5th Annual DWTS Rankdown: Speed Run Edition

[jarmon]

GARY BUSEY

Gary Busey appeared on Season 21 of Dancing with the Stars where he was partnered with Anna Trebunskaya.  

Gary just gives me such creepy vibes, I don't know how to explain but he just does.

He was a pretty bad dancer and I feel so bad that Anna always gets these horrible dancers, it's truly a shame. 

He also appeared on the Celebrity Apprentice and annoyed me so this is making my cut so much easier.

ALSO taken from his wiki page: "In 2015, he endorsed Donald Trump for the 2016 United States Presidential election. After the election, Busey stated that he was "very happy" that Trump won, but declined to further discuss it, not wishing to talk about politics." - so yeah with that, he can go. 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by jarmon

[taylorkat]

15 minutes ago, jarmon said:

Gary just gives me such creepy vibes, I don't know how to explain but he just does.

Me too! 

[jarmon]

1 minute ago, taylorkat said:

Me too! 

[taylorkat]

2 minutes ago, jarmon said:

I definitely do!

[*Wallace]

But Gary Busey is iconic!  

 

Lmaoo I'm kidding. I can get how he gives off creepy vibes though.  

[*Wallace]

Clyde Drexler

 

 

Time for my daily controversial cut in cutting Clyde Drexler. Clyde Drexler is a former NBA basketball player, who competed on the 4th season of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with Elena Grinenko, where they lasted an insane 5 weeks in the competition. Poor Elena had a really bad draw of contestants on her time on the show - and Clyde is her better partner of her two celebs (the other being Tucker Carlson  ). Outside of the first week, Clyde was consistently the lowest scoring celeb of his run on the show. The following dances he danced were: Cha-Cha (16), Quickstep (18), Jive (16), Waltz (15) and Rumba (13). So it looks like the Quickstep was his best dance and think that was my favorite dance of his but it's not really saying much as it still wasn't good.  But yeah he progressively got worse and worse as the dances went on. He should not have outlasted Paulina Porizkova, Shandi Finnessey and Leeza Gibbons, so I will make sure that doesn't happen here. You're all welcome. I figured that since no one from Season 4 has been cut, I might as well cut Clyde to make him the lowest ranked dancer of that season as I thought he was the worst dancer that year. I believe Clyde was the first basketball player ever cast for the show, which is a cool fun fact.

[Elliott]

Wally: This will be a controversial cut.

The rest of us:

 

[*Wallace]

8 minutes ago, Elliott said:

Wally: This will be a controversial cut.

The rest of us:

 

Lmaoo that's going to be my running theme for awhile.  

[*Lily]

Tavis Smiley

 

Lol I remember when the disappointing Season 19 cast rumours were going about at first and then all of a sudden, Sharna was back! And she had a late addition partner! And at the time I was delusional to think they'd actually secured a big name at the last minute but it was... Tavis Smiley? Who brought nothing to the show in his two short weeks. Neither of his two dances on the show were terrible but they were simply unmemorable and he was such a clear-cut early boot. A few years later Tavis got fired from PBS after being found guilty of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment. I hadn't heard of him before and I haven't heard from him since. Goodbye!

[Solaris]

Christina Milian

 

 

I don't really know who else is problematic, and because I don't keep track, this is where I start to make different decisions.  Christina was a contestant on the 17th season of Dancing with the stars and she was partnered with Mark Ballas.  She was pretty widely considered a "robbed" contestant from that season.  In my opinion, not so robbed.  She had a couple of good dances, but she had a handful of overrated dances.  I feel like the week she went out she was only given a 10 because producers knew from the previous week that she was getting eliminated and wanted her to be "robbed".  I don't feel like her final dance the Cha Cha deserved the praise or the score it received.  Was it a shock she left?  I was a little surprised, but it didn't upset me. My favorite dance from her was her Charleston which received a 26/30 and I also liked her Paso Doble the week prior. Sorry to for the controversial cut.  

[*Wallace]

[*Diana]

I guess we can all stop being nice now haha 

[*Lily]

 

Me sending @*Wallace a ban request

[Solaris]

people crying like I cut Mel B or Stacy.  Aiight.  What I did wasn't bad but if we gonna complain...  

Edited July 11, 2022 by Solaris

[FrogLenzen]

you can't say "sorry for the controversial cut" and then be mad when people react to the cut lol

[Solaris]

3 minutes ago, FrogLenzen said:

you can't say "sorry for the controversial cut" and then be mad when people react to the cut lol

 

Im not mad. I'm just saying, people who cry about this are going to hate when people start going after their top favs. Maybe save the emotions for those cuts.

Edited July 11, 2022 by Solaris

[jarmon]

I just feel we could've just continued cutting the controversial celebs and bad dancers first and then went after "controversial cuts". Now, people are free to be petty and we gonna end up dragging the terrible dancers along longer than they should be around.

[*Wallace]

Yeah controversial and unpopular cuts will come eventually and we're all gonna lose faves, but I think it would have been more fun weeding out the bad dancers and problematic people first and then we battle it all out with the good/great dancers.  But that's just me.

 

But ehh I'm not really that bothered since this version is going and is bound to be messy anyway.  

[*Wallace]

1 minute ago, jarmon said:

I just feel we could've just continued cutting the controversial celebs and bad dancers first and then went after "controversial cuts". Now, people are free to be petty and we gonna end up dragging the terrible dancers along longer than they should be around.

Lmao us pretty much saying the same thing at the same time.  

[jarmon]

1 minute ago, *Wallace said:

Lmao us pretty much saying the same thing at the same time.  

 

[Zoey]

The only shocking thing is that Elliott hasn’t cut Ally. 
 

Everything else has been pretty predictable.

[Elliott]

14 minutes ago, Zoey said:

The only shocking thing is that Elliott hasn’t cut Ally. 
 

Everything else has been pretty predictable.

I was trying to get rid of the celebrities who are bad people first. I have standards.

[taylorkat]

Diana Nyad

 

 

Diana Nyad is a world champion swimmer, record breaker, journalist, and motivational speaker that was born in New York City.  She was on Season 18 of Dancing With the Stars and her partner was one of my favorite dancers, Henry Byalikov (poor Henry needed a better partner).  She danced a boring Foxtrot that scored an 18 and a Cha-Cha that was not scored. Diana was then eliminated in last place.  Apparently, she wanted to be on the show for nine years before she made it on.  It's a shame after that long, she was unable to get very far.  Easy choice for me this time.

[Alex95]

Johnny Damon

My mission of making sure all seasons lost a dancer is almost complete. S25 is still full, but I feel like that's one of the least problematic casts and I'm still waiting on @totes4totes to do the honor of cutting Derek Fisher. So anyways Johnny Damon was on the short Athletes season of DWTS. I was conflicted as a Yankees fan because he did play for the Yankees, but he also played for the Red Sox and I feel like he's more known as a Red Sox player. I never really liked him even as a Yankee though so I was fine rooting against him. And he made it very easy to root against him! He danced a Foxtrot, it sucked, and he quickly got eliminated. And nobody missed him. He's also a well known huge Trumpie. He campaigned for him, he spoke for him, he cheered on the border wall with him. He got arrested for a DUI and claimed it was because he was a Trumpie, but lol at the cops caring about that. He was arrested cause he was a piece of shit who was driving drunk. Now I will never think about him again.

[totes4totes]

Antonio Brown

 

 

I was going to cut Derek Fisher first (AND I WILL CUT HIM IN EXACTLY 24 HOURS FOR THE CRIMES HE COMMITTED AGAINST SPORTS) but I realized that Antonio Brown was still here and OBVIOUSLY real crimes are worse than SPORTS crimes.

 

It's probably cheating to post my write-up from the last rankdown but just in case it is, I will just write 100 new words on this piece of garbage, then I will quote my last rankdown write-up. Keep in mind that Google is tailored to your previous searches and your personal computer, but I just looked up Antonio Brown and when I scroll down to the most recent articles about him I find things like "Antonio Brown hints at ending NFL career" and these articles may mention how he stormed off the field DURING a Tampa Bay game but not mention the things that brought him to Tampa Bay in the first place. Football Outsiders in a recent article about Antonio Brown's Hall of Fame potential takes more offense to his crimes in the game of football than his sexual violence (and regular violence) off of it.

 

Again, if you are good enough at sports, any off the field crimes will just be mentioned in passing, making sure to add that they are a great player.

 

I hate it.

 

Quote

There's this nasty truth about sports which is that if you are good enough and there was never any video nor a criminal conviction, you can have your redemption story. You will always be given another chance. Antonio Brown was traded by the Steelers to the Raiders in 2019 for what seemed like pennies compared to what Antonio Brown was worth just because he was a "diva." I don't like giving the Steelers props (after all their quarterback is also a rapist) but hindsight is 20/20 and they were right. Later that season before any games were played the Raiders released Antonio Brown supposedly because he called a coach or the GM a cracker. I forget who. That's pretty low and a way to avoid paying Antonio Brown because we didn't know what he had done off the field. I mean every team already knew about the incidents that lead him to be a trade option for the Steelers despite being the best wide receiver in the league including an April 2018 incident where he tossed furniture out his window nearly hitting a child and where he was speeding 100mph on a freeway. But those weren't enough to deter teams like the Raiders and then eventually the Patriots who saw only his talent. 

Then came September 2019. First, Brittney Taylor, Antonio Brown's former trainer, accused him of sexual assault. Then a few days later a second woman accused Brown of sexual misconduct and sexual assault.  This wasn't enough to deter the Patriots who still played Brown a single game in the second week of the Patriots season. See "allegedly" doesn't get you cut from a team when you are the best wide receiver in the league the year before. However, on September 20th, text messages from Brown to the second woman were released where he was clearly threatening her. This caused Antonio Brown to be released from the Patriots. A few months later in early 2020 in the before times, Antonio Brown was involved in other cases including battery and burglary which he was charged and eventually pleaded no contest receiving probation and community service. 

 

This should have really been enough to end Antonio Brown's career. But no remember Antonio Brown is exceptionally good at running routes and catching balls. And in his brief time in New England he made a powerful friend - Tom Brady. Tom Brady who pleaded Antonio Brown's case to Bruce Arians who despite being one of the few coaches ever recognized for actually being cool to women and hiring them on his staff, despite just a few months earlier said that there would be no place for a guy like Antonio Brown to be on any team he coached, gave in. And in October 2020, barely a year after the initial accusations of rape and sexual assault, Antonio Brown was a Buccaneer. A Buccaneer who will be going to the playoffs. Tampa Bay didn't need Antonio Brown, they already had one of the most dynamic receiving duos in the league with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But you see, Tom Brady wanted Antonio Brown. So they got him. Despite everything. Because Antonio Brown is good at catching footballs. And thus everything before can be forgotten. 

 

In this article from excellent sports reporter Diana Moskovitz (https://defector.com/antonio-brown-gets-to-redeem-himself-because-he-helps-your-team-win/) which is behind a paywall it ends with this:

 

"What all these coaches, players, and team executives know is this: Winning does take care of everything. That’s why college football is being played in cities with COVID-19 outbreaks, and that’s why Brown will be back. The easy answer would be to wave it off as the same old sports problem. But sport isn’t that complicated, or that special, nor is it somehow magically divorced from our everyday nightmares, even if it is sold as an escape from them. The Buccaneers know that their fans will forgive everything if they win, an utterly unremarkable trait as every fanbase does that in every sport. Hell, if the Bucs win enough, I can already see the text messages that I’ll get from friends in the Tampa Bay area, telling me they believe Brown is a changed man and, also, did I see that amazing catch he just made? You can feign shock, if you feel like, but it all fits within the great American forgiveness doctrine: You can get redemption if you can make me money."

 

Antonio Brown was on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with Sharna. They made it to top 5. He wasn't very bad but he wasn't very good.