always ended up winning…women simply never won because of the popular vote. so many seasons, it was so “obvious” to us (the audience) that the female deserved to win, but they simply didn’t because of the vote. Time and time again, we were so disappointed…and so for new viewers, even though it seemed obvious Kristi would win, it was a huge surprise to fans because the “best’ dancer (up to now) never wins.
kristi, simply by being a skater, doesn’t make her a “better” dancer and it certainly wasn’t “easier” for her to win the competition. for example, many pro football players train in ballet because it makes them more agile on the field. i feel that really discounts the hard work Kristi has obviously put in; her professionalism and work ethic simply didn’t make it obvious to others how difficult everything was for her. (No whining from Kristi…she sucked it up and practiced hard). Her ability to dance like that on the dance floor simply showed how gifted she was, and how she really deserved to win, by simply being the best dancer to dance on that stage, in the past six seasons.
Congrats to Kristi. You totally deserved the win, and finally glad the voters got it right this time.
Posted on 21-May-08 at 1:07 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
I’ve only watched the show once, so thanks for the info.
As for Kristi being a skater and how that translates into being a dancer - my point is, that as far as I know, the pro football players may not be at the Olympic levels that Kristi has reached. I am sure Kristi worked hard. I was never trying to discount her effort.
Posted on 21-May-08 at 1:59 pm | Permalink
Asianmommy wrote:
During the show, they mentioned that Kristi was born with club feet and had to wear casts on both legs when she was little. Imagine that, and then going on to win an Olympic medal. She was also fabulous on the dance floor. Congrats to Kristi!
Posted on 21-May-08 at 5:25 pm | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
Can I just say that Kristi has pretty much not aged since her Olympic days. And she’s a mom now. WTH!? If only we could all look that good!
Posted on 21-May-08 at 8:17 pm | Permalink
japantownBAY wrote:
JEN_ Thank you from all of us that believe in Kristi no matter what she does. We appreciate your words of wisdom, but it will never sink in to the minds of those that are against Kristi, and the fact she was on the show at all. We are proud of her as a Gold Medalist, and having just won dwts! She worked hard at skating, and worked hard at dancing. The only thing these two have in common is the person attempting either, has to be well focused, compassion in what they are doing, dedication and hard work. Kristi did all of this and more to win dwts. We are sooo GLAD she won, people will never forget Kristi now just like they haven’t forgotten her from before. Anybody else that would have won it, in 6 months they will be forgotten. Kristi will take her popularity and use it to help and encourage others, that’s the difference in Kristi and the other 2 competitors…..domo arigato Kristi for representing Asians and AMERICA with decency and with pride….
Posted on 22-May-08 at 2:18 pm | Permalink