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Gerrard Gosens dances out in style

Gerrard Gosens finally bows out of Dancing with the Stars, after weeks of audience support and division over judging.

ggBlind paralympian Gerrard Gosens finally bowed out of Seven’s Dancing with the Stars last night, after weeks of audience support, and division over whether he was judged unfairly.

Last night he landed fourth on the scoreboard, with dance partner Jessica Raffa.

“My dream has been getting to the semi-final, so that’s a trophy in itself,” he said. “I’m so proud of what Jess has achieved with me.”

“It has been a whole team effort. The support from my family, the public and Vision Australia has been amazing.”

During his stint this season, Gosens was praised by judges for his efforts but criticised for his dancing ability. At one point Todd McKenney awarded him 2 points, and branded his routine “appalling.” Despite Gosens always saying he wanted to be judged as a dancer, not as a ‘blind dancer’ viewers blasted McKenney for his lack of tact.

Gosens was frequently given standing ovations by the audience as the first blind dancer on the series anywhere in the world.

Of the remaining contestants, Kylie Gillies is currently favourite over Matt White and country singer Adam Brand.

Gosens, who raised funds for Vision Australia, said his biggest achievement on the show was proving to kids “they can give it a go despite the odds.”

The show has its finale next Sunday night.

13 Responses

  1. From season 1 DWTS seems to be about three things: talent, the X Factor, and who your employee was. A cursory look at previous winners indicates all but two where stars from Ch7. The votes reflected this with people from popular Ch7 shows getting lots of votes. Dancers would also do well if people thought someone had the X Factor, not to mention the ability to dance.

    So it seems a dancer who doesn’t have a high profile wont get far, or if you’re like Gerrard with his high X Factor you’ll go further in the comp. However, I think in the end many wouldn’t have voted for Gerrard because they couldn’t see someone winning with a low skill level, despite a high X Factor.

    I wonder if we’ll ever see the judges on the dance floor with blindfolds. I doubt it. I think the Work Health & Safety Officer, not to mention the Insurance man, would put a stop to that. Pity. It would be interesting to have seen the judges experience what Gerrard has to go through.

  2. I managed to catch one of his dances last night (I think it was the Segue). Apart from the occasional lift, I found that he wasn’t doing a great deal of dancing. His partner did most of the dancing.

    Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great bloke and he’s already achieved more than I ever will in my lifetime but for the top 4 on a dancing show, I would have expected that there would be a bit more…y’know, dancing.

  3. I will start watching DWTS again now , I refused to watch the last two shows because the previous outcomes were most unfair to the much better dances

  4. Someone at Seven must be pleased that they thought up the ‘lifeline’ challenge as a means of allowing the judges to bump up the margin on certain contestants to try and diffuse the public vote for Gerrard.

    And I thought it was a bit over the top last night as the judges are holding back tears as Gerard is farewelled. And it just seemed a bit hypocritical.. “we’ve tried not to be patronising” Todd says… but you know let’s have a whole segment of patronising just to make the point that we’re not patronising… and throw in some more tears…

    it was a bit too much

  5. it’s about time. 7 would be dissapointed he didnt get through. they would have been texting and calling to try and keep him on the show just to make them look good

  6. Exactly as I predicted – the blind guy gets to stay till the week before the final. Publicity gold, without the risk of either accusations of bias if he wins, or accusations of prejudice if he loses in the final.

    Call me cynical if you like, but the whole “blind guy that can dance” thing has been, to my eyes, a masterpiece of manipulation for the sake of ratings gain for a desperate and dying show.

    I despise this sad excuse for television, but once again had to endure it tonight with the family. I heard the word “inspiration” again and nearly threw up my dinner.

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