Risk-taking Fail.

So for the "Dancing with the Stars" finale, each couple is required to do a "freestyle" piece, which is pretty much any style or combination of styles they want to serve as their lasting impression/crowd pleaser before the voters decide their fate. Usually it ends up being a hodgepodge of hip hop and death-defying lifts, tricks, & flips. However, Erin Andrews apparently decided to do things differently this time around, and "take a risk."

As a result, Erin and Maks (PS: I love you) decided to go the "contemporary" route. Keep in mind, neither of them are trained in contemporary... not even Maks (though I'm sure that's a lie, to some extent, because those pros could probably turn water into wine if they were assigned to do so). This would be a perfectly acceptable "risk" to take, except for the fatal mistake of revealing that they called in SYTYCD choreographer Mandy Moore in to help them.

...Because the dance they performed was SO OBVIOUSLY 100% step-for-step taken from the mind of Mandy Moore. & she's not even a part of "Dancing with the Stars" -- Maks is supposed to be choreographing this thing, not some traitor from another network's show! Not like Mandy Moore isn't a contemporary choreographing genius (though I'm kind of convinced that's an oxymoron), but she is by no means "diverse." In other words, every Mandy Moore routine looks exactly the same. Like this one. Exactly. Like I'm pretty sure they might have already performed this exact routine on SYTYCD. If you've ever seen an episode of SYTYCD, you know exactly what I'm talking about:



1. Bed as a prop? Check.
2. Corset-y chiffon-skirted costume? Check.
3. Woman getting tossed about with no actual choreography other than being thrown around? Check.
4. Cliche "Monster Ballad" 80s song choice? CHECK CHECK CHECK.

I love you Maks, I really do. But you didn't even try, did you?