Dancing With The Stars (U.S. TV Series) - Success of Athletes

Success of Athletes

Athletes have historically been far more successful as a group than other celebrities on the show. At the end of the spring 2011 season, 28 athletes have competed on the show, representing 20% of the contestants. They've won six competitions and placed second four times; a collective success (win or runner-up) rate of 36%. In other words, better than one third of the athletes who have appeared on the show have finished either first or second. This is far better than the rate for reality-show contestants, supermodels, actors, politicians and other celebrities. Musicians/singers, at 27%, are the second most successful group.

It is speculated by the cast and staff on the show as well as the athletes themselves, that they have several advantages in some key areas:

• Physical ability – Many of the physical abilities associated with gifted athleticism such as strength, agility, quickness, balance, stamina and more generally, body control and muscle coordination, are also considered useful and advantageous qualities in competitive dancing.

• Training and coaching – Athletes are familiar with effective and efficient training techniques. Professional dancer Cheryl Burke states, "They are used to being coached and they respond to criticism better than, say, actors". Casting director Deena Katz says, "They know their limits and don't overtrain like some others do", and so they avoid injuries, which hamper many of the contestants.

• Competitive instinct – Successful athletes are competitive individuals and therefore comfortable in an environment which encourages "bettering" an opponent. In addition, they are familiar with performing under pressure and in some cases, thrive on it. Highly successful, elite athletes are capable of performing at their highest level when it is most important. They are able to focus and possibly even raise the quality of their performance during the biggest of competitions, whereas other contestants may falter under the same pressure.

There are disadvantages as well, particularly with the larger athletes such as football and basketball players. Some of these athletes have difficulty making their over-sized frames look graceful on the dance floor. However, this can also be an advantage: since this struggle with their large size is often plainly apparent during their performances, voters will tend to give them more leeway in this area, while an actor or singer with known dance background or training may be held to a higher standard in the voters' minds.

In every season finale in which an athlete was present, and was either tied for the top of the leader board or one point behind the leader said athlete went on to win the season. This has happened on five occasions:

• Season 3: Emmitt Smith and Mario Lopez tied in the finale, with both scoring 89/90
• Season 5: Helio Castroneves scored one point behind Mel B in the finale, scoring 84/90 to her 85/90 (Castroneves is the only, male, non-NFL player for this to occur to)
• Season 8: Shawn Johnson and Gilles Marini tied in the finale, with both scoring 88/90 (Johnson is the only female athlete for this to occur to)
• Season 12: Hines Ward and Chelsea Kane tied in the finale, with both scoring 89/90 (Kane, however, landed in third place)
• Season 14: Donald Driver scored one point behind Katherine Jenkins in the finale, scoring 89/90 to her 90/90