What Do People REALLY Think of Bristol Palin Being in the Dancing with the Stars Final?

The shock elimination of Brandy, and the perhaps even more shocking fact that Bristol Palin is in the finals, has set the interwebs abuzzin'.

My friend has a page Squidoo page dedicated to DWTS and there have been quite a few comments!

I've gone through and extracted some of the more interesting quotes. I don't always include the whole quote, and I haven't corrected any grammar or spelling. (Check out the most up to date comments here.)

Pro-Bristol

• I`m big fan of Bristol. I love you kid. Show them who you are.I`ve never interested in this show. Right now it is such a nice show. Because of the Bristol.

Anti-Bristol

• DWT has written it's death warrant with this last charade of voting. The show this season has stunk since day one. Time for every one on show start looking for new jobs. what a hosing for Brandy
• … im sorry but i have to admit that miss bristol palin, although she really displayed her best, does not have that ferocity of a dancer.
• …Next year they can suck the big one. This is not about who can dance, it is about who is more popular.
• …Bristol, sweetie, they're making you look like an idiot...so sad! I'm starting to feel sorry for you.
• …If Bristol wins we will never watch this show again, even if she is second.
• ...Bristol give up your spot and give it to Brandy if you want to do something good for man kind
• …I'm also going to write to each sponsor. As of now the show has crossed the line and let politics into a once good show. May you not come back for season12
• I voted for Brandy and Maksim, they deserved to go to the Finals...the phonelines were rigged to obscure the voting process; besides I'm a Democrat anyway!!!
• …I AM NOT WATCHING THIS SHOW ANYMORE. I'll watch anything else....cartoons…
• … we all need to boycott this show until sanity can be restored. no more phone votes.
• …I believe this show to be a farce and should be an embarrassment to the Americans, I guess they can be bought in every contest. Will have troubled even following any of their shows now.,
• …"little miss 2 left feet"…
• …Dancing on mommy's coat tails. Bristol should be embarrassed getting this far
• … I thought DWTS is a dancing competition,not a clown show…
• I did not see Alaska from my window!!!!!!!
• …Good luck, Jennifer, you're the only qualified contestant remaining. Quick, change your name to Jennifer Palin.
• …is it just me or have the judges lost their minds this season. Are they afraid of mommie Palin?

I actually overstated the relative number of pro-Bristol sentiments, but you get the idea.

Open disclosure – I think the aim is to identify the best couple and what order the others are eliminated is (somewhat) secondary. Would I prefer the best dancers in the final? Absolutely! Do I think Bristol deserves to be there? Definitely not!

As long as she doesn't win I can live with it…

Why Shouldn’t Bristol Palin Still Be On DWTS?

There have been many conspiracy theories this week on why Bristol Palin is still on DWTS while celebrities who are better dancers, notably Audrina patridge and rick Fox, have been voted off. Here are some examples:

• Sarah Palin demanding that her "entire Tea Party brigade to text like crazy after the end of each episode"
• The robo-callers are used for DWTS rather than the elections
• The producers are fixing the results to keep her on the show in a effort to increase ratings
• Christine O'Donnell cast a spell on DWTS phone lines (my favorite)

Dancing with the Stars has many examples where celebrities have lasted longer than their dancing skills would lead us to believe – Billy Ray Cyrus, Woz, Master P immediately spring to mind.

Another example would be Marie Osmond. Marie is actually a favorite of mine, but she did have the lowest judges' scores in 5 of the ten weeks and finally finished third.

The reason she stayed around so long? A LOT OF PEOPLE VOTED FOR HER.

And the same is true for Bristol. She must have a solid, dedicated fan base. The problem with such a polarizing figure of course is that there is probably a significant number of people who don't want her to win and would never vote for her, meaning she won't pick up as many votes from the celebrity leaving as some of the others might.

A popularity contest? Absolutely. That's why half the score is based on the viewers vote.

The aim is to identify the best dancer in the eyes of the judges and viewers, not to rank them or to only take account of their technical skills.

Now, if she manages to win, I'm going with the Christine O'Donnell theory…