I don’t know why I was naïve enough to think that the pity vote would not exist on Dancing with the Stars this season with the absence of Marie Osmond; but seriously, could I have been any more wrong? Last season Marie put the death of the family member into the spotlight and weeks later fainted in the middle of a live broadcast.  Jane Seymour had personal struggles going on during the season as well, but she had the class to keep them as private as possible instead exploiting them for votes.  Marie far outlived her talent on last years show while riding that pity vote.  It was not fair to the other contestants, but I guess it worked for her because she is now developing a talk show.  The whole situation was ridiculous, obvious, and I was glad when it was over.           

 Sadly, I’m beginning to feel like the media pity circus is setting up its tent on the set of Dancing with the Stars once again.   I could not watch more than 15 minutes of TV today without hearing one of two stories about Dancing contestants.  Mario’s mother is a heroin addict and Priscilla Presley had botched plastic surgery by a now incarcerated scam doctor.  Everyone has family issues and health problems, but they are NOT a reason to vote someone through on reality show based on dancing.  It makes no sense.  Mario’s story is a sad one where he had to become the adult in his family situation and had to save his mother’s life after overdoses, but that has nothing to do with his dancing.  It does suck that Priscilla was tricked into thinking that silicon was “industrial strength botox” but it was years ago, and I applaud her for shrugging of the coverage by saying that it was years ago and she’s moved on.  So why can’t the media move on? Let’s stick to the dancing people; it’s fairer and more fun.