Let’s talk percentages.  Some people like percentages, lots of people ignore them, but we decided to evaluate the pros and their celebrity partners according to objective (using our definition of objective) criteria in order to determine who has had the decided advantage in terms of celebrities, and we used that information to determine which pros have reaped the biggest rewards.  We don’t expect any real surprises, and we didn't get any.  Now you might wonder what criteria we used.  Some of the key factors were as follows:  ringer or not (and all of us have different interpretations of the word “ringer”), age, athleticism, physical condition, musical background or entertainment experience, overall popularity, and for recent seasons, the fondness for social media because that has had a huge effect on exposure (remember those idiotic twitter contests?).  For example, we ranked Audrina Patridge fairly high because she was young, fit, pretty and with a gazillion Twitter followers.  We didn’t place her at ringer status high because sometimes reality tv stars aren’t well received on DWTS.  On a scale of 1 to 10 we evaluated the overall appeal of the celebrity to a broad demographic with 1 being a stinker and 10 being ridiculous ringerish with so much dance experience that it is crazy to even have them on the show (like Nicole Scherzinger, Elizabeth Berkley, Corbin Bleu, etc.).  Right on the heels of those 10s are athletes that might have a bit of dance somewhere in the background but have the athleticism and youth to mop up the competition (Shawn and Aly, for example).  Keep in mind that these numbers were not based on the actual results for each season but instead we looked at them from the standpoint of where they should stack up beginning with Day 1 of rehearsal based on the trends of the show as we perceived them.  It doesn’t matter if you agree with our 1 to 10 scale, but overall you will see the trends that ABC has adopted. Move one number up or down a little bit, that’s fine, but the overall patterns will remain the same.  Yes, they are consistent, and there were no shocking results.

We only used those pros with 5 or more seasons so Sharna, Tyne, Sasha, Lindsay and Emma were not included, and we also did not include Maks because we don’t think he’s likely to return.  We really don’t think Chelsie is likely to be back either (but we hope so) but she has had such an interesting group of partners that we included her.  

After we got the total figures and computed an average, we simply changed that to a percentage, and you can call that percentage whatever you want.  We call it "The Percentage For Receiving The Greatest Casting Advantages On DWTS."   The pros are listed initially in no particular order, however, the final results are posted at the end with the pros coming out on top being listed first.  Enjoy!

Tony
Season 2 Stacy Keibler  (athleticism, age, physical condition) 8
Season 3 Sara Evans (age, musical background, physical condition, popularity unknown) 5
Season 4 Leeza Gibbons (well known, fit) 5
Season 5 Jane Seymour (well known but age brought the number down) 3
Season 6 Marissa Jaret Winokur (entertainment background but many unknowns) 5
Season 7 Susan Lucci  (fan base yes, but older celebrity disadvantage) 4
Season 8 Melissa Rycroft (all that cheerleading experience, ballet) 9
Season 9 Kathy Ireland  (model’s traditionally don’t do well, and we remembered that) 3
Season 10 Kate Gosselin  (that whole reality show appeal working for her, we guess) 3
Season 11 Audrina Patridge (age, appearance, skill, social media) 6
Season 12 Wendy Williams  (wild card, tv personality, no real experience, nothing that stood out to suggest she would be a contender) 4
Season 13 Chynna Phillips (relative age, appearance, musical background)  6
Season 14 Martina Navratilova (well known, but nothing that suggested dance would be something she could excel at) 5
Season 15 Melissa Rycroft  (after Season 8's results, she moved up to super-ringer status) 10
Season 16 Wynonna Judd  (popularity, music background, social media) 6
Season 17 Leah Remini  (media exposure prior to DWTS pushed her up a notch) 6  
     87 points   5.4375 average

Derek
Season 5 Jennie Garth  (age, physical condition, popularity from television) 7
Season 6 Shannon Elizabeth  (age, physical condition, lesser known than Jennie) 6.5
Season 7 Brooke Burke (physical condition, appearance, familiar to many) 6.5
Season 8 Lil Kim  (controversial – a bit, dance experience albeit hip hop, music background) 6
Season 9 Joanna Krupa  (age, physical condition, looks all in her favor) 6
Season 10 Nicole Scherzinger (biggest ringer ever next to Corbin and Elizabeth) 10
Season 11 Jennifer Grey (sorry folks, she’s a ringer – read her history) 8.5 
Season 12 
Season 13 Ricki Lake (reasonably popular, dance experience in her favor- lower than expected because she was kind of a wild card, active on social media helped) 5
Season 14  Maria Menounos (well known, great condition, very highly visible, regular tv appearances, social media, etc.)  8
Season 15  Shawn Johnson  (she already had a season under her belt – and almost won) 10
Season 16  Kellie Pickler (popular, excellent condition, highly visible, concern with our travel would interfere, huge fan base) 7.5
Season 17  Amber Riley (popular, used to learning choreography, some dance experience so she gets a little higher than you might expect, huge fan base, active on social media) 7.5
     88.50 points  7.375 average

Mark
Season 5 Sabrina Bryan  (ringer in all respects) 9
Season 6 Kristi Yamaguchi  (skating experience worked in her favor in many areas) 9
Season 7 Kim Kardashian  (only got a 4 because of constant media exposure) 4
Season 8 Shawn Johnson (first time around but still a ringer) 9
Season 9 Melissa Joan Hart (no real experience, kind of well known) 4
Season 10 Shannen Doherty (no real experience, kind of well known) 4
Season 11 Bristol Palin (ranked this high because of family connections and timing) 4
Season 12 Chelsea Kane (super ringer – only knocked down a little because of age) 9
Season 13 Kristin Cavallari (visibility, social media, skills, physical condition) 7
Season 14 Katherine Jenkins (music background, physical condition, but still relatively unknown) 6
Season 15 Bristol Palin (see above – went up one point from previous season because she had been on previously) 5
Season 16 Aly Raisman (Olympic gold medalist number 3 for Mark and another ringer) 9
Season 17 Christina Milian (dance experience, music background, not especially well known though) 7.5      86.5 points 6.654 average

Val
Season 13 Elisabetta Canalis (everything going for her, just not well known – the George Clooney connection wasn’t going to cut it) 5 
Season 14 Sherri Shepherd (well known, active in social media, but not really a ringer) 4
Season 15 Kelly Monaco (winner of Season 1, General Hospital fan base was huge) 8.5
Season 16 Zendaya (she would have gotten a 10 had she not been so young – mega-ringer) 9
Season 17 Elizabeth Berkley (she was such a huge ringer it isn’t even funny) 10
     36.5 points 7.3 average

Tristan
Season 13 Nancy Grace (a wild card – zero dance training, love her or hate her kind of popularity) 5
Season 14 Gladys Knight (music background, but age has to be a factor) 5
Season 15 Pamela Anderson (not really all star material in a season of huge all stars, her reduced pre-season practice schedule doomed this one) 4
Season 16 Dorothy Hamill (great potential, but age brought it down) 6
Season 17 Valerie Harper (popular but you can’t argue with the realities here) 2 
     22 points  4.4 average

Cheryl
Season 2 Drew Lachey (boy band, choreography experience going in, popular) 8
Season 3 Emmitt Smith (football, hugely popular) 8
Season 4 Ian Ziering (seemingly great potential, relatively young, fit, handsome) 7
Season 5 Wayne Newton (popular, age a factor) 3
Season 6 Cristián de la Fuente (sexy, Latin lover type, popular, made for this show) 8
Season 7 Maurice Greene (Olympian, but not the high profile type, fit, great age for DWTS) 5
Season 8 Gilles Marini  (unknown going in unless you had seen the Sex and the City movie, no dance training, handsome, fit) 6
Season 9 Tom Delay (I can’t believe he got a 2) 2
Season 10 Chad Ochocinco (football but not the one you think of, fit) 8
Season 11 Rick Fox (athlete, fit, but basketball athletes aren’t necessarily a great fit) 5
Season 12 Chris Jericho (athlete, fit, but known to many) 5
Season 13 Rob Kardashian (only advantage was his family’s popularity) 6
Season 14 Wiliam Levy (hot, Latin guy, age right, good-looking, fit, mass appeal to the ladies) 8
Season 15 Emmitt Smith (one of the most popular celebrities ever on DWTS 8
Season 16 D. L. Hughley (wild card, comedians just aren’t the best fit historically) 3
Season 17 Jack Osbourne (no ringer status, family popularity to his advantage) 4 
     94 points   5.875 average

Kym
Season 3 Jerry Springer (age a factor, no dance) 2
Season 4 Joey Fatone (boy band, music, popular) 8
Season 5 Mark Cuban (being stinking rich was his advantage) 4
Season 6 Penn Gilette (no advantage here) 2
Season 7 Warren Sapp (football player appeal but was surprisingly good) 7   
Season 8 David Alan Grier (wild card – no dance, comedian, not that well known) 3
Season 9 Donny Osmond (high ringer status because of his entertainer career but also because of all those ballroom dance classes he took before he signed on) 9
Season 10 -
Season 11 David Hasselhoff (hugely popular worldwide is what gave him the 5) 5
Season 12 Hines Ward (football and signed on at the right time, enough said) 8
Season 13 David Arquette (sort of popular, fit, funny, appealing, but non-dancer) 5
Season 14 Jaleel White (not really a dancer, but we thought he would rock it) 8
Season 15 Joey Fatone (not quite as much of a ringer as some of the others) 8
Season 16  Ingo Rademacher (fit, handsome and the huge General Hospital voting block) 7
Season 17 -  
     76 points   5.846 average

Karina
Season 3 Mario Lopez (fit, handsome, well known) 7
Season 4 Billy Ray Cyrus (wild card – music background but not a dancer) 4
Season 5 Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (athlete, perhaps not well known to all) 5
Season 6 Mario  (talented, musical background, not well know) 5
Season 7 Rocco DiSpirito (tough one – not everyone watches The Food Network) 4
Season 8 Steve Wozniak (no chance – popular in circles but not known to all) 3
Season 9 Aaron Carter (wild card – known to a certain demographic) 6
Season 10 
Season 11 Mike Sorrentino (Jersey shore crowd but not appealing to all) 4
Season 12 Ralph Macchio (huge catch for DWTS, popular) 6
Season 13 J.R. Martinez (popular for many reasons, had a good shot from the beginning)  7
Season 14 Gavin DeGraw (musical background a big advantage) 6
Season 15 Apolo Anton Ohno (got the 10 status because of 1) skill 2) winning DWTS but also because he was good  3) popular  10
Season 16 Jacoby Jones (football player alone makes him earn a high score-time was right) 8
Season 17 Corbin Bleu  (Corbin, Nicole, And Elizabeth – biggest ringers ever)   10
     85 points   6.071 average

Chelsie
Season 8 Ty Murray (the Jewel/Ty combination was intriguing) 5
Season 9 Louie Vito  (athlete, a bit of the unknown) 6
Season 10 Jake Pavelka (first Bachelor appearance – unknown effect) 5
Season 11 Michael Bolton (this never seemed like a good fit) - 4
Season 12 Romeo (ringer-ish, but how well known?) 6
Season 13 -
Season 14 Roshon Fegan (ringer) 9
Season 15 Helio Castroneves (previous strong winner) 9
Season 16
Season 17  
     44  points  6.29 average

Peta
Season 13 Metta World Peace (athlete, but mixed feelings about him) 2
Season 14 Donald Driver (football player mystique – destined to do well no matter who his partner)  8
Season 15 Gilles Marini (arguably the best non-ringer ever on DWTS – moved up to ringer status for this season) 10
Season 16 Sean Lowe – (young, just off The Bachelor, popular, handsome, fit 7.5
Season 17 Brant Daugherty – (young, handsome, talented, charming and off of a very popular tv show, fit) 7
     34.5 points  6.9 average

Anna
Season 2 Jerry Rice (football player but at this point, we didn’t know how well football players would do) 5
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5 Albert Reed (huge talent – but we’d never heard of him) 4
Season 6 Steve Guttenberg (well known in his day, big wild card) 3
Season 7 
Season 8
Season 9 Chuck Liddell (athlete, kind of an unknown to many) 5
Season 10 Evan Lysacek – (athlete, popular, just off Olympics) 8.5
Season 11 Kurt Warner (football player, popular) - 6
Season 12 Sugar Ray Leonard  (athlete, well known, age a little up there but we thought he would do ok) 6
Season 13 Carson Kressley  - (another wild card – we had no clue how this would end up) 5
Season 14 Jack Wagner (wild card – popular with certain demographic, average) 5
Season 15 Drew Lachey (good dancer, previous winner, music background) 10  
     57.5 points   5.75 average

**********

For those with 5 or more seasons:

Derek (12 seasons) 7.375 73.8%
Val (5 seasons)  7.3  73.0%
Peta(5 seasons)   6.9  69%
Mark (13 seasons) 87  6.654  66.5%
Chelsie (7 seasons) 43    6.29  62.9%
Karina (14 seasons) 6.071 60.7%
Cheryl (16 seasons)   5.875 58.8%
Anna (10 seasons) 5.75 57.5%
Kym (13 seasons)    5.846 58.5%
Tony (16 seasons)  5.4375 54.4%
Tristan (5 seasons)  4.4  44%

It doesn’t get much more obvious than this. Keep in mind that this wasn't all about ringers or trained dancers, but lots of criteria were looked at when coming up with the 1 to 10 number. When you look at it as a percentage - which pros consistently get celebrities that fit the criteria we have established as things that are highly beneficial - the numbers speak for themselves.  Some football players ranked higher than others because other factors came into play.  Some athletes scored high; others somewhat lower.  Nothing is exact here, but the number make sense.  Of course, we don't discount teaching ability or choreography skills in creating a winning formula, but the facts are that certain pros get a head start on the rest of the competition by getting celebrities that have a better chance at winning that mirror ball trophy.  

Tristan MacManus has been a Dancing With the Stars pro for five seasons, and in those five seasons, he has never made it to the finals.  Looking at the numbers alone will tell you nothing, however, because something special happened along the way.  Tristan pulled at our heartstrings, and he became our hero of sorts.  Want to know why?  Here’s why.

Season 12 was its own story, and Tristan radiated energy and charm from his very first performance with the Troupe. He pulled us in with "Dance To the Music” and made our jaws drop with “O Mio Babbino Caro” with Peta.  His wicked sense of humor started to take hold in the Mike Catherwood “Troupe Audition”, and we’ve been hooked ever since.

Season 13 was a wonder.  From Day 1, we loved Tristan and Nancy or “MacGrace” as they were called. The Bickersons were funny and snarky, charming and endearing, and we weren’t surprised when they came just short of the semi-finals.  Nancy was 52, had no dance experience, and was controversial. Who cares?  We had a blast.

Season 14 was not what we expected. After all, Nancy Grace in Season 13 had no ringer status whatsoever, and we were sure Tristan was going to get the young, fit ringer.  We were shocked when Tristan was named as 67 year old Gladys Knight’s partner.  Yet, we loved them.  The ‘Best Of My Love” Cha Cha told us all we needed to know.  We had so much fun with them, and nobody was really surprised when they left us in Week 6 - even though we think she won the dance-off Jive, thanks to Tristan's careful tutelage.  Still, they left us.  After all, was there really any way a 67 year old untrained dancer could compete in the long run with much younger celebrities?

Season 15 was a tough one because going in we knew it was not going to be easy. We loved the idea of Tristan dancing with Pamela Anderson but not in an all-star season with lots of previous DWTS finalists, and she was the only one besides Sabrina Bryan who hadn’t been in the final.  It didn’t start out well when Pamela’s travel schedule severely limited any practice time prior to Week 1, and we were not surprised when she and Tristan got the boot first.

Season 16 started with high hopes when we heard Dorothy Hamill would be Tristan’s partner.  Age was a concern because of possible injuries, but she was only 56. Week 1 proved to be everything we had hoped for – a beautiful, well-choreographed, well-executed performance.  Unfortunately, a previously undiagnosed injury was already taking its toll and by Week 2’s performance, the writing was on the wall.  Dorothy and Tristan were gone.

Prior to Season 17, we were all positive that this was the season for Tristan to finally get the chance to shine. He did, but not in the way we had all previously thought. He became Superman in our eyes when he danced with 74 year old Valerie Harper, defended her decision to do DWTS most vehemently in a scathing response to an Irish Central article that criticized not only Valerie but Tristan as well, and he escorted this lovely lady through several weeks of competition.  We knew from the beginning that it would be a short run, but like Tristan, we felt that was okay. They did their best and under the circumstances, it was more than we could have hoped for.

And there you have it. Those are the facts. As has been said in previous blogs on this website and by many people, age is not just a number. Granted, it is not the only factor when placing celebrities with pros on DWTS.  It’s better to have a partner who wants to learn and who tries day in and day out than to just be under age 30.  Yet the facts speak for themselves.  The oldest celebrity to ever win DWTS was age 50 – and Donny Osmond and Jennifer Grey did it.  Both had loads of experience to begin with which helped them along the way. I doubt if we will ever see a DWTS winner older than that.  I could be wrong but let’s face it.  The rigors of multiple dances a week better suit younger celebrities, and those with dance experience go into it with a huge advantage because it takes less time to learn the basics, and the body is better equipped to handle the stress. 

We’re not asking for a ringer.  We’re asking that Tristan finally get a real chance.  After five pro seasons, don’t you think he has earned it? He has the most loyal, vocal fan base out there.  We support through thick and thin without question.  ABC needs to wake up and see what they have in Tristan, and they need to wake up and see what they would lose without his fans.  He is the most fan-friendly pro out there and I could talk all day about why that is true.  It has nothing to do with social media because who can communicate effectively in 140 characters or less?  He has repeatedly thanked the members of MacManiacs.org for their efforts, and he has sent messages when each milestone was reached.  He has at least 18 – count them – eighteen – very comprehensive interviews for this website in just about 18 months.  Impressive.  Don’t forget all those questions we sent him for the Dublin Down 330 videos.  He answered those too.  He’s a charmer of the best kind, and all you have to do is meet him in person at one of his off-DWTS performances (the cruises, Life’s A Dance, Ballroom With A Twist, or charity events) and you’ll know it’s true.  He’s also the consummate entertainer, the best possible host and emcee, and generous to a fault.

So if you ask why Tristan? Why now?  We say “Why not now?” There is no good reason why not, that’s why.  Tristan MacManus should be given the opportunity to hoist that mirror ball trophy in May, 2014, and I don’t think anyone can say he has had that opportunity yet because let’s face it - all things are not equal.

As this website gets hundreds of views every day, the forum (in addition to all that) has received to date more than 403,000 views.  Not too shabby, is it?  The man has the best fans in the world, but then he’s the best possible celebrity to support.