'Dancing With the Stars' semifinals reveal clear front-runner

The contestants and judges could hardly contain their excitement as the Dancing With the Stars semifinals got underway.

Each of the remaining teams performed two dances. One dance was the professional dancer’s choice and the other dance was a reimagining of an iconic dance from past seasons.

At this stage most of the celebrities have become fairly good dancers, even early underdogs Drew Scott and Frankie Muniz.

But it was the stars with strong dance backgrounds who shined the most. Most notable were Lindsey Sterling and Jordan Fisher. But really, it is Fisher who is the clear front-runner.

Sterling is an excellent dancer and has received impressive scores and praise from the judges. But the praise and scores she’s received only echo the same things you see and hear every season for the top performer.

Fisher, on the other hand, causes the judges to turn into hyperbole machines. They often imply his performances with Lindsay Arnold are the best they’ve ever seen.

For example, the shows beloved curmudgeon, Len Goodman, said of their jive, “Let me tell you, over the years there have been good jives, great jives, and now we have Jordan’s jives, the yardstick for everything else.”

In fact, on a night in which the contestants were charged with recreating iconic dances, judge Bruno Tonioli said of Fisher’s performance, “That was a triumph. Very rarely, a remake can top an original. This one did.”

Fisher, Muniz, Scott, and Sterling will compete next week. Victoria Arlen and her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, were eliminated.

Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of Dancing With the Stars for free on Yahoo View.

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