Going into the “Dancing with the Stars” season 31 premiere, “American Idol” champion Jordin Sparks was the front-runner to win the Mirror Ball Trophy, according to the combined predictions of fans who gave us their forecasts here in our predictions center. She was followed closely by actor and singer Wayne Brady in our odds, but neither of them had the best score on the judges’ leaderboard on premiere night. That would be social media star Charli D’Amelio. Does that make her the new front-runner to win? Place your bets now and every week as the season progresses.
D’Amelio danced a cha cha with pro partner Mark Ballas, who returned to the show this season after a five-year absence. And he doesn’t come out of “DWTS” retirement for just anyone. He finished second with both of his last two celebrity partners: MMA fighter Paige VanZant in season 22 and musician Lindsey Stirling in season 25. This time around he’s working with a celeb who has more prior dance experience than anyone else in the ballroom: the teenage D’Amelio started dancing when she was three and trained competitively for 10 years before she became a TikTok star.
Their routine scored straight eights from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli — a rare feat for a first-week performance. Chances are good she’ll be able to maintain that high level of performance and rack up more high scores, but you have to do more than please the judges to win the Mirror Ball Trophy. You also have to impress fans voting at home, and they don’t always go for the celeb with the highest scores. Basketball star Iman Shumpert wasn’t the best technical dancer last year, for instance, but he still beat high-scorers JoJo Siwa and Amanda Kloots for the title thanks to the viewing audience.
Will D’Amelio have that kind of popularity? She’s got millions of followers on TikTok, which might help her now that “DWTS” also streams online. It’s just a matter of how many TikTok stans are following her to her latest media platform.
Be sure to make your predictions so that the contestants can see how they’re faring in our racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs every Monday on ABC. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
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