Dancing with the Stars’ Finale: Was Something Fishy With the Voting?

 The "Dancing With the Stars" Season 16 results are in -- country singer Kellie Pickler and her pro partner Derek Hough were crowned the champions -- but this season's mirrorball win didn't come without controversy. 
While the blonde dancing duo nailed their all-important freestyle dance and were worthy contenders for the title all season -- alternately trading leaderboard top spots with Disney star Zendaya Coleman and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy -- a voting glitch for the show's finale put a slightly scandalous spin on their win. 
During Monday's live East Coast broadcast, host Tom Bergeron announced that the ABC.com website was down. Viewers in that time zone were instructed to vote for their favorite couple via texting, calling, or on Facebook. 
When the website was eventually restored later that night, viewers clamored online to log their votes. Frontrunner Zendaya Coleman even tweeted to her fans, "Facebook and abc.com are back online. Don't forget to vote that way too…u register with email then u will get 5 votes!!" 
But on Tuesday night's finale show, Tom Bergeron announced that due to the East Coast voting glitch, in fairness to all of the finalists, none of the ABC.com votes would count. 
According to Today.com, pro dancer Val Chmerkovskiy's reaction to the news of the voting snafu was: "That's bull----! Well, good luck to everybody." 
While the timing of the technical difficulty couldn't have been worse, East Coast viewers were ultimately given instructions on how to log their votes. In fairness to voters, those who later got through to the ABC.com website and were able to log votes that way should not have been discounted. There were alternate ways for everyone to vote, so why did the network scrap the website votes? 
With this season's tight race in particular, every viewer vote mattered, especially since Kellie and Zendaya were neck in neck on the judges' leaderboard. (The Disney star scored one point higher than the "American Idol" alum on the finale night dances.) 
The Hollywood Reporter noted that not all of the finalists seemed concerned by the voting glitch, reporting that backstage at the show, gymnast Aly Raisman was overheard saying that she was pretty sure that all of her fans had voted on Facebook. The Olympic gold medalist was the first one eliminated from the competition on Tuesday night. 
After the finale results were revealed, Val Chmerkovskiy tweeted, "It was always about the dancing. First and foremost. And always will be Win or lose. Tnx to @Zendaya you got a small taste of what its about."

Asking Someone for a Date - It seems simple enough, but it can be the most difficult part of a date

So what do you do?

Biggest clue: THINK AHEAD

You don't want to be standing there going, "Um, ah." when the object of your affection says "Yes."
You can't just looked stunned and be too shocked to utter the next sentence.
You can't wait for that very moment to try to think of what on earth you can do on a date.
You need a more impressive beginning.
If you're at the start of a relationship or asking for a first date, take the pressure off by not using the "D" word.
Don't ask for a "Date" and don't call it a "Date."
If you're uncomfortable saying, "Would you like to go out with me."
Then don't say it.
Make it casual.
But (just a reminder)THINK AHEAD.
Make it specific.

First - two deadly questions NOT to ask:
 Do not ask, "You want to go out?" it's too open-ended and can lead to awkward follow up conversation.
 Do not ask, "What are you doing Friday night?"
It's too vague. It may leave your potential date wondering exactly what you have in mind.
The other person doesn't know if you're just curious about what she/he is doing on Friday night or if you want to do something with them...
Try something along the lines of:

"You like to rollerblade? I was thinking of going out to the lake on Saturday. It's great out there. Would you like to go with me?" 

Or if you're really uncertain or uncomfortable about getting together - go with a group. Ask the question:

"Hey, there're a bunch of us going bowling on Saturday. Would you like to go?"

The operative word here is "us." It immediately takes the pressure off.

Planning activities to do on your date and getting together in a group are good ways to go - especially if you think you or your date might get "tongue-tied."
If you're busy or there are a bunch of other people in the conversation, you won't hit awkward silences and won't have to talk all the time if you don't know your date very well.

In summary, just remember when you are asking someone out:
1) Plan ahead
Know what you are going to say AND what you want to suggest to do on the date.
2) Be specific
The other person will be much more comfortable if they know exactly what your intentions are and what you want to do.

AND try to relax and enjoy yourself - worst case - they'll say they can't go out and you'll find someone else who will. Someone who appreciates you.
In other words, if the person you are asking out doesn't have enough insight to recognize what a terrific person you are, then they're just not too bright now, are they?