Woz in ABC 'outright lie' accusation
Everyone says Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is a nice man. He's Polish, of course.
However, in an e-mail to his Facebook Support Group, posted at 6 a.m. PST Tuesday, the Woz appears to be getting very, very ratty. And the rodent that he's smelling is the ABC production team of "Dancing with the Stars."
He is suspicious that the true voting numbers, both from telephone and online voting, are never revealed. This leads him to believe that he may be forced into the two-couple dance-off, just to boost ratings.
"The producers play games to get viewers and don't disclose the numbers. If they disclosed the numbers, it would be less of a game, but still suspect. If tomorrow, they claim I'm in the bottom 2 dance teams, including viewer votes, I believe that it's an outright lie," he said.
He has begun to make his accusations in ABC interviews too.
"I called it fake about 20 times today on camera," he said. "Each time in the same sentence as whatever comment they wanted about doing a dance-off tomorrow. That way, they couldn't edit it easily to say what they wanted. They kept trying to get me to say what I'd do if I was in the dance-off without using the word fake."
He even accuses producers of getting him to say things that are simply untrue: "They will have some small video tomorrow of me saying things that I strongly told them I don't believe. They will also shoot me in a one-hour rehearsal tomorrow with my partner, but I'll keep calling the idea of my being in the bottom 2, after audience participation, a lie."
Although he is not clear about all the sources of his suspicions, his accusations are extremely open: "I'm sure they want me in this dance-off to get higher Tuesday ratings, and they have preplanned it so that I win. If my leg acts up tomorrow, they will either have to announce another pair as being the lowest or send me home, and I don't think they will give me up."
Well, at least he thinks he's going to win, even though his performance Monday night still didn't reach the standards he might wish for himself.
Seemingly straining to be nice, he admitted that he is straining to be nice: "It's hard to get all this out politely, challenging the truthfulness of reporting of our dance team positions. But I am who I am, and I speak my mind and hate these unethical twists. I'm not after any Hollywood existence."
He continued: "I have vowed to all my friends that I will not change in that way; I won't go over the line. I'm here to help others appreciate dancing. But that doesn't mean I have to compromise my ethics very much."
It is heartening to see the word "ethics" being used in association with reality television. Especially on the day when a supposed "American Idol" insider declared that the top-four retinue (there are still 11 hopefuls left in the competition) has already been decided.
You just can't miss "Dancing with the Stars" tonight, can you? 9 p.m. PST and EST. And 8 p.m. in the the Central Ethical Zone. What will the Woz say and do next?
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
I hadn't even considered that before.
I did have an idea that "Idol" contestants were pre-selected far ahead of time, though.
And you don't watch the Bachelor on, um, ABC, right?
Chris
I can only imagine, though. :)
Of course you are right about his dancing. How could you not be? You have eyes. But remember Jerry Rice's dancing?
This is, to a considerable extent, a popularity contest. It will be interesting to see whether he's as popular as he seems to think he is. (If there is any truth associated with the tallying of the votes.)
Chris
No doubt it's a popularity contest in addition to a dance contest (judges' scores still constitute half the overall metric). That said, if Woz thinks he's as "popular" as Jerry Rice who was a household name from his football exploits with the average American (nevermind the DWTS demographic), he's smoking something highly effective and highly illegal. Good dancing and charisma can overcome being a relative nobody (who, but the most hard-core race fan, had even heard of Helio before the show?)...but Woz is cursed with bad dancing, no charisma (on camera, anyway) and being a nobody to the average viewer (I had to explain to both my wife and mother who he was and how he was important to the computer industry..neither had even heard of him before).
I respect Woz, I think he's a genius..and I wish him well if he remains on the show..but he's a fool if he thinks the "Geek Contingent" of voters is going to pull him through this thing despite his horrifically uncoordinated dance efforts and uninspired (at best) attempts at witty banter.
Again, you make excellent sense. We will see if the Geek contingent really exist.
Or, well, we won't.
Chris
Obviously the industry loved the show, it had decent numbers in the second season, and a lot of people were catching it on DVR, but it still got relegated to the trash can.
Network execs will do all sorts of sneaky shady things for those magical numbers.
Nielsen is a SCAM!
It is a dance contest, after all. If you have seen him dance, you understand why he couldn't possibly be any higher than the bottom two.
The guy cannot dance. Perhaps he should get a grip.
Either way, Woz needs to go. His dancing is horrible, and he is not the comedian he is trying to portray. I hated to see the other Steve go because I felt bad for his dancing partner. You have to give the rodeo dude credit for trying. Belenda tries (tried) and seemed to be having fun. Woz, on the other hand, seems to think he is "all that" and he is not. Too have complained so early in the show as he did is ridiculous. If he was that concerned about it, he should have talked with them instead of posting on the internet.
In my original comment, I stated:
"Either way, Woz needs to go. His dancing is horrible, and he is not the comedian he is trying to portray. I hated to see the other Steve go because I felt bad for his dancing partner. You have to give the rodeo dude credit for trying. Belenda tries (tried) and seemed to be having fun. Woz, on the other hand, seems to think he is "all that" and he is not. Too have complained so early in the show as he did is ridiculous. If he was that concerned about it, he should have talked with them instead of posting on the internet."
First...as far as the "other Steve" is concerned, his dancing is not much better than Woz. I hated to see "the other Steve" leave because he has such a great dance partner and I didn't want her out of the competition so early. She is a great dancer. Belinda was not a great dancer but she had class and was trying. It would have been great to see her stay in the show so that we could have seen her dancing skills progress, which I believe would have happened. On the other hand, I don't see the same opportunities for the "the Steves." They just don't seem to have the desire to dance well.
Also, I said "Too have complained..." Should have read:
"Also, having complained so early in the show as he [Woz] did is ridiculous."
Oh well...no one/nothing is perfect ("reality" shows, dancing, and/or typing). :-)
I can't believe Kathy Griffin turned you down, she's a D-lister for sure.
- by biffhenerson April 1, 2009 12:30 PM PDT
- This is just a stunt to get people to watch. He is a double agent.
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