Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 16)

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Country of origin
  
United States

Celebrity winner
  
Kellie Pickler

Original network
  
ABC

Professional winner
  
Derek Hough

No. of episodes
  
20 (as of May 21, 2013)

Original release
  
March 18 (2013-03-18) – May 21, 2013 (2013-05-21)

Season sixteen of Dancing with the Stars premiered on March 18, 2013. Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke Charvet returned as hosts, while Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli returned as judges. The Harold Wheeler orchestra and singers also returned to provide the music throughout the season. Scoring returned to using traditional whole numbers, instead of continuing with the fractional scores introduced for the previous (all-star) season.

Contents

This is the first season where all finalists did not learn a Latin and a ballroom dance; no finalist learned Tango, Alexandra Raisman did not learn Paso doble, Jacoby Jones did not learn Samba, Kellie Pickler did not learn Salsa, and Zendaya did not learn Rumba. Each of the four finalists also did not dance one of the two new dance styles introduced this season. Raisman and Zendaya did not dance Jazz while Pickler and Jones did not dance Contemporary (although Pickler danced a Contemporary freestyle in the finals and Raisman did an Afro-Jazz routine picked from Twitter).

Pickler and her partner Derek Hough won the competition, marking his fourth of six wins and increasing his lead on the show as the professional dancer who has won the most mirror ball trophies.

Couples

The cast of eleven and their professional partners was announced on February 26, 2013 on Good Morning America, with Jacoby Jones' participation confirmed two days earlier on February 24 during a network promo for the series airing during the 85th Oscars as a tease for the GMA announcement. This season saw its youngest contestant to date—16-year-old Zendaya (previously being Shawn Johnson from season 8 at 17). Although in Season 20, the record was taken from Zendaya by Willow Shields who competed when she was 14. The following professionals who did not return for season 16 include Chelsie Hightower, Louis van Amstel, Anna Trebunskaya, and Maksim Chmerkovskiy (he eventually returned for season 18 and won).

Lindsay Arnold, a contestant from season nine of So You Think You Can Dance was introduced as a new professional along with Troupe member Sharna Burgess. Gleb Savchenko, who recently participated as a professional on season twelve of the Australian version, was also announced as a new professional.

Witney Carson, also a contestant from season nine of So You Think You Can Dance, and Julian Tocker joined Oksana Dmytrenko, Henry Byalikov, Emma Slater, and Sasha Farber as the fifth and sixth members of the Dance Troupe. Two weeks following the cast announcement, Sean Lowe as revealed on GMA as the 12th contestant this season partnering with Peta Murgatroyd.

After only two dances, Dorothy Hamill withdrew from the competition due to a potential severe back injury. She is the third celebrity to withdraw due to injury, after Misty May-Treanor in season seven and Tom DeLay in season nine. Sara Evans in season three also quit, but that time it was due to her impending divorce. This also marks the second consecutive season where Tristan MacManus and his partner have gone home first in the competition, although last season he and his partner were actually eliminated the first week. This is the first time since season nine that a couple withdrew.

Scoring chart

Red numbers indicate the lowest score for each week Green numbers indicate the highest score for each week      the couple earned immunity and could not be eliminated      the couple eliminated that week      the couple withdrew from the competition      the returning couple finishing in the bottom two (or three)      the returning couple that was the last to be called safe      the winning couple      the runner-up couple      the third-place couple

Averages

This table counts for all dances scored on the traditional 30-points scale (The extra two points for Zendaya and Jacoby in week 3, The dance-off points from week 7, and The cha-cha-cha relay points from week 10 are not included).

Highest and lowest scoring performances

The best and worst performances in each dance according to the judges' 30-point scale are as follows:

Lisa Vanderpump is the only star to not land on this list

Couples' highest and lowest scoring dances

According to the traditional 30-point scale (team dances and the cha-cha-cha relay are not included):

Weekly scores and songs

Unless indicated otherwise, individual judges scores in the charts below (given in parentheses) are listed in this order from left to right: Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli.

Week 1

Running order

Week 2

At the results show of this week, it was announced that Dorothy Hamill would be withdrawing from the show by doctors orders due to an injury she had suffered from during training prior to this week. Either Lisa or Victor would have been eliminated this week, but they were "saved" from elimination due to Hamill's withdrawal from the competition.

Running order

Week 3: Prom Night

Jacoby & Karina and Zendaya & Val each received two bonus points in the Prom King and Queen voting, bringing both couples' total scores to 26 each.

Running order

Week 4: "Best Year of My Life" Night

Couples performed one unlearned dance celebrating the most memorable year of their lives. Each celebrity included a brief solo during their routines. Kyle Jacobs, Kellie Pickler's husband, performed his own song, which he wrote for Kellie. During the results show, Karina Smirnoff and Valentin Chmerkovskiy were revealed to have received the most Twitter votes (hashtag #ProName) on Monday night's performance show.

Running order

Week 5: Len's Side-by-Side Challenge

Each couple had to select two other professionals that had either been eliminated, featured in previous seasons, or participated in the troupe. They then performed simultaneously with those professional dancers. Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Anna Trebunskaya, Chelsie Hightower, Tony Dovolani and Tristan MacManus were among the pros returning as well as Henry Byalikov, Emma Slater, Sasha Farber and Witney Carson from the troupe.

Running order

Week 6: Stevie Wonder Night

Each couple performed to a song by Stevie Wonder. Hunter Hayes performed a duet with Wonder for an opening performance. Each couple also performed a team dance picked by the highest scoring couples Zendaya and Val (Team Paso doble) and Kellie and Derek (Team Samba).

Running order

Week 7: Latin night

Each couple danced to a Latin hit. After having danced, the top scoring couple was saved from elimination that week. If there was a tie for first place, the couple with the highest cumulative score wins immunity. The remaining six couples then took part in the Dance-off, where they competed against another couple doing the cha-cha-cha, jive or rumba. For each Dance-off, the judges declared a winning couple who added three bonus points to their score.

Week 8: Trio Challenge

Each couple performed one unlearned ballroom dance as well as a trio dance. Each couple chose one professional who was either previously eliminated or participates in the dance troupe to perform with them.

Running order

Week 9: Semifinals

Each couple performed two unlearned dances, one of which was chosen by the viewers through Twitter. Sean and Peta would have danced Disco had they not been eliminated.

Running order

Week 10: Finals

The four finalists dance for the coveted mirror ball trophy. Each couple will dance a judges' choice, cha-cha-cha relay, and a super sized freestyle on night one. On night two, one of the four couples will be eliminated within the first hour of the show and the remaining three couples will then dance an instant dance of a style they already know with music given to them minutes before.

Running order (Night 1)
Running order (night 2)

Alexandra & Mark were eliminated during the first hour of the show, thus bringing the total number of couples down to the traditional three.

Dance styles

This season also features two new dances: contemporary and jazz. This is the first time since season eight that new dances have been added to the show for more than one week. The couples danced one of these routines for each corresponding week:

  • Week 1: Cha-cha-cha, foxtrot or contemporary
  • Week 2: Jive, quickstep or jazz
  • Week 3: Prom group dance & one unlearned dance (Prom Night)
  • Week 4: One unlearned dance ("Best Year of My Life" Night)
  • Week 5: One unlearned dance ("Len's Side-By-Side Challenge")
  • Week 6: One unlearned dance & team dances (Stevie Wonder Night)
  • Week 7: One unlearned Latin dance & cha-cha-cha, jive or Rumba dance-off (Latin Night)
  • Week 8: One unlearned ballroom dance & trio dance (Trio Challenge)
  • Week 9: One unlearned dance & Twitter-chosen dance (Semifinals)
  • Week 10:
  • Night 1 – Judges' choice, cha-cha-cha relay, and super-sized freestyle (Top 4)
  • Night 2 – Instant dance (Top 3)
  •      Highest scoring dance      Lowest scoring dance      Danced, but not scored      Gained bonus points for this dance      Won immunity for the week

    References

    Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 16) Wikipedia