Andy Richter has been one of the biggest surprises of Dancing with the Stars Season 34. While many viewers anticipated that Andy and his partner Emma Slater would be one of the first couples voted out, he has now made it to the final eight. Despite continuously scoring at the bottom of the leaderboard, Andy has been saved each week by fan votes. While Andy was originally not seen as strong competition, he has become somewhat of a threat. It’s possible that Andy could end up making the DWTS Season 34 finale, defying all the odds.
Andy Richter has an incredible amount of fan support on Dancing with the Stars Season 34
While DWTS doesn’t publish official voting results, it’s clear that Andy is leading the number of fan votes. During Disney Night, Andy received an 18 out of 30 for his Viennese Waltz. However, Hilaria Baldwin was eliminated despite receiving a 23 out of 30. With a five-point difference, Andy must’ve gotten significantly more votes than Hilaria.
A similar event occurred on Halloween Night, when Andy was called safe shortly before Jen Affleck’s elimination. Jen had scored four points higher than Andy, but was still sent home since Andy received many more votes.
DWTS Season 34 has already shattered multiple voting records, with Halloween Night bringing in over fifty-five million votes. It’s safe to assume that many of these votes are for Andy, who has been saved each week by fans. Andy’s fan base, aka The Fandys are a united front and will likely continue voting Andy through as long as they can. If Andy can avoid being eliminated in the next few episodes, he could end up making the finale regardless of how he scores.
Despite receiving lower scores than his competitors, Andy is improving
There’s no question that Andy is at the bottom of the pack when it comes to dance technique. Every week, he’s scored at the bottom of the leaderboard. Nonetheless, Andy is still improving. Improvement looks different for everyone, as all of the stars come into the competition with varying levels of dance experience. Andy came in with no dance experience, and while he doesn’t receive top scores, he has been learning. He went from getting 4s to getting 7s. While they aren’t 10s, the improvement is still noticeable.
Many of The Fandys want to keep Andy in the competition to show that you can succeed in the competition regardless of your background. It’s not uncommon for older contestants to be cut early on, while the younger stars advance further into the contest and often win. DWTS is for everyone, regardless of age, and Andy is proving that each week. If Andy could improve the point of receiving several or all 8s, it’s pretty likely that he will make it to the finale.
There are several other contestants who could get sent home before Andy, giving him a clear pathway to the finale
So far, Andy has beaten out six stars by avoiding elimination. Several of them have been strong dancers, and almost all of them have received higher scores. However, most of the stars this season don’t have the fan support that Andy does.
There are at least three stars that have a good chance of being eliminated over Andy based on popularity. While Whitney Leavitt has consistently topped the leaderboard, she has become increasingly controversial. After a failed fan giveaway and seemingly smirking when Jen got voted off, Whitney has been labeled a mean girl by some fans. There has been a movement on social media to vote her off the show for several weeks. Something similar ended up getting Hilaria voted off, which means Whitney could fall victim to it as well.
Another star who could go before Andy is Danielle Fishel. Danielle has been scoring higher than Andy, but she’s consistently in the lower-middle of the pick score wise. Furthermore, Danielle doesn’t seem to have the amount of fan-backing that Andy does. It’s possible that she could be eliminated over Andy in a similar manner to how Jen was this past week. And while Elaine Hendrix received a lot of love after being injured this week, her fan base doesn’t appear to be quite as strong either. While anything can happen, it wouldn’t be a shock if she goes home before Andy either.
Dancing with the Stars is available to stream on Disney +.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK ANDY COULD MAKE IT TO THE FINALE? HAVE YOU ENJOYED WATCHING ANDY THIS SEASON?
