By ,
Published January 13, 2015
We're edging toward the semi-finals on "Dancing with the Stars," which means that merely being a solid dancer isn't enough.
In fact, this season — which has featured, without a doubt, the best dancers in the show's history — even being a fantastic dancer won't see you through.
This means that after countless kicks, displays of his bare chest and frequent flyer miles earned, Cameron Mathison of "All My Children" got cut.
I can't say I'm terribly surprised, but then again, in this P-SB era (that's post-Sabrina Bryan), we're probably all a bit unflappable.
Cameron seemed like a sweetheart and made inarguable improvements as the weeks went by, but the competition this year has been as stiff as his pectoral muscles and he was the only one left who hadn't ever gotten a 10.
Come to think of it, stating your fervent desire for a 10 may be the "Dancing" kiss of death: When Marie did it a few weeks ago, she fainted; Cameron did it this week and, well, look where he is.
Attitude really is everything in these competition shows. Those who seem to be the last ones standing are those who seem to be unaffected by their scores (such as Mel) or committed to having fun over anything else (such as Marie) or simply giddy no matter what (that would be Helio).
While I love Jennie, much has been made of her so-called insecurity, so if she gets eliminated next week — and I'm not saying that I think she should or will be — I'll feel even more confident in my attitude theory.
Then again, she seemed so genuinely thrilled to be on the receiving end of a Richard Simmons pep talk — even moved to tears by his "You're a showgirl so shine" speech — that the girl gets an A for attitude in my book.
I wasn't the only one focused on attitude this week. One of the packages during the results show featured videotaped interviews with Tony Robbins and Michael Beckwith (of "The Secret" fame) about who they think has the best state of mind for winning. (Robbins, in a bit of foreshadowing, said he wasn't sure Cameron had the right "killer attitude.")
State of mind also plays a major part for the teams on "The Amazing Race," now in its second week. While it was the lesbian ministers who made it to the final stop last this time — and they essentially had the most loving, calm, collective demeanors this side of Mother Theresa — Ronald (who's racing with his daughter Christina) may well have the worst attitude in the history of reality TV.
He not only nagged and harangued his daughter like nobody's business but kept a running diatribe of bitter complaints about all things relevant and irrelevant even when begged to stop.
So dedicated was he to negativity that when he ran out of things to criticize his daughter for, he took it upon himself to lecture other teams.
There was some nice payoff to this story line, because he did soften at the finish line and apologize and make noise about how he needs to change, but I'd like to see what Robbins and Beckwith would make of an attitude like Ronald's.
Not to mention what would happen if Richard Simmons decided to pay him a visit.
Anna David is a freelance writer. Her novel, "Party Girl," is in stores now.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/reality-check-cameron-flies-the-coop-on-dancing