Dancing with the Stars Season 12 Semifinal Results: Final Three Revealed

The judges and fans have spoken, and theDancing with the Stars finalists are: Hines Ward, Chelsea Kane and Kirstie Alley. We bid a sad goodbye to Ralph Macchio in the Semifinals.  As hard as they tried, the fans could not save Ralph from elimination. If nothing else, Ralph gets a trophy for character. He had to have been one of the nicest, most down to earth contestants on the show, and a pretty darn good dancer and showman to boot.

Congratulations to the finalists and before I dish on the conspiracy theories, I will say I really liked all the couples who were in the Semifinals and would be upset to see any one of them go. I just wished the scoring and voting process had played out like it was meant to, without giving any one couple the benefit of an extra 15 points.

The winner take all cha cha round seemed to be the show’s way of removing some power from the fans, so much so that power voting didn’t help. The results are supposed to be based on be 50% judges’ scores and 50% viewer votes, calculated in some weird mathematical way that I don’t even pretend to understand. The 15 point bonus; however, seems to throw that formula off.

The irony here is that in Season 11, we complained the Tea Party fans had too much power and were constantly saving a non-dancer, non-performer from elimination, and many called upon the show to stop the madness. So what exactly do we as fans, want?  More or less power than the judges? I think a 15 point spread would have worked wonders last season.  DWTS is a bit too late with this disguised “judges save” card they played.  Most everyone this season was on equal footing and did not need this bonus round. That’s what makes it so suspicious.  Was the show trying to boost a couple who had low votes? Was the show trying to eliminate Ralph in particular with those undeserved lousy scores?  And if they didn’t want Ralph, can someone please tell me why? Lastly, will we ever get through a season without conspiracy theories?

Next week the three finalists will battle it out in three dances  -  including the freestyle and a “judges’ pick - for the Season 12 MirrorBall Trophy. The live Dancing with the Stars finale performance show will be just one hour, starting at 8 p.m. May 23 on ABC.