DWTS: Elimination Shocker!

Or was it?

Yes, Albert “Dark Horse” Reed was booted off before Wayne “The Waxman” Newton. But students of the show (and we are legion) know the results have nothing to do with talent and everything to do with the fan base—the one contestants bring with them to the party and the one that they earn during the course of the competition.

I believe the message the viewers/voters have sent over the past two seasons is that no one likes a supermodel. It’s hard to root for someone who already has so many advantages in life, and let’s face it, beauty is an advantage. We have nothing against good looking people per se—see Cameron Mathison—but we don’t care for the separate sub-species who specifically identify themselves as prettier than the rest of us. They’re super models, some sort of genetically engineered master race that isn’t quite human. Witness their ability to survive without consuming food.

Call it a form of prejudice, but right or wrong we assume that life has already been plenty kind to Albert Reed. We look at him and we see the Prom King. We look at Wayne Newton, who didn’t even get to go to the dance (tidbit courtesy of his Week 1 interview), and we see a guy who’s trying really hard to overcome his insecurities. Just like us—or as much like us as The Waxman can be.

We want our DWTS champions to be men—or women—of the people, regardless of the fact that they are in a position to win the mighty disco ball trophy precisely because they are not. (We apply this same illogic to presidential elections.)

Eventually voters will run out of excuses to keep Wayne in the running (but not, I predict, before they axe poor Mark Cuban—what’s less relatable than a billionaire). Until then, The Waxman rules.