Meryl is the Champion!

Let's not ignore the news of the day: Meryl Davis winning 'Dancing with the Stars' last night, with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.



I didn't watch the show, and I didn't vote (but I encouraged other people to do so!). I needed to catch up on some much needed sleep that was interrupted every two hours by a teething toddler, so the TV was off for the night. But I am so glad she won! I feel like it's a win for the sport of figure skating too, in that the very popular season hopefully turned on lay viewers to ice dancing and how dynamic and exciting it can be to watch.

However there is some debate as to whether Meryl's skills as an ice dancer gave her an unfair advantage over other competitors on the show. I think maybe, but only on a technical level? Ice dancing and ballroom have some distinct similarities, but a lot of the mechanics are also very different. And skaters of all disciplines also tend to use dance an off-ice supplement to their skating. So there's likely some advantage over say, Candice Cameron Bure. But Charlie White is an ice dancer too, and he didn't get much of an advantage out of it.

Ultimately, I think the strongest argument one can make that the ice dancing experience really doesn't matter is that the show is decided by viewers, not impartial judges who are well versed in dance technique. Viewers vote for who they like, and Meryl was exciting and fun to watch, and she had some sizzling chemistry with her partner.

So now that it's all over, I'm going back to watching SYTYCD!