Willa & Maks
Part of the fun of reality television is all of the drama, controversy, and rumors abound as the action takes place. This season of Dancing with the Stars has had a fun kick start without being bogged down by any really horrible dancers that plagued last season. The first big controversy involved a number of the couples doing illegal lifts all in the same night. I figured they probably got together beforehand and thought that if they all did it they wouldn't get punished. They were wrong. Dances that would have scored the first perfect tens of the season got only sixes and eights.
The other fun rumor was the talk that surrounded Willa Ford and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Have they been fooling around when the cameras are off? Are they a couple? I thought Willa was a lackluster performer at first, but as she improved each week and the rumors grew she became one of my favorites. Unfortunately, all that was cut short this week when she received the least amount of viewer votes despite her excellent rumba that earned her a first place position with the judges.
I like to see the best dancers move forward so it bugs me when people who are doing an excellent job and improving every week get kicked off because they don't have the huge fan base of others. It happened with Master P last season and it's happening to a lesser extent with Sarah Evans this week. Sarah is a country star, which gives her more fans than Willa, who only had one hit single that I remember, "I wanna be Bad."
Unfortunately it looks like I won't get to see Sarah leave based on viewer votes, because it's been reported that she is leaving because of an impending divorce and family issues. That's too bad, for her personally and for her dance partner professionally. I'm always impressed by how the professionals teach and choreograph with amateur dancers.
Usually, I'm a little skeptical about unsubstantiated rumors of hanky panky, but watching Willa and Maks makes it seem highly plausible. In their first few weeks together they argued, yelled, and stormed out of the room whenever they rehearsed, but each week their dancing got better and better. I don't think you can tell much about a relationship based on how they dance (or else Drew and Cheryl from last season would have been having quite a steamy affair).
Tiny details, a smirk or a kiss on the forehead, make me kind of suspicious. Of course the show was milking it by having them do a side shoot at a romantic beach at sunset, Maks with his shirt off and both of them doing sensuous hip movements.
In all interviews they denied being a couple, or more accurately, Willa denied it... and Willa is a bad liar. Maksim would say that Willa was his favorite student and that he wanted to get to know her better after the competition. It actually made me think that Maksim might be more into her than she was willing to be while in competition. Maybe she's even worried that he's just into her because they are dance partners.
Will he make an effort to be with her when he doesn't have to? Will there be any chemistry between them without the spark of dance and competition? Well, now he gets his chance. I actually have visions of Willa hanging around backstage even though she is long gone. I guess my litmus test will be if I see her cheering him on every week. They actually make a cute couple, Willa has a cute Piper Perabo-ness to her and Maksim has the presence of a more mature man (I was shocked to find out he was the same age as me!).