Is the tea party behind Bristol Palin’s survival on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”?
That’s the perception of many viewers who watched Tuesday evening as Palin and her dance partner, Mark Ballas, avoided elimination and earned their spot as one of this season’s final three pairs.
“I had a feeling it was coming,” said Istrea Guest of Chesapeake. “I felt the tension, and I thought, ‘A political statement is going to be made tonight.’ “
As host Tom Bergeron made the announcement that R&B singer Brandy and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, were going home, the audience erupted in gasps, then some boos.
“I don’t know how to feel right now,” Brandy said after the announcement.
Brandy had been a front-runner on “Dancing with the Stars” throughout the season, earning a perfect score of 30 from the judges Monday night with her performance of an Argentine tango. Palin’s scores have ranked at or near the bottom. The judges’ scores are combined with fan votes to decide who stays.
As of Monday, the website bmaker.ag listed Palin and Ballas as the least likely of the remaining pairs to advance to the finals. Palin is the daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a tea party favorite who also is a former Alaska governor.
Other contestants have stayed longer than some believed their talent deserved, dating to the show’s first season, said Tracy Phillips, a senior editor at Fancast.com. More recently, many expected reality TV mom Kate Gosselin to be sent home during the first round of the spring 2010 season; she remained for weeks on the strength of fan votes. In the fall of 2008, Cloris Leachman stuck around because she was funny .
Bristol Palin’s family’s political ties take the show into tea party territory, some say.
“I think it’s pretty clear at this point that the right-wingers are indeed the wind beneath Bristol’s wings,” Phillips said.
