 This is the SF Productions podcast network It's dancing with the alleged stars from the pop culture bunker. I'm Mindy I'm mark you can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on itunes or on our website SF podcast network comm so dancing with the stars returns for its 21st season I just find that so hard to believe well, it's because they do to a season Really been 10 years, but that's still hard to believe yeah now as we've discussed before the show has pretty much come up with several checkboxes in their casting We have Athletes yes, we have Disney star so that's synergy with Disney also ABC soap stars for synergy Yeah, we have reality show stars. Yes, we have a controversial star And we haven't come back star That's for nostalgia purposes, and then we have one or more ringers ones who clearly have had professional dance training yes There is some way related to the music category right now We did have a disabled category for a while, but I think they couldn't top themselves from last season Maybe just a guy with a head and that's it Rolling around on the stage, you know with one arm and one leg less how much farther can you go? Yes now? We also have two pros returning and one on the disabled list Louis van Amsel and Anna Tribune skia who both left after season 15 or back Peta Murgatroyd injured her ankle and it's gonna require surgery so she's out for eight weeks Supposedly she may come back in to do group dances near the end of the season Not really clear who she was partnered with right Because it didn't seem like they suddenly brought somebody in at the last second. No, but they hadn't really announced all the people Before they you know when they were starting to practice and everything right Also, Len is not returning as a judge Of course, he's been flying weekly to and from the UK for the original version of the show Strictly come dancing. Yes over in the UK and he's 80. I believe he's old So get ready for lots of contemporary Aka flailing on the floor and jazz aka flinging hands in the air. Yes Also Expect a lot of guest judges and I'm already predicting miss Piggy as a judge for synergy And quite frankly mark has been pretty good at doing some predicting for this season of this show as we're probably Going to talk about later. Yeah Here's the pairings and predictions Now my overall theory is that the first half of the season is based on skill and the second half is based on popularity mostly of the pros Because the stars aren't really huge stars anymore. Nope. We start with Victor Espinosa who's paired with Karina Smirnoff and he is a Jockey he won the Triple Crown this year. That is correct. I don't see how that's gonna work He is short jockeys are short. I'm really surprised. They didn't pair Him with like Whitney or Emma. Somebody shorter. Yeah I mean Karina Karina is not an Amazon, but she's certainly a taller answer. I don't get it So you put her you put him actually pretty low at 11th place Yes, I put him right in the middle around 7th place. I think because people want to see Karina Yeah more than him Do we have then Nick Carter whose pro is Sharna Burgess? He is known for being in the Backstreet Boys. Yes. We actually Matched on this one. Wow. Yeah, we both think he'll be fourth. He'll just get knocked out right before the end. Yeah Hayes Greer whose pro is Emma Slater. He's known for doing Vine videos Yes, and I would have just completely discounted him except for last season's Girl who did the YouTube? Yeah, I think because he will be able to mobilize a massive fan effort Yes, and because of that we both put him pretty high. I put him in third place You actually had him as the runner-up. Yes. Mm-hmm. Well because also because they haven't had a male runner-up or thing for a while point We have Alexa Pinnevega whose pro is Mark Ballas She is known for spy kids another match here We both put him put her in fifth place You know, this is kind of the start of the middle of the pack for me Right fifth place down to about eighth or ninth place And I really think that this could just be mixed up anyway, you know, yeah now Traditionally because when Len was on the show Mark would do something to annoy Len. Yes some weird Thing that he'd get all mad about all these production values, of course Derek can do it every once but Mark Ballas is not allowed to do that. So but because Len is gone. I think he'll do better than he would have otherwise Okay Carlos Pinnevega if you Heard that name right before we have our first married Stars Alexa and Carlos His pro is Whitney Carson. He's known for big-time rush. I don't know what that is Well, I think it's a band and it's also a Disney show. Oh, okay, so we have that check and I put him in sixth place you put him a little lower in eighth like in the at the end of the middle of the pack he's better than Getting eliminated right away, but not you know All right, then we have Shaka Khan Whose pro is Keo Mozepe? She obviously is a singer Keo has done very poorly The last few seasons he's been on that's why I'm putting Shaka Khan in the last spot in 13th And I put her at night and mainly I'm just thinking of because the last old singer Oh, yeah, did actually very well. Well, yeah, she got much farther than she should have you're probably right And so I'm thinking that that it she'll last through the Up to the last part of the bottom round. Yeah, right. She'll be the last bad dancer eliminated So we have Andy grammar whose pro is Allison Holker. He is also a singer I put him fairly low In 11th place you put him all the way to sixth Well, and again, it's that middle of the pack, right? It's hard to be anywhere in there But I think just because he has some musical ability. Yeah, you know, he'll he'll keep his Hand in the game for a while. Yeah Kim Zulsiak whose pro is Tony Davilani. She's known for one of the Real Housewives shows Generally they don't do very well So I'm putting her in 12th and I put her at 10th And that's only because I really do think that there will be to you know A couple people that go before her that you seem to think might stay around a while. Yeah Then we have Gary Busey. That's one of those people. Yes Whose pro is Anna Tribune-Skyah. He's of course known for being a reality show mess I Which is actually just a split a flip of the last one. I said 10th place you said 12 Yes, now, you know, it could entirely be wrong about that I just don't think he's gonna be very good But people could vote for him because they want to see what a trainwreck he is That's the only reason I put him as high as 10th And the same thing holds true for Paula Deen who we'll talk about a little bit later, right? But first Tamar Braxton whose pro is Val Shmirkovsky. She is a singer and Tony Braxton's kid sister. I actually put her very high on here because mostly because of Val Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I put her all the way into the runner-up position. You put her in the middle of packet seven I did. I really think if she was if she's Tony Braxton's sister and she was Really any musically inclined at all. She'd be more famous. Oh, that's probably a good point Okay, we just mentioned her a moment ago Paula Deen Whose pro is Louie Van Amsel. She's known for being a chef and known for being racist and So I put her a little higher up again because I think because people want to see the trainwreck And you said not so much. I think she'd probably be eliminated right away. I'm I Kind of think the producers might be a little scared of what she'll say. Oh, that's a good point Maybe they made just kind of force her out. I don't know. I put her ninth You put her all the way in the back of the packet 13. Yeah Alex Scarleto's Scarleto's Scarleto's whose pro is Lindsay Arnold. You're saying who is this person? I've never heard of him Well, maybe as if it was a month ago, you would never have heard of this guy Because he's the train heck terrorist hero and service man. Yes. Now when he was on gma A week before they announced it. I told you you will see him on dancing with the stars. Yes, it's sure enough So I put him in the middle of the pack Because this is just a guy. Yes, but he he does have he wasn't the Some armed forces, right? So he has a lot of training. Oh, yeah Absolutely, so I think if if if there is actually a lick of talent there at all that Lindsay will be able to Like train him to be a good dancer. Yeah, so I hard to say I put her put him in the middle of the pack at 8th You put her him all the way up at 3. Yeah, cuz I think that Especially if if they keep hyping the whole, you know, he's a Terrorist here. Oh, and they will That is the angle. Yeah, and then finally Bindi Irwin whose pro is Derek Huff She is the crock hunter's daughter. She's known for having a dead father and The only issue here is Derek Huff So he didn't win last year, right exactly. So I think that this is it probably a shoe in yeah We're both saying that's number one not because Bindi has any particular talent But because it's Derek Huff and the judges love Derek Huff including one of the judges who happens to be his sister That's the coink-a-dink So any final thoughts My final thought is why are we still watching? Well now it's kind of like watching watching a car wrecked. You just can't turn away Exactly and so if you choose to watch this you can follow along with our picks or Send us your picks. That's why you think somebody's gonna win And then you can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife treat comics on iTunes or on our website as a podcast network Dot-com from the pop culture bunker. I'm Indy and I'm Mark. Thanks for watching. I'm off to do jazz jazz